Consumerism in Venezuela

Venezuela is the country with soaring figures of consumerism in South America and the world in general. According to figures, Venezuela consumes more Blackberry phones than any other country in the world and more the Brazil and Mexico combined.

Pretty much everyone has a Blackberry or another expensive phone. Blackberry phones signal fortune and wealth. If you have one you are definitely going to be taken care more seriously.

Kids from as young as the tender age of 10 own Blackberry phones. But also the poor of the country are not behind. In fact there are stories of people who will say they don’t have money but buy Blackberry phones because of the pervasive pressure to go with times.

But this consumerism doesn’t stop here. It goes along way up to the clothes, shoes and cars. Moda is very important for the Venezuelan people and the malls are always loaded with consumers who go out with bags and bags of newly purchased merchandise.

But not just in the expensive malls will you find shopaholics. In the downtown famed for its affordability is where consumers swam the shops like bees, ladies purchasing shoes and men new shirts.

As I pass the narrow closed street of 20^th Avenue where shops are lined up on each side, I am not shocked anymore to be bumping with thousands of shoppers tagging along their kids for a Saturday of new shoes and the like.

The clothes shops filled with shoppers display goods on sale with 50% discount of some selected merchandise. These shops have employed people special to speak on loud speakers attracting customers with the sweetest words.

And so as the day dies off, I have managed to buy boxers of about US$15, three pairs of socks of US$2, a bag of about US$15 and a cheap cologne from a seller who couldn’t stop talking of about US$10.

This is part of the lives of many of the Venezuelans.

But why such consumerism?

The Business of Sikarios

If one hates you enough to want to kill you, one is able to do so in Venezuela. What one will do is have a price tag attached to your name. One will then contact the professional killers, or famously known as Sikarios to take you down. In few days the job will be done and you will be no more.

And all this can be at a price of 500Bs which is equivalent to about US$150.

According to the information I have gathered, Sikarios started off as professional killers, of Colombian citizenship present in Venezuela. The job of killing was conducted by them. However today, Venezuelans are also doing the job with gusto.

Mostly, the killings will be conducted by guns which are illicitly obtained. One might be kidnapped first and then killed afterwards or might be killed at an instant.

In order to carry out their operations, Sikarios will purchase a random Identity Card to conduct their operations. These cards are mostly of deceased persons but sometimes they might be of innocent people living which will end up complicating matters.

A friend told me of his once dire situation. Once while driving he was stopped by the police who conducted a checkup of his vehicle. As part of the checkup process they asked for his ID.

The Rich and the Poor

Venezuelan colors are divided on several lines. But indeed there are two major lines that seem pervasive, covering the general population and owing to discussion.  As you have gathered from reading or visiting the country, its population is highly mixed between the sons of this land, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and Africans.

With this mixture you are bound to encounter people like the colors of the rainbow, diverse and rich. From the very light skin, European looking to very dark skinned as if picked from the middle of the Nigerian soil. Everyone lays somewhere on this long color line.

But within this long line, a crossroad is formed when another line crosses through it, dividing the population on two sides, placing them into two different parts.

I only realized it when I decided to walk around the Eastern part of Barquisimeto on a Saturday evening, trying to absorb more of my surrounding. As I walked I met people on the road doing the same thing as I.

Insecurity in Venezuela

Venezuela, one of the happiest country but clouded by the
prevalence of insecurity

Insecurity in Venezuela is a naughty issue, scaring not only the locals but everyone thinking of visiting the country. If one embarks on a thorough reading of the country while deciding to visit, they might be persuaded to abandon their mission.

A friend who went to Cuba narrated her experience while conversing with other lodgers in Backpack hostel. Many of the tourists who had traveled extensively in the South American continent eschewed  touching Venezuela though it has the tallest waterfall in the world.

This has led to the anti-Chavez sentiment due to the fact that the issue of insecurity is prevalent in almost all states and towns of the country.

When you arrive you will be explicitly warned over the duration you are here. That will be the topic that you will meet while conversing with people for the first time. Everyone will warn you to be careful.

This will include wisdom about evading the worst part of this cities or that where people of low income resides. It will also include not walking at night from the hours of 5 pm, though others will warn you to completely not walk at any time.

Racism in Venezuela

Is there racial discrimination in Venezuela? 

No.

This is the answer you will get from about 90 per cent or more of the population here in Venezuela. There is no racial discrimination, only there are issues with classes, you would be told.

Venezuela presents a very difficult fabric which is interwoven and mixed to the point nothing really stands on its own purity. Venezuelans are mestizos with a rich background that spans from both directions.

In fact, no matter how dark or light-skinned Venezuelans are, most of them they will tell you that they are mestizos. There is a tendency of generalizing and drawing similarities making everyone racially the same.

It is also very common for families to have some children that look very light-skinned and refer to them as Catires and have others with the darkest skin and refer to them as Negros. But all this reference is non discriminative and quite acceptable.

Black People in Venezuela

Hay negros en Venezuela

My first encounter with them was on my second day in the country. I was in a bus heading 6 hours from Caracas to a city called Barquisimeto in a journey that started at 8:00 o’clock in the morning.

Inside the bus it was so cold one had to put on a sweater or shiver to death. Initially I had trouble finding my way to the seat by looking at the cluttered, faded out ticket until one passenger assisted me by pointing at where it was written.

In the television in front, an English movie muted, with Spanish subtitle was on the loop, repeating about three times before I reached my final destination.

After we exited the city, we were welcome by a thick jungle. The bus would disappear only to climb few miles later exposing the green fields rolling to the horizons, covered with trees hugged together paving the way for the bus to pass.