Some poor Venezuelan parents give away children amid deep crisis

[Bacchus4.0]

Source: Reuters



PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Struggling to feed herself and her seven children, Venezuelan mother Zulay Pulgar asked a neighbor in October to take over care of her six-year-old daughter, a victim of a pummeling economic crisis.

The family lives on Pulgar's father's pension, worth $6 a month at the black market rate, in a country where prices for many basic goods are surpassing those in the United States.

"It's better that she has another family than go into prostitution, drugs or die of hunger," the 43-year-old unemployed mother said, sitting outside her dilapidated home with her five-year-old son, father and unemployed husband.

With average wages less than the equivalent of $50 a month at black market rates, three local councils and four national welfare groups all confirmed an increase in parents handing children over to the state, charities or friends and family.



Read more: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/poor-venezuelan-parents-away-children-amid-deep-crisis-141708650.html

[otohara]

1. No Economic Miracle After All eh David Sirota?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022467442

[Bacchus4.0]

2. It was entirely due to oil prices and they didn't invest it back into the country either

the money was given away and stolen by the chavistas.

[Perseus]

5. It was not due to oil prices

When the Chavez regime took over oil prices were at its high, but corruption went rampant. The alliances with Fidel Castro, who used Chavez as a puppet for his own benefit, not the benefit of the Cuban people, the money not only started to go into their personal bank accounts, but to finance drugs, guerrillas, etc.

If the regime had taken that money to better the lives of the Venezuelan people, they would have sidewalks made of Gold in some places today, there was so much money.

It had nothing to do with the oil prices, it had everything to do with corruption and ideology.

[Bacchus4.0]

7. The so called "economic miracle" was only due to oil prices

I believe that when Chavez came to power prices were relatively low. Indeed, Cuba treats Venezuela as its colony. They take Venezuela's oil and resell it for profit.

While the previous economic oil boom also resulted in a crash, at least they invested somewhat in the country building the highway and subway system and other infrastructure. The chavistas simply used oil revenue to buy votes, give away to foreign governments, and line their own pockets.

[Perseus]

8. Chaves did not build the subway system, it was there already

and in regards to infrastructure, no, he didn't put any money in infrastructure, all he did was build some horrendous apartment building with no elevators and painted them red. These buildings are so poorly made that people are just waiting for a day when they will collapse with people inside.

The worst part is that the regime "gave" these apartments to poor people, but sometimes when they tried to move in they would find that there was a family already living in there, so that was it, they were out of a home.

Infrastructure is collapsing in Venezuela, they have done absolutely nothing to fix it. You can think of the regime as a bank that opened its vault to have just a couple of people fill their bags with the loot and leave everyone else out.

The subway system's first leg was inaugurated with Luis Herrera Campins as president, that was in 1982. Chavez won the presidency in 1998, and took office in 1999.

Not only is the infrastructure in shambles, they also destroyed the Oil Industry because the removed all the brains of the industry to employ their supporters.

What needs to be understood is that the destruction of that country has been a conscious effort to dismantle everything to perpetuate power, it has also served as an experiment where countries like the USA have been studying and I feel Trump is going to try to do the same. You have to be very concerned when a president-elect fills its cabinets with military, that is one of the things Chavez did, he pampered the military and gained their undivided support, until today.

[Bacchus4.0]

10. Yes, I meant the previous oil boom in the 70s, Venezuela invested somewhat into infrastructure then

Not under the chavistas.

[otohara]

9. Oh Okay...

You don't think it's wrong for a government to confiscate private property and entire industries?

Let's watch the Trump family make a killing the same way Chavistas did in Venezuala.

[Bacchus4.0]

11. I do think its wrong for sure. Chavistas destroyed most of the businesses that were successful

including the coffee and cacao growers. The industries the state confiscated are now failures.

[liberalmike27]

12. Probably Wrong to Ask, But

Good God, why have seven children, in a near Dystopia. Hell I keep telling folks they should consider not having any here in the U.S., much less there.

Too many people treat having kids like it's a contest--now that we have a certain amount of control, we should choose to have one, or two per family.

[COLGATE4]

13. You have to understand that, with that level of poverty

children can actually make the difference economically for a poor family. Children can work and bring in some $$. In addition, Venezuela is a staunchly Catholic country and birth control is frowned on by the church. And, to top it off, Venezuela, like it's sister Latin countries has a super-abundance of machismo, whereby if hubby is in the mood, hubby is in the mood, period. Consequences are the woman's problem, not his. Finally, with that level of poverty even modestly priced birth control may well be a luxury they can't afford.

