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Here in Venezuela, People Are More Afraid of Runaway Inflation Than Trump
CARACAS, Venezuela—With a U.S. Navy flotilla off the coast and President Trump pushing for strongman Nicolás Maduro's ouster, Venezuelans are focused on a more urgent matter: the price of Christmas preparations.
Shoppers are filling malls but finding they are blowing their entire paycheck for gifts and decorations. Supermarkets are flush with the pork leg and ham-stuffed breads that are staples of the holiday feast—and are almost twice as expensive as last year.
And in one posh neighborhood illuminated by massive LED screens, imported Christmas trees from Canada are going for the equivalent of $300, more than what most people earn monthly.
Here in this capital city of three million people, the drumbeat of war feels distant and unreal. Residents say they have seen attempts before to dethrone Maduro and aren't holding their breath this time. Instead, their main concern is chronic inflation that this year is expected to hit 270% and then surge to 682% by the end of 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Construction worker Miguel Perez was shopping this week for a new television to replace the broken one at home. He walked away empty-handed. They were all too expensive, with a 50-inch Chinese model going for $400.
“Let's hope I find something,” Perez said.
As Betzaida Perez, a stay-at-home mom, shopped for Christmas tree garlands, she said she was trying not to think about Trump's threats to bomb Venezuela, made as recently as Tuesday.
“People just talk and talk and talk and nothing happens,” she said. At this point, “we're just waiting for Christmas.”
It is the paradoxical reality for this country of 28 million people: trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in a place where residents face frequent power outages and count on water service just a few days a week. At the same time, they wade through the noise and expectations generated in Washington, where officials say the days for Maduro's unpopular government are numbered.
They have seen social media and news reports ablaze almost daily with warnings that Maduro could fall under U.S. pressure, after three months of U.S. airstrikes against alleged drug boats leaving from Venezuela.
Maduro's ouster would end his nearly 13-year rule, which has been marred by political repression, election-fraud allegations and economic mismanagement that forced some eight million migrants to flee.
The 63-year-old leader talks almost daily on television, visiting trade expos promoting tourism and highlighting his government's efforts to stimulate new industries to compensate for the collapse of the lifeblood oil sector.
On Monday, Maduro appeared at a rally where he danced and urged his followers to get in the holiday spirit. “Party, party, party, party and more party,” he said, “as long as your body can take it.”
He then declared that he doesn't plan on going anywhere. “Be assured, I will never fail you,” he said
Maduro lost the presidential election badly last year, according to the U.S. and evidence submitted by the opposition, but he maintained his grip on power anyway, with his government claiming a narrow victory. Few dare to speak out against him now, and the streets have been devoid of protests, after a brutal crackdown on protests that followed the election.
One recent study by the Andrés Bello Catholic University found nearly eight out of 10 Venezuelans felt a change in government was necessary.
Still, in a poll conducted by Caracas-based firm Datanalisis last month, 23% of Venezuelans said they supported a foreign-military intervention. Some 55% opposed it, but 70% said they had a negative impression of the country's circumstances.
Politics and security weren't Venezuelans' top concerns, but rather the weak economy, poor salaries and galloping inflation, the poll showed. Tightened U.S. economic sanctions have triggered a fast depreciation of the local bolivar currency on the black market and crypto exchanges, where the dollar is valued at some 370 bolivars compared with an official rate of 249 to the dollar.
Carlos Romero, a retired political science professor and consultant in Caracas, said many of his compatriots feel indifferent after years of failed attempts to dislodge Maduro—including an unsuccessful effort during Trump's first administration to stoke a military revolt.
“People seem like they are sleeping in front of a possible confrontation with the U.S.,” he said. “People just stop paying attention.”
But there is anger here over the ways the clash with the U.S. affects people's daily lives.
Trump warned airlines not to fly to and over Venezuela recently, leading several international carriers to stop flying to Caracas, upending holiday vacations, family visits and business plans.
In recent months, Maduro has mobilized troops and militia members, and soldiers test anti-air systems along the Caribbean coast as Venezuelan jet fighters fly over beachgoers. On the ground, opposition leaders and rights groups say the government is arbitrarily arresting activists and their family members.
To temper any civil unrest, Maduro's regime has pushed a sense of normalcy.
Well-lit public plazas fill up with families looking for cheap entertainment. Road maintenance projects roar through the night in Caracas. There are fewer militarized checkpoints around the capital's wealthier neighborhoods than in the past.
Maduro has often relied on Christmas to deflect attention from the country's ongoing hardships. Almost every year since 2019, he has decreed an early start to the holiday season, seemingly moving it up as the country's situation worsened. Venezuelan Christmas kicked off Oct. 1, with the government spending big to hang giant candy-cane ornaments and trees in commercial hubs around the city and the airport.
Maduro and his aides have been calling on Venezuelans to carry on consuming, even promoting discounts on air fryers for Black Friday.
Unlike during past crises here, there are no long lines at gasoline stations, and supermarket shelves are full, though economists warn that people simply don't have the money to make big purchases.
Rayner Velasquez, a chef, said colleagues are paring back on the key imported ingredients that typically go into the meat stew that Venezuelans stuff into the tamale-like hallacas that they eat through the holiday season.
“The price rises are almost constant,” Velasquez said. “You have to start buying months ahead if you want to get everything you need.”
Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com
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Source: Hindustan Times
Related Posts: Maduro,Christmas preparations,inflation,holiday season,Venezuela
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