Venezuela nears total collapse as government now unable to provide food, water, electricity and protection for citizens

Friday, April 15, 2016 by: Isabelle Z.

(NaturalNews) Every day seems to bring new evidence that Venezuela's transition from a market-based economy to a socialist one is proving to be every bit as ill-advised as it has sounded from day one. The country is now nearing total collapse as the government is failing miserably to provide its citizens with basic necessities such as water, food, electricity and protection. Meanwhile, inflation is set to exceed 700 percent this year.

The socialist policies put in place by the late Hugo Chavez and perpetuated by current president Nicolas Maduro are driving the country to complete collapse. The fall in oil prices isn't helping matters, as the nation heavily relies on oil exports. Medical suppliers are cutting off shipments, and health organizations warn that people are dying from a lack of medicine.

Unrest is rising dangerously, with protesters regularly clashing with police in bloody demonstrations. Zero Hedge reports that morgues are overflowing as the country descends into chaos, and collapse is pretty much inevitable. Violence is rising sharply, with murders rising dramatically.

Power grid nearing collapse

In the wake of all this unrest, Maduro recently announced that every Friday will be a "holiday" in order to slash electricity usage. State employees will be given Fridays off of work for at least the next two months, and Maduro is urging people to forgo hair dryers, appreciate the country's tropical heat and hang their clothes out to dry. In fact, Maduro even had the gall to say that women look better when they let their hair air dry.

At first, the government tried to pass it off as a desire to be more green, but it's really just a desperate measure to prevent the collapse of the power grid. Venezuela gets 70 percent of its electricity from its hydroelectric plants. Severe drought has led to a water shortage everywhere, and the reduced water levels in the plants mean generators aren't putting out as much power as needed.

The government required businesses to cut their power usage by 10 percent, and police can enter and inspect businesses at will to see if they are exceeding their allotment. The Organic Prepper reports that, in February, stores were forced to turn off electricity from 1pm to 3pm and then again from 7pm to 9pm every day.

In 2014, Natural News reported that food shortages had reached such a critical level in the country that the government instituted an identification system akin to rationing that keeps track of people's purchases and criminalizes hoarding.

It could happen anywhere

All of this should be taken as a warning. This is what a modern economic collapse looks like, and if it can happen in Venezuela, it can happen anywhere.

The Organic Prepper's Daisy Luther wrote:

"These mandated power rations, the limited amounts of food, the government-funded snitches, the tracking, and most of all, the propaganda, are all what await us in an economic collapse situation. While the Venezuelan government will be facing no limits on their use of electrical power, the people will only be allowed allotted amounts."


If the American economy goes the way of the Venezuelan one at some point, being self-sufficient could mean the difference between life and death. The Self-Reliance Summit is one way to educate yourself on these matters. Stocking up on foods and natural cures is one way people can prepare for such a situation and reduce their odds of becoming just another body in the stack at the morgue.

Venezuela is cutting electric power for four hours a day, to save energy. Venezuela is an OPEC member, and ranks #1 in proven oil reserves.

And the country's larges beer brewer will cease operation. It has no dollars, needed to buy grain.

A real socialist paradise there, Bernie.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Onward and upward,
airforce

"It's Pure Chaos Now; There Is No Way Back" - Venezuela Morgues Are Overflowing

by Tyler Durden 04/10/2016


When we previewed Venezuela's upcoming hyperinflation, which in January was predicted to be 720% and as of this moment is likely far higher...



... we said "This Is What The Death Of A Nation Looks Like" and said "there is no good news in any of the above for the long-suffering citizens of this "socialist paradise" which any minute now will be downgraded to its fair value of "socialist hell."

Subsequent news that Venezuela was now openly liquidating its gold reserves while its president, in an amusing twist, announced last week, that henceforth every Friday will be a holiday, (the term there was a slightly different meaning) to cut down on electricity usage (while blaming El Nino for its electricity rationing) merely confirmed that the end if nigh for this once flourishing Latin American nation.

Sadly, while we have been warning for years about Venezuela's inevitable, economic devastation, we said it was only a matter of time before the chaos spreads to broader society and leads to total collapse.

That may have arrived because as even the FT now admits, after visiting the main Caracas morgue, Venezuela risks a descent into chaos.

But back to the morgue of central Caracas, where FT correspondent Andres Schipani writes that the stench forces everyone to cover their nostrils. "Now things are worse than ever," says Yuli S�nchez. "They kill people and no one is punished while families have to keep their pain to themselves."

Ms S�nchez�s 14-year-old nephew, Oliver, was shot five times by malandros, or thugs, while riding on the back of a friend�s motorcycle. His uncle, Luis Mej�a, remarked that in a fortnight three members of their family had been shot, including two youths who were shot by police.

Sounds a little like Chicago on a Friday... only in Venezuela things are even worse: "an economic, social and political crisis facing Nicol�s Maduro, Venezuela�s unpopular president, is being aggravated by a rise in violence which is prompting fears that this oil-rich country risks becoming a failed state."

Even the morgue employees are asking if they should give up.

"What can we do?" Mr Mej�a asks. �Give up.� The morgue employee in charge of handling the corpses notes that a decade ago he received seven or eight bodies every weekend. These days, he says, that number has risen to between 40 and 50: "This is now wilder than the wild west."

Critics say that the Venezuelan government is increasingly unable to provide citizens with water, electricity, health or a functioning economy which can supply basic food staples or indispensable medicines, let alone personal safety.

In other words, total socioeconomic collapse. This is what it looks like:

Last month alone, Venezuelans learned of the summary execution of at least 17 gold miners supposedly by a mining Mafia, the killing of two police officers allegedly by a group of students who drove a bus into a barricade, and a hostage drama inside a prison at the hands of a grenade-wielding criminal gang. On Wednesday, three policemen were killed when an armed gang busted a member out of a lock-up in the capital.



At least 10 were killed in a Caracas shanty town after a confrontation between local thugs armed with assault rifles, while a local mayor was gunned down outside his home in Trujillo state last month. There are widespread reports of lynchings.



All this is creating a broad unease that Mr Maduro is unable to maintain order... There is a lack of basic goods. Analysts warn that the economic crisis risks turning in to a humanitarian one.

Some refuse to acknowledge that a state erected on so much oil wealth can be a failed state:

�Failed state is a nebulous concept often used too lightly. That�s not the case with today�s Venezuela,� says Mois�s Na�m a Venezuelan distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. �The evidence of state failure is very concrete in the country that sits on top of the world�s largest oil reserves.�

Alas, a failed state is precisely what Venezuela has become: Venezuela is already one of the world�s deadliest countries. The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local think-tank, says the murder rate rose last year to 92 killings per 100,000 residents. The attorney-general cites a lower figure of 58 homicides per 100,000. This is up from 19 per 100,000 in 1998, before Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez took power.

It gets worse, because in addition to a soaring murder rate, the government itself is implicated.

"Venezuelans are facing one of the highest murder rates in the hemisphere and urgently need effective protection from violent crime,� said Jos� Miguel Vivanco HRW�s Americas director. �But in multiple raids throughout the country, the security forces themselves have allegedly committed serious abuses.�

Their findings show that police and military raids in low-income and immigrant communities in Venezuela have led to widespread allegations of abuse, including extrajudicial killings, mass arbitrary detentions, maltreatment of detainees, forced evictions, the destruction of homes, and arbitrary deportations.

And like all other failed governments, Maduro's administration is quick to deflect blame, instead accusing violence within its borders on Colombian rightwing paramilitaries "engaged in a war against its revolution." But as David Smilde and Hugo P�rez Hern�iz of the Washington Office on Latin America, a think-tank, recently wrote: �Attributing violence in Venezuela to paramilitary activity has been a common rhetorical move used by the government over the past year, effectively making a citizen security problem into a national security problem.�

For many Venezuelans it no longer matters who is to blame. "It is a state policy of letting anarchy sink in," says a former policeman outside the gates of a compound in Caracas.

