My first reaction to a pregnant 15 yo is that she shouldn't be having sex, but this is the real world, after all and it isn't a matter of should or shouldn't, but does or doesn't. Ditto with Yanethzy. She "should" be able to read and do math but her life will be ruined due to a government that doesn't care about her.
What will it take for the world to finally treat every individual with love and dignity?
1
Dear Sirs,
Remarkable that this has been written April 10 when it is known (for whom wants to know) that the economical burn out of Venezuela has been the result of a strangling series of sanctions by US. The same US who initiated the coup, for 47 hours, against Chavez in 2012. These days we have seen the same tactics in UN which the US used for justifying the assault of Iraq and Libia.
The situation in Venezuela is far from ideal and a change should be welcomed by many, but support by a great number of hard core Chavist supporters is still in place. Living and working in Venezuela since 1980, (my work is NOT related to the government) I observe that, step by step the mood among many people is changing and they are getting more and more upset by hypocrisy of the US government, helped by some journalists who have not seen the reality. Since months medical aid from UN, China, Russia is softening the situation. Taking away the sanctions of the US, as asked by Russia and China yesterday in Security Council would, in one sweep solve most of the remaing problems. But as Mr Pence said yesterday: All options are on the table, so it is likely that we will see renewed cyberattacks by the US to the electric power system which will send the whole population into miserable conditions for a couple of days: no electricity = no water.
4
The Cuban government is deeply involved in Venezuela, and Cuban support is helping keep Maduro in power, yet Mr. Kristof never mentions Cuba. Odd.
3
NYT Editors and especially Mr. Kristof : What can we do to provide immediate HELP ??? Please give Us the names of reputable, specific organizations that are able to provide immediate, emergency Relief. Much Thanks.
4
Our country is "full"? Meanwhile Colombia, not considered a wealthy country, is allowing refugees to entry their country and doing what it can to help them. For shame.
Thank you Nick for allowing us to understand this situation a bit more clearly.
6
The first thought I have is how many other countries in the world are in (or have been recently) the same despair/crisis, yet foreign policy from the United States towards those other countries is dramatically different ?
The first country that comes to mind is North Korea, then China, then other countries in the Middle East. The only difference from the South American one is that the citizens can walk across the border, and if they have the strength, will and meager resources left, can walk/get thousands of miles to the American border.
If the country didn't have oil, were not accessible (or make smart phones or have nuclear weapons) then no one would be paying attention to the country at all.
Tis' a shame.
18
@FunkyIrishman. If the country didn't have oil it probably never would have developed this level of corruption in the first place. Keep in mind that Russia and China are very interested in Venezuela, and corruption is one of their main exports.
19
As a Latina I remember when Venezuela was prosperous. They had popular telenovelas and the best singers. Hispanics and Latinos see each other as one. Our food, music, typical dresses, dialect, and accents difer, but our hearts beat as one. Thousands of miles away I feel this is happening to my family. My heart is in shreds.
60
We should not think that what we see happening in Venezuela cannot happen in America. Dictators do not care about their people. To them, they are expendable commodities. We should consider where America is heading and think long and hard about it as we digest the photographs and phrases from Nicholas Kristof's evocative reporting.
After all, aren't we all in this together?
80
@Blue Moon is right, the U. S. can have a total economic collapse. But unlike Venezuela where a socialist government modeled after the former Soviet Union instead of a socialist government modeled after northern Europe, the U. S. will resemble a fascist government where most of the money (96%) will be in the hands of the mega rich with the power to crush the bottom 99%, especially the bottom 90%. The middle class is in terrible shape and things are getting worse. The tax cuts are benefiting the mega rich who will not create more than a very few living wage jobs and will not give pay raises to members of the middle class who are working 2 or 3 jobs to make end meet and are barely scraping by. Carl Cox, Riverdale, Ga.
7
“Trump is right to join Canada and more than 50 other countries in recognizing the head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.”
There are over 190 countries , so 50 is much less than half. Is this how it works, if enough countries decide they do not like a leader they can overthrow them. Guaidó was supposed to have set up elections within 30 days, it is well past that.
The US is doing economic siege warfare, illegal under the UN blacking incoming goods and freezing their bank accounts.
UN Investigator
https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2019/02/09/alfred-de-zayas-former-rapporteur-onu-in-venezuela-the-venezuelan-opposition-rejects-dialogue-they-want-power-with-a-coup-detat/
“There was no “humanitarian crisis”, as confirmed to me by FAO and CEPAL // nothing to compare with Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Central AfricanRepublic, etc. But indeed there was scarcity of foods and medicines. The situation has gotten much worse since Dec. 2017 because of Trumps sanctions and the economic and financial blockade.”
