Requiem for Venezuela

[longknife]

Lots of reports about Venezuela falling apart have been around for months. However, this is the first time I've seen the vaunted New York Times do the same. But. Read the article and nowhere will you find anything about the cause – socialism and a typical socialist dictator.



In the capital’s Dr. José María Vargas hospital, a doctor watched a 73-year-old woman die of kidney failure because the hospital lacked the medicine to perform a routine dialysis. In a Caracas police station, more than 150 prisoners crowded into a cell made for 36, standing shirtless (there was no room to sit) in the stench of sweat and feces. In arid Lara state, an elementary-school teacher told of children fainting in class from hunger. The economy contracted by almost 6% last year, and is expected to shrink by as much as 10% this year.



And it sits atop a massive amount of oil! Oops. Could it be that the country's woes come from the fact that their 7-11 franchises no longer sell Venezuelan oil? Or that the USA is now nearly oil dependent? Didn't notice that anywhere in the article and can't understand why.



Full story w/photos @ How Venezuela, Once Latin America's Richest Nation, Collapsed

 

[Packyderm]

Lots of reports about Venezuela falling apart have been around for months. However, this is the first time I've seen the vaunted New York Times do the same. But. Read the article and nowhere will you find anything about the cause – socialism and a typical socialist dictator.

And it sits atop a massive amount of oil! Oops.



Full story w/photos @ How Venezuela, Once Latin America's Richest Nation, Collapsed

Ever heard the joke What happens when socialists take over the desert? Nothing at first...then a shortage of sand.

 

[waltky]

If ya can't beat `em - jail `em...

Venezuelan court upholds sentence given opposition leader
Aug 12,`16 -- A Venezuelan appeals court upheld on Friday the nearly 14-year prison sentence imposed on opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez for inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014, his lawyer said.

Lawyer Juan Carlos Gutierrez told The Associated Press that the "the sentence was upheld on equal terms" as the original conviction. Court officials did not immediately confirm the ruling, which came after three weeks of deliberation. Lopez, a Harvard-educated former mayor, has denied that he incited violence. International human rights groups consider him South America's highest-profile political prisoner. His conviction has been widely condemned as a sham trial by foreign governments, including the U.S.

But government officials say he was behind a wave of violence that left three people dead and dozens injured during protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in February 2014. In the past, they have accused Lopez of collaborating with the U.S. government to stage a coup. Gutierrez, the lawyer, said he will take the case to the Supreme Justice Tribunal and the United Nations.

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez speaks during a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela. A Venezuelan appeals court upheld on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 the nearly 14-year prison sentence given to Lopez for inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014, his lawyer said​

Jesus Torrealba, secretary of the opposition Alliance, called the decision "illegal and unjust," adding on her Twitter account that Lopez "will be freed by the vote of the people." The 45-year-old Lopez has been held for almost 30 months in the Ramo Verde prison outside Caracas. The ruling comes as the opposition tries to remove the unpopular Maduro from office through a recall vote amid soaring inflation, food shortages and a sharp economic downturn.

In June, Lopez said he would not negotiate for his own freedom if it meant abandoning the effort to recall Maduro this year. His supporters said international leaders engaged in a diplomatic effort to diffuse Venezuela's political crisis had put his release on the table as a possible bargaining chip. But Lopez said the country's freedom would always come before his own.

News from The Associated Press

 

[Mr. H.]

Mismanaged oil wealth. They should have "kept it in the ground".

 

[eflatminor]

History is replete.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

You mean socialism isnt the path to a brighter future?
Who knew?

 

[waltky]

Venezuela/Colombia border reopens again...

Venezuelans cross into Colombia after border is reopened
Sat, 13 Aug 2016 - Thousands of Venezuelans cross into Colombia to buy food and medicines on the first day after the border is reopened.

The border between Venezuela and Colombia has been reopened after nearly a year. Thousands of people began crossing into Colombia in the early hours of Saturday to buy much-needed supplies. Long queues had formed before dawn. Venezuela is facing a severe economic crisis, with shortages of many goods. It had closed the frontier nearly a year ago on security grounds. Five border crossings will remain open for 12 hours every day. "I've had arthritis for seven years and I haven't been able to find the medications for the past six months," Marco Tulio Berdugo, a Colombian living in Venezuela, told El Universal newspaper. "I came with my family to do some shopping because we can't find anything to eat," engineering student Wilmary Salcedo told Reuters news agency.

