A generation of Venezuelan children know only struggles

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Valerie Torres’ mother has tried to shield her from the worst of Venezuela’s protracted crisis — the deadly protests, the sick people begging for help, the malnourished children with protruding ribs. At school, her teachers don’t even broach the subject.

But just shy of her 10th birthday this month, the girl is perceptive beyond her years. She knows her fourth-grade classmate lied to their teacher saying he forgot a book at home when in fact he was still saving up to buy it; that neighbors, friends and even her grandmother have all fled the country in search of a better life; that her mother is bringing home fewer groceries.

“Inflation is horrible. A candy is 3 bolivars. A candy!” Valerie said in disbelief, recalling when it used to cost half a bolivar, Venezuela’s official yet worthless currency, which has effectively been replaced by the U.S. dollar. “And before, a dollar cost about 5 or 7 bolivars. Now it is 23. I can’t buy anything anymore.”

Valerie is part of a generation of Venezuelan children who know only a country in crisis, whose lives so far have been spent amid hardship and under the government of a single president, Nicolás Maduro, who took the reins a decade ago Sunday when his mentor, Hugo Chávez, died of cancer.

The succession coincided with a steep drop in the price of oil, the resource that fueled the country’s economy and funded social programs under Chávez. That, coupled with government mismanagement under both presidents, plunged the South American nation into the ongoing crisis.

Many children have grown up being forced to eat nutrient-deficient food or skip meals, wave goodbye to migrating parents and sit in crumbling classrooms for classes that barely prepare them to add and subtract. The consequences could be long-lasting.

About three-quarters of Venezuelans live on less than $1.90 a day — the international benchmark of extreme poverty. The minimum wage paid in bolivars is the equivalent of $5 per month, down from $30 in April.

Neither of those wages is enough to feed one person, let alone a family. An independent group of economists that tracks price increases and other metrics estimated that a basic basket of goods for a family of four cost $372 in December.

That harsh reality has spilled over into the classroom, with teachers walking out to protest their paltry salaries, which some complement by moonlighting as tutors, selling baked goods or stripping at clubs. Thousands have quit entirely, and many of those who still teach do so in facilities plagued by pests, mold, filth and standing water that attracts mosquitoes.

Laura Melo, the program’s director for Venezuela, said schools where it operates have seen an up to 30% increase in enrollment. The organization is working to refurbish school cafeterias to provide students with hot meals.

Dr. Huniades Urbina, a pediatrician and board member of Venezuela’s National Academy of Medicine, said some children underperform academically because they arrive at school weak and hungry after going as much as 12 hours or more without eating. He added that children born during the crisis have had their growth stunted by about 5 to 6 centimeters (2 to 2.4 inches) on average due to poor nutrition.

The number of children born into the crisis is unknown since the government stopped publishing birth figures after 2012, a year that saw about 620,000 newborns.

The crisis has driven more than 7 million Venezuelans to leave their home country.

Valerie, the savvy, spunky fourth grader, hopes to join them someday and has her sights set on going to Miami. She dreams of becoming a model, owning a Ferrari and living in a mansion. But she cannot ignore the present and has plenty of questions.