I have never been too interested in politics – not other than major events or some regional news – until I went through a process of accelerated growth of my political conscience. This is not going to be an extremely prepper-oriented article, but I hope it will provide some guidance to identify some uncommon situations that happened in Venezuela, and add critical info to our spreadsheet, allowing you to make an informed choice. There are startling similarities between the Ukrainian genocide and the depopulation of Venezuela.

My departure from the country was planned beforehand, about 3 months in advance. The signs were becoming more and more aggressive. Crime, authority abuse. I was afraid of even going on my motorcycle to work. Some cop asking for coffee money and me taking no manure was going to be bad. So I used my bicycle, exposing myself to an early morning assault. Now I can see it clearly – the country fully collapsed about one year and a half ago. People are living in the debris and scavenging in garbage bags for some pieces of food. Whether they are getting used to it will be still something to determine.

Then vs, now

Before the SHTF, were there students being kidnapped and tortured? Sure. Mostly those who attended meetings with the lefties, by the way. Abuse by authorities? You can bet on it.

We have never enjoyed such a thing as a real democracy, and in my early college years, our Constitutional rights were suspended (during the 1990s). This is not surprising. But there is a huge difference between then and now. Those NGs, and police, the army, they usually respected students, especially those from the larger universities. They knew that we were no threat. We just wanted to graduate, get a job and jump into the meat grinding machine. The courtesy was something that was not exaggerated, but it existed. If they asked for your papers, you gave them – no smiles exchanged, but there was some polite attitude.

But what I can see now with uniformed people…there is a lot of resentment, you can almost taste it in the air. There is a deep, bitterness…a hatred.

And it is scary.

They talk to us in slang. And a bad guy kind…something that indicates the presence of many of them from the worst barrios of the major cities. I remember 20 years ago, many of them were boys from small, rural towns, going to the camp boot looking for better opportunities. Not exactly role models, but one develops some kind of sense to perceive whether the guy you are talking to is essentially normal. Back then, they were close to my age, and their attitude was much more relaxed.