Why is the US still supplying air support and weapons to the Saudis in Yemen, the largest humanitarian disaster in history where over 30 millions starving?
The Koch Brothers refinery can only refine heavy oil like from Venezuela, in Texas, that is a big reason why the US wants to overthrow them so they can steal it.
2
Could there be anything more sinister or more hypocritical than to create a terrible humanitarian crisis in a country, then use that very suffering as a pretext for an invasion and conquest? The truth is, the US imperialists want to steal Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. They have employed media lies, racist violence, sanctions, assassinations, armed mobs of right wing thugs, etc., etc, to grab this geo strategic resource. Yet everything has failed. The people of Venezuela defy them yet! Your crocodile tears for the people there are nauseating in their insincerity. If you really care for the people there, why not accept President Maduro's offer to negotiate?
1
Where are Sean Penn, Oliver Stone and the other US liberals who promoted Venezuela as the nation that knew how to provide a 'fair share' to all its citizens?
4
Remember that people like Kenneth Langone have been telling us the situation in Venezuela was caused by socialism. When will the top one percent stop lying to us?
1
Cuba and Russia are backing Maduro...this needs to be addressed.
2
you need to tell us what are some ways we can help these people.
1
It is the poor people in Venezuela that were the biggest supporters of Chavez and Maduro, and their redistributionist policies, supported by left wing ideologues everywhere. And now they reap what they sowed, and starve or are reduced to walking to Colombia. We told you so. These people brought this on themselves.
4
I hope you’re not suggesting they come to US.
We don’t want, need them
1
I am mystified by Kristof's statement, "American liberals sometimes sympathize with the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, out of instinctive resistance to President Trump." That sounds quite strange, as Trump and Maduro seem to be cut from the same cloth. I'm curious as to the identity of these Maduro-sympathizing liberals, and what their argument is.
I'm equally mystified by the lack of reporting on how the Venezuelan people manage to function and stay alive in a world of 10 million percent inflation. If my math is correct $1 million would be worth $10 at the end of one year. That would create such chaos that it would seem impossible to transact any exchange of goods or services, yet I've seen no reports of how that's affected day-to-day life.
34
@Scott I also would like to know how people manage financial transactions in this situation. Seriously. I have been wondering that for several years now. As to "liberals" supporting Maduro, they often come out of the woodwork to comment on stories about Venezuela that appear in the Times. My opinion is that they have a knee-jerk reaction to a supposedly "socialist" president and in fact don't have a clue about what has transpired in Venezuela the last 15 years. And I agree about the similarities between Maduro and Trump.
11
The stance of Bernie, Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, and others on the far left is embarrassing. Review their tweets and public statements. Florida Democrats like Donna Shalala and Debbie Wasserman Schultz had to school them publicly on the issue. A country with abundant oil, gas, minerals, hydropower, and arable land has turned into a failed state. Cash is worthless, so people use credit cards and electronic payments, which is hard with the constant blackouts. People have turned to bartering goods and services. Those near the border have access to Colombian and Brazilian currency, and have largely abandoned the bolivar.
Colombians migrated to Venezuela for work when the country was functional in the pre-Chavez years. People forget the years of civil war and drug cartel violence suffered by Colombians. Their support for Venezuelans is born of this relationship. But I don’t think they can keep absorbing more Venezuelans, at least without billions in international humanitarian assistance. Colombia isn’t a wealthy country. The Venezuelans arriving now are in ever worse conditions of malnutrition and illness.
Who knows when the dictatorship will end with Russia, China, and Cuba helping prop-up Maduro.
8
Just read the comments section to any article about Venezuela in this paper in the last six months. Kristoff is totally correct. There’s no shortage of Maduro sympathizers who read this paper and would rather see venezualan’s starve than see trump achieve success in anything.
7
I have said this before, say it now and will no doubt be moved to say it again in the future:
There are few words available to me that would properly express my admiration for and gratitude to journalists such as Nick Kristof. He and other journalists like him serve as my/our eyes and ears per the devastating and almost incomprehensible suffering endured by the most forgotten people who often live in the most forgotten corners of the Creation.
Occasionally I will see him on television as he interacts with those for whom my comfortable, middle-class life would be unimaginable. It is like being in a doctoral-level class on authentic compassion---with a professor who personifies it.
