Tag: Venezuela

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Progressive Defense of Venezuelan Dictatorship

Several key left-wing American politicians, organizations and celebrities have behaved shamefully by supporting the barbaric and illegal ruler of Venezuela.

The socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro, the follow-up to the reign of hard-left predecessor Hugo Chavez, has resulted in both the loss of political freedom and a desperate humanitarian crisis, including a lack of food, medical care, and other necessities, for the people of their nation. The illicit “government” (which gained power in a stolen election) is propped up by Russian and Cuban troops, who defend it against its own citizenry. It has also invited the terrorist organization Hezbollah in for support.

Forty-nine nations across the globe, including most of those in Latin America, call Maduro an illegitimate leader and support Juan Guaido, who was elected on January 5, 2019, as President of the National Assembly, the only remaining democratically elected and legitimate institution in the country.  Relevant articles of the Venezuelan constitution clearly place him as the legal interim President.

The hard left has sought to portray the Trump Administration’s opposition to Maduro as “Yankee imperialism.”  The facts speak otherwise. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru do not recognize him as a legitimate leader.

The U.S. State Department describes Maduro’s actions: “Nicolas Maduro…has consistently violated the human rights and dignity of its citizens, plundered the country’s natural resources, and driven a once prosperous nation into economic ruin with his authoritarian rule and socialist economic policies. Maduro’s thugs have engaged in extra-judicial killings and torture, taken political prisoners, and severely restricted freedom of speech, all in a brutal effort to retain power.”

Maduro has increasingly relied on the Special Action Force of the National Police (FAES) that he created in 2017 to carry out illegal raids and extrajudicial Only 1% of the total generic viagra 50mg people are found to be impotent. These drugs offer the same prescription viagra without results as the product does not really do that. This ED drug is beneficial for heart but it should be taken as advised by the doctors to have the cheapest 100mg discount viagra sale deeprootsmag.org with the help of water but always 1 hour prior to making love. Chiropractors in Los Angeles are trained health professionals who prefer recommending such medicines to their patients. the cost of viagra killings.

On April 5, 2019, the United Nations Non Governmental Organization (NGO), Venezuelan Education-Action Program on Human Rights, (Provea) announced the discovery of several clandestine detention centers, On March 20, 2019, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, FAES executed 37 people in connection with illegal home invasion raids in January.

The regime has deployed the National Guard and civil militias known as colectivos to crack down on peaceful protesters. According to the National Assembly, the former regime is responsible for at least 40 protest-related deaths so far this year. There have been 175 protest-related detentions and 7 deaths, in addition to 1,255 persons detained since January 21, 2019. 864 prisoners of conscience are imprisoned.

Presidential contenders Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii have objected to U.S. opposition to Maduro. Gabbard and Sanders are not alone.  New York’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota have denounced what they claim, in various phrases, is an alleged American supported “coup” in Venezuela. California’s Rep. Ro Khanna describes the constitutionally legitimate leader of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, as a “self-proclaimed leader.” He terms American efforts to sanction the Maduro-controlled Venezuelan oil organization as “misguided.” Hard-left celebrities have joined their political soulmates. Sean Penn has called Nicolas Maduro a “proven leader.”

A Wall Street Journal editorial noted: “Socialism is again going mainstream in the U.S., or at least in the Democratic Party, and apparently the 21st-century version includes the international socialist solidarity that marked the 20th. As Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro hunts for allies amid a revolt of his desperate people, he is finding rare support among America’s Democratic socialists…Incredibly enough, this is the socialist solidarity that America’s premier Democratic socialists are joining.”

The Democratic Socialists of America has launched a “Venezuela solidarity campaign” to oppose U.S. sanctions.

Photo: Caracas Tourism

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Negotiations, and the Larger Threat

Should Venezuela’s Chavistas and Afghanistan’s Taliban have a role in the new governments that will soon take power? That’s the thinking of the foreign policy establishment, as well as the mantra of the chattering classes.  They may both be wrong.

Put the issue in context. Both the Caracas socialists and the Islamic extremists seeking a role in Kabul have engaged in actions which are reprehensible and defy concepts of human rights.  Neither have presented any evidence indicating that, given a seat at the governance table, they would amend their ways. The allies faced a similar challenge during the Second World War. Some questioned whether the final, costly pushes to defeat the Axis powers could be avoided by allowing some level of influence for Japan’s militarists and Germany’s National Socialists. They chose not to take the easy way out and pushed on to total victory.

Elevating the Taliban to the status of a negotiating partner (a process begun under the Obama Administration) has given it a very substantial boost in its bid to return to power after America withdraws. The Taliban is best known as the organization that sheltered Al Qaeda when it launched the 9/11/01 assault against the American homeland.

Amnesty International describes the Taliban actions: “Mass murder, gang rapes and house-to-house searches by Taliban death squads are just some of the harrowing civilian testimonies emerging from Kunduz as Afghan forces today claimed to have regained control of key areas of the northern city, Amnesty International said. The organization has spoken to numerous people, the majority of them women…Women human rights defenders from Kunduz spoke of a “hit list” being used by the Taliban to track down activists and others, and described how fighters had raped and killed numerous civilians.”

