Economic breakdown in Venezuela leads to urban office workers becoming illegal gold diggers; Resurgence of malaria
Hard Times in Venezuela Breed Malaria as Desperate Flock to Mines, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/world/venezuela-malaria-mines.html, Aug 2016
This article is around four months old. But I think it is the most heart-breaking article I have read about Venezuela's plunge from an oil-money-rich country to one which is seeing its economic system plunge into a horrible depression along with very high inflation. That has resulted in many salaries from what were decently paid jobs becoming almost worthless. That in turn has lead to people having good stable jobs like computer technicians and other office workers becoming illegal diggers/panners/miners for gold in a town which is run by unofficial armed groups and where malaria is rife!
A small extract from the article is given below:
"Here, waiters, office workers, taxi drivers, college graduates and even civil servants on vacation from their government jobs are out panning for black-market gold, all under the watchful eyes of an armed group that taxes them and threatens to tie them to posts if they disobey.
It is a society turned upside down, a place where educated people abandon once-comfortable jobs in the city for dangerous, backbreaking work in muddy pits, desperate to make ends meet. And it comes with a steep price: Malaria, long driven to the fringes of the country, is festering in the mines and back with a vengeance."
Ravi: I don't know when this horrible and miserable time for Venezuelans will end. What agony the people of Venezuela are going through now! What an epic breakdown of early 21st century urban life! I think what is happening in Venezuela now shows how 21st century urban life can unravel and descend into chaos, in the face of prolonged economic depression. What is really frightening is how diseases like malaria, which Venezuela had almost eradicated from her lands, can suddenly become dominant again, and start taking lives as medicines to fight the disease and fumigation material to eradicate or reduce mosquitoes, are in short supply due to the prolonged economic depression. I mean, it is not just less food on the table. It is far worse.
What a terrible state of affairs Venezuela has landed into due to heavy reliance on oil exports to pay for most of the country's needs! Sustained low prices for oil seems to have led to this crushing economic crisis in Venezuela.
[I thank nytimes.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above short extract from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
This article is around four months old. But I think it is the most heart-breaking article I have read about Venezuela's plunge from an oil-money-rich country to one which is seeing its economic system plunge into a horrible depression along with very high inflation. That has resulted in many salaries from what were decently paid jobs becoming almost worthless. That in turn has lead to people having good stable jobs like computer technicians and other office workers becoming illegal diggers/panners/miners for gold in a town which is run by unofficial armed groups and where malaria is rife!
A small extract from the article is given below:
"Here, waiters, office workers, taxi drivers, college graduates and even civil servants on vacation from their government jobs are out panning for black-market gold, all under the watchful eyes of an armed group that taxes them and threatens to tie them to posts if they disobey.
It is a society turned upside down, a place where educated people abandon once-comfortable jobs in the city for dangerous, backbreaking work in muddy pits, desperate to make ends meet. And it comes with a steep price: Malaria, long driven to the fringes of the country, is festering in the mines and back with a vengeance."
Ravi: I don't know when this horrible and miserable time for Venezuelans will end. What agony the people of Venezuela are going through now! What an epic breakdown of early 21st century urban life! I think what is happening in Venezuela now shows how 21st century urban life can unravel and descend into chaos, in the face of prolonged economic depression. What is really frightening is how diseases like malaria, which Venezuela had almost eradicated from her lands, can suddenly become dominant again, and start taking lives as medicines to fight the disease and fumigation material to eradicate or reduce mosquitoes, are in short supply due to the prolonged economic depression. I mean, it is not just less food on the table. It is far worse.
What a terrible state of affairs Venezuela has landed into due to heavy reliance on oil exports to pay for most of the country's needs! Sustained low prices for oil seems to have led to this crushing economic crisis in Venezuela.
[I thank nytimes.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above short extract from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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