Thanks be...
102
@Rusty Inman
Completely accurate and beautifully expressed. Mr. Kristof is my personal hero, and the heart of the NYT.
14
@Rusty Inman
Couldn’t agree more!
6
Has this issue been handled without Trump involvement, Venezuelans would have a better chance to get rid of Maduro. Trump is the guy who said we should have grabbed the oil in Iraq. He loves dictators. He is the guy who called refugees animals. Hard to believe he is sincere about democracy in Venezuela?
Sympathy is in short shrift these days. Trump likes to cage children fleeing the impacts in Central America from our source of energy production, while denying 19th century physics.
Mr Kristof,
Thank you for giving a voice to the Venezuelan people!
3
I don’t know ANY liberal that sympathies with Maduro. He’s a ruthless dictator, no matter what he calls himself. The world must help any people who are starving and living in such conditions, wherever they may live. Make it about that, rather than say some liberals support Maduro to spite Trump.
1
another article that makes it clear that what the desperate women in central and latin america need most is access to (and strong reason to use) birth control. certailnly not the intent of the article-but desperate 15 year old pregnant woman, tragic on so many levels.
3
Nicholas Kristof is beginning to see the result of the Bernie Sanders and AOC poster child for the model society. Socialism is the death knell to economic prosperity for everyone, especially the poor. When the system collapses, they are the more vulnerable. Maduro is a sadist who represses not a leader with any aspirations of bringing equality of any kind to the Venezuelan people. Like all leftist leaders promising prosperity via the collective and destruction of the middle class, their shouted rhetoric is contrary to the harsh reality experienced by their people.
The prior administration smiled politely and rooted for Maduro. How pathetic it is to wish this upon the Venezuelan people?
3
Does anyone remembers how in 2006, Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz praised the economic policies of Hugo Chávez ?
Until Stiglitz offers a correction and explanation to his valuation his appraisement is still valid.
When do these people learn, that it doesn't matter, how they label their economic scam, it is the powerful and corrupt, the false promises of liberalism and lies of populism, that ruin the life of ordinary people.
2
Here's a thought: lift all sanctions. Release the money in foreign banks that belongs to Venezuela. Stop trying to install a puppet as the president of the country. Yes, he's a puppet, for he was never elected or chosen by the citizenry. Let Venezuelans decide for themselves what they want for their country without outside influence. Hopefully they'll do so via ballot or peaceful revolt. But if it takes a bloody revolution so be it; it's their country.
The US and other countries are always so very interested in the "welfare & freedom & elections" of countries that have oil but couldn't care less about people in desperate situations elsewhere. Do you think that this is lost on us?
I'm ashamed that my country is meddling in Venezuelan affairs and wish that the world can just step back away and let them govern themselves.
1
You mention sanctions but need to explain that many years of U.S. sanctions are a major reason for Venezuela's decline.
Look at the history of U.S. in Central America - variations on the situation in Venezuela. Watch film Harvest of Empire if you want to know why people are fleeing Honduras, Guatemala & El Salvador. The U.S. sanctions in Venezuela are from the same "playbook " of those nations, crumbling now.
1
Thank you so, Mr. Kristof, for this story. Reading about the lack of medical care for Venezuelans trapped in their country hits me so hard for them. Forty years ago I was working for an international pharmaceutical company (long since bought out), that had a strong presence in Latin America and elsewhere. While I worked there, the Venezuelan government installed a new director over all medical care. This new health minister was appalled by the many "clinical trials" being foisted on the Venezuelan doctors and citizens by American drug companies for drugs the FDA was not permitting to be tested on Americans. So he began demanding proof of all documentation provided in support of American drug applications, including drugs previously approved by former administrations. He went so far as to demand original journal articles previously submitted as citations. I had to write to the journals for original documents or official confirmation that no original documents were available. Venezuela quickly became the most difficult country to satisfy as a market for my company's drugs, in contrast to their former status as a lucrative one. I have long been ashamed of having worked for a company that might be described now as a drug dumper, but I always respected Venezuela for its very, very strong medical minister. What a horrific end for the Venezuelan people.
2
The numbers are important here, think about it.
The entire population of San Salvador is about 6 million.
Over 3 million people have fled Venezuela into Colombia or Brazil just in the last couple of years.
Since 2010 only about 9 million people immigrated legally
into the U.S., but only about 16% of this total was from Mex or Central America- or about 1.5 million people.
while illegal immigration into the U.S. in 2016 alone was estimated at about 10.7 million {nearly 3.5 % of the population} which were visa overstays and border jumping.
