Venezuela's starting to look a lot like tribal Africa

The internal collapse of Venezuela continues apace.  This description of life there at the moment is depressingly reminiscent of conditions I encountered in tribal Africa over many years.

It is quite interesting to hear what they have to say about the role of the law “enforcement” corps. They kidnapped people, asking for ransoms in foreign currency. The situation in the imprisonment facilities was . . . apocalyptical. Once they have collected enough money from the ransoms and what not, almost the technical stuff LEOs all of that city flee the country for good, and they are now in some place in Latin America (Colombia, perhaps?) . . . or even planning how to sneak up to the USA.

Go figure.

. . .

It is quite likely that we will see lots of nasty things in the near future, as the power structures diminishes and more and more members are “purged”. Losing control for this structure means that the ruling party in the rest of the country will be those with the uniform, the badge, and the gun or the AK. And without a legal system working, that is bad. VERY bad. As it can be supposed, this will not be a happy ending for those involved. They know that the entire world is against them. They are considered (as it should be) delinquents for good people all over the world.  They have stolen our gold and destroyed our capacity to generate wealth via oil production.

This said, I have suggested to my fellows to activate their stealth mode. Old clothing and shoes, avoid too clean cars, use the vehicles as little as possible . . . Jeez, even using dark bags in case they found some food is wise. There are plenty of stories about thugs grabbing grocery bags, sometimes even stabbing the holder, if some resistance was found.  Parking the car ready to leave the place is a need. A lot of assaults are carried on when people are getting into the vehicle. In my case, with my SUV busted, I had a backpack and perhaps my wife or one of the kids with another smaller backpack, and we got to the bike quickly. (How I miss my old motorbike!).

I have a lot of stuff that I was going to move from our house to my parent´s place, mainly equipment like electrical tools and similar productive, useful devices that a prepper usually has in place. But nowadays, roads are so lonely and LEOs are so . . . predaceous, that it is not a good idea any longer. A truck loaded with stuff will be a gold mine for those thugs. That is, provided that the gangs roaming in the desert interstate roads can be avoided, which is highly unlikely.

Rules have changed, and the very weak empire of law that once existed (the middle 70s to 90s?) is no longer present. It is not a countrywide situation, though. But now the Southern states, Amazonas and Apure are the kingdoms of the Colombian guerrilla. Thanks, Uncle Hugo!. You f—ed us well.

There have been reports on the roads to the East of the country (Cumana city for example) where 20 or 25 people gangs stop the cars and take whatever they want. LEOs will take whatever food you happen to carry, without bothering in giving you something else than a warning that you are lucky to not be going to jail. This is something to be expected in such a situation, and it can´t be more dangerous. However, it will not develop itself from one day to another; once things start to get bad and dope starts to be scarce . . . the hunger will make the beast leave out. The predators will go after the easier preys first. Or whatever they believe these preys are.

There's more at the link.

As I said, I'm very familiar with such conditions during my years traveling in Africa.  Life becomes precarious, dangerous, and unpredictable.  Survival from day to day is not guaranteed, and can only be achieved through constant vigilance, teamwork, and a willingness to do whatever has to be done to ensure safety for yourself and your loved ones.  That also requires an element of ruthlessness, a willingness to do unto others before they are able to do unto you.  That's hard for "civilized" human beings to wrap their minds around, but I'm here to tell you, it's reality.  BTDTAGTTSTPI.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, let's be grateful we have so much to be thankful for.  Those in Venezuela and places like it can only dream of the abundance - and the security - we celebrate at this time of year.

Peter