High levels of poverty in Venezuela Population hopes for better wages after the elections

Many Venezuelans are struggling to keep their heads above water with a variety of part-time jobs. They are hoping for higher wages after the upcoming presidential election.

The market in eastern Venezuela is teeming with customers at the weekend. They are hoping to pick up a bargain at the stalls selling vegetables, meat and cheese. Some carry home plantains, manioc cookies, corn flour or half a carton of eggs.

Teacher Cruz Brito stands on the other side of the street in the stench of fish that permeates the hot, humid air of Maturin. She has the equivalent of around 24 francs in her bank account and a single tin of sardines at home. It will be another five days before she receives her next paycheck, and she still has to pay for a necessary purchase for her eldest daughter's studies. So Brito goes home empty-handed. Maybe she can get a job at the grocery store in her neighborhood.

People have second and third jobs

Eleven years after the start of the complex crisis in Venezuela, the days of food shortages are as good as over. But with many earning less than the equivalent of 180 francs a month, families in both rural and urban areas are struggling to keep their heads above water.

People have second and third jobs, set up small businesses, open bureaux de change and invest what little money they have in gambling. Without a calculator and a calendar, they can hardly make a decision.

PoliticsFateful election in Venezuela: is President Maduro finished?

This uncertainty is contributing to the ruling party's fear of losing power in Sunday's presidential election. President Nicolás Maduro is being challenged by the most promising opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a diplomat.

"I've already cried because I had nothing to eat"

In her own words, Brito is praying for a new head of state - and subsequently for an end to her precarious situation. "I've already cried because I had nothing to eat," she says a few days before the election on the edge of the market in Maturin.

"We haven't emigrated - firstly because I have my parents here, and secondly because I believe in God and believe that we will get through this. But if not, I will unfortunately have to leave with a broken heart, like all the others who have emigrated."

Minimum wage now only around 3 francs

The crisis in Venezuela has developed over the years. Maduro's government can now even point to economic growth after the coronavirus pandemic. However, wages and unemployment benefits have not recovered.

Public sector employees receive the country's minimum wage each month: 130 bolivars, or slightly more depending on experience, contract and qualifications. This amount has not changed since March 2022, when it was the equivalent of around 27 francs. Now it is only around 3 francs.

Workers also receive a monthly food allowance of around 36 francs. Those who also receive social benefits via the so-called "Vaterlandskarte" receive a further 80 francs.

80 percent of the population live in poverty

Brito therefore tries to earn extra money by playing games of chance on her smartphone in the evenings, doing translation work, organizing raffles and selling water ice on the streets of Maturin.

"Going to the supermarket, taking a shopping cart and just going shopping - I don't even know what that is anymore," says the 47-year-old. "I used to buy a whole chicken, but now I don't even buy half a chicken anymore. I have to buy three eggs because I can't buy a whole carton anymore."

Employees in the private sector are hardly better off, with an average monthly income of the equivalent of 213 euros. A total of 80 percent of the population live in poverty today.

"There are days when we have nothing to eat"

In Maturin, a center of the oil industry, signs of the once flourishing middle class can be found everywhere: two-story houses stand on dilapidated properties with "For Sale" signs, shopping centers are boarded up and car dealerships are closed. The city's long, wide streets were built at a time when practically everyone could afford a car and gasoline was cheap. Nowadays, owning a car, no matter how old, is a luxury.

Israel Gimon had to sell one of his two cars because of the crisis. With his pension - which according to the law must correspond to the monthly minimum wage - and a "fatherland card", he receives the equivalent of around 25 francs a month. Pensioners are not entitled to food aid.

66-year-old Gimon worked as a construction manager for more than 40 years and had assumed that he would be able to live well on his pension. Instead, he now sells ice cream in his garage and repairs household appliances. In a good month, Gimon earns the equivalent of around 45 francs from his repair business. With his income, he has to feed his wife, a daughter and his dog. "There are days when we have nothing to eat," he says. "And I was once part of the upper middle class!"

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