[AlanAdam]

15. Why do the impoverished have so many children?

I learned the reason long ago in a college course called Geography of Hunger. People aren't stupid. In undeveloped countries with no social safety nets (e.g., Social Security) offspring are your safety nets. They are able to help on the farm or learn the father's trade when they are old enough. And they will care for aging parents later.

In countries with no middle class, the more offspring you have, the better your odds that one may get lucky and land a lucrative government job. Not likely but possible. It's like buying lottery tickets. That is why everywhere in the world as countries make the transition from undeveloped to developed, birth rates decline. It is also why, regardless of an undeveloped country's religion or culture (Latin America, Africa, or Asia) people resist using birth control. It's ultimately not in their own best interest.

[christx30]

19. If you're married, and really broke, can't go to movies or anything fun.

Sometimes there's nothing to do except for sex with your spouse. It's a free way of forgetting about the crap that's going on in your life, and feeling good just for a few minutes. And in a religious country like that, birth control is frowned upon.
Hence, lots of babies.

[Perseus]

3. This is what the Chavez regime brought to that country

It is amazing that a couple of years ago there were many people in DU who defended Chavez and the regime without ever visiting that country, out of ideology alone one cannot form realistic opinions.

I urge everyone in the USA to read about the rise of Chavez, the things that were said during the campaign, the alliances he made during and after the campaign, the narcissistic character of the individual, the people he aligned himself with when he was putting his cabinet together, the actions he mentioned he would take once elected, and you will be terrorized to find that the USA has elected their own Chavez in Trump.

And for those who voted for Trump thinking he would take their feet out of the mud, read this article and see how a regime like that treats its poor, its middle class, which in Venezuela has become the poor class, see how the infrastructure collapses, the health system, the lack of food, lack of jobs, etc., etc., while the lords amass riches beyond belief, their coffers filled to such heights that it would be impossible to spend it in two or three lifetimes. It is estimated that the fortune of the Chavez family is beyond the 1.6 billion dollars, the one from Diosdado Cabello (the biggest crook of the regime) doubles that.

Well, brace yourselves because it CAN HAPPEN HERE, and if this monster gets to the white house, it will happen here. Narcissistic people like Trump only care about one thing, power.

One last thing, the alliances Chavez formed with Fidel Castro are very similar to the one Trump has with Putin...be very afraid because you have no idea what people like that are capable of, never forget that the criminal mind works very different than a normal, healthy mind. To a criminal mind "means to an end" has no bearing on the decisions they make regarding who they hurt to get there, and we all have seen it during this election, lies, empty promises, and many other things that meant nothing but a "means to an end" which was to get the votes of those he will abandon on day one.

[NobodyHere]

4. Socialist paradise

[Perseus]

6. Nothing to do with Socialism

Socialism is just a masquerade to lure the masses to vote for them, at least in South American countries. You can find democratic-socialism that works very well in European countries.

The regime in Venezuela is just a corrupt dictatorship regime, nothing else.

[NobodyHere]

17. So Venezuela isn't socialist?

[xor]

18. I think he/she is saying that the problems of Venz are not simply because of "socialism"

but rather due to the methods in which ideas were executed (either due to incompetence or corruption) So socialist ideas themselves are not to blame, as there are many democratic socialist countries in Europe that are highly successful.

[Marksman_91]

20. Venezuelan here. Always hated Chavez and his party, but I also don't blame socialism

Socialism as a concept sounds nice, and socialist ideas, like the state providing basic services along with healthcare, education, etc. have been successfully implemented in many parts of the world. Hell, even the US could be said to have socialist aspects considering Americans enjoy some things like highways through their taxes.

The real reason Venezuela collapsed was because under Chavez we've had the most corrupt, most incompetent, most full-of-shit band of neanderthals our country has ever had as its government. They essentially used their positions in power to rob the people blindly without efficiently implementing a sustainable system of services for them and didn't invest for shit in infrastructure or diversifying the economy. They simply only care about filling up their pockets and seizing whatever private means of production they could find to keep enriching themselves all while playing the blame game that the US and the opposition were out to steal from the poor.

[jzodda]

14. Times have sure changed around here

Pro government posts used to be the order of the day around here.

It was a house of cards, the whole thing was a sham and just moving towards collapse.

[alphafemale]

16. I think the kids are actually being sold into servitude and possibly sex slavery.

Horrible.