I Can't Hear the Birds

A man carries a woman across the Táchira River, which forms the Venezuela-Colombia border. Bridges were closed due the COVID-19 pandemic. UNHCR reported that Colombia hosted some 1.8 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants by May 2022, the largest portion of the diaspora. 

A man fires his gun to commemorate dead relatives, in a Wayuu ritual in the Guajira Desert, on the Venezuela-Colombia border. The Wayuu Indigenous community straddles both countries, and doesn't recognize the border.

Two young women play with a scarf in the Guajira Desert, on the Venezuela-Colombia border. 

A roller coaster lies abandoned at the derelict Grano de Oro theme park in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela. Maracaibo was once one of the richest cities in Venezuela, deriving wealth from its oil facilities. However, by 2021, 49.6% of households in Zulia had a monthly income of just US$11-US$50, according to local human rights organization CODHEZ.

A Venezuelan woman in the care of Colombian migration authorities bears the scar of an attack by a man who demanded sex as a payment for a tattoo, in Maicao, Colombia. Women migrants are often vulnerable to violence and human trafficking.

Oil pollutes Lake Maracaibo, in Zulia State, Venezuela. Up to 1,000 barrels leak into the lake daily due to aging, unmaintained infrastructure, according to the environmental organization Azul Ambientalistas. 

Between 2010 and 2016, the state oil giant PDVSA was responsible for more than 46,000 spills of crude and other pollutants, according to a study by PROVEA, a Caracas-based human rights group. PDVSA stopped releasing data in 2016, reporting 8,250 oil spills that year.

José Lara poses for a portrait on his fishing boat in an oil-soaked Lake Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela. Crude oil and other pollutants spill from badly maintained equipment owned by state oil company PDVSA, which has never fully recovered from strikes in 2002-2003, which ended in the sacking of 18,000 workers.

Luis Luzardo, a former oil worker, poses for a portrait inside his home in Campo Alegría, an oil community in Cabimas, Zulia State, Venezuela.

The neighborhood was built specifically for workers with the now-ailing state oil company PDVSA, though these days many residents no longer work for the company. Once seen as a symbol of the rising Venezuelan middle class, many such neighborhoods are now falling apart due to subsidence caused by oil drilling, and residents experience lack of basic services.

An oil tank lies neglected in Lake Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela. Poor maintenance, combined with lack of investment and human resources, have brought Venezuela's oil production to an historic low. In 1998, Venezuela produced an average of 3.1 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), by 2021 that had shrunk to 553,000 bpd, according to data presented by OPEC analysts, though output began to rise again in 2022.

Children play on abandoned oil structures in Cabimas, on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela. Crude oil and other pollutants spill into the lake, in which the children swim, from badly maintained equipment owned by state oil company PDVSA. Between 2010 and 2016, the company was responsible for more than 46,000 spills of crude and other pollutants, according to a study by PROVEA, a Caracas-based human rights group. PDVSA stopped releasing data in 2016, reporting 8,250 oil spills that year.

A couple dances the tango in a Parque Central courtyard in Caracas, Venezuela. Built in the 1970s, the complex was once a prestigious address, with two towers that until 2003 held the title of tallest skyscrapers in Latin America. Now the buildings leak, are badly maintained, and insecure.

People wait in line to buy their allowance of  two bags of rice per person, in Caracas, Venezuela. That morning, people had been lining up since 4am, and were standing in the rain until 11am. Venezuela was experiencing chronic food shortages at the time. In 2016, over 75 percent of Venezuelans said they had lost weight (around eight kilograms on average) due to lack of access to food.

Members of the civilian Bolivarian Militia of Venezuela commemorate the fourth anniversary of President Hugo Chávez’s death, in Cuartel de la Montaña, Caracas, where his body rests. 

When Chávez was first elected in 1998, his socialist and populist economic and social policies were funded by high oil prices. He began a program of nationalization of energy and telecommunications companies and redistribution of wealth, alongside an anti-US foreign policy, but by the time of his death from cancer in 2013, oil prices and the Venezuelan economy were beginning to falter.

A television transmission of combined armed forces marching during the military parade to mark Venezuela's Independence Day, in the national capital, Caracas.

Police arrest a man during a protest rally calling for the removal of President Nicolás Maduro from office, in Caracas, Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez’s chosen successor, was elected president by a narrow margin in 2013, but opposition parties contested the result. Protests, contested elections, and accusations of vote-rigging continued throughout the years that followed, with opponents of Maduro blaming him for Venezuela's economic crisis. 

A man squats in the street following clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces using water cannons, in Caracas, Venezuela.

A female security officer holds her riot shield after a man kicked her repeatedly, during a demonstration against the government of President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez’s chosen successor, was elected president by a narrow margin in 2013, but opposition parties contested the result. Protests, contested elections, and accusations of vote-rigging continued throughout the years that followed, with opponents of Maduro blaming him for Venezuela's economic crisis. 

The Twin Towers of Parque Central in Caracas, built in the 1970s, were a prestigious development that until 2003 held the title of tallest skyscrapers in Latin America. Now the buildings leak, are badly maintained, and insecure. In the distance, a mural depicting the eyes of former president, Hugo Chávez, can be seen atop a building.

A macaw sits in heavy rain in a middle-class neighborhood in eastern Caracas, Venezuela. Although poverty decreased in 2021/22, inequality remains wide, making Venezuela one of the most unequal countries in the Americas, according to the National Poll of Living Conditions (ENCOVI).

An apartment in Caracas, Venezuela, is gradually emptied of contents before being sold. Many middle-class families leave their belongings behind when they migrate, hoping eventually to return. Local entrepreneur Mairín Reyes has built a business around this practice. Migrants call her when they realize they won't return to Venezuela, and she catalogs and sells the contents of their homes for them, and eventually the house itself.

Auristela Salazar (87) sits outside her home in the oil town of Cabimas, Zulia State, Venezuela. A former athlete in the team of the national oil company, PDVSA, she lives alone with her photo albums and memories in the home that once belonged to her oil-worker father. As with many in the town, Auristela experiences constant power outages and problems with basic services.

A crack caused by subsidence cuts through a wall in the home of Hilda Davalillo (67), in Campo Alegría, an oil community in Cabimas, Zulia State, Venezuela. Hilda was asked to move out due to the high risk of collapse, but she was not given another place to live, so stayed.

Campo Alegría is one of a number of settlements built specifically for workers with the now-ailing state oil company PDVSA, though these days many residents no longer work for the company. Once seen as a symbol of the rising Venezuelan middle class, many such neighborhoods are now falling apart due to subsidence caused by oil drilling, and residents experience lack of basic services.

Karelis Rivas (29) poses for a portrait in her home where she lives with her father, in Campo Alegría, an oil community in Zulia State, Venezuela. They still live in a house belonging to national oil company PDVSA. Karelis’ father was one of the 18,000 oil workers fired after strikes in 2002, even though he did not participate. Once a symbol of prosperity, Campo Alegría now experiences lack of basic services and decaying infrastructure. 

The third floor of the General Library of the Universidad de Oriente (UDO), in Sucre, Venezuela. Lack of investment, crumbling infrastructure, looting, and fire have ravaged the library.

In 2008, the Venezuelan government cut funding for public, autonomous universities. This led to severe issues with security and infrastructure. Looting of university buildings and armed robberies of equipment at UDO began in 2016. A fire broke out in the general library in 2020, destroying an estimated 100,000 books. Today, UDO professors teach at home, because the buildings have been taken over and destroyed by local criminal gangs.

South America,Open Format

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