What would the Taliban do as part of a new government? James Clapper, the former U.S. Director of National Intelligence, speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2015, noted that the Taliban is “… Reliant on Afghanistan’s opiate trade as a key domestic source of funding, the Taliban will be able to exploit increasing opium poppy cultivation and potential heroin production for ready revenue. The Taliban has publicly touted the end of the mission of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) and coalition drawdown as a sign of its inevitable victory, reinforcing its commitment to returning to power.”

Even if the Taliban restricted its activities against either American interests or a new unity government in Kabul, there are substantive concerns about whether its pattern cheapest cialis soft Gynecomastia is physiologic in infancy, adolescence and in middle-aged to much older males. On the face of it, this sounds like really encouraging news. viagra generika Impotency is a primary symptom of heart disease, diabetes, elevated blood pressure or cholesterol. no prescription levitra Moreover, companies which sell these herbal products online do not include any hidden cialis prices charges as the local suppliers. of atrocities, particularly those against women, would change. 

The actions of the Maduro government in Venezuela also shock the conscience, and the question of whether officials from that regime should be allowed to have a role in a future Caracas Administration must take into account their participation in human rights violations.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:

“The most significant human rights issues included extrajudicial killings by security forces, including government sponsored “colectivos”; torture by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; widespread arbitrary detentions; and political prisoners. The government unlawfully interfered with privacy rights, used military courts to try civilians, and ignored judicial orders to release prisoners. The government routinely blocked signals, interfered with the operations, or shut down privately owned television, radio, and other media outlets. The law criminalized criticism of the government, and the government threatened violence and detained journalists critical of the government, used violence to repress peaceful demonstrations, and placed legal restrictions on the ability of NGOs to receive foreign funding. Other issues included interference with freedom of movement; establishment of illegitimate institutions to replace democratically elected representatives; pervasive corruption and impunity among all security forces and in other national and state government offices, including at the highest levels; violence against women, including lethal violence; trafficking in persons; and the worst forms of child labor, which the government made minimal efforts to eliminate.”

Can Washington, in good conscience, be party to the empowerment of powers so inclined?

There is another side of the argument, one that has considerable merit.  For three decades, America’s military resources have been worn out by the wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The Trump Administration has succeeded in eliminating the ISIS Caliphate, reducing (but, of course, not eliminating) the terrorist threat. During those years, both Russia and China have dramatically modernized and strengthened their armed forces, both conventional and strategic. At the same time, America’s defenses have been overused, exhausted, underfunded and obsolescent. By winding down the nation’s activities in Afghanistan and reducing the potential of military intervention in Venezuela, more support could given to the urgent need to counter the growing threats from Beijing and Moscow.

Photo: U.S. troops in Afghanistan (Defense Dept.)

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Media Ignores Socialism as Reason for Venezuelan Crisis

On December 28, ABC ‘s evening world news ran a lengthy (by network news standards) description of the horrendous conditions in Venezuela that are causing near-starvation and extraordinary levels of poverty.  The story included heart-wrenching scenes of children dying from lack of nutrition, once-proud and accomplished adults fleeing their homeland to find the basic necessities of life, and harsh attacks on the population by government forces.

There was one essential, underlying issue the report, like many other similar media examinations, failed to include: why Venezuela, a nation of good, intelligent, and hard-working people, a land blessed with vast natural wealth including a veritable ocean of oil, has been reduced to this condition.  In 2017, Michael Shifter reported that “Just a decade ago, Venezuela was perhaps the most influential Latin American country in the Organization of American States (OAS), the world’s oldest regional cooperation group…On April 26, after a majority of OAS states called a special meeting to discuss Venezuela’s crisis, Caracas declared that it would leave the organization.”

Despite the extreme depths the Caracas government has already fallen to under socialist rule, the crisis continues to deepen. Nathaniel Parish Flannery, writing in Forbes reported earlier this year: “In 2018 Venezuela is struggling though the hemisphere’s worst economic problems. Inflation is rapidly spiraling towards crisis levels and everyday economic activity continues to be severely encumbered by a nonsensical system of currency controls. In 2018 Venezuela’s GDP is expected to contract by double digits for the third straight consecutive year. Economic output in Venezuela fell by 16% in 2016, 14% in 2017, and is expected to drop by 15% this year. Meanwhile, after jumping from 112% in 2015 to 2,400% last year, inflation in Venezuela is expected to hit five-digit levels in 2018. Venezuela’s slow-burning economic collapse is quickly becoming a regional humanitarian crisis as Venezuelans flee in ever larger numbers, looking for refuge in neighboring and nearby countries. More than 600,000 Venezuelans have already fled their country and sought asylum in Colombia.”

Patrick Gillespie, writing for Money last January, reported: “Venezuela has lost half of its economy since 2013… It’s getting worse. Unemployment will reach 30% and prices on all types of goods in the country will rise 13,000% this year, according to new figures published Thursday by the International Monetary Fund. This year will mark the third consecutive year of double-digit contractions in Venezuela’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity. The nation’s GDP declined 16% in 2016, 14% last year and it’s projected to fall 15% this year, according to the IMF. Venezuela is deep into an economic, political and humanitarian crisis, largely inflicted by the government’s own policies, economists say. Food and medical shortages are widespread. People are scavenging for food in dumpsters. Citizens are fleeing by the thousands.”

