Behind me is the Ferrari dealership in the city of Caracas and here in front of it is a building that was never finished due to a recent corruption scandal. Welcome to the capital of Venezuela, a city for the rich [Music], it is incredible to think that a Ferrari dealership Ferrari in this city, not in this country, there was so much to talk about and it was a very nice building, very modern, very nice, and in front of another one that was also going there, it was also going there, with that modern luxury context that you could see would look good on its own. that they never finished it. Recently, there was a corruption scandal involving a Venezuelan character called Taret. In Venezuela, there is a divided and distributed scale of powers. Starting with the maximum called Nicolás Maduro, the president, and from there on down, this Mr. Taret was very close to the top of the pyramid of powers in this country but it seems that the man is already gaining a lot of power and the great Duros here did not like that so much and they made him fall because just as in many Latin American countries here there is also a lot of corruption that We cannot deny it, we cannot cover the sun with a finger but in that Venezuelan Game of Thrones Mr. Taret fell and many more who depended on his kingdom fell below him and one of those characters who fell with him were those who They were investing here in real estate and in the real estate development of the city, such as this building that is almost finished but this is how it will stay. Mr. Taret was nothing more and nothing less than the president of Pedevesa pretending to be the Venezuelan sheikh. that he was in charge of the entire oil industry in the country and since they captured him they locked him up, nothing more was ever heard from him, we have no idea where he is, the only thing we can assure is that he is not in any of these apartments in the back, but it turns out that Corruption or Venezuela has certain elements that make it different from the rest of the planet. This country is blocked everywhere. It is blocked by the gringos. It is blocked by other countries and getting money out of here can be a headache for many of the entities and companies. People who are in charge of the profitable industries of the country where much of Venezuela's corruption is found invest those monies resulting from corruption within the country with large real estate projects that we can see around the entire city and either badly or well. That corruption created employment, at least for the gentlemen who are here working in this building, putting the hammer down, building floor by floor, the glass windows, the plumber fell, at least that generated movement and generated an economy, and I'll tell you why. Because Talking to many people around here in this country they have confirmed to me that after the corruption scandal the economy completely stopped not only in the real estate industry but in almost all the industries in the country, it is very crazy to think what I just said. to say how it is possible that the corruption of a town generates employment and generates an economy where the opposite should be the case, the idea obviously is that there would be no corruption and that the money of the government and the money of the state and the money of a country is distributed well to That we can generate well-being and economy without the need for white-collar thieves entering the Ferrari here. You can't even know how much one of these cars costs. The Ferrari salespeople know very well who they sell to. They know very well which customer they are. He comes to simply browse and the one who really comes to buy these cars does not have a label that says 100,000 200,000 300,000, it is not known how much they cost unless they already say Oh, this guy is going to buy there, they tell him the prices and he starts the process, otherwise individuals like me with this little camera will never know how much a Ferrari costs in Caracas. And many of us have a concept of Venezuela thanks to the news and everything we see outside. When you come here and see so many things around it, it is very difficult. to understand Venezuela is a country that you have to come to understand, how is it possible that with so many crises, Cuba's twin brother in South America, socialism, communism, and Hugo Chávez, and we see these majestic buildings around us, how is it explained that so much economic prosperity is still seen in the streets will be a lie It will be true it will be just fiction in the streets of Caracas you see many trucks of the year super luxurious cars and trucks from 100 150,000 even there is also a store called home design where you can buy furniture sofas dining rooms from 10 12,000 15,000 this store is so exclusive that has a Corvette 0 km from the year parked there simply inside as part of the decoration of the warehouse None of the products in this store in the back have a price when you enter a store and the products do not have prices it means that you have to ask when You have to ask, does it mean that they are very expensive and if there are stores like this in Venezuela it is because there is demand. What does it mean that in this country there are people who are willing to pay 10,000 15,000 20,000 Dollars for a living room or a dining room But where from? So much money comes out here, for example, here in the Mercedes neighborhood we found this other Tower that has a particular Tower, this Tower also fell into the same corruption scandal, it seems that it was part of the same network and look, it's just closed, all of this is closed by the National Police Against Corruption were businesses that sold construction materials businesses that sold other types of things home decoration closed closed closed and closed it is extremely clear that it was due to corruption It's just that it says it here incredible I had never seen anything like that continue The business on this side, the entire building is basically closed and the curious thing is that like this one that is closed over there, they are building one and it is active. They are really building it at this moment with money. Where will the corruption come from? What will be the source? which they are building this new