The Government of Venezuela has failed the basic promise leaders make to their citizens. Right now a famine caused by mismanagement of public resources is underway in Venezuela. Like the Great Leap Forward and Holodomor this is not caused by a natural disaster and the government is compounding its mistakes rather than solving the problem. The Venezuelan people have had enough and are finally standing up to the corruption.
Xiomara Vallenilla, from Guarenas, walked with a Venezuelan flag on her shoulders and said,: "We have been retained by the National Guard in at least - six checkpoints. It's not fair," she said. "I feel sad. This government is not what we expected. We're tired, tired of hunger and humiliation."
From MSNBC: www.nbcnews.com/...
The situation in Venezuela has been deteriorating for years now. The government mismanaged their oil wealth which is the primary export of Venezuela. Oil revenue was siphoned off for corruption, payments to loyalists, and poorly-thought out schemes. The results are what we see before us. Venezuela is a country entering a self-inflicted crisis. The Government’s purchase of gold when prices were inflated by the 2008 recession has led to the loss of billions of dollars. The refusal to trade in American dollars leave Venezuelan businesses at a disadvantage with businesses forced to sell at a loss by misguided Government regulations.
Venezuela is a country racked by crime. www.huffingtonpost.com/...The streets of Caracas are among the most dangerous in the world. Since Chavez took over the murder rate has doubled nationwide. These numbers likely don’t reflect the true horrors as the government under Chavez and now Maduro engages in some of the worst human rights abuses of the modern world. Political opponents are arrested and protesters disappeared. Amnesty International has raised concerns over Venezuela’s forced labor program an attempt to tackle the food crisis by enslaving Venezuelans to the state a few months out of the year. www.amnesty.org/...
Vice has an amazing series exposing what’s going on in Venezuela.
Maduro and the members of the Chavismo movement need to prepare to transition out of Government peacefully. It’s clear the leadership of Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution do not have the interests of the country at heart. While the country starves and people barter for rotting food they have grown fat and wealthy. They’ve long since passed the point of redemption and it’s time for new leadership in Venezuela that can manage the crisis they’re in.