Mr. Kristof --
I can’t thank you enough for your recent articles about Venezuela. As a Venezuelan living in Miami for the last 20 years, my heart breaks every single day from the horrible humanitarian crisis going on in my beloved country. It’s been years in the making, and unfortunately the future seems as bleak, if not worst. People are literally dying of hunger or from lack of basic healthcare on a daily basis, not to mention rampant crime. What was once the jewel of South America destroyed and unrecognizable. No matter how much I try to explain it to my American friends and colleagues, the situation is so extreme, bizarre and absurd that I don’t think people here really understand the extent. Thank you for bringing some light into the darkness.
67
"...it seems easier to find supporters of President Nicolás Maduro on an American university campus than in Venezuela itself."
This is undeniably a sad truth. My wife and I are sponsoring a bright young Venezuelan to study at one of Michigan's state universities. He continually has to hear from his 'enlightened' professors about how the problems in Venezuela are all due to U.S. sanctions. The fact is, we took this young man on after meeting him in 2014 in desperately poor conditions in his home country, where bread lines snaked for blocks in central Caracas. This was three full years years before the U.S. applied any sanctions on Venezuela.
Thank you, Mr. Kristhof, for your poignant article and accompanying photos that speak the truth.
62
@Erik
Who are we going to blame?
Thank you. An excellent and important article. It is always amazes me to hear from people who think that Latin Americans are incapable of ruining their own economies and their own political system. So easy to blame somebody else (i.e. the US) for poor policy and unstable political systems. It is quite frankly condescending in many ways.
22
Anyone apologizing for the Venezuelan catastrophe is a co-conspirator in this atrocity, just as we are for similar conditions that are present in US inner cities and Appalachia.
3
@W. Ogilvie
Interesting comparison and an excellent indictment of America and its political and economic status quo from 1776-present.
Mr. Martinez notes "what a difference a regime makes." Of which regime does he speak, the US or Venezuela?
I never cease to be amazed by the lack of desire to comprehend history. And why is that? Because history is complex, it is grey, it is not simple. One needs to be able to read and think critically.
Please review UN statistics for economic development under President Hugo Chavez. Please see The Revolution will not be Televised, easily accessible at youtube. Read Rabe, The Killing Zone. Read Forche, What you have heard is true.
There was massive corruption in Venezuela before Chavez, during Chavez, after Chavez. Show me one country except Norway where billions upon billions of oil money have not been corrupted away, with the US leading the way.
And Mr. Kristof, as someone who reads the NYTimes a few times a day, and everything you write, how about an article with pictures of the 50 million poor in the US.
Prof of Latin American History, Fulbright scholar to Venezuela
5
Once again, the world is seeing an example of how Marxism leads to famine. Chairman Mao created the worst famine in human history in 1959 by forcing farmers to give their tools to the government so that the metal could be used for weapons. Stalin starved the Kulaks to death. Pol Pot caused one third of the population of Cambodia to die of hunger. North Koreans have suffered from hunger time and again.
Venezuela has now jumped onto the Marxist bandwagon.
2
@George Jochnowitz
Except Mao and Stalin induced famine to be able to rapidly industrialize and kill their political opposition. That isn't really Marxism more than paranoia of the capitalist empires.
1
This is the second negative article about Venezuela in the past 5 days. The real news in South America is taking place in Chile and Colombia, but there's no coverage. Is this really all the news fit to print?
2
Not all cultures are equal. If they were the many extinct civilizations that ruled large areas in the past would still be around and everyone would have an approximately equal quality of life as human knowledge advanced over the centuries.
In my parents and my lifetime, we have witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union's totalitarian communist state, the collapse of Germany and Japan's totalitarian national socialist states, multiple failed states in Africa, and violent changes of governments in South and Central American and Asia.
Venezuela's political and social problems are the direct result of the culture and values of the people of Venezuela. The country has substantial resources and was once one of the wealthiest countries in South America. There are many reasons why the country is in its current state and a full explanation would require a lengthy book. One thing is clear now. The current socialist government is corrupt and incompetent and Venezuela will not recover, and the suffering of its people will not end, until the people of Venezuela decide to replace the current regime. That is their responsibility. They can choose Russia or China as partners or the Western Democratic states to assist them. I doubt they will be better off with Russia and China as partners.
2
@Jack
Incredible oversimplification. The political reality is nobody wants to be colonized by capitalist or any other regime. So it's spitting into the wind to expect them to turn their nations over to us.
1
Thank you for sharing such imagery of life in what use to be a country with hope.