building in front of this one that has clearly been closed due to corruption. It makes one think what is interesting and most curious about the matter is that a dining room worth $1,000 with that same budget today you can get an entire apartment or a house in Venezuela And if we continue walking here through the Mercedes neighborhood in Caracas they are all luxury stores warehouses to decorate the home everything is full of new constructions around fine restaurants also normal restaurants Not the finest not the most cheap average but I want you to realize we are going to have lunch let's take advantage of the fact that I'm hungry to go to a restaurant and compare the prices of What does it cost to eat a normal lunch in Caracas Venezuela today in 2023 so that you can compare it How much does it cost in your homes And in your cities Thank you very much, sir, when you arrive, you arrive at the restaurant, they receive you with ballet parking, with all the services, they are very fine and very charming, let's have lunch, Renas. There it is. Thank you, the menu in this restaurant is a tablet that they put here on the table. see Is your menu like this sliding just a few small prices that I want to show you the antipasti that would be like some small starters of $ of $4 of $9 salads are already $10 of $1 the pizzas are at $9 8 10 14 the pastas also eat 13 there are one of 15 are reasonable prices if you live in the United States in Canada or in Europe but tell me are these are reasonable prices to live in Caracas Venezuela We have reached the spaghetti section of 28 of 25 of 21 28 a spaghetti this what do you have seafood My God, but what about seafood in a restaurant of this style that is an ex restaurant in a good area, it is not the most expensive but it is a restaurant. Well, I ate some ravioli, a small brusqueta and two passion fruit juices, I paid $33, it's expensive, it's expensive. cheap you will tell you in a country where the minimum wage is $ per month how is it possible that I have just paid $ for someone who here in Venezuela can afford this type of luxuries and that is where things begin to get complicated understanding this country requires a doctorate in finance and economics and also look at this truck that is behind me in Venezuela, I have realized that they are all trucks everywhere. Maybe this country wasn't in crisis. Is that the crisis does exist or not? What is it? What is really happening in Venezuela, welcome to the Lagunita Country Club, one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the city, here we find, of course, the Country Club of Caracas, large goal fields, large mansions around, many of these Mansions have a large wall that divides them from the outside, many of these mansions have their own private security and many of these mansions are even embassies of the countries that still have an embassy here in Venezuela. This is one of the most prestigious faces of the city, including here . There is the entrance in case you like golf, you can enter here and come play. The place is so prestigious that there is nowhere for pedestrians to walk because here people don't walk, everyone has a car and there is the entrance to the golf course, look at that the elegance of France What a beautiful thing Who are the people who today in Venezuela can come here to play golf Who are the people who can buy a Ferrari And be part of this Club after having delicious $3 ravioli for lunch there is something that They are not telling us, it could be that Venezuela is not as bad as they paint it, it could be that everything we hear outside is a lie or there is information that we do not know about, there is a strange movement in this country that no one had told us about, no one is talking to us, but it is evidently happening. The people from Caracas Country Club just told the security here that recording is prohibited. They saw me with the camera recording these beautiful mansions with palm trees and the Ávila right behind them. They told me I couldn't record. I told them. Well, thank you, I turned around the block and continued recording because The thing is that if I listened to all the people who told me not to record in this country, I would not have been able to record a single video. They have told me not to record in so many places that it has already become a habit, surely all the owners of these mansions are also owners of large companies, companies that allow them to live in this type of luxurious places but with the full force of expropriation during the time of Hugo Chávez and from then on when so many companies were expropriated, the private sector was expropriated, making it all public. Who are the who then remain Who are those who can still have their pockets full of money Who are those who can still have a prosperous company and the answer will vary but it is also from there where we are going to learn about a very Venezuelan word called los enchufados but Who are they? the famous enchufados a enchufado is a person who is with the government so you have a company of something or you have a piece of land you have a farm you have anything and you sit down with the government to negotiate between you and the government they reach an agreement where they leave it operate they allow you to have your business. In exchange for what you know, a plugged-in is Someone who has managed to negotiate with the government not to screw you in your life at a price But who knows what the price will be to pay for that, it is also normal to see so much abundance in this country but sectored into small fragments strategically fragments Chosen by the government strategically well connected strategically well plugged in But that does not mean that all the people who can buy a $30 lunch are necessarily all plugged in. It does not mean that the people who have a cart and a good apartment are necessarily all plugged in. That is where we have to go into explaining the role of the American dollar and the rebirth of the Venezuelan economy in recent years. The situation in Venezuela is an impressive political parody because here the voice of the people won The Voice of socialism the voice of and of the Castro of Hugo Chávez of the cheap check to give this country to the people because it