There are only lab tests to help with this determination, typically through conversation the doctor canadian levitra can determine the problem. She believes in collaborative approach of therapy where she helps you to discover the best solution to the cialis on line regencygrandenursing.com issue of baldness. Although Erectile Dysfunction is a problem for a long order levitra online time now. This magical YES mantra is one of the best ways to assess cialis without prescriptions mastercard https://regencygrandenursing.com/long-term-care/rehabilitation your glucose status. The reason, plain and straightforward, is that Venezuela has adopted socialism, the very same brand of socialism advocated by America’s Democratic Party and others on the left.

Two Venezuelans, Rafael Acevedo and Luis Cirocco, in an article for the Mises Institute  explained: “…ultimately, the lesson we learned is that socialism never, ever works… It was very common during the years we suffered under Hugo Chávez to hear these pundits and economists on TV saying that this time, socialism is being done right. This time, the Venezuelans figured it out. They were, and are wrong.”

Despite the utter catastrophe wrought by socialism in nations as diverse as the old Soviet Union and today’s North Korea, despite over a century of complete failure in every type of country, devotees of this failed philosophy continue their devotion to it. Even the largest Communist nation of all, China, has adopted a capitalist-type system, meshing it within a totalitarian government.

The Report Concludes Tomorrow

Illustration:  Karl Marx (Pixabay)

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Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger, Part 3

In 2017, Michael Shifter reported that “Just a decade ago, Venezuela was perhaps the most influential Latin American country in the Organization of American States (OAS), the world’s oldest regional cooperation group…On April 26, after a majority of OAS states called a special meeting to discuss Venezuela’s crisis, Caracas declared that it would leave the organization.”

A glance at key provisions within the recently released report by the Organization for American States outlines the crisis:

“The decision to produce this report stems from the marked deterioration in the country with respect to the exercise of human rights, and the grave political, economic, and social crisis in Venezuela…the Inter-American Commission addresses the human rights situation in Venezuela by analyzing the impact on them of the dismantling of much of democratic institutional system and the alarming increase in repression, violence, and citizen insecurity…For several years now, the [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]  IACHR has been observing a gradual deterioration in the democratic institutional system and the human rights situation in Venezuela that has become significantly more intense and widespread since 2015. …This breach of the principle of the separation of powers is most seriously manifested in the alarming behavior of the Judiciary, especially in the past two years. Indeed, the exacerbation of the recent crisis in Venezuela is closely linked to a series of decisions taken by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) that amounted to interference with the National Assembly (AN) and violated the principle of the separation of powers.

“This situation worsened in 2017 to a point at which Judgments No. 155 and 156 handed down by the TSJ on March 28 and 29, respectively, produced an alteration of the constitutional order. In those judgments, the TSJ did away with the parliamentary immunity of deputies to the AN, established that their acts constituted “treason”, granted the Executive broad discretionary authority, and arrogated to itself powers rightfully pertaining to the Legislature. As the IACHR pointed out at the time, those measures represented usurpation by the Judiciary and the Executive of powers constitutionally granted to parliament, as well as a de facto annulment of the popular vote, via which those deputies had been elected. The alteration of the constitutional order in Venezuela was possible due to a series of factors that mean that, in general, the country’s democratic institutional system is seriously flawed. … there are still serious instances of interference with the Legislature and obstacles to the exercise of its constitutional function…the Commission calls upon the State to adopt immediate and resolute measures to restore the constitutional order, and guarantee the separation of powers and appropriate exercise of the constitutionally established functions of the AN, including the lifting of the measures referred to above…

“The interferences of the Judiciary and the Executive in the Legislature have been accompanied by a lack of independence and inadequate exercise of the functions of constitutional bodies that are vital for democracy, such as the National Electoral Council (CNE), the Public Prosecutors’ Office (Ministerio Público -MP), and the Ombudsperson’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo – DP). That being so, the Commission considers it essential to take decisive steps to ensure that these bodies function without interference or improper political pressures and comply fully with their constitutional mandate, which is vital for the democratic rule of law in Venezuela.
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“The IACHR points out that the complaints about high levels of corruption in the country further undermine already weak government institutions, given that impunity encourages and perpetuates acts of corruption, steps need to be taken to ensure that acts reported are investigated independently, impartially, and promptly, without pressures or discrimination based on membership of certain political parties or on the positions held by those under investigation. Preventive measures are also needed. They include governance imbued with the principles of openness, transparency, and effective public accountability.

“The problems associated with the weakness of democratic institutions referred to earlier have resulted in widespread impunity and have had a profound impact on the exercise of rights that are fundamental for democracy, such as political rights. The IACHR is particularly concerned about the situation of these rights in Venezuela, Their exercise has been severely curtailed by a series of obstacles. Among the most recent are: the suspension of the Presidential recall referendum process; the putting off for a long time of municipal and regional elections; and serious recent allegations of unfair advantages and fraud in the regional election of October 15, 2017.

“In Venezuela those who dissent from the Government are victims of serious reprisals, as seen in the frequent detention and destitution of mayors, governors, members of parliament, and opposition figures in general. As emblematic cases, the IACHR points to the worrying acts committed against Henrique Capriles, Antonio Ledezma, and Leopoldo López. In light of the above, the Commission reiterates the need to guarantee, as a matter of priority, full exercise of the political rights of every authority and inhabitant of Venezuela, irrespective of their political sympathies; and the need to refrain from any act of harassment, intimidation, or criminalization of political dissent…

“As regards freedom of expression, severe curtailments to that right have been documented, including censorship and the closing down of media, attacks on journalists, and, in general, harassment and criminalization of those who express political views or dissemination that the State does not approve of. Such measures are not part of any regulatory framework compatible with Venezuela’s international obligations in this regard and, in practice, they are geared to silencing critics of the current Government. The harm they are doing to Venezuelan democracy is obvious and requires priority attention.”