Perhaps you can dedicate a final paragraph to address the few relief agencies providing life saving assistance.
I’m sure your readers will feel compelled to donate, especially during this time of year.
7
Thinking about government's killings of humans, we might first recall the two nuclear bombings, or the wars such as the Saudi aggression against Yemen forming a humanitarian crisis, but in Venezuela, with peace, it is killing some by impoverishing them to death. I doubt that government will ever stop killing humans.
Thank you Nicholas Kristof for enlightening us even if the news is so sad.
6
Heartbreaking, but haven't moderately informed person known that Venezuela has been coming apart at the seams for years now?
How's it going to get "fixed"? Is the US doing anything, other than humanitarian relief, to fix Venezuela?
3
Hi Brad Steele,
It's the US sanctions that have caused the problems.
https://www.dw.com/en/the-human-cost-of-the-us-sanctions-on-venezuela/a-50647399
1
@Susan the US Sanctions have increased suffering yes, but corruption that led to the downfall of Venezuela started with the Chavist regime.
4
Imagine if we were more concerned with the humanitarian consequences of our own sanctions and our own inaction than repeating, idiotically, "socialism has failed wherever it's been tried!".
Under Hugo Chavez, ordinary Venezuelans, like the indigenous people show in these photographs, made enormous social welfare gains, quite unlike prior centuries of elite white rule. And this, with free and fair elections.
But that was also intolerable to American administrations of both parties.
Think what that might tell us about ourselves.
9
@jrd "Made enormous social welfare gains" so much so my family has to support our family back in Venezuela or have them face extreme hardships.
2
There sure was a lot of disorder and corruption in Venezuela but let’s not forget that the USA did everything in its power to hit and exploit the South American countries. So, we are partly to blame. We don’t provide public services here and we want to export our Wild West model to others as well. And we have no tolerance when they want a different path... sad. So sad and so much human suffering for no reason.
6
@Selcuk
True. One reason is MAGA top honcho, POTUS, and his band of greedy, largely white GOP cheerleaders, with their goal of enriching themselves while simultaneously ignoring/denying the misery and mayhem occurring under their noses every day.
Thanks for this wonderful images and pointed associated narrative, very powerful. This from the country with the largest oil reserves in the world.
1
Please explain how US economic sanctions on Venezuela make this situation any better, and why such attacks against the Venezuelan people don't qualify as war crimes. "Collective punishment" is prohibited under the 4th Geneva Convention, and yet again and again the US wields its economic power like a bludgeon, crushing the poorest citizens of "adversary" nations in attempts at regime-change. 500,000 Iraqi children died during the 1990s because of our sanctions, and Sec'y of State Madeline Albright said "We think it's worth it." That is the attitude of an outlaw, gangster government.
10
This is just a small taste of the misery present throughout the world. You can see similar examples in India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, and any number of African countries. It isn't necessarily caused by one political ideology or another. Instead, it is the result of the struggle for power and wealth and the dominance of a few over the many. There are corrupt and greedy socialist states as well as corrupt and greedy capitalist states. The system of governance is often blamed for the plight of its people but more often than not, it is really just caused by immoral greedy individuals who seek to dominate their people by any means necessary. Until the people of the world, individually and/or as a collective can bring themselves to overcome injustice and help those less fortunate, we will always have countries and circumstances like shown in Venezuela.
7
Independent One,
In this case it's the US ongoing sanctions, started under Obama, that have harmed ordinary Venezuelans.
https://www.dw.com/en/the-human-cost-of-the-us-sanctions-on-venezuela/a-50647399
1
@Independent One
So very spot on. Sadly, a true flaw in our gene pool as a species
1
a great advertisement for Bernies" democratic socialism", everywhere it goes where politicians are going to redistribute wealth to those who deserve it most you get this kind of thing, remember the old soviet union. when I was in school they were forced to warn kids of the dangers of socialism and communism with a class called AVC americanism vs communism. A lot of this stuff sounds good in campaign speeches until you see the result world wide
1
Food for votes is working as intended in Venezuela. Cuba knows how this works but I hope we never do.
3
I was very young when I read that Venezuela kicked out the foreigners and took over the oil wells. They were very cocky and showed it in the way foreigners were treated such as when Nixon as vice president made a visit there and they spat on him.
Now Venezuela has Maduro, a socialist president and things are so bad that many professionals are trying to do menial work in other third world countries while those that have no possibility of leaving are suffering in a country that once was one of the richest in Latin America due to their ownership of many oil fields. Socialism has been Venezuela downfall.
