Caracas, the city that can be the cheapest and the most expensive in the world

In a Venezuela plunged into a deep crisis, contrasts exist, very little, as if they came out with claws, but they exist. The Venezuelan survivor with devalued bolivars, foreigners and those who earn a few dollars live a very different reality.

The study showed that the most cheap of your list also tend to be the most uninhabitable.

In Venezuela, services are cheap and inefficient. But right now, it's really Caracas, its capital, one of the most violent cities in the world, the most profitable for those who have foreign currencies?

Henrique Moretti Cáceres, a Chilean businessman, went to Venezuela on business, in the middle of the bar of a five – star hotel in the east of Caracas. For the first time, I was consider investing in the country. On March 27, when he arrived at Simón Bolívar International Airport, Venezuela crossed the second national general breakdown. A power failure that has plunged the country into darkness in the last month.

At the airport, there was no light, everything the registration systems intended to enter the country were working manually and the heat, he said, was suffocating.

For Moretti, Caracas turns out to be a city very cheapbut depending on where you choose to go. "Mainly, because the dollar exchange rate favors us (foreigners)."

A full breakfast at this luxury hotel where the Chilean entrepreneur lodged costs around $ 32, but in many places you can get between $ 8 and $ 15.

And in Caracas, prices are very far from the international market. The fuel tank of a car can be refilled for less than one cent and sometimes even for free. However, the service fails, sometimes it is not reached and the queues are endless.

The monthly water, electricity and internet services can be paid together for an average of almost three dollars. Although many times lack water, electricity and the internet.

In an absolutely dislocated economy, a kilo of chicken costs about two dollars, depending on where you buy. But a kilo of lemon is worth the same as a minimum wage, 18,000 sovereign bolivars or six dollars.

Moretti Cáceres thinks entrepreneurs have a different worldview. That's why he thinks Venezuela is about to change and that it should be it "installed"D & # 39; advance.

"This is the risk we play as entrepreneurs, a bigger risk so that when a change happens – because it must happen, but that country dies – we are settled with the winning position.

But just as there are foreigners who still bet on risk, there are Venezuelans who do so too. This is the case of one private flight pilot, who preferred not to reveal his identity, which considers that to avoid the crisis that crosses Venezuela must be earned in dollars.

"If you win in dollars, the crisis will not hit you much, but if you win in bolivars, you are ruined," he said in the night of the third breakdown in one of the few restaurants endowed from a power station located in Las Mercedes, Caracas.

The Venezuelan pilot recently invested in an apartment worth more than $ 300,000 at the time of the crisis, but managed to negotiate it through $ 90,000. The house is in a privileged area, located on the outskirts of the city.

In addition, this ensures that the budget each person needs depends on the quality of life that he can and wants to give himself. Your monthly budget is about a thousand dollarsalthough in the last few months he has had to deal with medical expenses of a family member who brought him up to 2,500.

The pilot, who returned to Venezuela after spending three years in the United States, explained that even though it is much more profitable to buy certain products (food or appliances) overseas. , living in Venezuela costs a lot less.

"If you win in dollars, it's cheaper, but the change favors you to some extent because everything is dollarized. Today, people are charging you dollars on the street, while before that, it was not true"he said.

Venezuelan economist Henkel García explained to Infobae The reason why Caracas could be a cheaper city for some foreigners and extremely expensive for those who live there is the power of buying the dollar. "This reflects what maybe the economy is so cheap. it's a very different variable from the income that people have, especially money income or the equivalent, "said the specialist.

Garcia pointed out that although every dollar buys more in the domestic market, the purchasing power of Venezuelans is very low.

Juan Pinto, a Venezuelan entrepreneur specializing in cryptocurrency, returned to Venezuela in February after spending a year in Madrid, Spain.

Pinto was in the same hotel room as Moretti Cáceres, with his partner and an investor of Chinese origin They had brought him to Venezuela on business and had visited the country for the first time, despite the fact that his family and colleagues had advised him against traveling for security reasons.

Pinto said that his partner and him they hired escorts and armored trucks to be able to transfer your potential customer.

Although his client had nothing to pay, he managed to get a price reference from Caracas and his hometown, Shenzhen, China. And everything is relative. He told them that he considered Caracas as a place pretty expensive and that in your city you can get a breakfast with personalized attention for at least $ 20

Pinto said that since 2017 so far, the country's economic situation has changed.