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Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger, Part 2

U.S. State Department map

 

As western nations react to the dictatorship and poverty resulting from the leadership first of Chavez and then Maduro, the Venezuelan dictatorship has turned to Iran, Russia and China.

Alexander Martinez, in a Center for Security Policy/London Center for Policy Center report  “Politico uncovered a story with serious and far-reaching implications. The Obama Administration undermined and blocked a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) program in its eagerness to secure a nuclear deal with Iran…cocaine trafficking originated… specifically through Venezuela and Mexico…The story reported by Politico …follows a larger trend that has serious security implications for the entire Western Hemisphere. ‘Iran has had a presence in Latin America for decades. … its role in the region expanded and intensified after Hugo Chavez took the reins of the Venezuelan state in 1999. Chavez based his rule on a revolutionary transnational agenda that included a quasi-socialist authoritarian revolution at home, and an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy aimed at spreading his revolution throughout the region…. Chavez began to funnel money to candidates in different countries in the region who held views akin to his ideology and proceeded to establish alliances with regional guerilla movements to organize subversion across Latin America… Chavez saw groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as a necessary force that could create subversion abroad and expand his so-called ‘Bolivarian Revolution.’ Likewise, they strengthened relations with the Shining Path guerrilla Maoist movement in Peru and other subversive groups in the region. They also trainedmembers of the Paraguayan Popular Army (EPP) … the alliance between Venezuela and Iran has strong foundations. They both are anti-American and seek to reduce U.S. power in their respective regions and, if possible, in the world. Chavez defined the Islamic and the Bolivarian revolutions as ‘sister revolutions.’ Venezuela needed Iran’s subversive capabilities and its ‘valuable’ experience in building a totalitarian-revolutionary regime…Hezbollah and Iran’s IslamicRevolutionary GuardsCorps (IRGC) have also established a presence in the region, training ‘soldiers of the revolution’ in Venezuelan camps…For its part, Iran needed Venezuela to expand its presence in Latin America… It also sought a strategic position in the region to increase deterring capabilities against the U.S.”

In an el-Nacional newspaper article first reported by Fox News, Vladimir Medrano Regifo, former director general of the Office of Identification, Migration and Immigration of Venezuela, revealed that the Venezuelan government may have distributed about 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, and nationals of other Middle Eastern nations. “Nowadays, they do not know where these people are or what they are doing. They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation… Around 173 individuals from the Middle East have been detected with Venezuelan passports. Likewise, the majority of Iraqis who tried to enter Canada first arrived in Caracas, detailed a study by the Center for a Free and Secure Society (SFS) of 2014.”

You can order valsonindia.com viagra no prescription india to your desired viagra from online Pharmacies located offshore — most of the time people had to dedicate a whole Saturday at a local junior college. If you have been soft cialis diagnosed for any disease, you must find a reliable Thyroid doctor in Kolkata for fast recovery. This is all thanks to what I call Yes’s ‘maximum glideability.” Trudy Hannington – Psychosexual and relationship therapist, The Leger Clinic, Doncaster Of all the lubricants I have been living abroad for almost a year now, and sometimes I still feel awkward to interact with different people, with different sale viagra cultures, particularly getting along with the locals. It is tadalafil cheapest online that serves customers from any nation and country worldwide. Antonio Mora, writing for The Hill  reports that Russia has an “insidious, increasing influence in Venezuela… Chavez turned to Russia for investment in the country’s energy and mining sectors and as a supplier of weaponry, with Venezuela becoming a major purchaser of Russian military hardware, including fighter jets.

The U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission reports that Venezuela maintains strong ties to the Chinese military “through a high number of official visits, military officer exchanges, port calls, and limited arms sales.”  Venezuela has purchased Chinese arms and military equipment, including radar and aircraft.

A Council of the America’s study  found that “Running a cash-strapped country didn’t stop Maduro from announcing his plans to “modernize” the Venezuelan Armed Forces with new military equipment, marking another aspect of Venezuela’s relationship with China and Russia.

That Venezuela turns to China and Russia for military equipment is partly out of necessity. In 2005, while trying to upgrade an aging F-16 fleet, the United States blocked Israel from selling replacement parts to Venezuela. So Venezuela turned to Russia, from which it bought 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, along with 53 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles, over the next two years.

In his annual state of the union address in 2011, Chávez said that Venezuela had doubled its military capacities in one year, thanks to equipment from Russia and China.”

The Report Concludes Monday.

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Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger

Venezuelan Govt. photo

The disastrous decline of Venezuela, despite its vast oil wealth, since hard-core socialists took over the government in 1999 has both been tragic for the people of that once-prosperous nation, and dangerous for the entire western hemisphere, as the administration of Nicolás Maduro expands relations with Iran, China, and Russia.