The FT adds that the former police station now houses the Frente 5 de Marzo, one of the political groups that consider themselves the keepers of socialism�s sacred flame. The gates bear the colours of the Venezuelan flag and are marked with bullet holes. The man believes there is something akin to a civil war going on.

�Venezuela is pure chaos now. It seems to me there is no way back,� the former policeman says. He is right.

* * *

And since words can not fully do a failed state justice, here is a video clip from Jeff Berwick showing the reality on the ground in the country where "socialism's sacred flame" is about to go out for good.

https://youtu.be/UOQb7Y5QVO8

A nice glimpse of what "fundamentally transforming" a nation looks like!

YES they can!

And Bernie wants to turn The USA into a Socialist Utopia, yep way to go Bernie and your Brain Dead Supporters.

If Burnie wants to turn America into a socialist etopia. He would be a dollar short and a day late.
Take along hard look around. We are Dan near it.

We may be close to it but if Bernie gets his way we will be a Full On Socialist Utopia.

But with the Bad there may be some Good if States like Texas refuse to be Socialist and Secede.

I don't see Texas Billionaires and Millionaires giving 90% of their money to Bernie so he can give it to the Welfare Trash.

And if Clinton gets elected I don't see Texas Gun Owners giving up their Guns, so another reason for Texas to Secede.

One thing no matter who gets appointed. The course of freedoms being lost and continue loss is for sure.
Every time elections come around. Its always the same whether it is this or that canidate. Promising lies only to tell all what they want to hear.
Then after the elections all see the lies.
A little controlled hope goes a very long way in controlling a nation.

I'd like to see the 3 (though one stands zero chance) GOP candidates make an issue of who they would appoint to the Supreme Court. It would let us know more about them as a president, and remind the Dems that BHO will not be choosing.

It seems like you have Hoisted the White Flag and Surrendered and have totally given up on the political process, maybe what you should do on election day since regardless of who gets elected, won't change anything, is stay home and get drunk.

Here is how I feel.

I have not given up, at least not yet.

I do not feel that Trump is just another Politician, I feel that maybe, just maybe, he is for real and that he will do the best he can to correct some of the Problems like unemployment, if he does as he has stated and brings back the jobs that have moved out of our Country.

I feel that Trump deserves the chance to prove he is not just a Lying Politician and is for real.

If Trump get elected and then backs down on what he has said he will do and proves himself a lier, then giving up on Politics and Elections makes a lot of sense. But not right now when we might have a President who will do something to change things for the better.

Just a few more months we will know for sure, so why not wait.

Vader first I don't drink it tends to make one talk shit.
Second I never have and never will give up. I spoke the the truth. For 25 plus years I have heard the election topic. Every 3-4 year same argument maybe this or that canidate won't lie. Then in the end a lie is a lie.

As to drinking I never used to drink very often but lately I have been drinking more and more and I am actually starting to enjoy getting drunk.

I find that it helps me get through an average day and helps me to sleep.

I don't drink and drive I only drink when I am home or with someone else who will do the driving.

Now as to Politics and Voting I used to vote in every election but I have not voted in the past two elections, but I do plan on voting in this one as long as Trump is running.

This is how I am thinking. I feel that Trump is not part of the Political system and he is more of an outsider and if he does as as has stated he will do then there is a chance he will help to change things.

If you believe that Trump is just another Politician and he actually is just another politician and that this election is just more of the same as previous elections, then you are correct.

But if Trump is an outsider as I believe he is and if this election is totally different then past elections as it sure seems like it is and I believe it is, then you are incorrect.

Just going by what I have been seeing the GOP is well on it's way to Self Destruction and this election is totally different then past elections and may be the beginning of the end of the Old GOP and maybe the beginning of a New GOP or ever the replacement of the GOP with a New Conservative Party.
I believe this election is not just the old same old same old and it is totally different then all previous elections and it will be a totally New Ballgame.

So what I am saying we should all wait until after Trump gets elected and and we find out if he is real or if he is a fake before giving up on this election.

It is like having a Lottery Ticket and before the drawing thinking to yourself, what I am stupid I have no chance of winning, so you destroy the Ticket before the Drawing and then you find out your Number Won, wouldn't you feel like idiot that you destroyed a Winning Ticket I know I would.

Here's a novel idea from Venezuela, a weekend that lasts five days . Because there's only enough electricity to work for two days a week.

This is giving the term "worker's paradise" a whole new meaning.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The elections are a sham. I participate but don't believe my vote counts. I'm not too broken up about it because I'm in a state that I think will be able to weather the coming storm.

For Venezuela, it won\'t be much longer.



Venezuela doesn't even have the money to print new money with. You can imagine what grocery stores look like:



Onward and upward,
airforce

Feeling the Bern of socialism!

I imagine most of you have been watching things develop south of the border.

It's not just Venezuela; Brazil, Puerto Rico and others are in various stages of collapse.

Ain't good.

What kills me is that the Sanders flock don't see the parallels or put 2 & 2 together.

President Nicolas Maduro has ordere... exercises to counter "foreign threats." My guess is, this is not going to end well.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Domino effect. How long until it travels north?

No, what would be the problem is the Marxists in our government looting our treasury to bail that country out with restrictions on US produced gasoline while paying the Venezuelans an inflated price for their oil and we get $5 per gallon gas at the pump while they get financial bailout. Only they do so by putting future generations of Americans further in debt.

Remember how it went in 2008, credit stopped, gas went to $5 per gallon and freeways emptied then who got their payoff? The banks and Wall Street...

Watch Venezuela, Because Food Shortages, Looting And Economic Collapse Are Coming To America Too

Just a few years ago, most Venezuelans could never have imagined that food shortages would become so severe that people would literally hunt dogs and cats for food.

Michael Snyder | Economic Collapse - May 16, 2016

The full-blown economic collapse that is happening in Venezuela right now is a preview of what Americans will be experiencing in the not too distant future.

Just a few years ago, most Venezuelans could never have imagined that food shortages would become so severe that people would literally hunt dogs and cats for food. But as you will see below, this is now taking place. Sadly, this is what the endgame of socialism looks like. When an all-powerful government is elevated far above all other institutions in society and radical leftists are given the keys to the kingdom, this is the result. Food shortages, looting and rampant violent crime have all become part of daily life in Venezuela, and we all need to watch as this unfolds very carefully, because similar scenarios will soon be playing out all over the planet.

The funny thing is that Venezuela actually has more �wealth� than most countries in the world. According to the CIA, Venezuela actually has more proven oil reserves than anyone else on the globe � including Saudi Arabia.

So how did such a wealthy nation find itself plunged into full-blown economic collapse so rapidly, and could a similar thing happen to us?

The president of Venezuela has declared a 60 day state of emergency in a desperate attempt to restore order, but most people don�t anticipate that it will do much good. Social order continues to unravel as the economy systematically implodes. The Venezuelan economy shrunk by 5.7 percent last year, and it is being projected that it will contract by another 8 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, inflation is raging wildly out of control. According to the IMF, the official inflation rate in Venezuela will be somewhere around 720 percent this year and 2,200 percent next year.

If people are able to get their hands on some money, they immediately rush out to the stores to use it before the prices go up again. This has created devastating shortages of food, basic supplies and medicine.

Electricity is also in short supply, and a two day workweek has been imposed on many government employees in a desperate attempt to save power. Violent crime is seemingly everywhere, and most law-abiding Venezuelans lock themselves in their homes at night as a result.

