Basically what we want is two things. Security and better opportunities.
Security here is a joke. In all of its aspects. There is not physical security, we are in a place were crooks shot death people people death and then rob them because is easier that way. Hey with about 99% of unsolved crimes rate, why not?
Healthcare is a joke too, a bad, sad joke. Hospitals that come straight from Silent Hill, understaffed because the monthly payment is less than 5 dollars for a public worker, people laying on the floors on carton boxes because the equipment is long gone form from overuse or robbery. The few personnel still working in hospitals do it either out of vocation and have another real breadwinner job or are making money on the lowside by selling the few medicines and supplies that ever come in through the outright criminal bureaucracy.
Juridical security does not exist. You are subject to any potential harasment, extortion or forced disappearance by the state or its goons. In practice you belong to them and only the rights they feel like apply to you at any moment.
A few quick examples of people I directly or indirectly knew personally:
- The uncle of my inlaw brother's wife, got gored and dismembered because he did not wanted to sell his meager piece of land were he had lived all his life and planted platains tu survive to some guys harassing him. The very morning after, his body still warm some "law enforcement" officials (national guard in this case) were there declaring outright that the land was theirs now and anyone better accepted it and shut up or else. His niece tried to push for some investigation only to meet a death threat to her and his toddler on the police quarters from a policeman.
- A men that sells fish and have had a moderate success had about 200 police men raid his house because he was "trafficking with gasoline". When he saw by the window the police had a truck filled with gasoline barrels ready to enter his garage he had to negotiate with the head of the procedure, give him 600 dollars and a lot of sport equipment, as well as his car battery and all 4 wheels along other spare parts. Now the guy gets called every so often to fulfill fish orders, for free or else.
- The owner of a mom&pop grocery shop (bodegas we call them) got extorted and had to pay 2000 or else he was going to jail and his family would be murdered because he did not wanted to "sell" his car to some law enforcer officer.
- The owner of a junk yard and his son had to come up with 2000 dollars or they would go to jail because the had a car of "dubious origin" in their yard. It was their own fucking car that was trashed on an accident, they had all the papers to prove it.
- Who perhaps was the last honest policemen in the whole place refused his new commander officer orders of "bring me 100 dollars every day, or else" to each one of the team. He was then sent to a God forbidden town, then imprisoned in his own command building for a while under false charges, finally after being cleared and back to work he was gunned down on an ambush.
- When he was a few months old, my own son was denied essential medicine on a public hospital (a miracle own its own they actually had it at the moment) because we were not card carrying members of the party. Had to buy it on the black market at great expense.
- Two co-owners of a small business got kidnaped and forced to "sell" two apartments they had by police officers. That's it, they were taken at gun point to the Public Registry and signed the papers.
And all this is on top of the own regular crime atrocities. I could go on, and on, and on.... I have avoided most trouble by keeping my head down when I wasnt crippling poor and then by simply not going out at all for nothing that is not work related.
Financial security, oh boy... the official government don't have to take you at gun point nowere, they probably still will if they feel like it. But its easier to sign a paper and poof, that propriety is minha now. And if you protest much? To the jail with you. This was in theory destined to big industries (which they then consistently destroyed like the bunch of stupid criminals they are) but its a cart blanc to basically anything they want.
Our own money is worth less than monopoly money, literally, that is why we use the dollar, despite being illegal in paper to own it even, the ruling cartel encourages it now because Venezuela has become the biggest laundering operation in the history of mankind and probably in the history of everything.
Recent studies put poverty on a 94% of us, and extreme poverty on a 76%, with both numbers creeping up all the time. Over 5 million of Venezuelans have gone abroad, the vast majority to send money back to their families and the dream of someday return or take their families with them. If by any chance you actually accomplish something and make some honest money here its just a matter of time before you either get a visit of the goons to extort you or their bosses for you to launder money for them or else... and this not taking into account the "vacuna" (vaccine) you have to pay to whoever is in charge in the area (official or otherwise) so you get protection or not robbed by them.
Prices here are as much as any other country now but the salaries are laughable. And while is true some services are not being charged right now (the people that did the metrics quit because poor work conditions and payment) we also have the worst services rates. Slowest internet with a LOT of down times. Electricity service is interrupted everywhere from 1 up to 15 hours or more, sometimes for days, every day. The whole city I live have 1 week without water on pipes because lack of maintenance. Getting cocking gas is troublesome to say the least and many people are simply doing it with timber again.
As you migth picture from all this, people have not much time to progress or else while being worried day after day for its short term survival, this hampers a lot of progress and make opportunities to grow in any area difficult, unless... you join the criminal organization that rules.
That dichotomy, I don't want it for my son. For him to grow up in a place were being a good honest man gets you in death peril at worst or branded you as a fool at best.
Basically that is what we are trying to escape.