Man-made paradise
Hello, I am an immigration observer worry-free, a blogger of popular science Chinese immigration.
Tommy, a native of Hong Kong, China, has immigrated to Venezuela for more than 40 years, and he is most proud of two things: the first is that he has successfully run a supermarket; The second is to marry a beauty pageant champion as a wife.
As time goes by, these two proud things have also faded, the supermarket is struggling, and the wife is in good shape, just like this country, watching it fall little by little along the downward curve for decades, but no one has a way.
Tommy's "beauty pageant winner" wife
When talking about the scenery of Venezuela, Tommy's eyes light again.
"Back then, the city center was full of luxury cars and United States brands."
Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, and since the first barrel of oil was extracted in the 20s of the last century, people here have embarked on the road of "rich oil".
In particular, after Chávez came to power, he nationalized private enterprises and introduced a universal welfare system, making it a man-made paradise.
Locals are very willing to spend when they have money, and many middle-class people regularly go to the United States to shop. This is also the reason why Venezuela was able to attract Chinese immigrants back then, and a large number of Chinese immigrants came here to pan for gold, and Tommy was one of them.
But behind this prosperity lies a huge crisis: the country's economy is heavily dependent on oil. At its peak, 95% of the country's revenue came from oil exports, while 90% of its goods depended on imports.
The prosperity of the world is alarmist
Back in the 70s of the last century, someone saw the crisis. Juan · Alfonso, a Venezuela diplomat and founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), prophesied: "Ten years, twenty years from now, you will see that oil will bring us destruction, that this is the excrement of the devil." ”
The prosperity is alarmist, and no one listens.
Venezuela is now mired in a political, economic and humanitarian crisis.
According to the 2020 World Migration Report, as of mid-2019, 4 million people had fled the country within a few years. At the height of the exodus, the cross-border bridge connecting neighboring countries was crowded with refugees with their families, most of whom sold all their assets to finance the journey to the New World......
In Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city, where Tommy lives, people have become numb to years of crisis. Tommy's supermarket is a low-cost supermarket for the poor, and although it is open all year round, its current income is only to make ends meet, but fortunately the land is privately owned, so you don't have to pay rent, otherwise it won't be able to survive.
As long as Tommy is in the supermarket, he always has to carry multiple keys and walkie-talkies, and he needs to be careful when opening each door, otherwise he may be bought for zero dollars. Tommy's biggest job every day is to supervise the prevention of theft, and the two security guards at the door will check all customers, even if they have already paid, and check receipts and merchandise.
It's not that they can't be trusted, it's that poverty makes people untrusted.
The process of Venezuela falling from heaven is embarrassing. This is a typical "resource-cursed" country.
The "resource curse" refers to the fact that a country with large natural resources has a difficult time promoting development. This is because the resources used to produce wealth are highly concentrated in the hands of a few, and corruption is susceptible to the distribution of wealth.
When resources can be exchanged for enough wealth, ordinary people may still be able to drink soup, but when international oil prices fall and United States sanctions take turns, Venezuela has almost no other industries because of its long-term dependence on oil, the economy completely collapses, materials are extremely short, and ordinary people do not even have the opportunity to drink soup.
Those who leave and hold on
A large number of Chinese began to leave, and it was no longer a place for gold panning.
They spent their youth here, struggled time, many of them settled down, and they were helpless to leave.
Since the 80s, the number of Chinese in Venezuela has increased 16 times, with 90% coming from Enping, Guangdong.
Annual international remittances from Venezuela to Enping have risen from a few million dollars to $400 million in 2009. It is no exaggeration to say that with the money remitted back by the Chinese in Venezuela, half of the people in Enping City were fed at that time.
For Chinese immigrants, Venezuela used to be a paradise for making money.
He Qilian, from Enping, Guangdong, is an old overseas Chinese who has lived in Venezuela for more than 40 years. He vividly remembers how shocked he was when he heard his relatives talk about wages in Venezuela in 1981.
"I went to Venezuela to work, I could earn 1,000-2,000 dollars a month, it was 1981, we couldn't do it in my hometown for a few years, why don't you want to go?"
South Americans are born with an unrestrained personality, advanced consumption concepts, and they have to buy if they don't have money, and they squander it when they have money. So at that time, no matter what the Chinese sold there, they didn't worry that no one would buy it. An overseas Chinese said: "In its heyday, a small stall earned $10,000 a month, which was really prosperous."
If someone traveled back in time and told them that Venezuela would be what it is in decades, they would be mistaken for a psychopath.
For decades, Chinese immigrants have witnessed the collapse of a paradise that changed the fate of their lives.
Some Chinese immigrants are really reluctant to leave.
Many of the first Chinese groups to come to Venezuela were naturalized, for example, in the early 80s, the proportion of Chinese who joined Venezuela nationality was 80%. Since there is no such thing as "dual nationality" in China, not only do they not even have a Chinese hukou and ID card, but their nationality is invalid, and China cannot go back.
And the Chinese who still hold Chinese nationality, because they have been doing business and working in Venezuela for many years, their families, careers, connections, and assets are all here, and many people are reluctant to give up and start over again. Several Chinese people have reluctantly said: "I started from scratch here, I have a property, a car, and a building, and the Chinese circle is still so wide, I can't bear it." ”
Tommy from Hong Kong is a typical "reluctant" Chinese.
The most extravagant thing for the Tommy family now is to dine at one of the only fancy restaurants left in the city center. The cost here is very high, $20 for steak and $10 for pasta. Here you seem to be back to the richest time in the country, but even the most upscale restaurants, there are times when the power goes out, and when the gorgeous lights go out in an instant, the diners here are brought back to the harsh reality.
Tommy bluntly said that he couldn't go back, "At least the family has food and clothing here, and when I go back to Hong Kong, I can only go to the toilet."
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