2
Studying the Times’ coverage of U.S.-orchestrated coup attempts, it becomes clear that there is a checklist of talking points it employs time and again to justify events:
1. Blame all economic and political problems on the government; ignore the effect of any U.S. sanctions.
2. Constantly present the targeted leader as a tyrannical autocrat crushing dissent, no matter what the reality is.
3. Insist that the leader is actually a Russian plant controlled by the Kremlin.
4. Refrain from using the word “coup”. Prefer instead words like “uprising”, “revolt” or “transition”.
5. Express ridicule at the idea that the U.S. could be involved in the affair.
6. Depict the new U.S.-backed rulers as democratically-minded and downplay any violence they commit in establishing their rule.
7. Blame the deposed leaders for their own overthrow.
This position makes it a crucial weapon in the propaganda war waged on the American people in order to manufacture consent for regime change abroad.
6
Trump's wall isn't going to stop these people from coming here.
2
There is great sadness in Venezuela and great sadness in America where millions are homeless or poorly sheltered and where millions go hungry as the autocrat in the White House cuts food stamps eligibility! Great that Kristoff focuses on Venezuela, but I have not seen any Kristoff column focusing in depth on the misery in the richest country on the planet! Did I miss something??
4
"and it seems easier to find supporters of President Nicolás Maduro on an American university campus than in Venezuela itself."
That then would not say much for the very expensive education that they are receiving on those campuses.
"Paola Moncada, 14, is pregnant with her second child; she had wanted to be a lawyer but dropped out of school in the fifth grade when she became pregnant with her first child. She says that she became pregnant because she could no longer afford birth control pills, and other forms of contraception are largely unavailable....Paola’s son, Jhosander, is almost 2 years old and faces an uncertain future."
She became pregnant at 11 (she has a two year old son and is 14 now) because she could not afford birth control pills (?!) same at 14. Her son would face an uncertain future wherever they lived.
Something is and was very wrong in Venezuela, far beyond faux socialism and incompetent, corrupt government. Even solving the economic crisis would not cure this.
9
@Joshua Schwartz
Excellent whitesplaining indeed. As if there aren’t very young girls getting pregnant everywhere on earth.
1
@Peter And getting pregnant at age 11 in poverty in a faux-socialist state would be a problem anywhere for anybody of any race, color or creed.
2
What an absolute disaster and heartbreaking images and story.
But I’m left with a question: Why do people living in poverty and hardly able to feed themselves then go out and have children that that have almost no hope of feeding adequately?
Lack of contraception is obviously a problem and I am absolutely NOT suggesting abstinence which is an irrational extreme position which is hopelesly doomed to fail. But, without wanting to out too fine a point on it, there is a lot that two people can do in bed together to feel pleasure that doesn’t involve the one thing that can lead to pregnancy.
Is it as good as being 100% free sexually? Absolutely not. But is limiting ones participation in the banquet of sexual activity to appetisers, sides, desert and beverage and skipping only the main course a reasonable alternative to watching a baby starve to death? It would seem a reasonable sacrifice to make.
3
@TediouslyRational
Hormones short-circuit rationality.
2
@Sarah L.
And that’s understandable... until we’re talking about dead babies.
1
So where is the United Nations? Where are the NGOs? And the tens of billions of $ they are given every year.
Shouldn't the these organizations established to step in during humanitarian crisis be taking the lead in helping suffering people in Venezuela?
Apparently they are too busy putting Venezuela on the UN Human Rights Council. Where's your outrage of that?
2
Let's put this way this disaster.
People think that Trump is a right wing conservative president serves to right wing conservative voters. This definition it self is wrong.
People think that Maduro is a left wing socialist president serves to left wing socialist voters. this definition it self is wrong too.
then what are they, at best a great conservative politician Mitt Romney stated once sublimely: They are fraud.
If Scandinavia a socialist, that leaves Maduro's Venezuela is a plain fraud.
If Switzerland or Germany is right wing conservatives , that leaves Trump America is Fraud.
You can put and investigate the subject under microscope and find some piece of traces from socialism or conservatism but after all the reality is about these two Presidents way of governing is plain: corruption, oppression, stealing, lying, cronyism, human right abuse etc.
Again Romney stated the issue very sublime way.
Trump or Maduro are frauds.
Let's don't smear the original concepts with defective characters actions.
6
The US must be sending tons of aid to help out with the humanitarian crisis, right? Btw, they have a lot of oil.
2
México must learn what happens with a weak opossition, AMLO is more than headaches or memes.
Maduro and AMLO, as all courwards, only decrease with the streng of their opponents.
