The 2 Most Important Things I Learned When the SHTF in Venezuela

Hello again fellows.

It’s has been a while since our last interaction.

Some health issues have knocked me down on my back, literally, this last week, but here I am again. Stress seems to be charging a toll on me.

Let’s go straight to the topic now. I know this is not something I usually do, you’re right.

If there is something that looks like SHTF, it is the extreme change of the situation we faced. I will elaborate a small prelude for those readers unaware of our story. I had a good life back there in Venezuela, until 3 or 4 years ago. Living in an already paid for house, in a good subdivision, a city the exact size not too big not too small..good medical care, good salary, a great job. In less than one year (a few months, indeed) all of that is gone. Couple relationship, everything. A total extension, all of a sudden, life reset. And a bugout getting through two foreign countries, now becoming increasingly violent against us migrants.

Through all of this, I have learned that there are two things that you should never take for granted.

Your health is always going to be good (or even acceptably good).

I have been healthy most of my life, and I pray the Lord to keep me this way. However, this is unpredictable for us. I have been trying to eat healthily and avoid abusing my health, but there are genetic components that are just going to be there to jump in some given moment in our life. I had taken some precautions, indeed, but not exactly related to my health, nor had plans disclosing what to do if I got sick. After all, I had full coverage insurance, issued by the oil company I worked in, but that is ancient history now. Not even the actual employees enjoy that insurance. Medical care officers of the company tell them to go to the public hospitals. Go figure. We knew this was coming, though.

Of course, putting together some medical supplies is easy. Training, practicing a drill every now and then, not so easy. Much harder is going to be getting proper treatments or surgeries when we need them. Already in 2016, it was difficult to find the antibiotics, analgesics and other medicines, therefore, I could not get the surgery I (still) need. That’s why it becomes so important to look for natural, organic ways to treat some illnesses. Maybe these are not going to act as fast as western industrial pharmacology, but we could surprise ourselves of the results. It is a known fact that plenty of modern medication derives from ancient herbology. With much less collateral effects sometimes, I have trust in this kind of medicine. I have tried, indeed, therefore I can state that it can work.

It´s almost impossible to plan taking into account your potential health problems. But something you can do is to plan including YOUR own potential incapacity no matter the reason for this. As the head of the family, most of the planning depended on me: defense, resource management, vehicles, and communications.

Had I have been taken down temporarily (or permanently) for whatever reason, things could get hairy for the rest of the clan (women and children mostly). If you plan for everything you could imagine, remember including a heart attack. If you are young and healthy, it´s ok, maybe you could skip this part. But most of us are not in a position to do it. And under stress circumstances, it´s very likely that, if hot lead starts to fly from here to there and back, some of these problems are going to arise, even after the event. Include in your general plans the possibility of being partially disabled because of a wound or an illness. And make a drill for this. These last few days I´ve been to rely heavily on my ex-wife even for getting some food, as I can’t walk comfortably out of my rented room. Go figure. This said, make sure you have some options if you find yourself impeded for a period of time.

Your surroundings are always going to be peaceful.

Maybe you haven’t read the news about what is going on in this part of the world, but right now, things are not exactly doing well. In Ecuador, civil unrest with looting and violence has been present this last few weeks. We are far away from that country (Ecuador), but some episodes of increasing aggression against Venezuelans in Peru are starting to make us take some precautions. Being unable to even walk a few dozen meters these days, much less defend myself…I would have been in a very delicate and troublesome position if I were to be in the streets with my younger kid when some type of assault came on my way. This is the worst moment in my life for (yet another) bugout, with much less money and my health being like it is now. Self-defense is easy when you can move freely without being in discomfort and pain.

Relationships between migrants and nationals have been stressed, as this process of uncontrolled migration is not exactly beneficial for both societies. They are logically uncomfortable, with some exceptions that have been able to hire highly prepared professionals paying them a few coins, of course. And we, on the other hand, forced to leave our own country for the good of our families. Getting ahead of those who say “Why don’t you fight then?” because the illegal execution forces will kick down your door and shot in the head to anyone who they suspect is part of a resistance movement. They have imprisoned high-rank officers, killed captains of the army, and so on. This was told to the world before, and all we received was a look to the other side. These guys are now cutting deals with North Korea, and that implies the opening of a spy office for the entire company, located in a very rich country with hundreds of coastal land to receive any kind of materials. I certainly hope that the entire continent does not pay the consequences of this later, as there were warning signs enough to be scared as h***k.

OK let’s go back to the topic. We were somehow surprised upon our arrival to Lima, that we could walk more or less without too many risks (compared to Venezuela of course). We heard this neighborhood was not exactly the best in town, but it seems to have improved on the personal security area. There are police patrol cars all over the place, and they seem to do their job with efficiency. An occasional cellphone/wallet robbery, mainly because of your average neighborhood junky looking for his next dose. The kind of turmoil I am deeply afraid of is, indeed, the race biased one…and that is exactly the one that seems to be spreading. I know, from my own experience how many disturbed people are roaming in the streets of every city I have been. I have seen in Quito walking in front of me disfigured women with incredible burning scares, women that sometime were young and pretty, just because they refused to pay attention to some psycho that ended igniting them alive. I heard stories from reliable sources of young men in Caracas being shot in front of their parents, just for fun while the robbers laughed and got away. I see news in the provinces outside Lima, where Venezuelans have been lynched by an angry mob, some of them being catch up while stealing…and some others just because they have a pretty girlfriend. And the attitude “That can’t happen here” or “That will not happen to us” is long gone in my survival manual, trust me.

As usual, I have a theory about this. Maybe I’m wrong, but I have a hunch. And I am going to abuse your trust, to make this public announcement, because it is what I believe is happening.

The red gang behind the engineered collapse of Venezuela never thought that people were going to leave in those numbers, and so fast. Venezuela is somehow unpredictable, after all. They trusted in taking the population down to a number they could manage with fear, and in a few generations, they would be entirely owning the minds of the people (according to their twisted Stalinist logic). But the exodus was too much and they don’t have personnel able to take some specialized and other not so specialized jobs. Now they want them back. What are they going to do to make people come back? Easy…by using the only weapon they know: fear. By manipulating mobs with their local cells (and please don’t tell me this is my imagination because we know they exist), they can ignite turmoil and generate fear enough within the migrants to make coming back a few thousand. Then, these will be registered and impeding to leave again. Then, they will repeat the process to capture people with special skills in several areas and will offer privileges. Car, apartments, food rations. It worked in the Soviet era. Maybe they plan to do it in this world, as different as it is.

Once they have filled up their numbers, they could close the borders and try (I mean try) to become a sort of North Korea. Closing the borders, and surrounding themselves with missiles, becoming a real threat for the entire continent. They’re stupid enough to try to do it, just in case you haven’t noticed it.

What do you think?

Have you learned unexpected lessons through hard times? Which things have you learned not to take for granted? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

About Jose

Jose is an upper middle class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has a small 4 members family, plus two cats and a dog. An old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Thanks to your help Jose has gotten his family out of Venezuela. They are currently setting up a new life in another country. Follow Jose on YouTube and gain access to his exclusive content on Patreon. Donations: paypal.me/JoseM151