People living in Venezuela begin crossing into Colombia from the city of Cucuta​

An agreement to reopen the border was announced on Thursday by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro. The two presidents said that during the first stage only pedestrians would be allowed to cross. "We are going to open the border gradually," said Mr Santos. The five main crossings along the 2,200km-border (1,370 miles) will be open daily from 08:00 to 20:00 local time (13:00-01:00 GMT). The authorities expect the queues to disappear as people realise that the situation has been normalised. "People can get here and cross every day of the week now," said Venezuelan border police chief Gustavo Moreno in Cucuta.

Mr Maduro ordered the border to be closed in August 2015 after former Colombian paramilitaries attacked a Venezuelan military patrol and wounded three soldiers. Many Colombians were expelled, and bilateral trade has since fallen. When border crossings were allowed briefly in July, nearly 200,000 Venezuelans poured across to stock up on items including cooking oil, sugar and rice. Venezuela has suffered severe shortages for months as a result of the falling price of oil which is the country's prime source of income.

Venezuelans cross into Colombia after border is reopened - BBC News

 

[waltky]

No food and they don't have a humanitarian crisis???...

Venezuela's U.N. ambassador: We have problems but no humanitarian crisis
Aug. 15, 2016 -- Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations has denied U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's comments that there is a humanitarian crisis occurring in the country.

Last week, the secretary-general said he was "very worried" about Venezuela during a visit to Argentina where he met with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri. "I'm very worried about the current situation, in which basic goods and services such as food, water, health care and clothes aren't available," Ban said. "This triggers a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela which is created by political instability."

Ambassador Rafael Ramirez called Ban's comments "wrong" and "strange," and questioned where the head of the United Nations received his information. "We have problems here, but it's nowhere near a humanitarian crisis," Ramirez said during an interview with Venezuelan broadcaster Televen, adding that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will speak to Ban in September during a summit in Caracas. "I do not know where he gets these figures and assertions," Ramirez said. Venezuela is facing a deepening economic crisis in which basic goods, such as food, medicines and toiletries, are in short supply or unaffordable. Tens of thousands have traveled outside the country, mainly to Colombia, to restock supplies as store shelves and kitchen cupboards are nearly empty.

Maduro, who is facing efforts by the Venezuelan opposition to oust him, has blamed the country's financial woes on a U.S.-backed "economic war" carried out by political enemies and corporations. To combat the alleged "economic war," Maduro has taken steps including ordering the military to seize five ports as part of "war strategies" to more effectively distribute food and medicine. A recent labor decree signed by Maduro could draft Venezuelans in the public and private sectors who have the physical or technical capabilities into a government effort to work in the agriculture sector for up to 120 days to increase food production.

Venezuela's U.N. ambassador: We have problems but no humanitarian crisis

 

[Packyderm]

It is the fault of the people of Venezuela apparently. They have failed to become good socialists by continuing the capitalist imperialist practice of eating food to live.

 

[waltky]

Let `em eat cake...

Venezuelan president to expand welfare health program amid economic crisis
Aug. 22, 2016 -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to expand a welfare healthcare program to all of the South American country's states by early 2017.

The Misión Barrio Adentro, or Into the Neighborhood Mission, was created by late former President Hugo Chavez in 2003. The program seeks to provide publicly funded healthcare, including dental care, to impoverished Venezuelan communities. The program, credited for decreasing infant mortality rates, was initially praised by the World Health Organization and UNICEF but the program has waned in recent years as many of the thousands of clinics built under the program became abandoned and the medical personnel who operated within them -- mostly Cuban medics -- left.

In a speech at the Venezuelan presidential palace, Maduro said the government still has the capacity to improve the program -- despite the crippling economic crisis the country faces. "We have made great progress in caring for children, youths and the population in general, but we could still do more, because we have resources to do so," Maduro said Saturday. "This program should be implemented as a prioritized policy to guarantee better quality of life for all Venezuelans."

