Chavez

Venezuela is seriously screwed-up and it is all thanks to this man, Sr Hugo Chavez, the dictator-like president of the country.

Chavez is a left-wing socialist and perhaps the most extreme result of the red social winds that currently are blowing through many Latin American countries.

Hugo Chavez strongly opposes globalisation, and the politics of United States and big corporations. In the western world, Chavez has gained much critisism for his attempts to state-control key-elements of the Venezuelan economy, for example throwing out many American oil-companies. His opposition to USA has certainly given him many enemies but also some friends and close relations with countries such as Russia and Iran.

Chavez, as most social leaders, speaks to the poor people of the country and has gained a strong support amongst the low-income class.

Apart from securing more and more power, Chavez has unfortunately made little success in making the country safe. There are today more poor people and more violence and murders in the country, a trend that seams to continue. Caracas, the capital, counts to one of the world's most dangerous cities.

Apart from making life difficult for travellers in terms of security, Chavez has also put a strict control on the exchange rate. This has led to a huge black market of currencies in the country and there are in practial terms two different exchange rates; one official that banks use and one unofficial that rules on the streets. I don't carry huge stashes of money with me while travelling, only use ATMs whenever I need cash. After having withdrawn money a couple of times, I realised that everything in this country was dead-expensive, around double of what I would pay in Colombia.

This is due to the exchange-rate trick. If you are travelling to Venezuela, make sure you bring enough cash with you in dollars, euros or colombian pesos to last for your whole stay. When you change foreign currency on the street you will get about double the amount in Venezuelan Bolivares compared to changing in a bank or withdrawing from an ATM. Paying the double price for everything didnt sound too well to my ears, so I decided to limit my stay in Venezuela and go back to my dear Colombia sooner than expected.

There doesn't appear to be a limit to how much Chavez can annoy someone.