Much of the crime is being perpetrated by the mafia and the gangs, but sometimes it is just normal people looking for food. Desperate people do desperate things, and according to the Guardian there have been �107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016″�

Crowds of people in Venezuela have stolen flour, chicken and even underwear this week as looting increases across the country in the wake of shortages of many basic products. Many people have adopted the habit of getting up in the dead of night to spend hours in long lines in front of supermarkets. But as more end up empty-handed and black market prices soar, plundering is rising in Venezuela, an Opec nation that was already one of the world�s most violent countries.

There is no official data, but the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict, a rights group, have reported 107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016. Videos of crowds breaking into shops, swarming on to trucks or fighting over products frequently make the rounds on social media, though footage is often hard to confirm.

One example of this looting took place on May 11th. Thousands of hungry people stormed Maracay Wholesale Market in central Venezuela, and the police seemed powerless to stop them�

�They took milk, pasta, flour, oil, and milk powder. There were 5,000 people,�one witness told Venezuela outlet El Est�mulo.

People from across the entire state came to the supermarket because there were rumors that some products not found anywhere else would be sold there.

�There were 250 people for each National Guard officer� lots of people and few soldiers. At least one officer was beat up because he tried to stop the crowd,� another source told El Est�mulo.

You can see some rough footage of this incident right here�

�VENEZUELA TIENE HAMBRE! #Video Saquean Mercado Mayorista Maracay #11May pic.twitter.com/DGRZ1bgkgI v�a @venezolanodecen #CNERevocatorioYA

� El llanero (@llaneroVen) May 11, 2016

It is important to remember that this was not an isolated incident. As people have become hungrier and hungrier, there have been reports of looting at �pharmacies, shopping malls, supermarkets, and food delivery trucks�. During some of these episodes there have actually been people chanting �we are hungry�.

Other Venezuelans have resorted to digging in dumpsters and trash cans for food. This many seem detestable to many Americans, but when you are desperately hungry you may be surprised at what you are willing to do.

And as I mentioned above, some Venezuelans and now actually hunting dogs and cats for food�

Ram�n Muchacho, Mayor of Chacao in Caracas, said the streets of the capital of Venezuela are filled with people killing animals for food.

Through Twitter, Muchacho reported that in Venezuela, it is a �painful reality� that people �hunt cats, dogs and pigeons� to ease their hunger.

You may be tempted to dismiss these people as �barbarians�, but someday Americans will be doing the exact same thing.

There has been a breakdown of basic social services in Venezuela as well. Acute shortages of drugs and medical supplies are having absolutely tragic results. When I read the following from the New York Times, this crisis in Venezuela become much more real to me�

By morning, three newborns were already dead.

The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward.

Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died.

So once again I ask � how did such a thing happen to such a wealthy nation?

Here is Business Insider�s explanation�

The real culprit is chavismo, the ruling philosophy named for Chavez and carried forward by Maduro, and its truly breathtaking propensity for mismanagement (the government plowed state money arbitrarily into foolish investments); institutional destruction (as Chavez and then Maduro became more authoritarian and crippled the country�s democratic institutions); nonsense policy-making (like price and currency controls); and plain thievery (as corruption has proliferated among unaccountable officials and their friends and families).

Are not the same things happening here?

The U.S. government is mismanaging our money too. During Barack Obama�s eight years in the White House, the U.S. national debt has risen by more than eight trillion dollars. We waste money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable, and at this point our national debt is nearly the double the size it was just prior to the last major financial crisis.

Institutional destruction is also a legacy of the Obama regime. With each passing day, our society resembles the Republic that our founders originally intended less and less, and it resembles socialist dictatorships more and more. We may as well not even have a Constitution anymore, because at this point nobody really follows it.

The third thing that Business Insider mentioned, �nonsense policy-making�, is a perfect description of what has been going on in Washington D.C. these days. Perhaps that is why Congress only has a 12.8 percent approval rating right now.

Lastly, thievery and corruption are also out of control in our nation too. The elite and special interest groups spend massive amounts of money to get their favorites into office, and in turn those politicians shower their good friends with money and favors. It is a very sick relationship, but that is how our system now works.

We are sitting on the largest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and our debt-fueled prosperity is completely dependent on the rest of the world lending us gigantic amounts of money at ridiculously low interest rates and continuing to use our increasingly shaky currency which we are debasing at a staggering pace.

We consume far more than we produce, and unlike Venezuela we aren�t sitting on hundreds of billions of barrels of oil. The amount of �real wealth� that we actually have does not justify our current standard of living. The only way that we are able to live the way that we do is by stealing consumption from the future. One study has found that our debt level is the highest that it has been since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and yet we continue to race down this road to economic oblivion without even thinking twice about it.

What you sow is what you will reap.

And just like Venezuela, America will ultimately reap a very bitter harvest.

They nationalized a massive oil industry and then spent the way profits on stupid shit instead of the basic needs of the population.

Governments have been able to run feeding programs for "dangerous" populations for centuries, in jails, prisons, schools and the military.

Shut down all military chow halls for a week and see what happens.

Now if they "funded military chow" and are not feeding the troops, but everyone in the military chow business gets nice homes and vehicles, it's not hard to figure out. Seems I remember hearing stories about how shortly after Obama took over, prison and military food went downhill, with combat zone troops in Afghanistan being cut back to two meals a day.

The reason the Venezuelans are rioting is they are not stupid people. They know that the fight between elites in their society and government is using food restriction as a weapon.

I'm not hearing much about this on the news, but Moody\'s has downgraded the bonds issued by Saudi Arabia because of falling oil prices.

Is the Venezuela disease spreading to the Middle east? This could get really interesting.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Barter activity explodes across Venezuela as failed socialist economic policies leave entire nation on verge of economic collapse: The bottom line is that Venezuela gets about 70 percent of its goods from abroad, however, the area�s fast-falling oil prices have prevented the government there from importing. As a result, the economy has shifted to a culture where a black market lifestyle is the norm, and people can expect items to cost upwards of three times their original price.

http://www.naturalnews.com/052224_economic_collapse_Venezuela_barter_economy.html#ixzz48YocpE2W


U.S. intelligence officials: Venezuela could be headed for collapse: Venezuela, where clashes erupted this week between security forces and demonstrators protesting food shortages, power blackouts and political gridlock, may be headed toward an all-out popular uprising that could lead to the overthrow of its government this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...-1935-11e6- 924d-838753295f9a_story.html

"Venezuela\'s health care system is the best in the world after Cuba."

The photos pretty much say it all.

Onward and upward,
airforce

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/05/17/video-venezuela-headed-for-an-economic-collapse-or-worse/

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion...-economic-collapse-are-coming-to-america

If you're a foreign visitor to Venezuela - and you have a credit card with a large limit - you can get all the food you want. You just can't get it at the official exchange rate of 10 bolivares to the dollar.

Plan on spending the black market rate of 1000 bolivares to the dollar. That makes your $1.70 cheeseburger a whopping $170 .

And if you're unlucky enough to be a Venezuelan, paid in bolivares, well...

Onward and upward,
airforce

Stupid stubborn ad wasteful. They get free money from the world economy without working very hard for it because in part, oil companies do the bulk of the actual work. Like the Saudis, they are the "legitimate" government which is paid off not to have any trouble, and in that payoff, they make as much trouble as they can.

Barter economy it should be. Pack up a few shiploads of humanitarian ration packs and make that the only thing they get paid with.

That's the whole problem. The Venezuela government owns the Venezuela oil industry. Maduro is using the oil money to pay off his military (and depositing the rest in his Swiss ban account, I'm sure). And since nobody outside Venezuela will accept bolivares at the official exchange rate, it wouldn't work anyway.

