Venezuelans have started eating mangoes.. good sign !

Mangoes used to define people in Venezuela

If you eat it, you are a caddy

If you walk over it, you are a player. 

But now the Bolivarian revolution has levelled the playing field with mangoes. 

The rich have been made poor..

The Country Club gentry have been impoverished to the level of eating mangoes

There are lot of mango trees in Venezuelan streets, backyards of houses and public places. I used to pick up and eat in the golf courses. But the oil-spoiled Venezuelans would not touch the mangoes. It was below their level. They would just let most of the mangos fall on the ground and rot..Now because of the crisis, food shortage and poverty increase, they have started eating the mangoes..for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The country has substantial fertile arable land and abundant water resources. But they have neglected agriculture and become dependant on imports of food products.

The Venezuelan cacao is said to be the best in the world for making chocolate..But again neglect..

Venezuela had the world's largest dam and hydroelectric station at Guri with capacity of over 10 GW, before being over taken by the Brazilian Itaipu and Chinese Three Gorges dams. There is plenty of more potential for more dams and more power generation. This means plenty of inexpensive power for industries and manufacturing especially Aluminium, steel etc.

Venezuelan engineers and executives are one of the best in oil production and business. They helped the Middle Eastern countries with technical and management expertise in the early years.

The Venezuelans were ahead in the global oil game and were one of the cofounders of OPEC. Now many oil experts have moved to Colombia and US besides other Latin American countries.

The Venezuelan beauty industry was formidable, producing many Miss Worlds and Miss Universes.

Venezuela can prosper easily with just agriculture, minerals and other resources even without oil income.. oil has become a curse and spoiled the mindset of people. pity..

Of course, Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves with 292 billion barrels. This is more than the Saudi reserves of 262 billion barrels.

Unlike the hot deserts of Saudi Arabia,the climate of Venezuela is pleasant .. neither hot nor cold..Caracas is known is the City of Eternal Spring..

The country has lovely beaches and lot of tourist attractions too..

With a small population of just 32 million but plenty of resources, Venezuela could be one of the richest countries in the world..

Over a million Colombians and a number of other South Americans used to work in Venezuela. But now the Venezuelans are fleeing to other countries for livelihood.

Here is a mango story.. In 2015, a woman threw a mango at President Maduro in Aragua. When Maduro looked at the mango, there was a message pasted on it “ Please help me. I need a house- Marleny Olivo with her phone number”. Maduro ate the fruit and approved an apartment to her. The episode was telecast as part of the Bolivarian socialist message. Now the Venezuelans who are going hungry cannot afford to throw mangoes.

Hope the Venezuelans learn from the crisis and start taking advantage of what they are blessed with, besides oil.

Eating mangoes is a positive sign that they are indeed learning..