Mariana Mejias can’t afford to buy a bag of rice in Venezuela. She lives in Mariche, an extremely poor neighborhood in the country’s capital, Caracas, which suffers from severe food and medical shortages like the rest of the country.
If the government doesn’t provide a subsidized monthly bag of food, Mejias would go hungry.
Skyrocketing prices have made food at her local market prohibitive. The monthly food bag, worth 10,000 bolivares ($2.25), includes rice, milk, pasta, beans and a few other items.
A bag of rice at Mejias’ local store goes for 8,000 bolivares — out of reach for her monthly income of 219,000 bolivares or $49 on the unofficial but often used exchange rate calculated by dolartoday.com.
“Things are horrible here, I don’t know how people are even surviving,” says Mejias, a 62-year-old house cleaner who earns minimum wage plus a government pension.
Venezuela’s socialist government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, raised the minimum wage 60% on Sunday to 200,021 bolivares ($45) a month, including food stamps.
“The Dictator has little time left, the parapet of the constituent does not work,” said Henrique Capriles governor of the Miranda state, called to the meeting held yesterday in Miraflores convened by the Government to present the draft Constituent Assembly.
The opposition leader insisted that there is no electoral process convened in the country. “We have been lied to, there are no dates for the elections that should have been last year or for this year’s mayors. The only process that the Government speaks of is a fraudulent call and that fraud will not go anywhere because Venezuelans are not going to allow it and so we will continue in the street until our demands are respected.
“The opposition will not leave the streets,” says Deputy Freddy Guevara that, despite “repression of the state, they will continue to protest against the dictator Nicolás Maduro.”
“From 7 in the morning (Friday) all of Venezuela will stop,” said the parliamentarian.
Source CNN Money; Dolartoday.com