In Mexico, the federal goverment, has limit medicines and treatments for chronic inless on "austerity" basis, people are beggining to die, they were AMLO supporters.
1
Ah, the wonders of a socialist paradise. When the economy collapses, rush to find someone else to blame So reminiscent of Cuba, eastern Europe and other one party, unaccountable regimes .
1
The fruits of socialism. This is what your Democrat candidates want. Oh, they won’t admit to or agree with that assertion. They promise a kinder & gentler socialism. But that’s how authoritarian government always begins - just ask the residents of formally free Hong Kong.
Bernie Sanders once said that Venezuelan’s were the ones experiencing the American Dream; he’s yet to concede the utter stupidity of that statement. Jimmy Carter once praised Hugo Chavez’s ‘fair’ election. Nobody on the left will condemn these foolish views. They further degrade themselves with each day that they ignore this.
5
@Once From Rome
It’s not about socialism per se it’s about fooling people to take power and enrich a vanguard of intellectuals and bureaucrats.
@Once From Rome
There is a difference between socialism and democratic socialism. Look at many countries in Europe. They have "free education", their industries have owners and not the government (think Nestles in Switzerland), they have medical care for all. To pay for it all, Corporations pay their fair share of taxes (unlike Amazon, GE, etc here in the USA), and the rich also pay their taxes at the same rate or higher without the write-offs like here in the good old USA that produce negative taxable income. Most of our corporations and billionaires get a tax refund.
2
Nicholas, thank you again. profoundly human.
Tragic.
Long in the making. A slow decline.
the vanity of leaders
and their supporting elites.
Venezuela. Yemen. Myanmar. Iran.
Cuba. North Korea. Etc.
in this same issue of the NYTimes,
drawings from a victim of torture in Guantanamo.
The CIA.
Are we slipping? Have we been slipping?
1
The U.S. sanctions are causing the most harm to Venezuelans. The Venezuelan
government got 90% of its operating revenue from oil sales which the U.S.
halted. A government with no revenue can't provide for it's people.
From Duetsche Welle:
U.S. sanctions have become increasingly aggressive since they were first
announced by former US President Barack Obama in 2015. Under pressure from
the United States, foreign companies stopped doing business with the
country. Citibank closed Venezuela's foreign accounts.
President Donald Trump intensified sanctions in 2017 and this year imposed
an oil embargo that blocked the purchase of petroleum from Venezuela's
state oil company, PDVSA. It also confiscated Venezuela's US subsidiary
CITGO, worth $8 billion. It was a huge blow for Venezuela, which received
90% of government revenue from the oil industry.
The U.S. government has also frozen $5.5 billion of Venezuelan funds in
international accounts in at least 50 banks and financial institutions.
Even if Venezuela could get money abroad, the United States has long
blocked international trade by threatening sanctions on foreign companies
for doing business with the country.
https://m.dw.com/en/the-human-cost-of-the-us-sanctions-on-venezuela/a-50647399
3
My company worked on an oil project with Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) in the late 1990's. We walked away from that $100+ million chemical project, having invested $10 million, when Hugo Chavez became el Presidente. The risk became much greater then the reward when Hugo became the "Hefe". We were right to run. Now, these same Venezuelans are being led by a former bus driver, and their military is run by Castro's Cubans. PdVSA today is a rotting disaster, with Maduro, his mafia and the Cubans stealing the nation's oil wealth. But these people wanted Chavez. They wanted Maduro. They deserve everything being done to them by this loathsome regime.
1
It is incomprehensible that the democracies of the Americas hemisphere are not solving the Venezuelan catastrophe.
Some facts:
+ By 2021 is expected to have 8M venezuelans refugees escaping to neighbor countries (The highest number in the history of the world)
+ The FAO says Venezuela now ranks second in the hemisphere in terms of malnourishment, with 21.2 percent of the population (6.8 million people) suffering from hunger.
+ Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty. UN sources.
+ US official estimated that in 2018 alone, 265 tons of cocaine crossed into Venezuela from Colombia to be flown out of the country. with a street value of $39billion, creating a cocaine superhighway into the US market.
+The U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) designated -Tareck Zaidan El Aissami-, a Venezuelan citizen, as a specially designated narcotics trafficker (SDNT) pursuant to the Kingpin Act for playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking. El Aissami was appointed the Executive Vice President of Venezuela.
Knowing all these hard-facts why the legally elected democracies in the Americas are not stopping this Narco-State? Sanctions alone seems like very long-slow process that will cause hardships to the most needed citizens not only of Venezuela, but also to their immediate neighbors as well, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil as well.
