Have Project Management activities been affected by the situation in Venezuela?

YES.

Although Venezuela was a pioneer in adopting a lot of technology and innovation, today it is not so. The economic, political situation has made many companies do not invest more in our country. Therefore, there is a decline in the amount of projects to undertake in the different industries and sectors. There is not enough job for project managers and wages are extremely low comparable to a professional with the same credentials and experience in another country. Venezuelan project managers prefer working somewhere else but not in Venezuela.

Additionally, for new generations it is very difficult to get prepared in the field of project management or get certified, as due to the currency devaluation, a PMP certification could represent half a year's salary. On the other hand, what does not kill you, make you stronger, so I think the project managers in Venezuela have a great experience managing risk and planning, since we must manage contingencies and constantly re schedule projects due issues of inflation, insecurity ,shortages, etc.

Definitively, it is a hard situation. However, all who should manage projects in the first oil industry (PDVSA) of Venezuela and the fifth oil industry in the world have had to develop the creativity and innovation in the project management world. I think that is the best environment to face the difficulties daily. It's an appropiate place to apply the project management within the oil and gas exploration and production processes. In fact, by this situation the Project management must be applied strongly and could be a case of study to improve the methodology under these conditions. Obviously, the oil industry is the principal income for the Venezuelan State, the oil business must go on, PDVSA can´t stop and the wide Project Management experience for all the processes are essential.

Therefore, the planning, control and monitoring, dashboards, must be managed daily in order to take the best desicions. Manage the adquisitions because the assets and services must be available in the drilling process. Here you can find the weaknesses and threats. However, the imagination and creativity allow to create new strategies of purchasing and contracts according to the economic situation. As well as, evaluate scope, costs, time, human resources and all the risk associated to the oil production.

If you don't have an information system based in the principles of PMBOK's guide and the medular processes of the business the results will be even worst.

In Venezuela there is not planning for a project, why not? because:
.-There is not a cost estimation to get a budget, due to high inflation.
.-There is no materials in the market, due to many companies have closed and there is not free foreign exchange. Procurement activities is too hard.
.-Engineering suffer a lot of change adapting to the market (materials in stock or services in Venezuela).
.-Labour law is too much protective with workforce, than workers want a salary without work and the performance is very low.
.-Specialized human resource everyday emigrate to others countries.
.-Salaries of professionals are not equivalent to the purchasing power required to live. Many professionals prefer work as merchandiser.

Working with different customers in Venezuela stresses the importance of the Risk Management part of PM. Yes, it's a harsh environment, and I believe that that is a prime reason to keep using PM principles. Also, there are still people involved in furthering knowledge of PM principles through public conferences.
However, as many of the other posters have mentioned, the current environment, both economical and political, is limiting the total number of projects in execution, and making it difficult to complete them as originally planned.

I, too, want to extend my prayers and best wishes to all project management professionals in Venezuela.