JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Venezuelans have been enduring recession, high inflation and scarcities for years. What happens to their economy if the Maduro government cannot sell its major revenue generator, oil? NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Residents line up at a water store at a Caracas strip mall. Seventy-four-year-old retired surgeon Jose holds two small gallon jugs. Like everyone who spoke with NPR, he asked we only use his first name for fear of retribution from the government. He says he's not stressed over the current political standoff between Trump and Maduro, nor is he stockpiling goods.
JOSE: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: But he does add, "we are buying enough food to have a few days' cushion just in case." Political and economic hardship is nothing new for Venezuelans. Many say they have no other choice but to try and ride out this latest escalation with President Trump.
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KAHN: As Christmas music plays at the mall, 63-year-old Carolina stops for a soda. She says there is not a lot she can do if the economy worsens.
CAROLINA: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: But she says it's a lie that the rich will suffer under tougher sanctions. "We're the ones that always pay," she adds.
Trump has tried many different ways to dislodge Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro from powers, says Amherst College political scientist Javier Corrales. He says he doesn't think more economic hardship is the way to get Venezuelans to rebel.
JAVIER CORRALES: I don't think economic decline, as bad as things are right now, will necessarily trigger a widespread uprising.
KAHN: He says people are exhausted and fear the regime's repression. Without oil revenues, he says Maduro will likely increase his contraband activities, like drug trafficking and illegal gold trading. And Corrales says he expects more Venezuelans to flee the country. Maduro denies his government engages in illegal activity. He told supporters last night in a lengthy speech that Trump has revealed his true intentions with this latest threat. He says the U.S. president just wants Venezuela's natural resources - something, he says, will never happen.
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PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish). Never, never in the life Venezuela (speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "Never will Venezuela be a U.S. colony," he said. Venezuelan officials throughout the day decried Trump's blockade pledge. And they called claims that Venezuela stole U.S. land and property irrational, decadent and macabre.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: At Caracas' main airport, politics were far from the minds of 20-year-old Mariana and her friends heading for vacation on nearby Margarita Island.
MARIANA: At this point, we are already used to political things happening in the country, so we decided we cannot stop our lives.
KAHN: She says she's not too worried about the large U.S. military ships close by. But after vacation, she did say she's looking for a way out of the country. Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALEX VAUGHN SONG, "SO BE IT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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