Enough!
3
cant say nothing is control from the media...
Socialism:
Venezuela
USSR
Cuba
North Korea
Eastern Europe (until recently)
China (until recently)
Capitalism:
USA
United Kingdom
Germany
Western Europe (mostly)
South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore
Canada, Australia, New Zealand
Japan
Is socialism “national suicide”?
3
@Professor Science
WWI
Almost all of Europe
WWII
All of Europe + China + Japan
Vietnam
France, US
Iraq,
US
Are liberal democracies run by idiots?
Read a few of the letters and heard socialist making excuses
for the govt. Oh thats not socialism . It was once. Maybe they can point out a democratic run socialist gov they admire?
3
@jbrennan
France 1936-1940 Leon Blum;1970-1997, Mitterrand
Spain 1931-1936 Prieto, Caballero
Scandinavia, Germany 1945-present
1
Real World Story from 12/04/19: Wife FaceTimes me yesterday from a Caracas bed. Normally healthy, she picked up a bug and had relentless vomiting and diarrhea, something that nearly killed me in Shanghai several years ago, if it weren't for ... an IV and antibiotics.
She went to a public hospital: 15,000,000 Bs ($350 US*) up front, and bring your own needle/tubing/IV solution from FarmaToto (IMHO: FarmaNada). Without 15M Bs in pocket, she went to a private hospital listed by my CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield policy coverage: nope, 25,000,000 Bs ($581 US*) up front.
Fortunately, the nurse tending my wife's aging mother, rummaging thru a old bag, found a sterile needle/tubing.
Without 25M Bs, she returned to the public hospital, where a doctor wrote a prescription. A trip to FarmaTodo for the IV solution and antibiotics turned the tide and she's alive.
BTW, she says the staff at the public hospital were very nice to her.
* Approximate DolarToday.com rate 43,000 Bs/$1. The exchange rate in 01/01/19 was approximately 730 Bs/$1.
1
The word you're looking for is "Socialism."
Venezuela has been destroyed by a Socialist economy. It has been one since the election of Hugo Chavez and like every other Socialist economy from the first, the USSR, through Hungary, East Germany, Cuba, and Mao's China, the result has been bankruptcy, starvation, execution by secret police, right up to Venezuela.
The word you can't bring yourself to print is "Socialist."
To remind you, put a photo of Elizabeth Warren above your keyboard.
2
@Diogenes
Except Spain 1975-present, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Scandinavia since 1945. Don’t know how you can deny that a mixed political and economic system that includes the Democratic Socialists is not such a catastrophe.
1
So sad.
Venezuela today is the result of decades of CIA interference in Latin America.
1
I am surprised that we can’t take people at their word. Chavez campaigned for, promised and delivered socialism.
Corruption is not exclusive to socialist systems, and not all corrupt governments lead to failed economies. However, we also know that socialism doesn't produce prosperous societies - ever. It fuels corruption.
As I mentioned before, no one invaded Venezuela. Oil is plentiful. Agriculture can thrive. The problems are internally created (well before the US sanctions), and the economic-political system that caused the crisis is socialism.
It strikes me that people are reluctant to come to terms with this most recent failure of socialism because they like terms such as ‘democratic socialism’ (meaningless), or ‘socialistic programs’ (ok, case-by-case); or, a belief that socialism requires nationalization of all industry (it doesn’t).
Failing to identify and learn from this failure will allow politicians, in the future, to again make bold, grand, irreversible promises of easy-to-obtain riches for everyone; new ideas of fairness; and, ‘this time is different’ arguments. History shows that the only success these promises will have is in getting voters to vote for them. The likelihood of actual success of a socialist driven society is zero.
2
In 1972, when I was in my 20's, I visited Venezuela. Not a tour, I was alone. I drove from Caracas to Maracaibo, taking two days. I encountered an Army patrol. The old Sargent said they were searching for gorillas. Back in the capital I saw unpaved streets and people bathing in barrels. What I didn't see was a middle class. I saw excess and a lot of greed.
Since then there have been would be saviors. All succumbed to hubris, greed and the CIA.
1
How can Nicholas Kristof write bemoaning the plight of Venezuelans and not mention that US action is primarily responsible for the dire situation?
Since the US failed coup against Hugo Chavez in 2002, the US has worked mightily to destabilze Venezuela and oust Chavez.
Hugo Chavez was elected in 1999, campaigning on a "socialist revolution". "In 1999, when Chávez took office, unemployment was 14.5 percent; for 2011 it had declined to 7.8 percent. Poverty also decreased significantly, dropping by nearly 50 percent since the oil strike, with extreme poverty dropping by over 70 percent."