Maduro said he rejects the call to return Venezuela's healthcare system to a privately run institution. "No. No to capitalism. No to social, political and economic regression of our country," Maduro said. Venezuela is undergoing a critical economic crisis in which basic necessities including medicines and food are either in short supply or not available.

Venezuelan president to expand welfare health program amid economic crisis

 

[waltky]

Gangs run wild in Venezuela...

Ultra-violent gangs thrive in chaotic Venezuela despite crackdown
Wed Aug 31, 2016 - The click-clack of guns being cocked echoes in the cement safe house where seven kidnappers keep watch over a western Caracas slum, their 33-year-old gang leader boasting of grenade attacks on police and growing wealth and power.

Venezuela's socialist economy is suffering triple-digit inflation, severe shortages and a third year of recession, but gangs like this have found strength and profit in the chaos. They are teaming up with former rivals and buying heavier weapons to control ever-larger territory in the capital and beyond, the criminals, the government and criminologists say. "The majority of the other slums are our friends. It's not only us anymore, now we do business with each other," said the leader, sat at a desk with his face hidden by a black ski mask. He would only give his name as Anderson. He said rampant inflation is forcing the gang to be even more active as it seeks to cover sky-rocketing costs for weapons, drugs and even food. "We used to do one job a month. Right now we are doing them every week," Anderson said, before a phone pinged with news of a drugs delivery. Venezuela's economy suffered 181 percent inflation and shrank nearly 6 percent last year, and is expected to perform worse in 2016. Basic products are scarce and food riots regular. Yet gangs like this are thriving.

File photo of police patrolling the slum district of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela​

Unlike a growing array of other armed groups in Venezuela - which include pro-government gangs and some small rural guerrilla and right-wing paramilitary forces - the street gangs are largely apolitical. But as their reach grows, they are another destabilizing factor for President Nicolas Maduro, who is already struggling to govern a nation that is running short of food and medicines despite vast oil reserves and has one of the world's highest murder rates. He has responded with aggressive raids by soldiers and police, a policy supported by many people sick of criminals but which rights groups say leads to executions and arbitrary arrests. Some criminologists warn the raids encourage gangs to seek out ever heavier weaponry in defense. While some gangs are teaming up, there are still turf battles and internal disputes, and Venezuela is seeing more of the spectacular violence associated with Mexico's more powerful drug cartels. Police showed Reuters images of bodies left mutilated, hanging from bridges, or beheaded.

File photo of a Venezuelan soldier standing in front of a mural depicting Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during a patrol at the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela​

As he spoke, Anderson's henchman prowled around him, waving sniper rifles and pistols, changing ammunition clips and peering through a narrow window onto the rooftops and steep alleyways below, as reggae music drifted up. They have good reason to be on guard. Two weeks ago, in the nearby El Valle neighborhood, two factions of one gang fought for hours, leaving six leaders dead. The victorious faction released a cell-phone video showing a man pumping dozens of bullets into a victim's head. Anderson's gang stalks victims for days before snatching them, and tries to get $5,000-$10,000 ransom paid in euros or dollars within 24 hours. He said his gang killed about 10 of its several dozen kidnapping victims last year, usually because families did not pay on time.

File photo of Venezuelan soldiers walking past the ruins of houses, which were demolished by government officials during a special security operation called 'Operation to Free the People' (OLP) in Valencia, Venezuela​

In the first six months of 2016, the number of kidnappings reported to just one of several national security forces soared by 170 percent to 326 compared to the same period last year. The total number of kidnappings is believed to be many times higher than that, since most victims never go to the police. In this highly polarized country, one of the few things both the government and its opponents agree on is that organized crime is a serious and growing problem. Even from prison, gang leaders are able to coordinate nationally with street thugs like Anderson, who started his life of crime at 13 and spent 10 years locked up for murder.

'CONSPIRACY'

 

[waltky]

Demonstration in the streets of Caracas against Maduro...

Venezuelan oppositions vows to keep up pressure on Maduro
Sep 1,`16) -- Venezuela's opposition is vowing to keep up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after flooding the streets of Caracas with demonstrators Thursday in its biggest show of force in years.

