Venezuela’s economic descent (Updated)

NPR. This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darienne Woods. And I'm Wailin Wong. We were watching this weekend as the US military struck Venezuela and extracted its leader, Nicolas Maduro. At the indicator, we've been following the conditions in Venezuela over the years. And so as we start to investigate some of the economic questions that are now swirling around around what comes next, we wanted to play you our most recent episode on Venezuela from early twenty twenty four. This is the economic background that the rest of the coverage out there often skips past. What it's been like to live there, why the economy went into free fall and then actually stabilized a little. And at the end, we have an update from our regular guest who was on the ground in Caracas last night during the strikes. Here's our episode from May 2024. Venezuela's economy has been in free fall for over a decade. It's an oil rich country that struggles to drill oil. Its currency, the bolivar, has suffered brain bending levels of hyperinflation. We're talking 65000% in 2018. Bolivar is just crumbling in your hands. The seeds of the trouble began under president Hugo Chavez around twenty five years ago. He was a leftist populist who made decisions that had some benefits, like boosting education and reducing poverty. But some of his actions slowly chipped away at the country's prosperity. He seized control of farms and oil companies' assets. He weakened congress and suppressed his opponents. Towards the end of his rule, the economy faltered, and it then nosedived under his successor, Nicolas Maduro, who doubled down as a kind of hapless authoritarian. US sanctions haven't helped the economy either. The South American country has had one of the largest outflows of refugees in modern history. More than 7,000,000 people left the country in the last decade. That's about one in five Venezuelans. Back in 2019, we at The Indicator started calling into one Venezuelan economist, Gabriela Sade. She told us stories about what it was like in the capital of Caracas, which were often grim. Here's her description in 2019. You go to the streets and people in Venezuela, they are very skinny. Yeah. It's very, very shocking to see that. Today on the show, our check-in with Gabriela in 2024 and, again, this week right after The US bombs dropped in Caracas. This message comes from Mint Mobile. This holiday season, stop overpaying for wireless and switch to Mint. Shop 50% off unlimited plans at mintmobile.com/switch. Limited time offer, upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for twelve months. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Above 35 gigabytes, network may slow when busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. This message comes from Mint Mobile. This holiday season. Stop overpaying for wireless and switch to Mint. Shop 50% off unlimited plans at mintmobile.com/switch. Limited time offer, upfront payment of …