Onward and upward,
airforce

According to Wikipedia, they own the CITGO gas station chain, lock, stock and barrel.

Either way, they have money, they just fucked it off and wasted it.

Sooner or later, you run out of other people's money. Greece and Puerto Rico have already found that out, and California and Illinois won't be too far behind.

Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any other country in the world - and they can't keep the lights on for more than two days a week. That should tell you something.

Onward and upward,
airforce

According to one report their budget was based on selling oil for $104 per barrel. When the price dropped their central planners refused to cut spending.

This is why some of the oil emrates in the gulf have invested so heavily in a trust fund of sorts. They have also tried to spend some of the money to diversify their economies.

A massive drop in oil revenue hurts, but not a catastrophe.

Here are some very interesting comparisons. Contrast Venezuela with Chile, which began to abandon socialism about the same time Venezuela began to adopt it . The charts say it all. On every metric - income per capita, life expectancy, infant mortality, economic freedom, GDP, political freedom - Chile wins.

Onward and upward,
airforce

How much is the bolivar really worth? Well, just to give you some idea, thieves are no longer bothering to steal them .

How can Venezuela work itself out of this mess? Here was Ludwig von Mises suggestions for the Austrian crown, updated to the Venezuelan bolivar:

1. Abandon socialism. A little obvious, but it's the first step.

2. Abandon the bolivar. Ideally, it would go back to the gold standard. And since you're starting over anyway, it wouldn't be all that hard. But any commonly accepted currency - even the dollar - would work.

3. Privatize the Venezuelan economy. Sell off the oil companies, and return the seized oil wells to their rightful owners. Put into private hands, the oil industry would soon flourish again.

4. Abandon "official" currency exchange rates.

5. End prohibitions and regulations on importing and exporting goods and services. Venezuela needs free trade.

That should get the ball rolling. I'm not holding my breath for Maduro to implement them.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Puerto Rico is a real problem and could balloon into a fiasco. Basically they have the ability to hold the US hostage because of their location. If the US doesn't bail them out, then who does? It's like Cuba round 2. That's one damn expensive island.

Ever wonder who President Maduro would like to see get elected? Yep, it\'s Bernie. Big surprise, that one.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuelans Ransack Stores as Hunger Stalks Crumbling Nation+

The New York Times

By NICHOLAS CASEY


CUMAN�, Venezuela � With delivery trucks under constant attack, the nation�s food is now transported under armed guard. Soldiers stand watch over bakeries. The police fire rubber bullets at desperate mobs storming grocery stores, pharmacies and butcher shops. A 4-year-old girl was shot to death as street gangs fought over food.

Venezuela is convulsing from hunger.

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Hundreds of people here in the city of Cuman�, home to one of the region�s independence heroes, marched on a supermarket in recent days, screaming for food. They forced open a large metal gate open and poured inside. They snatched water, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, potatoes, anything they could find, leaving behind only broken freezers and overturned shelves.

And they showed that even in a country with the largest oil reserves in the world, it is possible for people to riot because there is not enough food.

In the last two weeks alone, more than 50 food riots, protests and mass lootings have erupted around the country. Scores of businesses have been stripped bare or destroyed. At least five people have been killed.

This is precisely the Venezuela its leaders vowed to prevent.

In one of the nation�s worst moments, riots spread from Caracas, the capital, in 1989, leaving hundreds dead at the hands of security forces. Known as the �Caracazo,� or the �Caracas clash,� they were set off by low oil prices, cuts in subsidies and a population that was suddenly impoverished.

The event seared the memory of a future president, Hugo Ch�vez, who said the country�s inability to provide for its people, and the state�s repression of the uprising, were the reason Venezuela needed a socialist revolution.

Now his successors find themselves in a similar bind � or maybe even worse.

The nation is anxiously searching for ways to feed itself. The economic collapse of recent years has left it unable to produce enough food on its own or import what it needs from abroad. Cities have been militarized under an emergency decree from President Nicol�s Maduro, the man Mr. Ch�vez picked to carry on with his revolution before he died three years ago.

�If there is no food, there will be more riots,� said Raibelis Henriquez, 19, who waited all day for bread in Cuman�, where at least 22 businesses were attacked in a single day last week.

But while the riots and clashes punctuate the country with alarm, it is the hunger that remains the constant source of unease.

A staggering 87 percent of Venezuelans say they do not have money to buy enough food, the most recent assessment of living standards by Sim�n Bol�var University found.

About 72 percent of monthly wages are being spent just to buy food, according to the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis, a research group associated with the Venezuelan Teachers Federation. In April, it found that a family would need the equivalent of 16 minimum-wage salaries to properly feed itself.

Ask people in this city when the last time they ate a meal, and many will respond that it was not today.

Among them are Leidy Cordova, 37, and her five children � Abran, Deliannys, Eliannys, Milianny and Javier Luis � ages 1 to 11. On Thursday evening, the entire family had not eaten since lunchtime the day before, when Ms. Cordova made a soup by boiling chicken skin and fat that she had found for a cheap price at the butcher.

�My kids tell me they�re hungry,� Ms. Cordova said as her family looked on. �And all I can say to them is to grin and bear it.�

Other families have to choose who eats. Lucila Fonseca, 69, has lymphatic cancer, and her 45-year-old daughter Vanessa Furtado has a brain tumor. Despite also being ill, Ms. Furtado gives up the little food she has on many days so her mother does not skip meals.

�I used to be very fat, but no longer,� said the daughter. �We are dying as we live.�

Her mother added, �We are now living on Maduro�s diet: no food, no nothing.�

Economists say years of economic mismanagement � worsened by low prices for oil, the nation�s main source of revenue � have shattered the food supply. Sugar fields in the country�s agricultural center lie fallow for lack of fertilizers. Unused machinery rots in shuttered state-owned factories. Staples like corn and rice, once exported, now must be imported and arrive in amounts that do not meet the need.

In response, Mr. Maduro has tightened his grip over the food supply. Using emergency decrees he signed this year, the president put most food distribution in the hands of a group of citizen brigades loyal to leftists, a measure critics say is reminiscent of food rationing in Cuba.

�They�re saying, in other words, you get food if you�re my friend, if you�re my sympathizer,� said Roberto Brice�o-Le�n, the director of the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a human rights group.

It was all a new reality for Gabriel M�rquez, 24, who grew up in the boom years when Venezuela was rich and empty shelves were unimaginable. He stood in front of the destroyed supermarket where the mob had arrived at Cuman�, an endless expanse of smashed bottles, boxes and scattered shelves. A few people, including a policeman, were searching the wreckage for leftovers to take.

�During Carnival, we used to throw eggs at each other just to have some fun,� he said. �Now an egg is like gold.�

Down the coastal road in a small fishing town called Boca de Uchire, hundreds gathered on a bridge this month to protest because the food deliveries were not arriving. Residents demanded to meet the mayor, but when he did not come they sacked a Chinese bodega.

Residents hacked open the door with pickaxes and pillaged the shop, venting their anger at a global power that has lent billions of dollars to prop up Venezuela in recent years.

�The Chinese won�t sell to us,� said a taxi driver who watched the crowd haul away all that was inside. �So we burn their stores instead.�

Mr. Maduro, who is fighting a push for a referendum to recall him this year over the country�s declines, said it was the political opposition that was behind the attacks on the stores.

�They paid a group of criminals, brought them in trucks,� he said on Saturday on television, promising compensation to those who lost property.

At the same time, the government also blames the shortages on an �economic war� in which they accuse wealthy business owners of hoarding food and charging exorbitant prices, creating artificial shortages to profit from the country�s misery.

It has left shop owners feeling under siege, particularly those who do not have Spanish names.

