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- May 22, 2017
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Venezuela's Economic Crisis Keeps Getting Worse
"Fewer bank robberies are occurring, because there's not much cash in banks. Who can afford to save?
There are fewer cars on the road to steal. With the price of imported parts soaring, many vehicles just sit in garages.
And even the criminals are migrating, the report said, joining a mass exodus of over 3 million people seeking better opportunities abroad.
"In Venezuela, it's just not profitable to be a thief anymore," said Roberto Briceño-Leon, a sociologist who coordinates the observatory.
The decline in robberies reflects a peculiar phenomenon. A visitor returning to Caracas after years away might expect to find a city falling down. The economy, after all, shrunk by around half in the past five years. But the city is not collapsing. It is disappearing.
The streets are lined with shops, but many have iron grates pulled over them at all hours; they can no longer make a profit. There are few cars on the streets, few people out at night, few items on store shelves.
Felicita Blanco, 70, is a veteran reporter, a short, graying grandma with a half-chewed pen and notebook. She has spent nearly four decades covering crime in Caracas, mostly for the daily El Carabobeño. Covering robberies of armored cars and banks were once a staple of her job.
Today, not so much. "Since the currency is worth nothing, it makes no sense to rob banks," she says.
Mario Roja, 59, has driven a cab in Caracas for 30 years. He displays his baby with pride - a '72 Dodge coupe, a rustbucket of green and blue metal parked in a working-class neighborhood carved into the Caracas hills. He used to get robbed every few months.
"It's been a year or two since I was held up," he says. "In the past year, I've earned zero money. Very little."
Clients have become scarce, he says, especially in the evenings. Who can go out to dinner? Many residents can't even afford three meals a day."
"Fewer bank robberies are occurring, because there's not much cash in banks. Who can afford to save?
There are fewer cars on the road to steal. With the price of imported parts soaring, many vehicles just sit in garages.
And even the criminals are migrating, the report said, joining a mass exodus of over 3 million people seeking better opportunities abroad.
"In Venezuela, it's just not profitable to be a thief anymore," said Roberto Briceño-Leon, a sociologist who coordinates the observatory.
The decline in robberies reflects a peculiar phenomenon. A visitor returning to Caracas after years away might expect to find a city falling down. The economy, after all, shrunk by around half in the past five years. But the city is not collapsing. It is disappearing.
The streets are lined with shops, but many have iron grates pulled over them at all hours; they can no longer make a profit. There are few cars on the streets, few people out at night, few items on store shelves.
Felicita Blanco, 70, is a veteran reporter, a short, graying grandma with a half-chewed pen and notebook. She has spent nearly four decades covering crime in Caracas, mostly for the daily El Carabobeño. Covering robberies of armored cars and banks were once a staple of her job.
Today, not so much. "Since the currency is worth nothing, it makes no sense to rob banks," she says.
Mario Roja, 59, has driven a cab in Caracas for 30 years. He displays his baby with pride - a '72 Dodge coupe, a rustbucket of green and blue metal parked in a working-class neighborhood carved into the Caracas hills. He used to get robbed every few months.
"It's been a year or two since I was held up," he says. "In the past year, I've earned zero money. Very little."
Clients have become scarce, he says, especially in the evenings. Who can go out to dinner? Many residents can't even afford three meals a day."