Testifying before Congress on February 15, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, who runs the U.S. Southern Command told the Senate Armed Service Committee “…the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela worsens by the day. Its citizens (especially the most vulnerable) are suffering. The health care system has nearly collapsed. Child malnutrition rates are past the crisis threshold and infant mortality rates have risen sharply. Some reports suggest that 93% of Venezuelans claim they cannot afford the food they need. The government is on the brink of total default as a result of the Maduro regime’s mismanagement of the economy. Venezuela has long provided a permissive environment for narco-terrorist groups and Lebanese Hezbollah supporters, and is a transit country for the smuggling of illicit drugs and SIAs. The continued assault on democratic institutions provides increased space for illicit actors to operate with impunity, and for Russia, China, and Cuba to expand their influence over the corrupt Maduro regime.”

Venezuelans Rafael Acevedo and Luis B. Cirocco, of the Mises Institute, writing for Business Insider highlight how far Venezuela descended from prosperity to poverty. “[Previously] The oil wells were privately owned, and in many cases were owned by private international companies that operated in Venezuela…during this period, tax rates in the country were relatively low. Over time, the destruction of economic freedom led to more and more impoverishment and crisis. This in turn set the stage for the rise of a political outsider with a populist message. This, of course, was Hugo Chávez. He was elected in 1998 and promised to replace light socialism with radical socialism. This only accelerated the problems we had been facing for decades. Nevertheless, he was able to pass through an even more anti-private-property constitution. Since Chávez’s death in 2013, the attacks on private property have continued, and Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, promises only more of the same…the government is turning toward outright authoritarian socialism, and Maduro is seeking a new constitution in which private property is almost totally abolished, and Maduro will be allowed to remain in power for life…So, what are the results of socialism in Venezuela? Well, we have experienced hyperinflation. We have people eating garbage, schools that do not teach, hospitals that do not heal, long and humiliating lines to buy flour, bread, and basic medicines. We endure the militarization of practically every aspect of life. The cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years.”

However, it is even more important that ginseng directly acts on the central nervous system of the old men is found to be working very slowly which ultimately leads the improper functioning of the mind, body & india generic tadalafil soul & therein, causes ailments affecting the health of intimacy. pharmacy store link viagra sales france That’s too many men carrying too much weight. Vitamin D is a http://davidfraymusic.com/events/chicago-symphony-center-3/ purchase generic viagra steroid hormone which is produced by the body in reply to stress, can trigger sexual issues. The most important thing to keep in mind regarding this drug is that the use of this medicine should be administered one hour before sexual activity. linked here buy levitra online can be consumed in a day or 24 hour * To get quick results, consume Kamagra Oral Jelly on an empty stomach Always consult your doctor before using any performance enhancing product The Side Effects People who suffer from blur or blueness in. Over the past several years, President Maduro has consistently sought to usurp the powers of his nation’s legislative branch in order to consolidate his authority. Some have seen parallels, on a much lesser scale, to events within the U.S.

Aside from purely political and international matters, the stunning downfall of a nation that has abundant oil resources illustrates the problem.  According to the International Monetary Funds’ projections, Venezuela’s economy will continue to be in freefall during 2018. It’s economy is expected to shrink by 6%, while consumer prices escalate by an enormous 2,349.3%.

A France 24 review notes that: “Venezuela’s money, the bolivar, is sinking faster and faster under an intensifying political and economic crisis that has left citizens destitute and increasingly desperate.Its depreciation accelerated this week, after a disputed vote electing an all-powerful “Constituent Assembly” filled with allies of President Nicolas Maduro, which the opposition and dozens of countries have called illegitimate…In a year, the currency has lost 94 percent.”

Michael Shifter, writing in Foreign Affairs during 2017,  noted that Nicolás Madur “…presides over a broken nation of some 30 million people, most of whom are barely scraping by, desperate for food and medicine, fearful for their safety, and angered by their government’s erosion of democratic safeguards. On March 29, a Supreme Court ruling effectively closed down the opposition-dominated National Assembly, triggering massive street protests. Since then, more than 35 Venezuelans have been killed in violent clashes, many with government-backed militias—and there is no end in sight… Over the course of the last year, Venezuela was suspended from MERCOSUR, a regional trade bloc, and many Latin American officials—particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru—began to forcefully criticize Maduro for the first time.” On April 26, after a majority of OAS states called a special meeting to discuss Venezuela’s crisis, Caracas declared that it would leave the organization.”

The Report Continues Tomorrow.

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The Media’s Strange Silence About Venezuela, Part 2

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its review of the media’s silence on the Venezuelan crisis. 

Human Rights Watch found that “By [Socialist leader Hugo Chavez’s] second full term in office, the concentration of power and erosion of human rights protections had given the government free rein to intimidate, censor, and prosecute Venezuelans who criticized the president or thwarted his political agenda. Many Venezuelans continued to criticize the government. But the prospect of reprisals – in the form of arbitrary or abusive state action – forced journalists and human rights defenders to weigh the consequences of disseminating information and opinions critical of the government, and undercut the ability of judges to adjudicate politically sensitive cases.”

By any measure, Venezuela should be one of the planet’s most prosperous nations. An oil producer since 1914, it has, according to OPEC, more oil resources than any other nation. It faces no significant military threats. Even with the current decline in oil prices, the nation should have an economy that produces, at the very least, a decent standard of living.