And since then it's even worse.
They keep coming.
Venezuela, San Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras...
Human beings will not stop unless we force changes
in these countries from which they flee.
If there was ever a justification for U.N. intervention,
anywhere, we have it now, today.
Human beings will walk, crawl, fall and get up, cry, eat what they have or what they are given,
but they will hope for something better,
And they will keep coming.
4
Mr. Kristof, I know the needs in Venezuela are immense, but is there any way to help some of these children via an agency like 'Save the Children'?
3
Columbia absorbs 2M Venezuelan refugees and the huge USA at full employment can’t absorb much fewer Central Americans. Something is wrong with this picture.
6
@LAM:
The US is at full employment?
Something wrong with your "fact" sources.
2
Venezuela elites created the current horror story. Major oil discoveries in early 20th Century marks the modern era for Venezuela ... with black gold exploitation granted to Royal Dutch Shell and other foreign oil companies. All to the benefit of rent seeking Venezuela elites. Nationalist sentiment in the 1970s, triggered the nationalization of the industry but meant nothing for the 80% or more of the population that received little benefit. The oil largesse allowed all types of perverse incentives that created the reality of a large tropical country with massive resources unable to produce sufficient food for its populace.
Hugo Chavez emerges in the 1990s as an apparent antidote for this absolutely corrupt and inept ruling elite. That elite, now enjoys the fruits of their parasitic misrule in Florida... but the long suffering 80% ... suffer on... now buffeted by geopolitical maneuvering.
4
Thank you @NickKristof for this article. I would like to know exactly how Venezuela got to its current dismal state. I suspect it is a combination of poor internal leadership combined with punitive and manipulative sanctions, mixed into an oily stew, but I would love to see a wonky timeline detailing just how. Another, more detailed article would be most welcome.
8
What is my country doing to prevent suffering? I've read about difficulties getting aid packages into Venezuela; are we sending any aid packages or money to Colombia to help the people who are going there?
This story reminds me a lot of the situation at the Lebanese/Syrian border - Lebanon took in the lion's share of Syrian refugees, and hardly a word was spoken about it. Meanwhile half a dozen desperate Syrians enter the US, and you would think we were facing the Syrian Refugee Armada on our shores.
A wise man once said, "Politics, my friend, is why the huge gap exists between what is and what ought to be." Wouldn't it be great if the official US policy more closely resembled the everyday Colombians and the everyday Lebanese, and that instead of using Venezuela as an example of the dangers of socialism we simply reached out to help people in desperate need?
I mean, how tough is that, really?
16
Thank you so much for writing this column. I work for an INGO that is providing health care to Venezuelan migrants and refugees along the border of Colombia and Venezuela and your article captures the suffering and need our team sees every day. I also agree the politicization of humanitarian aid needs to be addressed immediately. Not only is it keeping lifesaving aid away from people in need but it is also putting humanitarian aid workers in Venezuela at risk. I hope with more articles like yours and continuous advocacy we can help change the dialogue around this crisis and begin providing the critically needed large-scale aid to help suffering Venezuelans.
12
The immediate concern in Venezuela and much of Central America is political as this op-Ed describes and diplomatic solutions are urgently needed. However if global warming continues unabated this region will be uninhabitable. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQw_DlQUZWspK2rLG5W44TMO4_KMenk4iQF2gBFEs7NvdmU96rl
The failed agricultural sector of Venezuela has contributed greatly to its food shortages. Heat related crop failures in Central America are occurring adding to forces increasing immigration pressure.
So Maduro must go but we also have to urgently implement policies to curb global warming otherwise the short term solutions will be for naught.
6
Who can remain resilient in the face of a tyrant and his contrivances? Despite its massive petroleum resources Venezuela has become the basket case of the western hemisphere. What happens on the ground there as far as the enormous humanitarian crisis of the many millions of refugees is what the USA will face for the rest of its existence. How are we going to cope with the eventual arrival of a billion people in our midst? What can be done to forestall their showing up and demanding our way of life? Why not enable them to enjoy their own places of birth especially with the lucrative commodities they possess? Only the perversity of the rulers like Maduro prevent this.
4
In the 90s, I use to travel to Venezuela almost every week. A wonderful country and people. I would first say that the US should open our borders to these people. These are our neighbors. We need to be there for them. Second, the US needs to mobilize to support countries like Colombia who are doing everything possible to support these refugees.
