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Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves, yet decades of mismanagement and corruption have left its economy in crisis, and millions of Venezuelans have left the country. Now there is political change underway and talk of renewed oil revenue, and some Venezuelans are beginning to hope that recovery is coming. Manuel Rueda reports from Caracas.
RAUL PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: (Speaking Spanish).
MANUEL RUEDA, BYLINE: During the day, Raul Parra is a P.E. teacher at a Venezuelan public school.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELECTRONIC BEEPING)
PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: In the evenings, he's a physical therapist, working out of a small apartment he rents with a friend.
PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "It's hard to be a teacher in Venezuela," Parra says, as he rolls a massage gun over a patient's shoulder.
(SOUNDBITE OF MASSAGE GUN BUZZING)
PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "My wages are so low, I've had to reinvent myself to survive." Parra earns about $160 a month as a full-time teacher, an amount that barely covers his groceries.
PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "I need to work multiple jobs so that I can pay for services, pay my rent, help my parents," he says. With teachers, nurses and other public servants making less than $200 a month and an inflation rate that reached 500% last year, Venezuela continues to be a tough place to make a living. But now, there's some hope of an economic recovery as the U.S. eases sanctions following the removal of Nicolás Maduro.
PARRA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "After January 3, we have become more optimistic," Parra says. Economist Jesus Palacios says that a recent decision by the U.S. Treasury to allow American companies to sell Venezuelan oil could easily boost the government's income.
JESUS PALACIOS: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "Venezuela previously had to sell its oil at a 20% discount to Asian traders, who were willing to skirt U.S. sanctions," he explains. But now the oil can be sold at regular prices. A new law that opens up the country's oil fields to private investors is also expected to increase production of the nation's main export, giving the economy a boost.
PALACIOS: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "The economy will probably grow 10- to 12% this year," Palacios said. He adds that with more dollars in the country, the nation's currency will stop losing its value so quickly, and in turn, that will slow down inflation.
At her two-bedroom apartment in Caracas, Nelly Padilla hopes that the government will use some of its new oil windfall to improve her wages. She's a teacher at a public school. Like most of her peers, she earns $160 a month.
NELLY PADILLA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "My daughter has diabetes," she says, "so I'm always under pressure to get enough money for her medicines."
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RUEDA: To supplement her income, Padilla sells ice cream to her neighbors, but that only gets her around $40 more per month.
PADILLA: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "This has to change fast," she says. "We're in a horrible situation." But not everyone is expecting a quick turnaround. Ricardo Solano works night shifts at a local bread factory, where he makes close to $500 a month.
RICARDO SOLANO: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "I feel like the economy here is killing me," he says. Solano is 33. He is trained as a chef. He says that jobs at restaurants are paying less than what he makes at the factory.
SOLANO: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "It seems like it's impossible here to save for retirement or to buy a house," he says. Two years ago, Solano tried to go to the U.S. and made it all the way to Mexico City. He had to turn back, however, after President Trump canceled a program for asylum-seekers. Now he's planning to move to Argentina or Spain.
SOLANO: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "Here in Venezuela, you have your family, your roots," he says. But for some people, it's still too difficult to get ahead. If he migrates, Solano will join over 8 million Venezuelans who've already left everything behind to chase a future Venezuela could no longer promise. For NPR News, I'm Manuel Rueda in Caracas.
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