The crumbling of Venezuela’s economy has now outpaced the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s unraveling in the 1990s and Zimbabwe’s collapse under Robert Mugabe.
Shortages of food, water and medication have sunk most of the population into a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The hospital in Toas Island is empty — its last patient died
without care. Nearby, two-year-old Anailin, left, is wasting
away from severe malnutrition and treatable muscular
paralysis. Credit: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
[...] Venezuela’s fall is the single largest economic collapse outside of war in at least 45 years, economists say. “It’s really hard to think of a human tragedy of this scale outside civil war,” said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This will be a touchstone of disastrous policies for decades to come.” To find similar levels of economic devastation, economists at the I.M.F. pointed to countries that were ripped apart by war, like Libya earlier this decade or Lebanon in the 1970s [....]
Venezuela has lost a tenth of its population in the past two years as people fled, even trekking across mountains, setting off Latin America’s biggest ever refugee crisis.
Venezuela’s hyperinflation, expected to reach 10 million percent this year according to the I.M.F., is on track to become the longest period of runaway price rises since that in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s. “This is essentially a total collapse in consumption,” said Sergi Lanau, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance [....]
By Deisy Buitrag and Corina Pons @ Reuters.com, May 17
CARACAS/PUERTO CABELLO, Venezuela - Angry drivers queued for hours in towns across Venezuela on Friday as fuel shortages worsened in the South American nation following a plunge in gasoline imports and a stoppage at the nation’s second-largest oil refinery.
Shortages of motor fuel have become a periodic occurrence in the OPEC nation, particularly in border regions where smuggling to neighboring countries is rife, the result of generous subsidies from state-run oil company PDVSA that have made gasoline nearly free in Venezuela.
But in recent days lines at gas stations in the western and southern border states of Tachira, Zulia and Bolivar have grown longer than usual, often lasting more than five hours [....]
Brent, the photo caption is a little confusing but within the article is the explanation that Anailin is not in a hospital because there no longer is one, rather she lives in a hut with her mother:
Hyperinflation has reduced the island’s entire budget to the equivalent of $400 a month, or just 3 cents per estimated resident, according to the mayor, Hector Nava.
The hospital has no medication and no patients. The last person to be hospitalized died in agony a day later without treatment for her kidney disease, doctors at the hospital said.
As Toas hospital’s beds stand empty, 2-year-old Anailin Nava is wasting away in a nearby hut from malnutrition and treatable muscular paralysis. Her mother, Maibeli Nava, does not have money to take her to Colombia for treatment, she said.
The four stone quarries that are the island’s only industry have been idle since robbers stole all power cables connecting them to the grid last year. Local opposition activists estimate up to a third of the residents have emigrated from the island in the past two years.
“It used to be a paradise,” said Arturo Flores, the local municipality’s security coordinator, who sells a fermented corn drink from a bucket to local fishermen to round up his salary, which is equivalent to $4 a month. “Now, everyone is fleeing.”
I have not read what much about the availability of international aid in the whole country; I suspect it is not there because of the sanctions to get Maduro to step down and his refusal to admit anything is wrong? And that people flee because they can get aid across the border? Would in particular welcome sharing links that explain what's up with that.
By Isayen Herrera and Anatoly Kurmanaev @ NYTimes.com, May 20, 2019
CARACAS, Venezuela — When an image of the young Venezuelan girl first began to circulate last week, the reaction was almost instantaneous.
She is 2 years old, but malnutrition and untreated illness have wasted her body back to a state of virtual infancy. She spends her day on her back in her family’s dilapidated hut.
Her name is Anailin Nava, and when readers saw the photograph of her in a New York Times article on the economic collapse of Venezuela, many had a common impulse: Helping her country out of a protracted humanitarian crisis may be difficult, but surely there was something that could be done for this one child.
On Sunday, aid began to arrive.
Gasoline shortages have crippled much of Venezuela, but Fabiola Molero, a nurse with a Roman Catholic aid group, Caritas, packed a bag with a scale and a 15-day supply of nutritional supplements, milk and food, and hitchhiked from the western city of Maracaibo to Toas Island, where Anailin lives.
Ms. Molero has been working as a nurse in public hospitals for 20 years, but three years ago she quit and became a volunteer with Caritas so she could fight the hunger that was devastating the country.
“I worked in a hospital and quit because I couldn’t handle the fact that children were dying in my arms for lack of food,” she said.
When she set off on Sunday, her goal was to help Anailin, and also assess the condition of other children in her community [....]
The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent
Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019
Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.
Actions to take:
Avoid the area;
Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;
Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and
If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.
All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO
BREAKING: Three loss prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed, one of them has died from stab wounds, @PhillyPolice sources tell me. Police converged on the store as the three workers were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. pic.twitter.com/4U1eKycL4W
You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.
The lack of a cohesive delegation has allowed attention-seeking lawmakers to act on their own.
McCarthy: “You have [Rep. Matt] Gaetz, who belongs in jail…”
Gaetz: “Tough words from a guy who sucker punches people in the back. The only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile ego.”https://t.co/LctPuz6Pcf
"Both the AU and the intl community place more weight on whether elections are held than whether they are free and fair. Sanctions/expulsions occur when there is a coup but not necessarily when elections are rigged or if an “institutional coup” occurs." https://t.co/m9dNimJP0D
Comments
Angry Venezuelans wait hours for fuel as shortages worsen
By Deisy Buitrag and Corina Pons @ Reuters.com, May 17
by artappraiser on Sat, 05/18/2019 - 12:50am
I contacted UNICEF and international relief. Poor Anilin in a Taos island Venezuelan hospital. The country has has electrical blackouts.
by Brent Dunlevy (not verified) on Sun, 05/19/2019 - 4:05pm
Brent, the photo caption is a little confusing but within the article is the explanation that Anailin is not in a hospital because there no longer is one, rather she lives in a hut with her mother:
I have not read what much about the availability of international aid in the whole country; I suspect it is not there because of the sanctions to get Maduro to step down and his refusal to admit anything is wrong? And that people flee because they can get aid across the border? Would in particular welcome sharing links that explain what's up with that.
by artappraiser on Sun, 05/19/2019 - 7:26pm
Nurse Hitchhikes to Help Girl Whose Photo Drew Attention to Hunger in Venezuela
Many who saw the picture of Anailin Nava, a 2-year-old girl suffering from malnutrition, wanted to help.
Gasoline shortages have crippled much of Venezuela, but one nurse packed a supply of food and set out for the girl’s home.
By Isayen Herrera and Anatoly Kurmanaev @ NYTimes.com, May 20, 2019
by artappraiser on Tue, 05/21/2019 - 1:59am