Caracas, Venezuela, May 18, 2018 / 13:38 pm
According to the latest report by Caritas Venezuela, the inflation of food prices exceeded 1,300 percent in the country in 2017. The International Monetary Fund estimates that inflation in Venezuela will reach 13,000 percent in 2018, the highest rate in the world. On May 1, 2018 the minimum monthly wage was increased from 1.3 million bolivars to 2.5 million bolivars, the ninth increase since January 2017 and the third this year alone – and still most everyday purchases are beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.
Now this economic crisis has been exacerbated by a political crisis, the government having suddenly decided to hold presidential elections on May 20, 2018, rather than in October or December as originally planned.
In its most recent communiqué, the Venezuelan bishops' conference declared that these elections lack legitimacy, because, the statement said, "as conceived, and without the necessary guarantees common to every free, trustworthy and transparent electoral process, and with the innumerable disqualifications of potential candidates, such an election, far from bringing about a solution to the crisis the country is facing, may even aggravate this crisis and lead to a humanitarian catastrophe without precedent."
Aid to the Church in Need spoke with Cardinal Jorge Urosa, Archbishop of Caracas, about the situation.
Members of the opposition, arguing that there is no time to organize a campaign on such short notice, have called on people to boycott the elections.