"There was a time when I was a tycoon here.In 2017, I went to Los Roques every weekend, I had money to" bounce off the roof "because here things were still very cheap, not now, Venezuela is more facing than all the countries in the world where I lived in Madrid last year and Caracas is more expensive. "

He badured that a week of market in Caracas equates to the investment of one month in food in Madrid. Estimate a monthly budget of $ 1,500, including food, shelter and basic expenses.

The price of the basic family basket in Venezuela, granted by the Documentation and Social Analysis Center of the Venezuelan Teachers' Federation (Cendas-FMV), was 1 957 826.21 sovereign bolivars, a total of 108.8 minimum wages.

That is approximately 600 dollars, calculated with the official exchange rate (3,295.92 bolivars, for the moment).

The Venezuelan entrepreneur announced that he had bought a few days ago a ticket to go to Barquisimeto, a city located in the north-west of Venezuela, which cost him $ 40. The equivalent of nearly eight minimum wages in the country.

"Right now, the services are not working, there is no light, there is no water. I can not communicate with the world so comfortably, but there is something that keeps me here: the possibility of growth"he said.

Venezuela is experiencing a serious deterioration of basic services. The long walks to move or search for water, after days without light, have become the daily life of most Venezuelans.

In 2018, the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a non-governmental organization, denounced the presence of 3,716 demonstrations in Venezuela concerning the precariousness of water supply, electricity and gas. Today, services have collapsed due to poor management and poor management of resources.

To this are added the losses of the commercial sector. Well, only a day of paralysis of production equals about $ 260 million, according to estimates of the National Council of Trade and Services (Consecomercio).

The Venezuelan economist explained that the current situation of Venezuela as a contraction of the economy at a very fast pace, resulting from an unsustainable model and resulting in an economic collapse.

Garcia pointed out that this same economic situation led to the collapse of oil production (by 3 million barrels a day), had an impact on exports, the influx of foreign exchange and aggravated the country's economic situation. .

Venezuela lost in the last five years between 50% and 60% of its GDP, and a good part of the population had to emigrate to escape the crisis the country is going through.

The Venezuelan lost his purchasing power and some they only survive with their savings or what their children can send them from abroad. Recently, a draft UN internal report was released, which was published by The New York Times, who pointed out that 94% of Venezuelans live in poverty.

Alberto Narravo, a 58-year-old Venezuelan, architect and university professor, explained naturally how difficult it is to live with the salary of the teacher and how the architect projects have decreased due to the country situation.

From a slope that leads to a mall located in a middle clbad residential area. He climbed slowly and with books in his hand. There, in the middle of the street, Navarro recounted how the economy had collapsed in Venezuela.

"Both professionally and academically, and as long as we do not solve an almost cyclical problem of prioritizing education in the country, it is very unlikely that a short-term significance, quality of life point of view, "said

When he asked how he lived in Venezuela with his two professions, he burst out laughing: "What am I doing?" We have used our own resources, saved money and used work that can be done indirectly, through extramural university. is very uphill"

For him, his quality of life has decreased in fundamental aspects involving security, services and social badistance.

"There is not a single aspect that I can highlight with an undeniable sign of progress, and particularly over the past 20 years." Obviously, 20 years ago, practicing the profession or teaching at universities was one thing and today it is another, diametrically opposed ".

The salary as a teacher of Navarro does not reach the eight dollars a month and his architect projects are stagnant because of the situation the country is going through.

At the other end of the city. Ana Porto, a graduate in international studies from Venezuela, recounted how she survived the Venezuelan crisis. She is currently a housewife and depends on what her children send from abroad.

His numb hands and his way of walking exposed the rheumatoid arthritis he is suffering from and for which he can not afford the treatment. "It's very difficult, at least I have the help of my children, who are abroad, even if they are not well, those who leave are not well, it is very difficult to find a job and a home and they make an effort to send me products, especially drugs, I do not have them here. "

The disclosed UN report reflects the fact that nearly 3.4 million people have left the country and estimates that at least 1.9 million could be added during this year.

Porto commented that he did not know what to do in case his children did not send him the medicines he needed. "I do not know, I'm going to die because my friends and family are the same or worse than me"