America’s Quarterly notes that “During the 1970s, Venezuela was the richest country in Latin America. With the region’s highest growth rates and the lowest levels of inequality, it was also one of the most stable democracies in the Americas.”

It has a diverse, educated population. Axis of Logic  notes that “The standard of education in Venezuela is among the highest in the region. Of Venezuelans aged 15 and older, 93.4% can read and write, one of the highest literacy rates in the region. The literacy rate in 2003 was estimated to be 93.8% for males and 93.1% for females. Anthony Spanakos notes that a study of Venezuela indicates  that “Venezuela not only had a relatively well-educated population in the 1980s, but that education increased throughout the period in which growth decreased.”)
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As shortages of food and basic items such grow ever worse, the population desperately clashes with the socialist government. NBCreports that “Clashes between protesters and security forces erupted in Venezuela during marches have taken place in at least 12 cities across the country. “Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest the government of President Nicolás Maduro…A teenager who was shot in the head in Caracas near one of the protests has died in the hospital, according to the Associated Press…The country entered its fourth week of protests following two Supreme Court decisions — to revoke the immunity that protects legislators and to dissolve the opposition-controlled legislature, a move that many including the Organiza tion of American States (AOS) dubbed as an ‘auto-coup d’etat’.”

Writing for CATO in 2014, Juan Carlos Hidalgo reasoned that “Milton Friedman once said that, if you put the government in charge of the Sahara desert, there’ll eventually be a shortage of sand. No wonder that, after 14 years of socialist government, Venezuela — the country with the world’s largest oil reserves — is currently importing gasoline. This fact highlights Venezuela’s painful descent into chaos, as the economy crumbles and the nation’s social fabric unravels. Socialism has turned Venezuela into an authoritarian basket case that thousands try to escape every year.”

James Bloodworth, a commentator who tends to lean to the left politically,  in an article published in the U.K. Sun newspaper, notes “When it comes to the pinch, socialists will always sacrifice liberty for the ostensible promise of greater equality, these right wingers will say. While so many ‘progressives’ are happy to turn a blind eye to the abuses of the Venezuelan government, it is hard to disagree with them.”

Allen West asks “…where are the American entertainment elites and advocates of socialism now?…There is nothing trendy, cool, or desirable about socialism. And those who advocate it are, well, let me be blunt, lying, deceptive jackasses…The ugly face of socialism has destroyed the beauty of Venezuela, turning what could be termed a little piece of heaven on earth into hell.”

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The Media’s Strange Silence About Venezuela

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government provides a two-part review of the media’s reluctance to discuss the catastrophic conditions existing in Venezuela. 

There is a reason why the U.S. media downplays the Venezuelan tragedy, in which extreme shortages of food, medicine and basic supplies such as toilet paper are compounded by an authoritarian government that denies essential rights to its citizenry.

As Kevin Williamson notes in his study of socialism, “Venezuela shows what happens when socialism is appended…Venezuela has something like the kind of socialism that American socialists intend and admire…[in 2003, as reported by the Weekly Standard] 16 U.S. congressmen voiced their approval…[of Venezuelan socialism]”

Indeed, Venezuela has adopted the very policy choices endorsed by American progressives.  It has produced economic collapse and utter misery for the population.  That fact is far too embarrassing for the left-leaning U.S. media to adequately report on.

National Review  discussed the adulation Hugo Chavez, founder of Venezuela’s socialist path, received from American leftists: “Celebrities came to sit at his feet, with Sean Penn calling him a ‘champion’ of the world’s poor, Oliver Stone celebrating him as ‘a great hero,’ Antonio Banderas citing his seizure of private businesses as a model to be emulated in the rest of the world, Michael Moore praising his use of oil for political purposes, Danny Glover celebrating him as a ‘champion of democracy.’… There is never a reckoning for the Left. An entire generation of American intellectuals found itself enraptured by the brutal, repressive, terroristic political apparatus of the Soviet Union — not only journalistic enablers like Walter Duranty of the Times and the various Hollywood reds and Communist party operatives, but the purportedly enlightened liberals at The New Republic, who were consistent apologists for Soviet brutality at home and abroad at the height of Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror. Scores of Americans, some of them in high government office, were working on behalf of one of history’s most murderous and repressive regimes — and the bad guys in that story are, in the popular imagination, the people who worked to expose that conspiracy, rather than the people who worked to advance it. Noam Chomsky has for decades been in the business of peddling excuses for every gang of murderers flying his preferred flag — the Khmer Rouge, the Sandinistas, and Mao Zedong’s regime among them.”
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Pedro Lange-Churión states that “The left acts as if all ‘leftist’ governments must be unconditionally defended, no matter how authoritarian and corrupt they become. In acting this way they hark back to the Stalinist days of unconditional allegiance to the party, or to the Cold War years when even timid critiques to the left—even within the left–produced knee-jerk attacks and excommunications. The left has failed to critique the current Venezuelan nightmare…Venezuela was news while it was good news and while Chávez could be used as a banner for the left and his antics provided comic relief. But as soon as the country began to spiral towards ruination, and Chavismo began to resemble another Latin American authoritarian regime, better to turn a blind eye. The position of the Latin American left, then, has been either to suspend a critical stance, or not to address Venezuela’s situation at all.”