The US does not like socialist governments. Iraq and Libya had, and Syria has socialist governments.
The US sanctions on Venezuela are extremely harsh, and are having consequences, but the US doesn't care about Venezuelans
If Kristof really cared about the Venezuelan people, he would be working to get the sanctions lifted.
I am reminded by Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Allbright, when asked about the over 500,000 Iraqi children who died as a result of US sanctions, she replied, "we think the price is worth it".
7
It is important to remember this misrule of Venezuela is not just a product of the left, but also the right-wing incompetence and corruption that allowed Chavez to gain power. As usual, it is less the differences in left-right ideology, but how it is applied. The most predictable recipe for extreme socialism? Over-the-top right wing policies.
1
This was foreseeable well before Chavez died. My wife is Chilean and our close friend group consists mostly of Chileans, many of whom lived in Chile during the Allende years. I clearly remember a conversation we all had when Chavez began expropriating land and businesses, controlling prices, and replacing technocrats in the oil company with political loyalists. The Chileans had seen the same thing under Allende and said they know exactly how things would end in Venezuela: there would be shortages of goods, block-long lines to purchase food, and general economic collapse. They were amazed that people don't learn from previous experiences. Sure enough, they were right.
Increasing spending to help the poor was needed, but a complete state takeover of the economy was doomed to failure.
4
We visited Venezuela several times before year 2000. My friend Jorge Shatzky had a prosperous job, and he had a Jaguar XKE sports car. His company messenger had a new Chevy Caprice. For Colombians Venezuela was a golden paradise. Isla Margarita was a place where we could buy a Sony Triniron TV set and a Betamax. Yes, poor people lived in several hills around Caracas, but at that time they had a future if they worked hard. And gasoline prices made the border a place where thousands bought gasoline at prices well below the market in Colombia. Oh, Chivas Regal a liquor was 80% below, 100% of the time. Every Friday was a Black Friday for us, their fortunate neighbors. What a difference a regime makes.
1
@M Martínez
Delighted to hear about your friend's Jaguar XKE and the availablity of Sony TVs, but in 1999, prior to Chavez taking office, inflation had been running close to 100% and more than half the population lived below official poverty levels.
This evidently didn't include your friend, but most folks weren't enjoying it.
1
Trump has increased the sanctions to brutal levels. The tragedy of Venezuela is the result of the US working mightily, since its failed coup attempt in 2002, to destabilize and decapitate the elected Venezuelan government.
US sanctions on Venezuela are brutal. I am reminded by Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Allbright, when asked about the over 500,000 Iraqi children who died as a result of US sanctions, she replied, "we think the price is worth it".
1
Nick, does Caritas International operate in Venezuela? Personally, I am amazed that Pope Francis has not criticized this regime.
2
@Maureen
The Pope should be criticizing the US, a country “With less than 5 percent of world population, the U.S. uses one-third of the world's paper, a quarter of the world's oil, 23 percent of the coal, 27 percent of the aluminum, and 19 percent of the copper,” www.scientificamerican.com
To maintain its bloated, but unequal lifestyle where in the US, the richest .1 percent take in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent... the US tries to control the world.
Iraq, Libya, Syria and Venezuela all had or have governments based on socialist ideals including healthcare for all, free education through university and such.
The US hates those ideas and those governments that put the interests of their people ahead of US interests.
So the US attempts "regime change" with any country that stands in its way.
The US method is demonize, destabilize and decapitate.
The US has been working to wreck Venezuela's economy since 2002 when its coup attempt failed.
Pope Francis should condemn the US for all the death, destruction and misery it has caused around the world.
1
I wonder if we should invade militarily and violate the sacred concept of sovereignty by forcing aid into the country. The longer this goes on, the more decades it is going to take to recover. Fallen states eventually become havens for movements rejected elsewhere and Russia is already interested in using this misery for its own geopolitical interests. The first step could be the distribution of free vitamin-infused rice. The nation is a military kleptocracy and it cannot heal itself. Or invade with dollars to NGO's in certain free zones created by multinational troops
1
Clearly the solution is to impose punishing sanctions that exacerbate conditions for the general populace and have no effect on Venezuela's ruling class.
Sanctions, as a means to overthrow a country's rulers has worked so well everywhere it has been tried - in Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, and formerly in Iraq. As a means of so-called regime change sanctions are 0-5, leaving one the impression that they are imposed only out of sheer viciousness.
