OVER THE past five years Venezuelans have been going through an extremely hard ordeal. Our democratic system, which in the past served as a refuge for tens of thousands of citizens fleeing from tyranny in different parts of the world, has been reduced to ashes because of the desire of one person, and the group that surrounds him, to cling to power. We know that it has been tough for the world to understand how a political project that promised to end poverty and strengthen democracy more than two decades ago has done the opposite, and driven our country to political, social and economic collapse.

The only result of what the dictator calls “21st-century socialism” has been the creation of a complex humanitarian emergency without precedent in our region. Nine out of ten Venezuelans live below the poverty line. Our hospitals lack supplies and doctors. Schools find themselves without teachers and the population lives in a state of fear.

The actions, neglect and massive corruption of the authoritarian regime have ruined our economy. In 1998, when it was producing more than 3.1m barrels a day (b/d), the Venezuelan oil industry was among the biggest in the world; in Sep­­t­ember 2019 it barely achieved 650,000 b/d. The same has happened to our refineries, which enable us to export petrol and other products. Today hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have to queue to obtain them.

Similarly, the electricity-supply system is in ruins and its deficiencies subject our citizens to hours and days on end of blackouts, even though we have the fourth-largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. The non-oil private sector of our economy, which in 1998 contributed almost one in every three dollars of the country’s exports and was the principal source of employment, has been devastated by absurd ideological policy.

What is more, in order to survive, the regime has had to share power with non-state actors such as the ELN (the Colombian-based National Liberation Army), other armed groups and organised crime. The evident linkages between ­Nicolás Maduro and criminal and irregular actors have become a real problem for our neighbours.

All this has led over 4.3m Venezuelans to flee our country, mostly in the past five years. Historically we received millions of immigrants from Europe and South America, so it is heartbreaking to see that today we have become a nation that pushes out its population because of poor management by a small group of people.

Paradoxically, this has occurred at a time when hunger, child malnutrition and material poverty are in retreat around the world. And as international organisations have promoted programmes to advance literacy, improve education and health, and provide more access to drinking water, our country has missed out on the trend.

Venezuelans want to, and will be, a part of this process once we manage to move back towards democracy. Despite our current troubles, we will take advantage of the knowledge and tools acquired by our diaspora. Those departed migrants are an enormous source of opportunity. Thanks to modern technology, they propel and connect Venezuela in a way that would not have been possible in other periods of human history. Moreover, the vast majority of them wish to return to their country.

This has been a very tough yet important collective learning process for Venezuelans. We have discovered that, despite the abundant natural resources that our country has, our real wealth is in our people. That is the true human capital that we will recover once we recover our institutions.

The force of hope

In 2020, and the years beyond, the world will witness the rebirth of Venezuela. But for this to happen we must overcome ­Nicolás Maduro’s usurpation of power, to begin a process of transition to democracy. We are fortunate to have the backing of the majority of democracies in the world.

The force that keeps Venezuelans fighting is hope. Despite the humanitarian emergency our citizens march, raise their voices, demand a peaceful and democratic exit from this tragedy. The entire nation, inside and outside our borders, is firm in its determination to live in freedom.

The regime seeks to generate fear. We generate hope, confidence, dreams. Together we will achieve the change that Venezuela urgently needs. We will not return to being the country we once were, but will learn from our past to create a better future.