Protesters filled dozens of city blocks in what was dubbed the "taking of Caracas" to pressure electoral authorities to allow a recall referendum against Maduro this year. Protesters, dressed mostly in white and carrying Venezuelan flags, chanted, "It's going to fall, it's going to fall, the government is going to fall." The buildup to the protest was tense. Maduro's government jailed several prominent activists, deployed security forces across the city and warned of bloodshed. A small group of protesters, some of them wearing masks and throwing rocks, squared off with riot police as the rally was ending. Police used tear gas to break up the crowd and arrested a few youth. Maduro told a much smaller rally of state workers and hard-core supporters that opponents are plotting a coup such as the one that briefly toppled his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Demonstrators take part in the "taking of Caracas" march in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept 1, 2016. Venezuela's opposition is vowing to keep up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after flooding the streets of Caracas with demonstrators Thursday in its biggest show of force in years. Protesters filled dozens of city blocks in what was dubbed the "taking of Caracas" to pressure electoral authorities to allow a recall referendum against Maduro this year.​

He said authorities had arrested people possessing military fatigues and C4 explosives, and who had plans to fire upon the crowds dressed as national guard members. "Today we've defeated a coup attempt that sought to fill Venezuela and Caracas with violence and death," Maduro told his supporters without providing details about the accusations. "We're still looking for several criminals that paid to massacre the people." Caracas political analyst Dimitris Pantoulas said the "warlike" language may have actually energized opponents who otherwise might be on vacation or, at a time of economic crisis, standing in long lines for food. "The government made a big mistake by throwing fuel onto the flames," said Pantoulas. As the rally was wrapping up, the head of the opposition Democratic Unity alliance outlined the next steps in its campaign to force Maduro from office. "Today is the beginning of the definitive stage of our struggle," Jesus Torrealba told supporters.

He called for a nationwide demonstration of pot-banging Thursday night to protest growing hunger. There are also plans for two more street protests, including one Sept. 14 coinciding with the arrival of heads of state from around the world for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement taking place on the Caribbean island of Margarita. "This isn't the country I grew up in and it's not the one I want my children to live in," said Olga Delgado, a school administrator, who arrived to the protest on crutches following hip-replacement surgery. She was wearing a hat reading "I am squalid," appropriating for herself one of Chavez's favorite taunts for his opponents. Maduro tried to mock his opponents' show of force, saying they had failed to amass more than 30,000 supporters and joking that he and First Lady Cilia Flores would go the movies at a shopping mall near where they were gathering.

MORE

 

[longknife]

One of the worst problems is that gang membership is increasing virtually unchecked.

 

[waltky]

Looks like Venezuela just lost freedom of the press...

Venezuela Constituent Assembly Cracks Down On Media
November 8, 2017 - Human rights groups say President Nicolas Maduro's autocratic government aims to stifle dissent in both broadcasting and social platforms.

Venezuela's Constituent Assembly has approved a law its authors say would punish messages of hate in broadcast and social media with penalties reaching 20 years in prison. The new law comes in a period of rising political tensions over the rule of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The Assembly, created by Maduro in July and mainly composed of his supporters, bans any message transmitted through radio, television or social media that instigates hate. The new law is designed to encourage "broadcast message aimed at promoting peace, tolerance, equality and respect," according to the legislation, as quoted by the Associated Press.

The president of the Constituent Assembly, Delcy Rodriguez, said the law is designed to counter extremist sectors of Venezuela's right-wing opposition groups. The law also prohibits opposition political parties that don't comply with the Assembly's anti-hate law from registering with the government-dominated National Electoral Council.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a press conference at the presidential palace, in Caracas, Venezuela​

As NPR's Philip Reeves reports: "Venezuela's opposition parties are in disarray. President Nicolas Maduro now seems to be capitalizing on their weakness with a law stifling dissent. It was passed by the Constituent Assembly that Maduro and his ruling social party recently created, and which they control. The law bans ... material on the airwaves, or via social media, that's deemed to incite hatred or violence. Social media operators must immediately pull posts defined as illegal, it says. Violators face ten to twenty years in prison. ... Many countries, including the U.S., don't recognise Venezuela's Constituent Assembly and will see this crackdown as an attempt to consolidate a dictatorship."

