An apartment with sea views, an internet celebrity with over 37 million YouTube subscribers and a hard-to-reject offer, what could go wrong? “It’s not a lie, it’s not a fallacy, this sheath is completely true: I bought a house in Venezuela.” This was announced by Luis Arturo Villar, better known as Luisito Communicates, Your latest real estate investment. The purchase did not go unnoticed either by price or location. While millions of Venezuelans seek asylum and refuge abroad, the influence buying a new home in a country plunged into a deep political and humanitarian crisis, and at a modest price of $ 20,000, he said in a video.
“I know what many are thinking,” he said youtuber. “Don’t you see the news? Don’t you know that this country is going through a very complicated situation?” He asked rhetorically. The controversy has divided the networks, with scarcity in the South American country as a major backdrop. “Luisito Comunica bought a house in Venezuela on his second trip to the country, I’ve had my whole life living in Venezuela and I haven’t been able to get together even for a couple of socks,” one user joked on Twitter. The announcement of the purchase of the apartment coincides circumstantially with the dialogues on the Venezuelan political crisis that began in Mexico City last month.
“When I saw the prices at which properties are being sold in Venezuela, I was very surprised,” he said. youtuber. A bargain and a brave investment for some, usury and mockery of the critical situation the country is going through for others. Especially, for the tone adopted by the communicator during the tour of the house. “Getting ice in many places is tricky because the light goes out to stores and others,” Villar says in his video, which has more than three million views, as he shows off his fridge. “It’s good to have a freezer in this country,” he concludes.
Video shared on the ‘youtuber’ channel where he takes a tour of the house.
The apartment is located in the city of Dairy (Anzoátegui), a well-known tourist destination in the northeast of the country, and was sold fully furnished: it has washing machine, dryer, a living room and an equipped kitchen and apparently newly renovated, pans and cutlery included. “Because past owners said (…) let’s get out of here,” he says influence. “I think I came out pretty benefited,” he adds.
Social media has also echoed the hyperinflation and devaluation that shakes Venezuela and how a property similar to a tourist area in Mexico, such as the Riviera Maya, or the capital would have cost it several times more. “How much did the house cost before the arrival of Nicolás Maduro’s regime?” and “Luisito doing what an average citizen can’t do” are some of the criticisms that appear on the Internet.
If we consider that the minimum monthly wage in Venezuela is seven million bolivars and that a dollar is equivalent to just over four million bolivars at the official exchange rate, $ 20,000 is a virtually priceless figure in a lifetime for the bulk of the inhabitants. Journalist Florantonia Singer reports that a kilo of meat in the South American country costs between $ 3.9 and five dollars, which is almost all that the poorest Venezuelans earn in two months. The Central Bank of Venezuela reports 264.8% inflation in the first five months of this year, while in 2020 it was close to 3,000%.
The purchase of the house has also given rise to comments from political extremes and clichés about so-called 21st century socialism. the same youtuber he plays with the issue of expropriations in the Maduro government and “ideologies” that argue that “he who has more should give his house to those who have less.” “We hear several scary stories of people losing their homes just because they do,” he says. “We’ll see, hopefully that doesn’t happen. Yes, there is this concern.” the youtuber he has not been free from criticism on other occasions when he has approached politics, such as when he said it had been his “dream” to meet and interview the controversial president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, last March . The communicator denied having received money to meet with the Central American president, who has been singled out for his constant attacks on the press, his personalism in the presidential chair and his clashes with the Legislature and the judiciary.
There were also several followers of the influence who came out in his defense and thanked him for betting on Venezuela. Villar argued that the crisis “is not the same across the country” and justified that “it was a good time to invest.” “I’m someone who likes to be looking for what to do with their money,” said Luisito Comunica, partner of Venezuelan Arianny Tenorio since last year.
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