belongs to the people and today it is a country that belongs to the millionaires to the people who have money to the people who can pay a $30 lunch and the people will continue to earn $4 a month because it turns out that the people rose to power but from there they did not let anyone else rise and only a few heads were left and all the wealth was distributed among them and from then on only The Crumbs arrive We saw it in the video when we visited the San Agustín neighborhood interviewing people I am not from here I don't even live in this country but interviewing people who do live here many of them agreed that they preferred to have job opportunities over a free market who preferred to have a more decent salary and not have to make a living as well as the engineer or the Doctor, what Uber is doing to survive will surely think it is a surprise that so many Venezuelans have to leave Venezuela over the years, which is why it is not a surprise to also find this type of completely abandoned mansions of people who perhaps They were not able to connect people who perhaps could not get their talk out of here, they could not sell their property and they had to simply leave it abandoned. Look at this large mansion that if it were in good condition would probably cost a couple of million dollars and there is a t-shirt up there which indicates that possibly there are people living there who have taken it as an invasion or who have simply come in to spend a couple of nights but it is not the owners', at least they no longer live here. Look at this view that I came to find here. here from this beautiful mountain you can see almost the entire city of Caracas in this beautiful sunset surrounded by beautiful buildings with apartments that do not go below 0000,000 If you would like to come to live here a neighborhood for budget people Including the Embassy of The United States , which still exists, is here behind this building but it is of no use. You cannot come to do any paperwork there. It will only serve in case you are a gringo and need help. Go ahead and lock it in. You already accept it but there is nothing else to do there. For a country in crisis, things don't look so bad, at least not in this neighborhood and its surroundings. People go jogging, take their dogs for a walk. It seems like they have a very quiet life. This confuses a lot of foreigners and visitors who come to visit. know a country that is supposedly in crisis, the truth is that Venezuela is in a tremendous crisis, but they have found a cloth of warm water to soothe the wounds, alleviate the economic discomfort, it turns out that this country has had several crises throughout its history. The most forceful were those that came after communism and the socialism of Hugo Chávez, the evaluation of the Bolívar causing it to lose 14 times its value 14 zeros is like [ __ ] a bolivar and multiply it by men1 to the 14th power and to that added the blackouts that there were In 2018, the shortage of gasoline prices and in this country that produces almost nothing for the domestic product of Venezuelan consumers, they order everything to be imported from abroad plus the blockades of the United States and allied countries. That was a cocktail that exploded in the desperation and the pockets of the citizens making there was no choice but to use the dollar as currency because at least the dollar was going to avoid hyperinflation a dollar is a dollar today and will be a dollar tomorrow until the government said Well you know what begin to use their dollar in certain sectors until today the dollar is the official, unofficial currency of Venezuelans, the official but unrecognized currency, and from the dollar a new economic dynamic has been generated and it is as if this country were now land no one's but everyone's land at the same time, land of those who want to wage war and land from which the dollar can be sought to survive. The Venezuelan is a very forward-thinking character. The Venezuelan is someone who is going to create a company here or abroad that does not matter. He is afraid of work that is not afraid of getting his hands dirty, sweating it, fighting it And that is what those who still manage to survive have done here since the entry of the dollar into the country informally, everyone here Here is looking for a way to get the Elo dollar as I can and that stability or that feeling of stability that the dollar generates is what has meant that in Venezuela things are changing a little in recent years, generating a feeling of stability that I did not have for a long time. Inflation exists, even in the United States, it exists in Canada, in all countries, whatever currency you use, and here in Venezuela inflation continues to happen, but now it is in dollars, what today cost us $30, lunch tomorrow could be $50, and the funny thing about Venezuela is Many times it is because of rumors, if you hear something that is going to happen tomorrow, prices can skyrocket from one day to the next. And since here everyone sets the price for their product, for that and all the reasons mentioned above, Venezuela It is very expensive to live here the cost of living is super high and for us tourists it is also very expensive every time we have an answer more questions arise more questions this is a country that does not understand Nan trck it is curious that the terror of communism when See capitalism is the gap between the social classes where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I have never seen a gap similar to the one I have seen in this country that is supposed to be communist socialist. It doesn't matter what you call it, but the socioeconomic gap in Venezuela is incredibly large. Look at how beautiful this viewpoint is. People from here in the neighborhood come to see the sunset to sit romantically paired up to see the Caracas mountains to contemplate how beautiful this city really is. Caracas is. A very beautiful city has left me quite astonished, a city surrounded by very green and very beautiful mountains, which I say goodbye to in today's video. I hope you have learned something and I hope you have understood this swarm of bees, this disorder, this Tetris. full of misplaced chips of what the Venezuelan economy means in [Music] 2023
