By Carlos Seijas Meneses
Caracas, (EFE).- Despite the uncertainty generated by the growing tension between Caracas and Washington, Venezuelans are trying to maintain a festive atmosphere with traditional purchases and family outings to decorated public spaces.
While the United States military presence near Venezuela grows, Caracas and other cities in the country are adorned with decorations and light installations. Specialized Christmas shops have opened, offering an array of holiday decorations.
Much of the population is experiencing another Christmas season of economic hardship due to restricted purchasing power and constant price increases, even in dollars.
On Wednesday, Jessica Salas, a 34-year-old psychology student, toured one of Caracas’s main commercial boulevards looking for “Niño Jesús” gifts.
After buying a few simple decorations, including a garland, for her daughter’s classroom, Salas told EFE that, despite the government’s persistent denunciations of a US “threat,” she perceives “everything too calm,” though admitted feeling uncertain.
“If a problem comes here, those of us who have nothing to do with it are going to pay,” said the mother of two other teenagers. She also confessed that it is “very complicated” for her and her family to buy products for an emergency supply, so she doesn’t know what she could do “if everything gets complicated.”
Despite everything, she will not let the Christmas tradition, which she said she really likes, be lost.
Samuel Grabli Toledano, the manager of the store where Salas was, told EFE that he has noticed more people in the streets. He said that although some “received their salaries, many are asking to buy later.”
The 66-year-old indicated that sales are not good, but he hopes they will improve in December.
Christmas traditions
As they do every year, dozens of natural pine trees line the front of various stores on an avenue in an affluent area of Caracas. Prices start at 200 dollars, which is significant in a country where the minimum wage and pension are 53 cents, according to the official exchange rate.
Andrea Dezerega, 39, visited one of these establishments, the third of the day, looking for a natural pine tree for her house and to celebrate her return to the country after more than a decade abroad.
After viewing several options, Dezerega told EFE that Venezuelans trust that “everything will be fine” no matter what happens and always have a smile to face it.
Tension
In another store in the same area, a woman who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons is trying to create a Christmas atmosphere for her two children, aged seven and nine. She plans to buy a natural tree, as is tradition in her household every year.
However, the 49-year-old civil engineer admitted to feeling “super nervous waiting to see what will happen” in the country.
“We are nervous and tense, especially the older people. My parents don’t want to leave the house because of the possible intervention in Venezuela,” she said.
Although the professional said she has not made preventive purchases of food products because she has a food business, she knows many people who have.EFE
csm/dgp
