We must read all the reports of this journalist, and I beg him to send me all his new comments. What Trump has done is wrong, but the country was on the brink of total collapse. PRA
A personal account about Venezuela, by Alexander Busch:
“Last week, I was in Venezuela researching a new chapter in the country's turbulent history.
I happened to pass by the house where I lived with my family from 1964 to 1969. It's very close to Plaza Francia in Altamira. From there, I walked to kindergarten every day and went later by bus to the German school. The same travel agency that was there 60 years ago is still on the ground floor.
That's an amazing continuity. Back then, Venezuela was a stable democracy and prosperous thanks to its oil wealth. The decline began a quarter of a century ago.
When I returned to Venezuela almost every year from the mid-1990s onwards as a correspondent for South America, the country was still a democracy and more or less wealthy, but it was already in decline.
After Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1999, his left-wing government survived the first ten years thanks to historically high oil prices. This masked the corruption, catastrophic mismanagement, and increasing repression.
From 2014 onwards, this was no longer possible. The severe economic crisis and Maduro's incompetence drove eight million people out of the country. Today, Venezuela, with a population of just under 30 million, a country larger than France and Germany combined, today has an economic output (GDP) not much bigger than that of Frankfurt.
But since Maduro's fall on January 3, something has changed in the country. Many people are optimistic that the US under Donald Trump will lead the country out of economic and political isolation.
I hope that I will now be able to report on Venezuela's resurgence in the coming years. My reports will be published in the coming days.”