A spokesman for the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in a tweet, "The law passed today sinks Venezuela deeper into Maduro's tyrannical regime. But nobody should be surprised that Maduro's autocratic circus went this far: the mafia that governs Venezuela has shown too many times that it is willing to go as far as necessary to crackdown on dissent." Maduro already has accused some private media outlets of conspiring against him by covering anti-government demonstrations. He blocked Colombian networks Caracol and RNC earlier this year and pulled CNN en Espanol off the air in Venezuela, according to Bloomberg.

Venezuela Constituent Assembly Cracks Down On Media

 

[waltky]

Venezuelan police tear-gas relatives of prison fire victims...

After Dozens Die in a Jail Fire, Venezuela Tear-Gasses Their Relatives
MARCH 29, 2018 — Like most jails in Venezuela, the one attached to the police station in the northern city of Valencia was packed beyond capacity. Built to house roughly 60 inmates, it contained about 200.

Simmering anger fueled a riot there on Wednesday morning: A prison guard, wounded by a knife, was taken hostage. Inmates threatened to kill him with a grenade unless their demands were met. Others set mattresses alight. The fire turned the jail into an inferno. Emergency workers punched holes in the walls to let the smoke disperse and the inmates escape. But by nightfall, 66 men and two women — who were evidently at the jail to visit loved ones — were dead and scores were injured. Enraging Venezuelans and rights advocates, the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at grieving relatives who gathered outside the jail overnight demanding information. Late Thursday morning, a policewoman came outside and spoke to relatives demanding answers. She had a small sheet of paper in her hands. “Carlos Sánchez?” she shouted.

Some grieving relatives were told by a policewoman: “Look, I haven’t had any breakfast, so let’s calm down.”​

A woman immediately raised her hand and yelled, “I’m his mother, yes.” “He died,” the policewoman said. The mother started crying. She said her son had less than a year on his sentence. The policewoman recited some names of inmates who had survived the fire and then shouted: “Look, I haven’t had any breakfast, so let’s calm down. These are the names I have, that’s it.” With Venezuela in an economic collapse even worse than the Great Depression and its public health system in free fall, inmates throughout the country are going hungry. Protests are on the rise. Weapons and drug smuggling are prevalent, as is bribery of guards and of the heavily armed groups who hold sway over cellblocks and police holding cells like the ones in Valencia.

Relatives of prisoners waiting outside the police station where the fire broke out.​

Other marks of the crisis include hyperinflation, extreme shortages of food and medicine, constant electrical blackouts, thousands of children dying of malnutrition, rampant crime in every province and looting and rioting in the streets. The fire was one of the worst disasters in the history of Venezuela’s prisons and its toll surpassed the 61 who died in a riot at a prison near Barquisimeto in 2013; the 17 who died in a fire in Tocuyito, near Valencia, in 2015; and the 37 who died in a prison uprising in Puerto Ayacucho, in the state of Amazonas, last August. Inmates’ relatives said on Thursday that they had been told the fire started after the authorities tried to break up a party overseen by gangs — known as pranatos — that have paid off or intimidated the prison staff to permit drugs, alcohol and sex. On Wednesday, they said, wives and girlfriends were permitted to visit their loved ones at the prison. “The police wanted to get into the dungeons. They wanted to enter by force. That’s what my brother told his wife,” said Rosa Guzmán, 40, describing the account her sister-in-law gave. “We came here and the police were very aggressive. They made us run.”

A woman was affected by tear gas fired near the police station.​

Another woman, 20-year-old Yesenia Morillo, said that she had two nephews awaiting trial inside the jail. “Last week, an internal fight caused one death, but that’s normal,” she said of the jail, adding that her nephews had survived the fire. “They said there was a party and that police asked them to shut down the party and the prisoners didn’t want to end the party,” she said. “So one prisoner took the policeman’s gun and then they started shooting and the police shot a woman. That’s when everything started.” María, 56, who lives around the block from the jail and who insisted that her surname not be used because she fears reprisal, said the authorities fired rubber bullets on angry crowds who had congregated nearby to demand answers. “I’ve been living here 55 years and it’s the first time I’ve seen something like this, so big,” she said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Colombian church sends communion wafers to Venezuela...