In Iraq they killed an estimated 500,000 children and accomplished absolutely nothing. With a track record like that, pursuing such a policy can only be described as sheer, unfettered viciousness.
7
@Lawrence Reichard The number of children supposedly killed by the sanctions in Iraq is sheer fantasy, propaganda by Saddam Hussein. What is not propaganda is that the economic pressure on the USSR contributed to its collapse. If this worked with the great socialist empire, perhaps it’ll work with the smaller country of Venezuela.
@Mor Personally, my inclination would be to help people who are struggling to eat, as opposed to starving them into submission, to bend to my political inclinations. But hey, that's just me.
2
@Mor
Pressure to maintain a giant empire with all the entailing military costs.
Nicholas any idea if the Venezuela fund by Catholic Relief Services is a reputable charity there? I’ve made one donation and am thinking about continuing regularly. It would be great if you could list some you think are doing good work.
6
@Peter
In general CRS is excellent! They keep very low overhead so that your donations get to the people. Having said that I do not know about how they are functioning in Venezuela.
2
This and so many other tragic situations (Syria, Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia, North Korea, Iraq, ..) result from the lack of credibility of the UN as an international arbiter.
There is no doubt about what is needed to fix all these problems. The perfect analogy is a classroom of 8-year-olds. When they misbehave, the teacher intervenes. The teacher may not always be right, she may not always apportion blame correctly, but she has credibility, she has authority, both moral and tangible.
The result: for the most part, kids behave, and those who start to misbehave are quickly stopped.
The UN should be playing the role of that teacher. It should be stopping the Maduro's and Assad's and Kim's of this world before their crises reach epic proportions. It should have the moral authority to say: "no, it's not ok for you to destory your economy out of spite, or incompetence", "no, it's not ok for you to put your citizens into labour camps", "no, it's not ok for you to bomb citizens in another country (e.g. Yemen) as part of some proxy war" ...
Almost every decent citizen of the world would support such an organisation.
But instead we have the farce that is the actual UN, in which it's all about horse-trading, posturing and political games.
While I have no great love for Macron and despise Boris Johnson, I still believe that a UN in which the US, Russia and China were removed from the Security Council could start to live up to this ideal. I wish I knew how to make it happen!
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Thank you Nicholas,
you always bring the stark realities of failing societies to light in a very human way.
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Thank you, Mr. Kristoff, for showing the world the crisis that Venezuela is today. It is not socialism, it is a corrupt dictatorship hidden under curtain of socialism. I know other South American countries don’t have resources but somehow they must intervene. Millions of Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, Brazil and other South American, Caribbean countries and the U.S. When will enough be enough?
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The only solution is intervention by the U.S., military intervention. Of course, we will be called imperialists, however, this is the only way out in the short term. The military is involved in this catastrophe at the highest levels and will not intervene, as it has in other crisis in Venezuela. I lived in Venezuela for ten years and it was then the most advanced country in southern hemisphere. Chavez and Maduro have managed to destroy this country in a few years.
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What? The last thing anyone (US, Venezuelan or Latin American) needs is US military intervention in Venezuela. The US under Donald Trump and after Iraq, is a pariah state internationally. Yes, Venezuela is a mess. Let’s support humanitarian agencies to help. Let’s give Colombia’s government money to help refugees. Let’s give asylum (shock, horror) to tens of thousands of Venezuelans. But send in the US military? You’ve gotta be kidding.
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The fact the child became pregnant because she could not afford birth control pills is the least concerning thing in the article. She was 11 when she became pregnant — a fifth grader! I wish the article had addressed this instead of grouping her along with adult women struggling with similar issues.
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@Grace ...or contraceptives in the developing world.
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I lived in Venezuela for twelve years. The country has been corrupt for many decades and it's considerable wealth poorly distributed. What changed under Chavez, and continues under Maduro, was not "socialism" but the ramping up of corruption, kleptocracy and governmental incompetence. When critics point to Venezuela as an example of what happens when a country becomes "socialist," I point them to the lack of economic justice that made it possible for a demagogue like Chavez to come to power in the first place. All that "socialism" did was to provide an incompetent and corrupt government with even more resources to squander.
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@Leonard Santos Yes, I think that's right. Chavez called it socialism, and it had some socialist elements such as nationalizing industries, but fundamentally the problem was incompetence, corruption and dictatorship. But in any case, let's not get sidetracked by a debate about what to call the system; the big problem is a humanitarian catastrophe in our hemisphere.