As Ana Quintana notes, “In the span of just over 20 years, President Nicolás Maduro, his predecessor Hugo Chavez, and their ‘Socialism of the 21st Century’ have singlehandedly destroyed a country sitting atop of the world’s largest oil reserves. The ongoing economic crisis has bankrupted the country, and the International Monetary Fund forecasts that by midyear the inflation rate will hit 1,600 percent. While the nation is home to massive oil reserves, production is at its lowest level in over 20 years…While leader Maduro is widely unpopular, he has managed to stay in office by unlawfully consolidating power. Any doubt about the Maduro regime’s determination to keep power disappeared last month when he ordered the Supreme Court to take over the National Assembly—the last remaining government branch outside of executive control…Currently, Venezuela has over 100 political prisoners, more than even Cuba. Another victim of the regime is Francisco Marquez, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen. For four months, he was tortured by his guards and the secret police.”

In 2016, Matt O’Brien, writing in the Washington Post,  described Venezuela’s plight: “It’s come to this: The country with the largest oil reserves in the world can’t afford to brew its own beer, stay in its own time zone, or even have its own people show up to work more than two times a week…now the Chavista regime seems to be threatening violence of its own if the opposition succeeds in recalling President Nicolás Maduro. It’s a grim race between anarchy and civil war. How did Venezuela get here? Well, by spending more than it had and not having as much as it should. Let’s take these in reverse order. It really shouldn’t have been hard for the government to use some of its petrodollars on the poor without destroying the economy. Every other oil-rich country, after all, has figured that out. But you can’t redistribute oil profits if there aren’t oil profits to redistribute, or at least not many of them. And there weren’t after Hugo Chavez replaced people who knew what they were doing with people he knew would be loyal to him at the state-owned oil company. It didn’t help that he scared foreign oil companies off too. Or that he took money out, but didn’t put it back in, so that they can no longer turn as much of their extra-heavy crude into refined oil. Add it all up, and Venezuela’s oil production actually fell by about 25 percent between 1999 and 2013.”

The Report concludes tomorrow.

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Quick Analysis

Venezuela’s Descent

The socialist government of Venezuela endured yet another self-imposed embarrassment this month when its foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, pushed through a cordon of police in an unsuccessful attempt to attend a Mercosur meeting which had already suspended her nation from participation due to its extreme economic mismanagement.( Mercosur is a sub-regional association, formed in 1991, to increase trade and diplomatic relations. It consists of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and, until December 1, 2016, Venezuela.)

Venezuela’s once promising economy was essentially destroyed by its hard-left government, despite the vast oil wealth possessed by the nation, calling to mind the adage that if a socialist government took over a desert, there would soon be a shortage of sand.

Joan Grillo, writing for Time Magazine notes that Venezuela “was once the richest country in Latin America. Now it’s falling apart…in a country that sits atop the world’s largest known petroleum reserves, hungry citizens wait on their assigned day for whatever the stores might stock: with luck, corn flour to make arepas, and on a really good day, shampoo.” Soap and toilet paper are items so scarce that they have become coveted commodities.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI)  notes that “As of the end of 2015, Venezuela’s proven oil reserves (301 billion barrels) were nearly 13% greater than oil reserves in Saudi Arabia (267 billion barrels) and about 5.5 times greater than America’s (55 billion barrels). Despite having more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, and in fact more proven oil reserves than any country in the world (8 times more than the US), oil-rich Venezuela’s economy is imploding and collapsing under the crippling burden of socialism, and economic conditions there have deteriorated so dramatically that they probably now qualify as the “economic apocalypse” that some left-leaning economists were predicting just a few years ago would never happen in Venezuela.”

The socialist regime ignored all financial common sense and both squandered its energy wealth while simultaneously suppressing other economic endeavors. Now, following a dip in energy prices and the harsh restriction of other financial activities, Venezuela finds itself enduring major food shortages. Its citizens are seeking to find nourishment by traveling to Brazil, but the Venezuelan currency has become close to worthless. AEI found that there have been incidents of zoo animals being slaughtered for food. Students are reportedly fainting in class from malnutrition. Food lines are eight hours long. In further evidence of nightmarish conditions, there has been a significant increase in the number of women getting sterilized, because there is neither food nor funds to provide for children, and standard birth control has become unavailable.
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In addition to severe shortages of food and birth control, The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)   found that  that “Severe…medicine shortages, soaring crime rates, and a government crackdown on the opposition have sparked widespread protests. The country’s economy was expected to contract 10.1 percent this year, up from 5.7 percent in 2015, making it the worst performer among economies tracked by the World Bank. Inflation hovered around 720 percent, and as many as 76 percent of Venezuelans live below the poverty line, up from 52 percent of the population in 2014, according to a recent study.”

CFR quotes Harvard economist Ricardo Hausman’s analysis of what went wrong. Venezuela’s socialist leadership “did not use the massive oil price boom between 2004 and 2013 to put money aside for a rainy day,” and instead  “used the boom to expropriate large swaths of the economy, impose draconian foreign currency and price controls, and to subsidize imports. All this weakened the economy and made the country more dependent on imports, which Venezuelans can no longer afford.”