With regard to Kristof's prescription for bringing down Maduro. Winning over Mexico and offering a gold parachute to Maduro isn't going to change the government. Chavez choose Maduro because he saw someone who truly believed in his "Bolivarian" revolution. With support from Cuba, Russia, Turkey, Iran and China, Maduro plans to and will ride out the storm. The US needs to looked at a multinational intervention to end this regime with Brazil and Colombia to bring Maduro down and end the suffering.
10
I've seen several posts warning "Don't think it can't happen here". Well, we can have difficulties but there is one major difference between these Central American and South American countries and the US. A huge number of US citizens are armed, some quite heavily, and they are armed because the Second Amendment was set up to ensure that dictatorial government could not prevail. That is the real meaning of the Second Amendment---protection against an illegitimate government takeover. So, if you worry about that, you'd better not be taken in by those who want to eliminate the 2nd Amendment. It is our bulwark against tyranny.
7
@Paul
The Second Amendment was not set up to protect us from our own government, but to repel foreign invasion, as the federal military was very weak at the time the constitution was written....and do you really believe that an armed Venezuelan population ( or American one, for that matter )would be able to resist a trained military with overwhelming firepower?
It would only result in more death and destruction on both sides...not the answer.
10
@Paul
It would be of interest to you to do some research on the incredible arsenal of weaponry that the US military, the paramilitary forces and inevitably the police have now in the US. And don't forget that the government has a peephole into everyone's house through the ubiquitous cellphone.
Thinking that a rag tag disorganized and scattered fraction of the US population armed with rifles and automatic weapons will prevail against the awesome might of the US government and its firepower is the height of naivety...
2
If you think the second Amendment will protect you against the most powerful military in the world, you have been made the victim of a terrible delusion.
1
I wish we could mobilize the recent college grads to do short-term assistance in education/outreach. Sort of a Peace Corps program, even shorter term.
18
The terrible leadership in Venezuela has led to a large number of refugees, and we see how refugees in general have been treated as they arrive at the US border, or try to cross the Mediterranean.
A significant number of the latter two groups of people are driven to move by climate change, and the developed countries' are resistant to help a problem they caused with their method of energy production.
Several million refugees are presenting huge problems. The last time CO2 levels were that of today, millions of years ago, sea level was high enough to force around 10 percent of the global population today to move.
That's 700 million people on the move from that impact alone. Never mind things like heat waves and food insecurity.
7
@Erik Frederiksen The truth is hard to face.
Thank you, Nick, for getting up close and personal with Venezuelans. All we read about in the news is the big picture. I'm glad to see the human face to this forlorn situation. Reading your column makes me feel the desperation of these ordinary, good people.
50
This is what happens, when the facade cracks, the Strongman goes into a death spiral, and civilization crumbles. And He won’t go quietly, willingly or alone, his path will be paved by thousands of bodies, mostly Women and Children. It is, as it ever was. And don’t think or hope that it couldn’t happen here.
Thank you, Sir. And thank you, Columbia.
77
For "civilization," and societies however defined and delineated, to begin in particular ways, to change as realities and circumstances do, crumble, disappear, begin again, etc., it takes ongoing, individual and systemic, multidimensional efforts. By many.In these processes, documented over time [history, theology, sociology, psychology, philosophy...] complacency by many exists. As does complicity. For all sorts of known, unknown at the time and even unknowable reasons.Literature documents: "the center will not hold," by Yeats. The constraints and distortions of binary-banalities' either/or descriptions, presented as useful and meaningful explanations are accepted by many. The possibility that a man-made issue, and problem- they are not equivalent- is neither solvable nor resolvable, during a given time, place, conditions, with the available and accessible resources, is not considered. Neither by relevant policymakers nor by many of US. An US, in a toxic, enabled WE-THEY reality, who have the resourced-privilege to subscribe to the NYT, read it in the comfort of our...The luxury of choosing to read this article, or not.The time to write; send a commentary. Read those of others. Share with others. Perhaps to Tut-tut. Contribute money, time, energies, etc., to...As daily violating to lives, limbs, limbic and other brain areas continue. Unabated.Your concern about "that it couldn’t happen here" inadvertently misleads."IT" exists! MANY need to effectively change IT. NOW.
1
@Phyliss Dalmatian. Today’s news, Kristof’s column and your comment linked up to give me a nightmare - are we headed for societal collapse ?
4
Is there any way Americans can help?
5