�Look how we are working today,� said Maria Basmagi, whose family immigrated from Syria a generation ago, pointing to the metal grate pulled over the window of her shoe store.

Her shop was on the commercial boulevard in Barcelona, another coastal town wracked by unrest last week. At 11 a.m. the day before, someone screamed that there was an attack on a government-run kitchen nearby. Every shop on Ms. Basmagi�s street closed down in fear.

Other shops stay open, like the bakery in Cuman� where a line of 100 people snaked around a corner. Each person was allowed to buy about a pound of bread. Robert Astudillo, a 23-year-old father of two, was not sure there would be any left once his turn came. He said he still had corn flour to make arepas, a Venezuelan staple, for his children. They had not eaten meat in months.

�We make the arepas small,� he said.

In the refrigerator of Araselis Rodriguez and Nestor Daniel Reina, the parents of four small children, there was not even corn flour � just a few limes and some bottles of water.

The family had eaten bread for breakfast and soup for lunch made from fish that Mr. Reina had managed to catch. The family had nothing for dinner.

It has not always been clear what provokes the riots. Is it hunger alone? Or is it some larger anger that has built up in a country that has crumbled?

In�s Rodr�guez was not sure. She remembered calling out to the crowd of people who had come to sack her restaurant on Tuesday night, offering them all the chicken and rice the restaurant had if they would only leave the furniture and cash register behind. They balked at the offer and simply pushed her aside, Ms. Rodr�guez said.

�It is the meeting of hunger and crime now,� she said.

As she spoke, three trucks with armed patrols drove by, each emblazoned with photos of Mr. Ch�vez and Mr. Maduro.

The trucks were carrying food.

�Finally they come here,� Ms. Rodr�guez said. �And look what it took to get them. It took this riot to get us something to eat.�

I don't think all that "economic planning" turned out quite the way all those socialists predicted.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Governments can run school lunches, prison and jail chow, and military chow. How they can't seem to run some public feeding centers out there like the Romans did, is beyond reprehensible.

If you can't or won't feed the people in your household, then by default, it's no longer your household.

Was that a serious question? What color are the trees on Mr. Casey's planet?

Hungry, hopeless people are the most dangerous animals on the planet.

Just wait till the EBTs quit working for good. It'll make Venezuela look like a kindergarten egg hunt.

Two good quotes here that I agree with.
If you can't or won't feed the people in your household, then by default, it's no longer your household.

Just wait till the EBTs quit working for good. It'll make Venezuela look like a kindergarten egg hunt.

Considering the free fall of oil after Brexit, Venezuela will not be able to recoup from its leadership blunders any time soon.

That socialist paradise just keeps getting better. Now Maduro wants to ban opposing political parties, because of "fraud" in the recall vote.

Onward and upward,
airforce

From Socialist Utopia To Slave-Nation - Venezuela Unveils Shocking "Forced Labor" Law

by Tyler Durden
Jul 29, 2016

While we here in the United States debate pressing issues in the wake of the upcoming Presidential election, like the urgent need for gender-neutral bathrooms, the people of Venezuela remain entrenched in a food crisis that continues to sow widespread unrest which has become increasingly violent in recent months (see our post here). So what do you do if you�re the President of a Socialist government with mounting civil unrest and growing political opposition seeking your ouster via a recall referendum? Well you enslave your entire nation, of course.

As Vice News reports, President Nicol�s Maduro signed a new law last week that requires "all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how" to work in agricultural fields on demand. The new law mandates that citizens can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a period of 60 days which can be extended "if the circumstances require it."

While we�re �sure� President Maduro�s intentions are good, we�re somewhat skeptical of his plan. As we recently reported (here), the real issue at hand in Venezuela is, of course, the hyperinflation death spiral gripping the Socialist nation in the wake of the collapse of their oil-dependent economy. As Miguel P�rez Abad, minister of industry and business, recently told Reuters the decline in domestic production is being exacerbated by plummeting imports which are likely to fall by 60 percent this year, compared to 2015. As a local baker pointed out, "We cannot make more subsidized bread with the current cost of flour. We always end up losing, but we cannot afford to stop making bread either."

Per the FT, local merchants are being forced by an increasingly oppressive military to sell groceries at a loss to avoid civil unrest:

�They went into all the shops in the area, forcing us to sell at a loss,� says Daniel, not his real name, of the incident earlier this month. The army men demanded that Daniel sell his beef at 250 bol�vares (roughly $0.25 at black market rates) a kilo, even though he explained it cost 3,000 bol�vars to buy from his suppliers.



�They told me the beef belonged to the people and stayed seven hours as a huge queue formed outside.�

Not wanting to be outdone by his U.S. counterparts who masterfully utilize complicit media outlets to control news cycles at their will (see our recent post here), President Maduro has repeatedly taken to the airwaves to blame the food shortages in Venezuela on an "economic war" waged by right-wing businesses, and supported by US imperialism, who seek to bring down his Socialist regime. Just last month, Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency based on his fears that the U.S. was plotting a coup attempt. Per Vice News:

He alleges that business owners are sabotaging the economy in an effort to force him out. Maduro accuses them of wanting to bury the socialist legacy of his popular predecessor, President Hugo Ch�vez, who created a solid base of support among the poor thanks to oil-subsidized social programs and price-controlled food.

Meanwhile, Antonio Pestana, chief of Venezuela's farming association, indicated that Venezuela�s food crisis was a simple issue related to the underutilization of available ag land, telling reporters last month that only 25 percent of agricultural land is actually being farmed in Venezuela. While we don�t doubt Mr. Pestana�s figures, we�re not sure how enslaving a nation of people helps to alleviate Venezuela�s food crisis. Without the ability to import critically important irrigation equipment and fertilizer supplies, due to a useless currency, we�re not sure what use additional ag labor will be. We�ve heard that singing to plants can help improve yields, perhaps that is the plan?

Yeah well, if they want to eat then they should work, and rioting might be hard work, but it's not work.

President Maduro has doubled the minimum wage for Venezuela. At the official exchange rate (which no one will pay), that makes the minimum Venezuelan hourly wage and food bonus equal to $66.06.

Yeah, that should solve the problem. :rolleyes:

Onward and upward,
airforce

President Maduro has found a way to put an end to lines extending outside bakeries. He\'s going to ban lines that extend outside bakeries.

Yes, you read that right. He's going to fine bakeries that allow lines to extend outside their doors, because those lines induce "anxiety" among the people.

Um, no, El Presidente. It's the lack of bread that spreads anxiety among the people.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Well heck, why doesn't he just ban poverty and inflation?

Magical thinking seems to be a common thing with his type,

Is doomsday inevitable for Venezuela? At this point, I'd say yes.

As Robert A. Heinlein would say, this is what is known as "bad luck."

Onward and upward,
airforce

Is Venezuela seeking closer ties with Iran? It looks like it, but I'm personally not real concerned. If Iran wants to sink money into the black hole that is Venezuela, that's their business.

Onward and upward,
airforce

President Maduro is increasing the minimum wage by 50%. This is kind of like treating cancer with cigarettes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

50% increase in minimum wage... There, that aught to fix it their ailing economy....

Why are people protesting in Venezuela? According to Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, it\'s because of donations the government made to the trump campaign .

Seriously.

Um, no, Rachel. They're protesting because they don't have enough to eat. But you can bet they're dear leader, socialist Nicolas Maduro, isn't missing any meals.

See it for yourself here. You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Venezuela was once touted as an example of a progressive, prosperous South American country.

It's collapse should serve as a lesson to all.

Socialist death squads are propping up Maduro. That's not the headline for the New York Times story, of course. In fact, the words "socialism" or "socialists" never appear in it.