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A catastrophe that will last many generations. One that seems forgotten by the current US government. While the US shouldn’t be the police of the world, situations like these will have an effect on the future of the American continent, which without a doubt will affect the US. We should use our influence to remedy this tragedy.
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@Nicholas Kristof I certainly agree that the key reality is the "humanitarian catastrophe." But let's be clear, whatever you want to call the system in Venezuela, it's troubles are a function not of its system, but of its really incompetent and corrupt government.
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I have done a lot of work with the oil and gas industry, and I think blaming this situation on socialism is a bit misguided. Capitalist third world nations also have children starving and dying when they face economic collapse due to their main export becoming worthless.
Venezuela has very thick, hard to process crude oil which has to be refined in the US. It was hit hard when oil prices tanked, and would have been hit just as hard under a capitalist or socialist government. The break even point for them is very very high, and unlike Saudi Arabia they can't compete.
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@Ken what you say is true on their oil quality being harder to process. It has low gravity, high in sulfur and total acid number etc. it is lower price then lighter and sweeter crudes. But due to the fact that it was cheaper the US oil majors invested heavily to be able to process the crude to gain price advantage. Venezuela had ample customers.
I know many Venezuelans. The Venezuelan companies were run like piggy banks for Chavez and run by political crony’s. They drove out the professionals. Workers votes were watched, tracked and were fired if the voted incorrectly. They did not re-invest in maintaining the infrastructure using the money to reward their compatriots. I am all for a country using their resources to benefit their people. Norway has done it by allowing the professionals to run STATOIL with oversight, keeping the business profitable and viable and using the profits to fund social programs.
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@Ken Chavez nationalized the oil industry and gave key positions to his cronies who had no expertise and plundered the company's assets. Oil production plummeted to less than 40 percent of previous levels. Maduro is even worse; he destroyed farming and fishing by fixing prices and seizing the means of production. My cousin-in-law just managed to get out of Caracas where she immigrated from Colombia 30 years ago when times were good. She is astounded at the bounty of food available in Colombian markets now, and has managed to gain back some of the 25 pounds she lost over the past two years of misery under Maduro.
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@Ken Then why does Chavez’s have $4 Billion dollars? This ain’t exactly rocket science. This was a multi decade train wreck that people ignored because Chávez appeared bigger than the problems in the country.
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This is almost literally heartbreaking. Take a good look, Trump Fans. This is your Future, and that of your Children. Keep Voting for Despots, Incompetents and Con Artists and the logical outcome will happen. That is: the Rich 10 percent, and the Poor 90 percent. But hey, at least “ the gays “ and “ uppity women “ will be kept in their place. Hallelujah.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian No big surprise that someone just had to try to tie this to Trump. However, underneath it all it is the support of Russia and Cuban secret police along with the emasculation of the top ranks of the Venezuelan military that keeps Maduro afloat. Much like in Syria, another crisis spot with mass exodus, starvation and outright murder of anyone opposing the regime, it is Russia, not Trump, helping the dictators stay in power.
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@Randy and Trump seems beholden to Russia. Trump also uses the story in Venezuela to demonize any entitlement program as a step toward socialism and the demise of freedom, when it is clearly the corruption and lack of consideration for the neediest that is causing the problem...somewhat like cutting food stamps from the families who are most in need while giving tax cuts to the richest in our country. There lie the similarities and I, for one, welcome someone pointing them out.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian
I am no fan of Trump - but he didn’t do this. Chavez, Maduro, their “friends”, family and allies did this. These are Venezuelans who are robbing their own people and their nation. When these criminals are finally turned out of office, they should be punished and their ill-gotten gains returned to the people they robbed.
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Please let readers know how we can help or contribute. The people of Venezuela have been suffering for a long time.
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What can we do to help How can we stand by and let the people and animals die?
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@Enythe green Call your congressperson and urge them to take stronger action to end Venezuela's corrupt dictatorship.
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Rome burns while Madura’s family live in the lap of luxury in Madrid...
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The place is really falling apart and I guess 85+ percent of the people are suffering while the rest live like fat cats. What's wrong with the army? These are their people and they could fix this in 24 hour's. Get rid of their dear leader and allow foreign aid to come in. I bet even Trump would help, maybe.
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@Thomas Renner There heave been multiple army rebellions, but they've all been crushed in the early or planning stages. Venezuela has a very effective secret police, trained by the Cubans (who have decades of experience from the Cold War).
Short of international intervention, I don't think the crisis in Venezuela can be solved.
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No he wouldn’t. He loves brutal dictators
@Thomas Renner The Venezuelan Army has effectively become a drug cartel.
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These photos are truly heartbreaking.
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