Crisis in Venezuela: A family needed more than $500 to cover a basic food basket in November

The family food basket in Venezuela is calculated for a family of five, Compared to October, there was an increase of 5.7% in NovemberPublished this Thursday, according to calculations by the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (CENTAS-FVM).

This independent company in November, $522.01 was needed to meet a family’s basic food needsA calculated basket with 60 products reached $493.53 in October.

He pointed out that in November, when the minimum wage was 130 bolivars per month, equal to 3.51 dollars, 148.72 times this income was needed to pay for the food basket.

The items that increased the most last month were sugar and salt, with an increase of 7.70%; meats and their products, with an increase of 7.56%; and milk, cheese and eggs, which rose 7.19%, according to Cendas-FVM.

The Caribbean nation racked up 182.9% inflation between January and NovemberA figure reached after prices rose 5.9% in October and 3.5% in November, according to the Central Bank (BCV), the lowest figure of the year in terms of monthly increases in goods and services.

Although economists warn that December will be one of the months when inflation rises due to increased consumption, the trend indicates that Venezuela will close the year below 200% after reaching 234.1 percent in 2022.

For their part, last Tuesday a group of Venezuelan teachers made a request at the door of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) demanding that it be included in the 2024 national budget, according to their expired collective agreement. Without it the Nicolás Maduro regime will comply with the commitments it bought in 2022.

Union leader Griselda Sanchez He took to social media to denounce some who had “died for lack of pay”, as well as workers and executives in the sector who “don’t even have the means to feed themselves”.

Sánchez, head of the NGO Training of Union Leaders (FORTC), insisted that teachers no longer believe in the “narrative that Venezuela has no resources”, which was seen in the “huge campaign waste” poll. December 3”, for which he considered, “There is no political will to resolve the conflict in the education sector.”

“While this is happening, schools are closed in Venezuela, they don’t have electricity, they don’t have water and basic services are not in place (…) We reject this policy that exists in the country, and (President) Nicolás Maduro must answer to this sector,” said the union leader. Mentioned.

He recalled that in 2022, the president announced the signing of a collective agreement with concessions for educators. He assured that a proposal had not been passedSo public school teachers consistently earn less than $20 a month.

The activist warned that “there is a significant drop-out of educators in the country due to low salaries and poor working conditions”, and that there are teachers with “severe psychological problems and incredible depression” who are calling on the establishment to say “they want”. To take their lives, they see no way out of the situation.”

Also, he said this “Workplace Harassment High in Schools” It said it “affects conditions of depression among a group of vulnerable active and retired teachers” without giving details.

In this situation, he demanded that sector salaries, paid in the bolivar, one of the most devalued currencies in the world, be pegged to the dollar, so as not to lose purchasing power.

(with information from EFE)