When we hear those antifa groups talk about arming themselves, maybe we should start paying attention.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The Venezuela opposition wants the military on their side. I'm not a big fan of military juntas, but anything would be better than what they have now.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Maduro says he and his cronies are like the Jews under Hitler. Um, no.

You can't make this stuff up.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Why the Left refuses to talk about Venezuela. A new article at the Mises Institute.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Very good link there...

The leftist always say that we can't compare soviet communism to "democratic socialism" because the soviet version was "authoritarian and undemocratic"...

But Venezuela is the perfect counter to their failed argument.

Socialism simply has not ever worked, nor can it ever work, due to the inherent flaw that it denies human nature and every law of economics.

Silly Americans mock Venezuela�s 99.5% currency collapse, thinking it can�t happen here

by: JD Heyes

(Natural News) Yet another real-life attempt at creating a successful Marxist government is going down in flames � this time in Venezuela � harming millions of people in the process even as the far-Left government of President Nicolas Maduro doubles, triples and quadruples down on the same failed fiscal policies.

To say that the country is an economic basket case is a gross understatement. Inflation can only be described as runaway; the country�s currency isn�t even worth the paper it is printed on; few can afford even basic foodstuffs and supplies and the government is broke. Store shelves are empty; there is fighting in the streets; the murder rate is soaring, and the army has to guard shipments of goods.

As reported by Zero Hedge, the anger has gotten so bad over conditions in what used to be South America�s economic behemoth, demonstrators are resorting to throwing �bombs� full of feces at government forces, as the currency (the bolivar) collapses again by 99.5 percent � 5,100 bolivars to every $1.

The monetary depreciation and inflation are so extreme that most peoples� savings have been obliterated. It�s all but impossible to buy imported goods � and domestic production of goods has also fallen dramatically.

Like all good socialists, Maduro � who is essentially a dictator � has arbitrarily raised the minimum wage something like 20 times during his tenure (much like Democrats in the U.S. want to do and have done). But because artificially raising wages without taking into consideration whether businesses can even afford to pay them is a recipe for fiscal disaster, they have done no good and still only amount to about $40 a month. In fact, raising the wages by dictate rather than allowing the free market to determine wages has only made things worse.

Hence the feces bombs, which, as El Pais reports, some have dubbed �Puputov cocktails� on social media. Fast becoming the �weapon� of choice to hurl at government forces, demonstrators launch them with giant slingshots called a �crapapult.�

You can�t make this stuff up.

And yet, they are part of the political reality in Venezuela today: Socialism taken to the extreme is directly responsible for the destruction of this once proud, once prosperous country.

�These kids live in a dictatorship, they have no other option but to protest however they see fit,� Maria Montilla, 49, staged behind the lines of a group of protestors, told El Pais.

�There�s nothing explosive here. It�s out way of saying, �Get lost Maduro, you�re useless!�� one protestor, who requested anonymity, added.

Miguel Torres, the one-time spy chief for Maduro�s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has broken with the current government. He sees major trouble ahead � even civil war � if nothing changes and the already massive protests spread even further to the poorer, generally pro-Chavez countryside.

�What is happening may be the starting point for a huge armed confrontation between Venezuelans,� he told Reuters. �Nobody wants that.�

Unfortunately, far too many Americans living in deep blue states and who were enamored with the presidential candidacy of socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would favor exactly the kind of government that is destroying Venezuela and has left other countries like Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and others in desperate poverty.

If that form of government ever takes hold, it would not only be an economic disaster for the world, since the U.S. dollar is the globe�s reserve currency, it would doom generations of Americans to the same hopelessness and endless cycles of poverty and desperation being seen now in Venezuela and other socialist governments.

Anyone who seriously believes that America�s currency would not undergo a catastrophic, deadly collapse under socialist government is no serious student of history. The evidence proving otherwise abounds.

Stay informed at Collapse.news and Rioting.news.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

The Death Cult of Collectivism. An old article, by Ludwig von Mises himself. It's not an easy read, nothing he wrote ever was, but the truth is not always easy.

Onward and upward,
airforce

As Venezuela Inches Toward Syria-Style War, U.S. Weapons Are Not the Answer

by Joseph M. Humire23 May 2017

For months the protests in Venezuela have been escalating and, last week, The Miami Herald revealed an audio recording suggesting that military snipers could be used against the Venezuelan protesters.

The implications of such an action would undoubtedly be an escalation of force in an already violent situation. Such lethal force by the military on Venezuelans could provoke the opposition to seek weapons and other arms to defend themselves.

Undoubtedly, they would turn to the U.S. for support. The Trump administration should not listen.

Anyone certain that they know what to do about Venezuela should be ignored. The situation on the ground is much more complex than a simple civil war between the regime and opposition elements. Wars are never that clean. What is brewing in Venezuela is a situation more like Syria, with various factions and extra-regional actors, far different than anything we�ve seen recently in Latin America. U.S. intervention without good intelligence would be counterproductive at best and could lead to a full-blown regional conflict.

Moreover, such a move would fall right into the military plans of the Venezuelan regime and their external allies.

An ongoing political-military buildup has been taking place in Venezuela over the last decade. While the country is short on food and medicine, there is an abundance of military armament courtesy of Iran, Russia, and China. This buildup culminated this January with a joint, multinational military exercise called Zamora 200, in which over a half million military members and civilian militiamen rehearsed Venezuela�s defense to invasion by a NATO force led by the United States and Colombia. Colombia began talks with NATO in late 2016 to potentially become a full member. The wargaming exercise conducted in Venezuela obviously had this in mind.

The Zamora 200 military exercise had three distinct phases, the last of which culminated in the breakout of a civil war. The Venezuelan regime wants the world to believe that Plan Zamora, which is the real-time execution of the military exercise, is a civil-military plan to quell the insecurity and instability in the country and prevent any so-called �coup d�etat.� In reality, Plan Zamora is likely designed to manufacture a coup, catalyze a civil war, and provoke the U.S. to intervene.

This is a tactic taken from Cuba�s counterintelligence playbook on disinformation and deception, planned and perfected for years throughout the Havana- and Caracas-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). In Bolivia, according to several independent reports, President Evo Morales allegedly concocted an autogolpe (self-coup) in 2009 by framing a fake terrorist plot that drew out his political opposition in Santa Cruz. A year later, in 2010, a similar event took place in Ecuador when then-president Rafael Correa shouted from the police headquarters in Quito to apparently try and provoke the police to fire their weapons at him.

The late Venezuelan caudillo and Maduro�s mentor, Hugo Ch�vez, was also accused of staging the 2002 coup d�etat to consolidate power and deflect blame to the U.S. for �intervening.�

Thus far, the Trump administration has been prudent, reverting to sanctions and strong rhetoric to stand up for human rights and protect U.S. national security interests. It seems President Maduro is not satisfied, telling President Trump to �get your pig hands out of here,� implying that U.S. intervention is already underway.

In reality, it is the Venezuelan regime that has already brought foreign intervention into Venezuela by calling on Cuba, Iran, and Russia to circumvent its sovereignty and provide lethal aid to its violent suppression and intimidation of the Venezuelan people. Just last month, both the Russian and Iranian defense ministers met with Venezuela�s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino L�pez, in Moscow to confirm they will send strong military and armed support to Venezuela.

What the Venezuelan regime and its extra-regional allies are looking for is a way to blame the Trump administration for what their policies have created in the country. A civil war is the only way the current regime and its allies can maintain power; however, the regime cannot simply go to war against its own people. They need a clear enemy and, if the Trump administration changes its policy to anything that can be portrayed as interventionist, it will make itself into the enemy that the Venezuelan regime and its allies crave.

Joseph M. Humire is the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), a DC-based, global think tank. And the co-editor of �Iran�s Strategic Penetration of Latin America� published by Lexington Books.