Colombia church sends communion wafers to Venezuela amid flour shortage
March 30, 2018 -- A food crisis has left Venezuela without wheat flour to make the sacramental bread used to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, so a Colombian church stepped in with a gift.

Members of the Catholic diocese of Cúcuta, Colombia, donated 250,000 communion wafers "so Venezuelans can celebrate the central mysteries of the Christian faith."

The wafers were delivered on a bridge between the two countries during a heavy rainfall. "Due to the scarcity of this country, the hosts for the celebration of the Eucharist have not been the exception; For this reason, and in the exercise of the charity of Christ on the border, the particular Church of Cúcuta has handed over to the dioceses of the Venezuelan border zone the subject matter for the celebration of the Holy Mass," according to a Facebook statement by the diocese.

Members of the Catholic diocese of Cúcuta, Colombia, donated 250,000 communion wafers so Venezuelans can celebrate Holy Eucharist. A food crisis has left Venezuela without wheat flour to make sacramental bread.​

Shortages of food and medicine have become common in Venezuela because of an economic crisis largely fueled by a decline in oil production. Earlier this month after supplies had run out, some churches had asked people to bring flour to nuns who make the hosts. The Colombian Catholic church said it had a moral duty to help Venezuelans. "It is important to attend to the needs that afflict the faith as a result of this time of border crisis," a statement from the diocese said. "At this time of the week, the central mysteries of the Christian faith can be celebrated."

Colombia church sends communion wafers to Venezuela amid flour shortage

 

[waltky]

Venezuelan Refugees Face Violence And Closed Borders As They Try To Flee...

Venezuelan Refugees Face Violence And Closed Borders As They Try To Flee
August 20, 2018 • Over the weekend an angry mob attacked Venezuelan migrant camps in a Brazilian town near the border. Ecuador has declared a state of emergency, and closed its borders to those without passports.

Venezuelan refugees continue to flee across the border by the thousands each day, and are increasingly facing protests and attacks in neighboring countries. Over the weekend mobs torched refugee camps in a border town of northern Brazil. As many as 1,200 Venezuelan migrants had to flee the Brazilian town of Pacaraima - in which recent makeshift camps had been set up - back across the border to their home country, according The New York Times. The town had been a main entry point for Venezuelans seeking refuge in Brazil. According to reports, an attack on a Brazilian merchant by Venezuelan criminals sparked the violence. Rev. Jesus Lopez Fernandez de Bobadilla, a Spanish priest in Pacaraima, told The Times the migration crisis is straining the resources of the town of 12,000. Still, Father de Bobadilla said, "Pacaraima is offering a truly shameful example of intense and violent xenophobia."

Jose Ramon Gonzalez, National Relief Director at the Venezuelan Red Cross, told NPR his team is caring for the most vulnerable people in the country, and they are monitoring closely the health situation on the ground. He said people are traveling across the border for a fresh start, and new life. The United Nations says more than 7 percent - 2.3 million refugees – of Venezuela's population have fled to other countries, making it one of the largest mass migrations of people in Latin American history. U.N. humanitarian officials report that 1.3 million of those who fled were suffering from malnourishment. More than a million Venezuelan migrants have reportedly arrived in Colombia over the past 15 months, according to Reuters. Another 4,000 are reportedly crossing the border into Ecuador every day.

Residents of the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima burn tires and belongings of Venezuelan immigrants, after an attack on their makeshift camps.​

The refugees' arrivals are inspiring protests and xenophobia in some communities. Hundreds of Ecuadoreans in the border town of Tulcan marched last week to demonstrate against the influx of migrants. "You can help five, 10 or 20 Venezuelans but you can't help ... 10,000," Jairo Pozo, an Ecuadorean business owner behind the protest, told The Guardian, arguing that the refugees are stealing jobs. In response to the mass inflow of refugees, Ecuador has begun closing its borders to people not carrying passports, a move Colombia has protested, saying vulnerable migrants will now be trapped on its side of the border. The refugees are fleeing a growing economic catastrophe in Venezuela, which has led to shortages of food and other basic necessities. Newsweek reports that some city officials have been walking off the job as the situation worsens, "As Maduro struggles to maintain control of the country, police and military officials have been abandoning their posts as their paychecks have stopped coming."

