Venezuelans forced to use cardboard coffins as inflation rates and poverty soar
Fox News Latino
August 18, 2016
The economic crisis seems to be affecting every corner of life in Venezuela, even death.
As the South American nation grapples with soaring inflation, rising murder rates and shortages of basic supplies and medicine, there is one more thing that Venezuelans are having problems getting their hands one: coffins.
The situation has become so dire that many cash-strapped Venezuelans have resorted to burying their deceased loved ones in cardboard boxes. Coffins made of more durable materials can, however, be rented for a few hours to use during the funeral.
“It is more expensive to die here than to stay alive,” funeral director Ronald Martínez, from the northern city of Maracay, told Agence France-Presse.
The coffin crisis has become so acute that many families have been forced to bring their loved ones to crematoriums in bags.
“I felt so depressed. I didn’t have all the money the funeral parlor was asking for,” Miriam Navarro, who had to borrow money from neighbors to bury her brother, told AFP. “If it hadn’t been for people in my community, I would have had to bury him in the yard.”
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