Venezuela's unbelievable currency collapse is getting worse

by Patrick Gillespie

Venezuela's currency is in free fall.

Violent protests are growing, the economy is spiraling further out of control and Venezuelans are suffering through shortages of food and medicine. And the bolivar, already worth next to nothing, keeps losing value.

At the beginning of the year, it took about 3,000 bolivars to buy one U.S. dollar. By Wednesday, it took almost 8,000. That's according to dolartoday.com, which tracks the unofficial exchange rate used by most Venezuelans because official rates are considered overvalued.

"I'd describe it as the result of a government that prints money like it's confetti," says Raul Gallegos, senior analyst at Control Risks, an international consulting firm. "The government has simply employed the wrong policies to stay in power."

Government corruption and mismanagement have triggered hyperinflation. Prices are set to rise a staggering 720% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The collapse of the economy and currency has driven shortages in food, medicine and basic products like toilet paper.

The country has been gripped by unrest as Venezuelans call for President Nicolas Maduro to step down or hold democratic elections. Since late March, 74 people have been killed and more than 1,400 injured in protests.

On Tuesday, the crisis escalated when a Venezuelan police officer and a team of accomplices stole a government helicopter and flew it over the Supreme Court, firing shots and lobbing grenades. The police officer demanded that Maduro resign.

Venezuelan lawmakers opposed to Maduro also clashed with national guard officers outside the National Assembly in a dispute involving an upcoming vote on constitutional changes.

Late Tuesday night, Venezuela's Supreme Court justices -- Maduro appointees -- stripped the attorney general of the power to investigate human rights abuses. They gave the power instead to an ombudsman friendly to Maduro.

Venezuela sits on the world's largest oil reserves and was once the wealthiest nation in South America. But since 1999 the government has focused only on selling oil to other countries and abandoned management of other natural resources and critical infrastructure.

Now Venezuela is running out of money. Its central bank only has $10 billion in reserves, which are intended to be a cushion to weather a crisis. In 2011, it had $30 billion.

--Lonzo Cook and Marilia Brocchetto contributed to this report.

Meanwhile In Venezuela, The Real Mad Max Emerges

Bikers chase, bomb sugar truck to steal payload

Zero Hedge - July 12, 2017



While Silicon Valley seems obsessed by �blood boys�, its another part of the world that appears to have gone full Mad Max. As the following clip shows a gang of bikers chase down and attack a truck (with molotov cocktails) to steal its sugar payload�

https://youtu.be/eOQfDMTlDjI

Not quite the �Guzzoline� or �Bullets� that Fury Road offers, but when all you have to eat is flamingoes or black stallions, sugar may be a good substitute worth risking your life over�

With each passing week, the situation in Venezuela keeps on getting worse.

Not quite the socialist utopia that Bernie Sanders longed for? Or more pointedly � this is exactly the dystopia one can expect from such policies of �redistribution� and central planning.

Battle Lines Are Being Drawn In Venezuela As The Socialist Nation Inches Toward Civil War

Venezuela is a powder keg, and it could blow at any time

Mac Slavo SHTFplan.com - July 25, 2017


You may recall this bizarre incident that occurred last month in Venezuela.

A rogue police officer by the name of Oscar Perez, who is also well known in Venezuela for starring in several B-rated action movies, commandeered a helicopter, before dropping grenades on the nation�s Supreme Court building and strafing the Interior Ministry with gunfire. It was without a doubt, the strangest moment to come out of that nation�s ongoing civil unrest.

But this brazen attack isn�t just odd. In fact, it may portend something much more serious that is simmering under the surface of Venezuela�s slow motion social collapse. It�s a sign that Venezuela is very close to erupting into a full-blown civil war.

Recently, a stolen police helicopter attacked the Venezuelan Supreme Court with grenades and automatic weapons. While no one was hurt, the incident should serve as a wake-up call for the entire Western Hemisphere, including the United States. The attack demonstrates a quantum escalation of the hunger-fueled conflict that has consumed the country for close to a year. Hunger is the key word. Hunger is the most basic of human suffering. Remember that rising food prices helped fuel the Arab Spring, which has left the world with a chaotic, fractured, refugee-hemorrhaging Middle East.

Obviously, the lack of food in Venezuela is a key factor in that nation�s unrest. Multiple studies have shown in the past that when food prices escalate to a certain point, riots and revolutions become very likely, even in cases where the population isn�t specifically revolting over the price of food. But in any case the lack of food, skyrocketing crime, rampant corruption, and flippant tyranny that are all fueling the unrest, and giving people like Oscar Perez lots of support in both high and low places.

Is Venezuela in danger of becoming another Syria? Maybe. The helicopter pilot, Oscar Perez, posted a bare-faced declaration online describing himself as representative of a group of �nationalists, patriots, and institutionalists.� The fact that he has been allowed to slip quietly back into the shadows illustrates how much of the population is willing to hide him. Even more distressing is the fact that his group even had access to a helicopter, a fact illustrating how much support they may have within Venezuela�s government institutions.

We can deduce from Perez�s attack that there are battle lines being drawn in Venezuela right now, and those lines run right through the middle of the civilian population, the military, the police, and the political class (and yes, that line does run through the middle of society, because there are still millions of people who support President Maduro).

And that�s what makes civil wars possible. They don�t usually occur in countries where millions of unarmed civilians hate the government, and the government is staffed by plenty of loyalists. These wars tend to happen in places where the soldiers and cops are also divided along partisan lines. That way, you have a lot of people armed to the teeth with the best weapons government tax dollars can buy, and those people become two separate armed camps with divergent views and political goals.

You can�t have a war unless there are two sides with a lot of firepower, and that�s what we see in Venezuela right now. That nation is a powder keg, and it could blow at any time.

Venezuelan authorities crush military rebellion -ruling official

Reuters Sunday, 6 August 2017

By Corina Pons and Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities have suppressed a military rebellion near the central city of Valencia, a ruling official said on Sunday, less than two days after President Nicolas Maduro formed a legislative superbody internationally condemned as a power grab.

Socialist Party deputy Diosdado Cabello made the announcement shortly after the release of a video showing a group of men in military uniform announcing a rebellion and calling for a broad uprising. But the rest of the country appeared to be calm, with the capital Caracas waking to a quiet Sunday morning.

One witness in the area of a military base in the town of Naguanagua reported hearing gunshots before dawn, but Cabello said the situation had been brought under control. Officials said the rebels, whom they described as "terrorists," were trying to steal weapons and that seven people were detained after the attack on the base.

The Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But government allies were quick to denounce the attack as a right-wing plot aimed at bringing down the "Bolivarian revolution" started nearly 20 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez and carried on by his protege Maduro.

"These attacks, planned by delirious minds in Miami, only strengthen the morale of our armed forces and the Bolivarian people," tweeted Socialist Party official Elias Jaua.

On Friday, government allies inaugurated a new legislative superbody that the Venezuelan opposition and leaders around the world denounced as a power grab by Maduro.

In Sunday's video, a man who identified himself as Juan Carlos Caguaripano, a former National Guard captain, said: "We demand the immediate formation of a transition government." He was flanked by about a dozen men in military uniforms.

"This is not a coup d'etat," he said. "This is a civic and military action to re-establish constitutional order. But more than that, it is to save the country from total destruction."

Local reporters published videos appearing to show dozens of Venezuelans near the base in Valencia taking to the streets to protest the government before being pushed back with tear gas. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the footage.

Six weeks ago a rogue policemen attacked key installations in Caracas by helicopter, failing to spark a larger movement.

ARMED FORCES IN SPOTLIGHT

Venezuelans view the armed forces as the key power broker in their country, and opposition leaders have repeatedly exhorted the military to break with Maduro.

