Under the gaze of a powerless and/or indifferent international community, Venezuela has been sinking month by month into a now-permanent political, economic and social crisis. President Maduro (Hugo Chavez’s political heir and hand-picked successor upon his death in 2013) has led the country definitively away from Constitutional continuity. Unable to stem the tide of hyperinflation, he has also demonstrated negligence and a predatory attitude by plundering the nation’s huge below-ground reserves of minerals, natural gas and oil.

While the political opposition is at sea, the population is doing its best to cope with all sorts of shortages… or choosing to leave. Since the year 2000, some 3 million Venezuelans (nearly 10% of the population) have left their country.

After several years of sociological and anthropological research focused on three key themes – petroleum, corruption and food shortages – Paula Vasquez Lezama provides both first-person accounts gathered in the field and an alarming assessment of today’s Venezuela, which she describes as being in a state of utter collapse.

A striking, in-depth analysis of Venezuela’s current situation, in the shape of sociological and anthropological research enhanced with first-person accounts gathered in the field.