We've been here before, slightly different scenarios, similar challenges for the average citizen. Most challenging issue: food!
After a quiet uneventful night, we woke up to empty streets, closed businesses (not just because it was a Sunday), scarcity of some products, and considerably higher prices.
The price jumps is not a new thing (it's been like this for a whole year, and being honest, it's been like this since 2008). Last January, an average person could buy $20 with an average salary of 1,160 Bs. By december 2025, that same worker (whose salary did not increase) could only buy $4. That's how bad things get every year and it has been like this for 26 years.
An elder's pension is just 130 Bs. No wonder this spectacle has multiplied by as many dirty corners we have in every town.
The current recent political events, messy as they can be, are nothing compared to the festering sore caused by the very people some self-righteous defenders of international law and human rights insist should be left alone sorting things out.
We resume the old habit of surviving, fighting off external and internal foes.
Long lines
Fearful business owners who refuse to open lest their business be looted by mobs. Ironically, the longest this happens, the higher the chances of hungry/angry mobs wanting to loot.
Even the pets were waiting in lines. Luckily for them, it was easier to get their good (for those who can afford it).
My wife and I entered a nearby supermarket and while she looked for some basic products, I stood in one of the six long lines.
They were not limiting the number of ítems people we buy yet, but I am sure they will if things don't improve soon.
It is ok with us, either way. With our budget, we can't afford shopping for more than a week's worth of food.
That is the reality of most professionals, but some people can still buy in bulk.
They ran out of eggs just when we arrived (about 9 am), so I had to go out and walk a few blocks to find a place where they were selling eggs while my wife waited in line.
It was shorter than the supermarket line, so I figured I'd be done in time to back and help my wife out.
There were enough eggs for all the people in line at the moment, and despite the increase in price, they were cheaper than in other places I had heard about (2,000 Bs for 15 eggs).
I was back just in time to pay.
🤭😁
And we were out after some 4 hours. 😰
I don't see the day Venezuela can be stable again. We are sick of surviving mode. We are sick of playing pretend to save face because "life goes on and you can't be blue all the time."
2026 for us may go down in history as the year when the right thing was (partially) done by the wrong people with the wrong purposes.
Only time will tell.