Greetings, everyone

Some random thoughts from quarantined Venezuela.

It's been a bit over three weeks since we were officially locked down, and even though there is still plenty of activity in the streets, in terms of number of people walking up and down the downtown areas, we are starting to see depression hit both the economy and the mind.

There are more non-essential businesses closed every day, which gives the town a pretty gloomy look. Finding food and medicine has become the one priority that makes people go out in the streets. As if covid-19 was not enough we have additional problems that complicate our existence. Venezuela has literally run out of gasoline. The current government ruined our entire industrial infrastructure and the few refineries that were among the best in Latin America some years ago are now producing zero gasoline. No gasoline means no transportation and less food in the supermarkets.

Even though the government promised to cover most people’s salaries via direct stipends or subsidies, their meager contributions do nothing to mitigate our already catastrophic situation, especially now with the dollar passing the 100,000 VEF line. The average professional makes now about $10 a month, but one single chicken, that will last for a couple of days, costs now about $5.

Amid that economic disaster, we have an even more serious one, the political disaster. Not only do we have to deal with a criminal regime with dozens of government officials (starting with president, nicolas maduro) formally accused of terrorism or drug trafficking; we also have to deal with opposition leaders who lose popularity by the minute. Corruption scandals, alleged complicity and pacts with the government, contradictions, inability or unwillingness to effectively act in times of crisis, among other issues, have undermined people’s confidence in their politicians and now from interim president, juan guaido to every official appointed by him, all of these leaders inspire little to no confidence that our political crisis will get to a satisfactory end or that the transition will be successful.

Now that neighboring countries are facing serious economic complications caused by coronavirus, a significant number of Venezuelans who had migrated and were starting to rebuild their lives in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, or Colombia have lost their jobs and, unable to pay rent, are being kicked out of their residences. They are not eligible to receive whatever financial support these countries are offering to their nationals, and they have not yet received any financial support from the Venezuelan embassies.

Amid all these and other issues, we have to live. We do our best to remain healthy and sane. We keep ourselves busy studying, working online, reading, writing, listening to music, watching movies, doing our domestic chores and sharing some family time, while we still have a family. This crisis has put us in the verge of desperation but has also made us reassess our priorities.

I am about to finish a translation of a novel (Escamas de Sangre) written in Spain by a friend of mine, M. Salazar. Four more pages and it is done. This is the first book of a fantasy series (Memorias de Nagar). Hopefully, after this nigthmare is gone people will have the peace of mind to enjoy a good fantasy story about fantastic creatures and lands that will help forget about this messy world of ours.

Thanks for your visit

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