Raúl Gallegos - Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela

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Chavismo became more popular when the government seized companies and increased their payrolls, but the companies became less effective.

Raúl Gallegos
Nationalizing companies was one of several measures proponents of Chavismo adopted in hopes of advancing their brand of socialism. Chávez tried persuading people to barter for products instead of using money.

Raúl Gallegos
Under normal circumstances a weaker currency shouldn't hurt people too much, but in Venezuela where almost everything people consume comes from abroad, especially from the United States, a weaker bolivar means virtually everything a family might need or want, from food to clothes, television sets, fridges, washers, and cellular phones, can become more expensive in just days.

Raúl Gallegos
The government stopped making dollars freely available in 2003 and fixed the price of the exchange rate by law, hoping to stop the dollar frenzy. It didn't work. People bought and sold dollars illegally, and a black market price for dollars emerged in the streets, hotel rooms, homes, and cafés of Venezuela.

Raúl Gallegos
While Venezuela suffered the worst economic crisis since the country discovered oil, no politician or public figure made any proposals to embrace policies in the future to reduce spending and save money.

Raúl Gallegos
[Venezuelans] were once again, as so many times before in their history, left with little more to do but pray that rising oil prices would soon rescue the nation from its own mistakes.

Raúl Gallegos
The opposition vowed to use a referendum to unseat Maduro in 2016, but with the Chavistas in control of the Supreme Court and with enough backing from the military, it seemed likely that Chavismo would remain in power a while longer despite the ongoing economic debacle.

Raúl Gallegos
Venezuela was experiencing the first pangs of what would become known as Dutch disease, the phenomenon that occurs when the success of one natural resource ruins the rest of a country's economy.

Raúl Gallegos