As Venezuela's economy crumbles, condoms are going for $755

Condoms are going for $755 in Venezuela.
(Image credit: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

In Venezuela, people are used to shortages of everything from chicken to flour to medicine, but there's now a new scarce commodity: Condoms.

"The country is so messed up that now we have to wait in line even to have sex," Jonatan Montilla told Bloomberg. "This is a new low." Since December, condoms have been hard to find across the country, and when they are tracked down, they're incredibly expensive; on MercadoLibre, the auction website that Venezuelans use to purchase scarce items, a 36-pack of Trojans is going for 4,760 bolivars, or $755. In Venezuela, the minimum monthly wage is 5,600 bolivars.

Shortages are at a high due to a collapse in oil prices, and Bloomberg reports that if oil doesn't recover in this country that imports most of what it consumes, there is a three-in-four chance of default in the next 12 months. The lack of condoms is extremely worrying for health officials, as Venezuela, where abortion is illegal, has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and HIV infection in South America. "Without condoms, we can't do anything," says Jhonatan Rodriguez with the nonprofit health group StopVIH. "This shortage threatens all the prevention programs we have been working on across the country."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.