NYT: As Venezuelan Economy Unravels, Maduro Opponents Hope Downturn Will Topple Him.

Venezuela is experiencing a “downturn.” This is the same paper that went along with Team Clinton in describing the minor 1991 recession as the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression.

Anyway, here’s what a downturn looks like in Venezuela:

Venezuela’s better-off citizens have tucked into dollar savings to buy portable power generators, imported canned foods and taken respite in hotels and steakhouses. The less fortunate saw a signal of possible respite on Friday with word that the Red Cross would soon undertake an emergency relief campaign in Venezuela.

For many people, however, the only palliative to the ever-growing hardships is the hope that the worsening conditions will topple Mr. Maduro.

The blackout drained about $1 billion from Venezuela’s gross domestic product, or about 1 percent, according to investment bank Torino Capital. It left a wake of more than 500 looted businesses, at least 40 hospital patients who died and at least a half dozen shuttered factories.

Oil production equivalent to the entire output of a small petrostate like Brunei was irretrievably lost to the damage caused to oil fields by the sudden loss of power, according to IPD Latin America, a consultancy.

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