NPR's Colin Dwyer reports runaway inflation topped 60,000 percent last weekend, and that the currency has lost so much value "it takes stacks of bills just to buy a roll of toilet paper." Dwyer reports that Venezuela's currency will now be pegged to the government's proposed cryptocurrency, the petro, in the process "devaluing Venezuela's physical currency by more than 95 percent and radically weakening its exchange rate." The government's economic policies will almost certainly force more people to flee across the border to communities that say they are unequipped to receive them. 27-year-old Daniel Luquez told The Guardian, "Getting here was tough, but I have to battle for my family." He said made his way on crutches 1,200 miles to the Ecuadorean border, in a "desperate effort to earn money to cover his daughter's cancer treatment," he told the paper.

Luquez, whose leg was amputated after a car accident, explained that after migrating first to Colombia, he was attacked by residents there. He then attempted the journey to Ecuador. Last week the Pentagon said it is preparing to dispatch a hospital ship to Colombia to assist with the refugee crisis. The ship will depart from Norfolk, Virginia, and arrive in the fall. "It is absolutely a humanitarian mission," Defense Secretary James Mattis said. That may not be soon enough to help countries deal with the volume of refugees. Ecuador declared a state of emergency earlier this month. In Brazil, Col. Hilel Zanatta, who heads the military task force that is managing the refugee process in Pacaraima, told The New York Timesthe border there had reopened Sunday after what he called "a very tense day."

Venezuelan Refugees Face Violence And Closed Borders As They Try To Flee

See also:

Pregnant Venezuelan women going to Brazil to give birth
22 Aug.`18 – Expecting Venezuelan women are leaving their country due to lack of prenatal care, medicine and diapers and giving birth across the border in Brazil, where three Venezuelan babies are born every day.

"My baby would have died if I had stayed. There was no food or medicine, no doctors," said Maria Teresa Lopez as she fed her daughter Fabiola, who was born on Monday night by caesarian section in the maternity hospital of Boa Vista, the capital of Brazil's Roraima border state. Lopez, 20, hitched 800 kilometers from her home in the Orinoco river delta to the Brazilian border five months ago. She is one of several hundred thousand Venezuelans who have fled the economic and political turmoil in their homeland, mostly to neighboring Colombia. The massive influx of Venezuelans has overburdened social services in Roraima state and led to an increase in crime, prostitution, disease and incidents of xenophobia.

Births of Venezuelan babies at the Boa Vista maternity hospital surged to 566 last year and 571 in the first half of 2018, from 288 in 2016 when the flow of Venezuelan refugees began, the Roraima health department said. There were no births in 2015, it said. Roraima health safety coordinator Daniela Souza said the state has only one maternity hospital and it is being stretched to the limit, with patients sleeping on cots in the corridors. Syringes, gloves and other supplies are running out, she said. "There are 800 people coming across the border every day and many of the women and children need medical care," Souza said. The number of Venezuelans attended at the state's medical centers has risen from 700 in 2014 to 50,000 in 2017 and 45,000 in just the first three months of this year, she said.

​

​

Lismaris, a Venezuelan from Monagas state, holds her three-day-old Cecilia at a maternity hospital in Boa Vista​

The Brazilian government and Venezuela's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Roraima's governor has asked Brazil's Supreme Court to close the border to be able to deal with the immigration crisis. The federal government in Brasilia has ruled that out on humanitarian grounds. Carmen Jimenez, 33, who arrived from Ciudad Bolivar eight months pregnant and gave birth in the Boa Vista hospital, said she was amazed to see so many Venezuelan mothers there. "I won't go back to Venezuela until there is food and medicine, and the streets are safe again," she said holding her 4-day-old daughter, Amalia.

