socialisms intrusion into Venezuela

So thanks to a single job, being the only income for my family, we lived well. I also remember that we had the opportunity to travel to various parts of the country in our own vehicle, especially during school holidays. We have always been a very close family that shared all things. Sometime later socialism came to our country Venezuela. We weren’t sure what this would bring us. Honestly, I didn’t know those political terms very well and didn’t pay much attention to them. In the beginning, everything continued to prosper, the government did quite good things, they gave new opportunities to low-income people and that was important.

But the negative began to be seen when socialism became an idea that not only gave to the poor but also wanted to take away what those people had who throughout their lives struggled to create, their companies, businesses, and their lands, among other things. It began to seem unfair to me that they took control of private companies and turned them into public companies, thus reducing the quality of some important services that these companies provided in Venezuela and expropriating everything that many had fought for.

I was a little scared at the time because of my land, but I took care of it as much as I could. Despite all that, the country could still prosper and we all had what it took to keep going. Many people were still able to run their small businesses, travel abroad easily, and have very good-paying jobs.

But my test came when in 2003, socialism completely took over PDVSA, where it was working. They wanted to place people from the government who had no experience working in this area in senior positions and in management, and that caused negative changes to begin little by little.

Some of us were determined to defend our jobs and to defend the integrity of this company that was the blood of Venezuela. So I joined an oil strike with a large group of workers, who demanded that the government remain as before, where everything was flowing well. We protested peacefully for a few weeks and hoped-for results, but unfortunately, socialism won us over. We were all expelled from work, asked to completely drop our positions, and there was nothing we could do about it.

That year I lost my job and the only option to get it back was to be at the feet of socialism, but I did not accept it. With a wife and four children to support my worries began, but after all, I did not lose my faith. I knew that God would help me progress and move on. He still had opportunities at home to start over. The hard part was meeting our needs while undertaking something new. 

It was at that moment that my testimony about home storage grew even more. Shortly before his joblessness, President Gordon B. Hinckley, Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time, had urged all church members to adopt a simple plan for storing food and water in our homes as a family.

We had not hesitated for a minute to follow his advice, so we had stored a considerable amount of food, savings, and other supplies. Thanks to that the Lord blessed us. When the difficult trial of being unemployed came, obeying that command basically kept us on our feet. For more than 5 months we depended exclusively on savings and food that we had saved with great faith. We thanked Heavenly Father so much.

After that, the Lord gave me another great blessing. PDVSA had to pay us money for the withdrawal, so we all made our request and in a short time they paid me. Many of my colleagues were not taken into account and to this day they have received absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, socialism stole what was theirs.

The lack of work allowed us to break new ground and helped me realize what I could be capable of. There were still opportunities to move on, move forward, and be self-reliant. With the money I had received I bought a used truck and fixed it in such a way that it worked to work independently. So I began to prepare for years to come, as I was not sure how socialism was going to run my country later on.

With the truck, I started to work transporting construction materials, transfers, and moving to different parts of the country, among other things. I was doing quite well and earning enough to support my family and pay for my children’s school fees at the time. Very often I would travel to other parts of Venezuela doing this type of work, but soon I had to stop doing it. Insecurity in the country was constantly increasing and other people who worked like me were victims of robberies on the roads and some were even killed.

Heavenly Father was very protective of me and I decided that I would no longer work outside of my State. I remained to do transport in the truck, but in the closest limits to avoid any risk. Despite that, I did well and I was successful in my work. I cannot deny that I still had many difficult trials, but I was firm and persevered out of love for my family. In a way, socialism was not affecting me much, since I could buy what I needed, there was gasoline, and money did not devalue easily.

While working on the truck, he was also able to raise animals and plant crops. It was something I never wanted to put aside; however, insecurity in the field increased every day and the animals began to be deliberately stolen. For more complaints that other affected people and I made to the government authorities, they paid us no attention. The police or the national guard did not show any interest in helping the people, which made us completely lose the trust we had in them.

Some people who lived in the countryside took justice into their own hands, armed themselves, and constantly watched over their flocks, but even so, the robberies never diminished. This really caused me a lot of regret and sadness. In the end, I made the decision to sell what little I had left before it was completely lost. Despite everything, we did not lose faith and hope that one day we will be able to raise animals again.

During the last years socialism to take over more and more private companies and the economy declined enormously. Food shortages began throughout Venezuela and people were unable to get everything they needed despite having enough money. We always strive to remain calm, even though we had to stand in long lines to get a few things.

Despite all those experiences, the opportunities to learn and try to do my best were always present. The truck was damaged and until now it has been impossible to repair it, but I had another vehicle, an old but operational Caprice Chevrolet, which I used for a while to do public transport until gasoline began to run low. That was one way I found to earn income for my family.

We do not give up. We know that we can find a way to move forward despite everything that happens in the country. We cannot always stay stuck in the same thought or seek only to depend on a job in which we are not paid what we deserve. We can do more than that, just without support, it’s a bit difficult.

Currently, what has affected us the most has been the constant devaluation of the bolivar. Food is increasingly difficult to buy due to its high cost, everything is valued in dollars when the income that we can obtain is received in bolivars. I don’t lose my faith that things are going to change very soon, and it’s wonderful to know that Heavenly Father has never left me or my family alone. He has worked many miracles in our lives and during these difficult days and years in which socialism has taken hold of Venezuela.

I know that the time that I remain to live, I will be able to achieve it in my country and especially taking care of the lands that God has allowed me to maintain during my earthly time and that is the inheritance of my children. He will give me the tools that I need.