Venezuelan 'Unlivable' Crisis Continues, This Time It's Long-Distance Calls

Things just got worse in Venezuela. In addition to the shortages of medicine, food, toilet paper and the recently reported shortages of power, Venezuelans will now have to deal with interrupted long-distance calling as well as TV-channel outages.

The current government of socialist president Nicolas Maduro has been struggling to prevent the economic crisis in Venezuela to further deepen but as global prices for oil have dropped significantly since last year, there is no clear notion on when Venezuela can recover and attain a more robust economy.

No Dollars, No Long-Distance Calling

In this particular case, long-distance calling has been affected as many Venezuelan local telecoms have been unable to pay international suppliers due to the shortage of dollars which is a result of the low demand for oil, Venezuela's number one source of foreign or hard currency.

Multinationals such as Telefonica are planning to interrupt long-distance services to various countries such as the United States, Spain, Mexico, Italy and several south american countries while others such as mobile supplier Digitel have already suspended long-distance calling and other international services.

Shortages in Medicine another Crisis

EFE recently reported on the shortages of medicine in the country stating that the government's congress declared a 'national humanitarian health crisis' 872 essential medications were scarce in pharmacies and hospitals.

Many patients in Venezuela who are dependent on medication are having trouble finding the drugs they need to treat their serious condition. While the medication is already highly priced due to level of inflation that has been haunting the country, many people still find it hard to find it in drug stores which is why they resort to the black market where the prices go even higher.

The report continued on mentioning that patients who suffer from cancer, diabetes, hypertension are finding it challenging to find their medicine and other health-related products such as contraceptives already at seeing exorbitant prices -- $775 for a box of condoms.