Lopez, a Warao Indian of the Orinoco delta, said she would only return to pick up her first daughter, who remained behind with her grandmother because she was too young for the arduous journey to the border. Brazil has received her well and her husband found work doing odd jobs, painting and mowing lawns, Lopez said, as she fed her baby milk with a large syringe. "There is nothing left for us there," she said. "I did not get an ultrasound until I got to Brazil and it was free. I want to stay."

Pregnant Venezuelan women going to Brazil to give birth

 

[waltky]

OAS chief threatens military force against Venezuela...

OAS chief threatens military force against Venezuela
Sep 15, 2018 - The head of the Organization of American States has joined President Trump in holding out the threat of a military intervention in Venezuela to restore democracy and ease the country’s humanitarian crisis.

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro delivered the sharp warning in a visit Friday to Colombia’s border with Venezuela in which he also denounced President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist “dictatorship” for spurring a regionwide migration crisis. “With respect to a military intervention to overthrow Nicolas Maduro’s regime, I don’t think any option should be ruled out,” Almagro said at a news conference in the Colombian city of Cucuta. “What Nicolas Maduro’s regime is perpetrating are crimes against humanity, the violation of the human rights and the suffering of people that is inducing an exodus. Diplomatic actions should be the first priority but we shouldn’t rule out any action.” Almagro has been Maduro’s most outspoken critic in Latin America, but until Friday he hadn’t been willing to go as far as Trump, who last year raised the possibility of a “military option” against Maduro. In several meetings with aides and Latin American leaders last year, Trump also discussed the possibility of a U.S. invasion of the South American nation. Still, for many in Latin America, the prospect of a military intervention is bound to revive memories of the Cold War, when the U.S. gave backing to coups and rebellions from countries including Chile, Cuba and Brazil. For Almagro, the threat of military force is especially surprising given his condemnation of the region’s support for a U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 to remove a democratically elected but pro-Cuban president. The invasion, carried out in the OAS’ name, left thousands dead and for decades stirred Latin American resentment against the idea of ever again using force against sovereign nations.

Almagro in 2015 apologized for the OAS’ role in the invasion, saying such events should not be repeated. While circumstances in Venezuela are far different, and many still see an invasion as a remote possibility, Maduro has nonetheless held out the threat to try to rally Venezuelans behind him at a time of mounting hardships. Almagro in his visit Friday said countries in the Western Hemisphere should work together to provide relief to the droves of Venezuelans who every day are fleeing hyperinflation and food shortages in their homeland. But, he added, the ultimate solution to the crisis is to restore democracy in Venezuela. “The international community has to provide answers. We can’t allow a dictatorship in Venezuela that affects the security of the entire region through drug trafficking, organized crime and the deep humanitarian crisis it has created,” Almagro said. During Friday’s visit to the border, Almagro met aid workers and government officials in Cucuta, where schools and hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx of Venezuelan migrants.

The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Uruguayan Luis Almagro, right, greets Venezuelans during his visit to the Divina Providencia migrant shelter in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela​

The outspoken diplomat was stopped on the street and greeted by dozens of Venezuelan migrants who urged him to work for the “liberation” of Venezuela from tyranny. He said while countries like his native Uruguay had weathered bloody dictatorships in the past, Maduro’s government stands out for using shortages of food and medicine as “instruments of repression” to impose its political will. “This is inadmissible. We’ve never seen such an immoral government in the world that doesn’t allow the entry of humanitarian aid in the middle of a humanitarian crisis,” he said. According to the United Nations, more than 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their country in recent years.



Increasingly they are leaving with no money and are traveling on foot across South American countries like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in dangerous journeys that can take several weeks. Almagro said the OAS has created a working group that will look at ways to help desperate migrants as well as their host countries. OAS member states recently voted on a resolution that accuses Maduro of breaking his country’s constitutional order when he got himself reelected in May in a vote boycotted by opponents. Colombia’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said Friday that it was investigating preliminary reports that 20 soldiers from Venezuela’s national guard illegally entered a remote Colombian river hamlet and captured three civilians. Relations between both countries have been tense for years, but have not affected Colombia’s policy toward Venezuelan migrants so far.

OAS chief threatens military force against Venezuela