Janet Jalil

And January 3rd was a really big step.

It's not enough.

We want the investment of the U.S., we want the investment of the international companies, and we want democracy now.

Here on the coast, jobs are scarce and shortages are common.

Queues of cars stretch for miles in the capital, Kumana, waiting for fuel.

And people have had no water for two weeks, not even for flushing the toilet.

In the fishing town of Waka, the first delivery of cooking gas since December has just arrived.

In the world's most oil-rich nation, this fisherman, Pablo Marin, can barely afford fuel.

Average salaries are less than $200 a month, and yearly inflation of nearly 500% last year makes his earnings in Venezuela's currency worthless.

Ten years ago, money had value.

Now you're paid in cash and it's worth nothing.

In another country, in Ecuador, a family could make $500 catching 100 kilograms of fish, pay for fuel and still have enough left over for food.

Here, if you catch 100 kilograms of fish, you would have to find another 100 to cover your expenses.

So you are left with nothing.

Just off the coast here, the oil company Shell has signed deals with the US and Venezuelan governments for a huge new gas project since Maduro's arrest.

Jumari Martinez, a resident from a local family of fishermen, has hopes the local area will benefit, but it's unclear whether these offshore projects will employ local workers or lead to investment onshore.

This part of Venezuela in Sucre feels miles away from the political bubble of Caracas with all the talk of new mining and oil deals there.

Poverty, the economic crisis, destitution are all very embedded in this part of the country.

And even with the talk of new foreign investments quite literally on the horizon here, the prospect of real change for people still feels very distant.

Ione Wells reporting.