Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 March 2019

Venezuelans find ways to cope with inflation and hunger

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO goods and juices to neigh-
Associated Press bors from the window
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) of her kitchen. Then, her
— Francibel Contreras fridge broke down and she
brings her three malnour- couldn’t find the money to
ished children to a soup fix it.
kitchen in the dangerous These days, she relies on
hillside Caracas slum of the kindness of neighbors,
Petare where they scoop or asks a friend who owns
in spoonfuls of rice and a small food shop for credit
scrambled eggs in what while she waits for loans
could be their only meal of from family members in
the day. other parts of Venezuela.
Part of the tragedy of “This country has never
daily life in socialist Ven- been as bad,” the 28-year-
ezuela can be glimpsed old said. “Just buying some
in this small volunteer soup rice or flour is something so
kitchen in the heart of one hard, so expensive, and of-
of Latin America’s biggest ten, they don’t even have
slums, which helps dozens any.”
of children as well as unem- A few days later, thieves
ployed mothers who can broke into the soup kitchen
no longer feed them. and stole food. Then, a fire
Some Venezuelans man- broke out in the slum, burn-
age to endure the nation’s ing 17 homes to the ground.
economic meltdown by It was caused by candles
clinging to the shrinking that were apparently be-
number of well-paid jobs ing used for light after a
or by receiving some of the Eight-year-old Franyelis feeds her baby brother Joneiber as their mother Francibel Contreras holds power outage — an almost
hundreds of millions of dol- a bowl of scrambled eggs and rice, at a soup kitchen in the Petare slum, Caracas, Venezuela. everyday occurrence in
lars sent home by friends Associated Press many parts of Venezuela.
and relatives abroad — a of flour for a manicure or a soccer game in the hilly, also said she feels unsafe in Opposition lawmaker Man-
quantity that has swollen in haircut.” dusty streets in front of her the lines. Dozens of people uela Bolivar, whose Nodriza
recent years as millions of The scarcity of milk, medi- home, while her husband have been killed in gang Project runs the soup kitch-
Venezuelans have fled. cine and other basics — practiced styling his moth- crossfires over the years, en, said that when firefight-
But a growing percentage along with routine violence er’s hair. and some have been ers arrived, they lacked wa-
of people across the coun- — has eroded support for “I’m barely getting by,” crushed to death when ter and had to put out the
try, especially in slums like socialist President Nico- Flores said, scissors in hand. lines of shoppers turned blaze with dirt.
Petare, are struggling to las Maduro even in poor The four-day power outage into stampedes of desper- “It’s a social earthquake,”
cope. neighborhoods like Petare that brought most of Ven- ate looters. Bolivar said.
Contreras’s husband, Jorge that once were his strong- ezuela to a halt this month Next-door neighbor Duglei- “They lose their homes.
Flores, used to have a small holds. Maduro says there’s added to Flores’ misery. di Salcedo sent her 4-year- They’re left in the open
stand at a local market sell- an opposition-led plot to He wasn’t able to use the old daughter to live with an air. The soup kitchen was
ing things like bananas and oust him from power and electric clippers needed to aunt in the city of Maracay, robbed. It’s so many adver-
yucca, eggs and lunch- says U.S. economic sanc- give customers the sort of two hours away, because sities: It’s the infections, the
meat — trying to scrape tions and local opposition trims they demand. she could no longer feed lack of water and food.”
out a profit in a place sabotage are responsible “It hit us in a big way,” he her. “My boys cry,” the sin- At an outdoor market a
where hyperinflation often for the meltdown. said. “You absolutely need gle mother of four said. “But short distance from Petare
made his wholesale costs Various local polls show he the clippers.” they resist more than her in the middle-class district
double from day to day. retains support from rough- The couple estimates the when I tell them that there’s of Los Dos Caminos, Car-
Then he was robbed at ly a fifth of the population, power outage cost the no food.” men Gimenez shopped
gunpoint by a local gang. many of them ideological family the equivalent of $11 After walking back from the for carrots and other veg-
And his brother crashed the stalwarts, government-con- in missed haircuts — a sig- soup kitchen, she opened etables for a stew. When
motorcycle he used to sup- nected insiders or poor vot- nificant sum in a country the rusty door to her home her 14-year-old daughter
ply his stand. ers dependent on govern- where the minimum wage of scraped, mint-colored Camila asked if they could
So Flores abandoned the ment handouts, including amounts to $6 a month, walls. Inside, her 11-year- take some other products,
market stall and looked for the so-called CLAP boxes even if most people supple- old son Daniel, who was she told her that they would
other work. He does some of oil, flour, rice, pasta, ment that figure by work- born partially paralyzed have to stick to the basics.
plumbing jobs and the canned tuna and other ing side jobs and pooling and with developmental Although she has a job at
family has turned its living goods that arrive several resources with friends and disabilities, lay on a stained a bank, she still struggles to
room into a barbershop, times a year. neighbors. couch while flies flew over make ends meet.
sheltered beneath a cor- Contreras’ family of four Contreras and Flores his twisted, uncovered legs. “It doesn’t matter where
rugated metal roof held gets those boxes, but it’s charge 2,500 bolivars — When she took the lid you live. The need is the
down by loose bricks and not enough to get by on for about 70 U.S. cents — for off a plastic container to same,” said Gimenez, 43.
planks. It’s decorated with long. For months, they’ve a trim. A government-sub- show her last bag of flour, “The poor, the rich, and
origami-like stars that the been relying on the soup sidized kilogram of flour a cockroach crawled out, the middle class — we’re
family has made out Ven- kitchen launched by op- can cost almost three times making her jump back and all suffering somehow be-
ezuela’s colorful but rapidly position politicians as the that, and Contreras says scream. cause the government has
depreciating bolivar bills. main source of protein for that lines for the rationed “This is so tough,” she said. leveled us all downwards,”
“Our currency is worthless,” their children. On a recent goods can be endless “I don’t have a job. I don’t she adds with anger. “How
Contreras said. “These day, her 7-year-old son Jor- and she sometimes comes have any money.” did they dominate us?
days, I prefer trading a bag beicker played a pickup back empty-handed. She Salcedo used to sell baked Through the stomach.”q