Maduro is gone, but Venezuela's many problems are not

U.S. officials say they aim to boost prosperity in Venezuela by taking control of its oil industry and investing the proceeds in the economy. However, many Caracas residents believe that this is not enough to solve the deep economic and social crisis. According to them, the country faces much bigger problems that require time and profound changes to improve.

Venezuela can seem like a country of stark contrasts. Since the United States intervened and seized power in January, the country's political elite has been talking about an economic revival, fueled by US President Donald Trump's promises to boost prosperity by taking control of Venezuela's ailing oil industry.

At the same time, hundreds of political prisoners, many of them weakened and traumatized by years of inhumane conditions in filthy prisons, have been released. Most are afraid to speak out about their experiences, fearing that the government, which remains essentially unchanged except for Maduro's absence, could turn against them again. Meanwhile, hundreds more remain locked up.

But between those released and those convicted there is a vast gap, where almost all other Venezuelans - professors, doctors, construction workers, street vendors - spend their days trying to survive amidst the rubble of a shattered economy. For this large segment of the population, the US intervention has so far changed little and offers only a faint hope for something better.

On a recent day, four professors of politics and economics gathered for coffee around a plastic table on their campus, the Central University of Venezuela in the capital, Caracas. They recounted how the economic decline during Maduro's 13 years in power had pushed them into poverty.

"In the last five years, the currency depreciated so much that my salary was equivalent to four dollars a month. In other words, I forgot I had a salary," said Pedro Garcia, 59, who now heads a union of retired professors.

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Over time, he said, he canceled more and more classes to sell home-cooked meals to people waiting in line for subsidized fuel near his apartment. Then he sold his mother-in-law’s bed, her refrigerator and his bicycle. His pension is ridiculous — “not enough to keep from starving,” he said.

His colleague, Carlos Hermoso, an economist, leaned forward, frowned and said that the United States' promise to reinvest profits from Venezuelan oil sales may create an illusion of "growth," but for most Venezuelans it will be simply a "mirage."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope the United States turns Venezuela into a factory of its own in competition with China," Hermoso said, explaining that he would never have thought of this if the situation weren't so dire. "This would be a step forward for us."

Pessimism prevails.

The Trump administration says it has begun sending millions of dollars from Venezuelan oil sales to the government in Caracas and that it will "ensure that these funds are used transparently and for the benefit of the Venezuelan people."

However, rebuilding the oil industry could cost more than $180 billion and take more than a decade, according to analysts, and even then the country would produce less than at its peak in the 1990s.

The value of Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, has continued to decline even after Maduro's ouster, falling by at least 36 percent since January, pushing the monthly minimum wage to an absurd 27 cents.

While the United States has intervened in Venezuela's economy, it has not taken steps to shore up the central bank's foreign exchange reserves, as it recently did for Argentina.

On Thursday, Venezuela's leader, Delcy Rodriguez, announced that, although the minimum wage will remain the same, workers will be guaranteed bonuses amounting to $240 a month. Independent studies show that for food alone, a Venezuelan family of five needs about $610 a month.

The state coffers remain largely empty, while basic services such as transportation, education, and health have been severely weakened, almost collapsing. During Maduro's nearly twelve years in power, nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled the country, and very few of them have seen enough hope in his successors to consider returning.

Venezuela's transition is still in its early stages, and reversing years of decline will be neither quick nor easy.

But for now, pessimism prevails.

One morning in Caricuao, once a desirable residential area in Caracas, surrounded by greenery and next to a zoo, a queue to board old, damaged buses stretched with hundreds of people.

The line passed beneath a city subway station - once considered the best in South America, but all morning, not a single bus came.

Despite this dire situation, the scene was calm and orderly. Or maybe it was just surrender.

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Yelmira Jimenez, the head of a bus drivers' association in the area, said the lines were always long because most buses were waiting in other lines at gas stations. Drivers can spend days waiting to refuel.

She explained that the Venezuelan government imported 7.000 Chinese buses in 2011 and in 2015 opened a half-billion-dollar factory for a Chinese company to produce them locally. But mismanagement and corruption forced the factory to close just a few years later.

"Unemployment until death"

With the local currency's continued decline, many drivers could not even afford repairs, let alone regular maintenance. They struggled to piece together various parts to keep their buses running.

"Look at the passengers, like sardines - every dream has been robbed, even though this is supposed to be an oil-producing country," she said. "The only thing that has changed since they took Maduro is that I feel more comfortable talking to an American journalist."

In the poor hilltop neighborhoods surrounding Caracas, the despair is even deeper. Residents describe schools with only one teacher for all age groups, stores without fresh produce, and years of unsuccessfully searching for work. Some residents said even petty criminals have fled the country because there is almost nothing left to steal.

According to a rare study on poverty in the country, conducted by the Andres Bello Catholic University in 2024, three-quarters of the population did not have enough income to meet daily needs, while more than half experienced what the study called “multidimensional poverty,” which includes not only income, but also education, housing, and employment.

In a study conducted by the same university a decade ago, around the time Maduro took power from his predecessor Hugo Chavez, both of these figures were roughly 50 percent lower.

Many people said they saw the situation as a distortion of Chavez's legacy by Maduro. Ana Bracho had once worked as a government employee and had a portrait of Chavez tattooed on her wrist. Her neighborhood enthusiastically supported the socialist revolution in the 1990s and 2000s.

A few years ago, she quit her job and removed the tattoo, replacing it with a flower. She said her increasingly outspoken criticism of Maduro led to socialist party officials in her neighborhood blocking her from taking advantage of social programs that provide basic food and cooking gas.

"At that time, the slogan was: 'Together, anything is possible,'" Ms. Bracho said. "Apparently, 'everything' included theft and malnutrition. Unemployment until death - that's what we have."

The four professors gathered for coffee seemed to be of one mind. The great instability of the economy, the lack of formal jobs, more than a decade of mass emigration - it all seemed too overwhelming to fully comprehend, even for scholars who have spent their lives analyzing these issues. After all, who had time to keep track of everything? Everyone was busy trying to make a living.

For many, the dream of escaping this difficult life keeps coming back. Nelida Salazar has given up on that dream for herself, but she's investing everything in her youngest son, Santiago Jesus Diaz, 15, who has shown talent as a baseball player. He wants to become a player in the big leagues.

To cover the costs of a training academy, some new gloves and a proper athlete's diet for her son, Ms. Salazar has sold everything of value she owns. Her husband and eldest son contribute almost all of their income from their police jobs.

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She makes candy at home and earns a few dollars a day selling it. When she can't afford to buy fresh eggs for her son, she crushes the shells of discarded eggs and uses them as a kind of protein powder. She avoids opening the refrigerator when he is home because its emptiness makes him cry, and she senses that he is aware of the immense pressure he is under to succeed.

"When I pray, I say, 'Please, God, give me a job, give me a job, give me a job,'" she said. "If someone said to me, 'Come clean my house, clean my toilets,' I would do it. But there's no one asking."