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Saturday, April 20, 2019

The Plundering of Venezuela

Although everything remains great within the walls of the palace and while the core supporters get enough (and get a view of what they would face if they weren't in the core of supporters), the rest of Venezuela is falling apart:

Maduro and his government had refused humanitarian aid because they deny a humanitarian crisis exists. Maduro blames Venezuela's problems on "sabotage." Who are the saboteurs? Neighboring Colombia, the U.S., oil companies, capitalism, etcetera.

The real blame lies with Maduro and his predecessor, former army paratrooper Hugo Chavez, founder of the so-called socialist Bolivarian Revolution. Chavista authoritarianism and the corruption and repression socialism inevitably creates crippled and impoverished what was once one of Latin America's richest nations. The country's daily oil production is a third of what it was in 1999. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela's inflation rate in January was 2.6 million percent.

Maduro uses food as a weapon against his own people, just like the Soviet Union did. In July 2016, Venezuela's food shortages were so severe the military took charge of food distribution. In January 2017, the army took control of food imports.

Maduro's supporters immediately benefitted from this militarized system. They had and still have access to food. They can also demand bribes from starving citizens in exchange for food.

Unless Brazil, as the largest state in South America, can be convinced to lead a coalition of the willing to topple Maduro (with America providing logistics help for the operation and for the humanitarian aid surge needed), I don't know how this ends well before a lot of people starve and flee to neighboring countries to spread disease and destabilize the host countries.

Russia and China (and Iran and Cuba, too) of course feel no shame for backing that scumbag Maduro and his socialist tyranny plundering the wreckage of Venezuela.

UPDATE: Guaido exhorted opponents of Maduro to make May 1st a massive rally to pressure Maduro do leave.