CFR notes that “Limits on what producers could charge for goods led many manufacturers in the country to reduce production. As of 2015, 1,200 private enterprises in Venezuela had been nationalized, which, experts say, has further diminished productivity. Infant mortality in hospitals increased from 0.02 percent in 2012 to 2 percent in 2015, according to a government report. Venezuela’s shortages have spilled over to the health sector, and the Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation reported in April that 80 percent of basic medicines were unavailable. Infant mortality in hospitals increased from 0.02 percent in 2012 to 2 percent in 2015, according to a government report. Local health NGOs say Venezuela is vastly underreporting cases of the Zika virus, the mosquito-borne illness that has been linked to birth defects. Malaria and dengue fever are also reportedly on the rise, increasing pressure on the frail health system…87 percent of the population says it does not have enough money to buy sufficient food, according to a local university. The Caracas-based Workers’ Center for Documentation and Social Analysis reported in April 2016 that, adjusted for inflation, a monthly food basket cost more than sixteen times the monthly minimum wage. Violent crime is also high, and many point to the economic downturn as a cause. According to the government, the homicide rate in 2015 was 58 per 100,000. Independent groups say it could be more than 50 percent higher. Caracas, with 119 homicides per 100,000, is the most world’s most violent city outside of a warzone. (The U.S. rate, by comparison, is 5 per 100,000.)”

Cuba, Latin America’s most well-known socialist regime, frequently blamed the U.S. embargo for its problems, despite the reality that it was its addiction to left-wing economic practices that caused its dilemma.  Venezuela has no such excuse, exposing the inherent problem of socialist economics.

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Quick Analysis

The Venezuelan Example

Americans are focused on the Olympics in Brazil, but it is the South American nation of Venezuela that deserves the most attention.

The Washington Post recently noted, “Venezuela is…well past the point of worrying that its economy might collapse. It already has. That’s the only way to describe an economy that the International Monetary Fund thinks is going to shrink 8 percent and have 720 percent inflation this year …This is an entirely man-made catastrophe. Venezuela, by all rights, should be rich…it has more oil than the United States or Saudi Arabia or anyone else for that matter.”

Bloomberg notes that “Catastrophe Is the New Normal for Venezuelans…The fact is, the Maduro government may have lost its way, but it’s still got an iron grip on this nation of 30 million people. And that residual clout, coupled with disarray among the president’s political foes, has given the regime the benefit of public doubt even in desperate times.

The Obama Administration’s policy choices have a number of similarities to Venezuela, where, despite reaping a fortune from its oil industry, (recent profits have declined due to lower oil prices)  the government has ruined its national economy.  An MRCTV review noted “The Venezuelan economy failed a long time ago… it failed thanks to the collectivist policies of former President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicolás Maduro. Anyone with functioning eyes could see it.”

During the almost eight years of the Obama Administration, the U.S. national debt has doubled, regulations have increased, and property rights have decreased.  The President has openly voiced his contempt for the private sector with phrases such as, when speaking of businesses, “You didn’t build that.”

Vast annual deficits continue to occur. Despite all that spending, nothing has been gained. A sixth of the economy, that portion involving health care, has come under government control. Poverty hasn’t been reduced, infrastructure remains deficient, the armed forces are dwindling due to lack of funds, and U.S. students lag behind their peers. Home ownership is down, as are middle class job opportunities. Senior citizens have received lesser cost of living increases than at any time in memory, and even the program the Administration remains proudest of, Obamacare, is beginning to sink into a fiscal crisis of its own.

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Since the start of the Obama Administration, Washington has, in the President’s words, been “fundamentally transformed.”  It has come to resemble nations with government-run health care, and centralized economies with more controlled markets. But in several ways, it has moved beyond economics and into the realm of a more tightly-guided political environment with agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency being used to punish those with views that differ from the White House, much as Venezuelan authorities have sought to suppress dissent in their nation.

That reality poses a threat to the future of prosperity and freedom for American citizens. Much of the media, and the usual collection of cultural commentators, appear to have missed the resemblance and the lesson that should have been learned.

In the 2016 election cycle, Senator Bernie Sanders openly advocated socialist solutions to many of America’s challenges. Hillary Clinton, who initiated concepts such as Obamacare, has come very close to echoing Sanders’ policy choices. Where would those policies lead the U.S.? A look at how they fared in Venezuela is instructive.

The CATO Institute  noted that socialist policies destroyed the Venezuelan economy. “Milton Friedman once said that, if you put the government in charge of the Sahara desert, there’ll eventually be a shortage of sand. No wonder that, after 14 years of socialist government, Venezuela — the country with the world’s largest oil reserves — is currently importing gasoline. This fact highlights Venezuela’s painful descent into chaos, as the economy crumbles and the nation’s social fabric unravels. Socialism has turned Venezuela into an authoritarian basket case that thousands try to escape every year.… Despite receiving over $1 trillion in oil revenues since 1999, the government has run out of cash and now relies heavily on printing money to finance itself. The result is the highest inflation rate in the world: officially 56 per cent last year, although according to calculations by Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, the implied annual inflation rate is actually 330 per cent.

“Venezuela was once South America’s richest country, taking in immigrants from all over the world. For many years, it was also a remarkable democracy in a region where most nations were ruled by military dictatorships. Today, socialism has turned Venezuela into an authoritarian basket case that thousands try to escape every year. With millions of Venezuelans no longer willing to put up with deteriorating living conditions, and a government willing to take whatever means necessary to hold on to power, it looks like the worst is yet to come.”