World Coins

Amateur country comparison (Colombia vs Venezuela)

I am back to the strange reality of FUNDACEA; I find scorpions in my room, hitch a ride to town in the local ambulance (no joke), and fight to buy toilet paper and milk.

Considering how close Colombia is to Venezuela the differences between the two countries are remarkable.

The first thing I noticed was the disciplined and methodical traffic of Colombia, perhaps not relative to Europe, but the miracle of traffic lights, stop signs and law enforcement reminded me how abnormal road usage in Venezuela actually is.

The second thing which staggered me was the number of homeless people in Colombia. Though Venezuela has high levels of poverty, the severity of social inequality is much more evident in Colombia. The number of people living in cardboard boxes by the side of the road, the number of children waiting at traffic lights to wash your car window for a few coins, the number of beggars and vagrants. The poverty in Colombia is in your face, visible and undeniable. Such images of destitution are not so common in the state of Barinas (Venezuela). Either Chavez has very cleverly managed to hide the penury of his country or his housing missions have actually borne some fruits.

Colombia’s cities are much cleaner and tidier. The doctor’s offices are more professional. Shops are more organised and sanitary. The grocery stores are filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, (milk and toilet paper exist in abundance) and it is not hard to find most things (with the exception of Marmite). The people are much more eloquently spoken and appear to be more educated. In the areas of Colombia I visited, the landscapes are much more ‘manufactured’ (Venezuela appears to have a bounty of ‘untouched’ land); the agricultural sector of Colombia seems to be considerably more advanced. In 2006 agriculture represented only 4% of the origins of Venezuela’s GDP, whereas it represented 12% in Colombia.

Is this the logical manifestation...

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