The return to the streets and public life still sounds very distant for Latin America, the current epicenter of covid-19. The region has already exceeded 59,000 deaths, and Brazil is the country that files more than 42,800 deaths, as of June 14. The situation in this country has been aggravated by the decision of its current far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has openly opposed the confinement that several mayors and governors have decreed following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the international scientific community.
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Quarantine ramble on the “social outbreak”- Venezuela: pandemic and famine
- Maduro, the pandemic and us
While on the one hand, Brazil has the highest number of deaths, on the other, Venezuela is one of the countries in Latin America that has reported the fewest cases and deaths due to coronavirus (just over three thousand infections and 24 deaths). However, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) considers that Venezuela is one of the potentially most vulnerable countries in the entire region; not only due to the lack of medical resources, its capacity to house the sick, the serious deficiencies in the public health system, and the impossibility of offering an accurate count of the cases detected, but also because the serious crisis that it has been undergoing since years ago.
Even before the pandemic, several organizations, such as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), warned that a third of the Venezuelan population was in a situation of food insecurity and risk.
In 2019, 1,777 protests were registered for lack of water in the country, a figure that increases year after year, according to the annual report of the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict. In fact, the coronavirus crisis has not stopped Caracas residents from taking to the streets to protest the shortage of this resource, as the situation reached critical levels after an explosion in the pumping room of one of the supply systems. that left a large part of the capital without water during the past month of May.
Deputy @ CarlosValero08 pointed out that "it is unusual that Venezuela was one of the example countries in the region for quality in public services. Now even the grandparents, they are condemned to queue and load pipots to have water" pic.twitter.com/XlZoi95AOW
- Sumarium (@sumariumcom) May 30, 2020The problem of deterioration of the water distribution infrastructure is not new in Venezuela and, today, it is hitting Venezuelans more than ever due to the epidemic. In other words, this deficiency prevents compliance with preventive measures, such as hand washing and hygiene - one of the main recommendations that has been most insisted on to prevent infections. But, in addition to the supply problem, Venezuela faces a severe fuel shortage, which prevents the transport of goods from the countryside to the city, makes it difficult for toilets to travel to their jobs, and obviously also paralyzes public transportation. land.
Since the discovery of oil fields during the 1920s, gasoline has become the engine of the country, transforming itself into an oil superpower. Since the 1970s, the Venezuelan state has had a monopoly on the sale of gasoline and has always ensured that Venezuelans have a full tank at a greatly reduced price. Cheap gasoline is totally rooted in national identity, but what has been the country's hallmark - getting it practically free - is coming to an end. The looting of the state oil company (PDVSA), mismanagement, the deterioration of all facilities as well as incessant cases of corruption have led to the collapse of the refineries, coupled with US sanctions.
Thus, since June 1 of this year, the participation of the private sector in the sale of crude oil represents a break with what has been the state policy for more than five decades. Many experts assure that the situation of the covid-19 has been beneficial for the current Maduro government, since it is an opportunity to implement what has long been wanted to be implemented in the country.
But who will be able to face this increase in gasoline in the midst of this crisis?
Sanctions, internal crises and the emergency situation that Venezuela has been going through for years makes cooperation difficult and directly affects the most vulnerable population. It is no longer just about the coronavirus health crisis, but also political instability, social and economic precariousness, gasoline shortages, the collapse of services, water cuts, electricity, etc. It is not only an economic issue, but it is also a social issue.
In this precarious context, where care is necessary, the Pan American Health Organization estimates that 30% of the population in the entire Latin American and Caribbean region does not have access to health care due to economic reasons. As explained in this CLACSO article, in Chile, for example, being the second country in Latin America with the highest per capita public health spending, access is not the same for everyone due to the level of Health privatization, generating a problem for the most deprived. In a context in which the States do not invest in quality public health and universal access, it is evident that today, the abandonment of the health system and social assistance is very expensive.
This new global scenario requires urgent measures to assess the impacts that may affect the entire region. In this sense, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has developed an observatory where all the public policies that are being carried out in the 33 countries of the region are monitored and compiled to limit the impact of the pandemic, as well as the analysis of the economic and social impacts that they are going to have at the national and sectoral levels.
This crisis will affect not only Venezuela, but all the countries of the region that, in one way or another, are openly exposed to fluctuations in the price of oil and are totally dependent on this natural resource, since unfortunately, oil affects , in many countries, in all aspects of public life: health, economy, education ... Oil has been the catalyst of the region for almost a century and, perhaps, the time has come when it should be left behind the idea of making this non-renewable resource of limited existence the engine of the region.