But the top brass continues to publicly profess loyalty to his government. Critics say juicy government contracts, corruption, and contraband mean many military officials want Maduro to stay in office and fear persecution should the opposition take power.

Since April more than 120 people have been killed in unrest as rock-throwing protesters were met by state security forces firing rubber bullets and water cannon. (http://tmsnrt.rs/2ujuylf)

Maduro's new "constituent assembly" removed the chief prosecutor from her post over the weekend and ordered her to stand trial, confirming opposition fears that it would use its powers to root out critics of the government.

The prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, had become Maduro's main challenger from within the ruling socialist movement since the start of sustained opposition street protests four months ago.

Venezuelan authorities on Sunday accused the political opposition of being linked to the Valencia rebellion, raising the specter of a further crackdown on dissent in coming days.

Oil-rich but economically ailing Venezuela has a long history of instability. Maduro's mentor Chavez was a military officer who started his political career with a 1992 coup attempt, for which he served time in jail before winning the presidency six years later. Chavez died of cancer in 2013.

(Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Additional reporting by Girish Gupta, Deisy Buitrago and Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Louise Ireland and Lisa Shumaker)

If this doesn't convince people in America that prepping, resource self reliance, and forming mutual aid groups with like minded individuals is necessary, nothing will.I would really like to know if Venezuelans in the country have it as bad as those in the cities?

Venezuela on the brink. Jeff Deist interviews two Venezuelan libertarians, about 36 minutes.

Onward and upward,
airforce

GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces have systematically wielded excessive force to suppress protests, killing dozens, and have arbitrarily detained 5,000 people since April, including 1,000 still in custody, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.

It called on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to rein in security forces and investigate alleged abuses and release people from arbitrary detention.

On Friday, Venezuela inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast powers to Maduro's ruling Socialist Party, defying protests and worldwide condemnation that it undermines democratic freedoms.

"We are concerned that the situation in Venezuela is escalating and these patterns of human rights violations are showing no signs of abating," U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

The ousting of Attorney-General Luisa Ortega, an outspoken government critic, was a sign of an "increasing undermining of democratic institutions and of independent institutions", she said, calling on the government to ensure her safety.

On Tuesday, Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of opposition mayor Ramon Muchacho of the Caracas district of Chacao, the site of intense anti-government protests.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement: "These violations have occurred amid the breakdown of the rule of law in Venezuela, with constant attacks by the Government against the National Assembly and the Attorney-General�s Office.

"The responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies at the highest levels of Government.�

U.N. human rights officers were not allowed into Venezuela, but issued preliminary findings based on 135 interviews in Panama and from Geneva in June and July with victims, families, witnesses, doctors and lawyers. They also received information from the Venezuelan ombudsman's office.

Of 124 deaths investigated, they found at least 46 attributable to security forces and 27 to pro-government armed groups, with the rest unclear.

"Witnesses spoke of security forces firing tear gas and buckshot at anti-Government protestors without warning. Several of the individuals interviewed said tear gas canisters were used at short range, and marbles, buckshot and nuts and bolts were used as ammunition," Shamdasani said.

Ill-treatment and torture have been reported in detention, including beatings, use of electric shocks, hanging detainees by their wrists and "suffocation with gas", she said.

"Journalists have reportedly been shot at with tear gas canisters and buck shot and been detained, threatened and had their equipment taken on several occasions," she added.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

Venezuela used to be South America's breadbasket. Now, Venezuelans are forced to scavenge for food to feed their children .

The infuriating thing about Trump, is that sometimes he's right. When he said that Venezuela is an example of socialism enacted faithfully, he was spot on.

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Venezuela had one good thing going for it, its oil. And now the quality of the crude they\'re shipping to refiners is a problem. It's all because of the hoarders and wreckers, certainly.

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venezuela is issuing a new 100,000 Bolivar note. It's worth a whopping $2.42 for now, but not likely for long. One thing centrally planned economies are good at doing, is adding zeros onto their currencies.

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Venezuela has just defaulted on its debt. For people who thought the situation in Venezuela couldn't get any worse, they're about to find out otherwise.

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Before the wrath of "democratic socialism" (ala Bernie Sanders)... Venezuela was a food exporter. The Oranoco River valley has rich fertile soil, and with its low latitude location (right near the equator) they can grow two full season of many cereal grains and major crops. They also have regular tropical rains so little need for irrigation.

This happened in the old Soviet Union in the 1920s, in Eastern Europe in the 1950s, in Cuba and North Korea from the 1960s on, and in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) since the 1980s.

It never works, never will. It can't. Yet the democrats in our nation will still insist that these are not fair comparisons and that it just needs to be carried out properly...

Hyperinflation in Venezuela. Merchants are demanding payment in dollars, because the price in bolivars changes every hour.

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This is why monetary monopoly is bad. Currencies should compete like other goods/services.

Venezuela, with the highest proven oil reserves in the world, is out of gasoline.

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I want to know: When will the Venezuelan people wake up and overthrow their corrupt government?

Venezuela is in default on eight bond issues. And their oil industry is still deteriorating.

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Nicolas Maduro has a wonderful plan...nancial persecution" facing his country.

He's... going to eliminate three zeros from his nation's currency.

You can't make this stuff up.

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airforce

With it's oil industry collapsing, Venezuela now has to import oil . They're paying $80 or $90 a barrel for oil, and selling it at the pumps for $0.

This is like something out of Atlas Shrugged.

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airforce

Here's another socialist success. Venezuela is importing oil from the U.S. , paying $80 to $90 a barrel and selling it for $0.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Mounting economic chaos leaves many Venezuelans in the dark

SCOTT SMITH,Associated Press�May 4, 2018

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) � A month-long blackout in Jennifer Naranjo's neighborhood in the Venezuelan port city of Maracaibo leaves her anxious. She's eight months pregnant and passes hot, sleepless nights with no air conditioning, swatting away mosquitoes, worried about her unborn daughter's future.

"I dream about getting ahead for my baby," said Naranjo, whose husband left in January to find work in Chile. "In Venezuela, the situation gets worse every day."

Blackouts are nothing new under two decades of socialist rule in Venezuela. But they've grown more frequent, and are lasting longer, as the OPEC nation's economy hits a breaking point with hyperinflation making increasingly scarce food and medicine unaffordable for many.

Naranjo's La Chinita neighborhood has gone without power since late March, when a transformer exploded. Officials repeatedly promised the parts needed to repair it would arrive the next day. So far they haven't come.

The four-block area is a small symptom of a vastly more widespread problem that is generating unrest across much of Venezuela, including Maracaibo, a city of 1.5 million people that has long exported energy in the form of oil across the world.

Venezuela's government doesn't publish figures charting power outages, but the human rights organization Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict reports that blackouts prompted 325 street protests across Venezuela in the first three months of 2018.

Maracaibo witnessed the greatest number of protests, said organization director Marco Ponce, including one where residents blocked a busy street and a 15-year-old boy was shot dead by a passing motorist.

A massive blackout put most of Maracaibo in the dark for Christmas Eve, and since then officials have rationed power across the sprawling city. Scheduled blackouts eat up at least 11 hours a day, not counting unplanned failures.

With air conditioners idle and daytime April temperatures often nearing 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), families throw open their doors and windows to allow in any hint of a breeze � along with mosquitoes. Naranjo, 20, fears a bite could infect her and her daughter, Pamela, with the Zika virus, which has stricken about 70 of Maracaibo's infants with microcephaly, according to the local charity My Miracle Foundation, which supports children with the illness.

With failing light switches and wall plugs, residents also can't charge phones or run television sets, so they often pass time chatting with neighbors in the street. They have to cook and eat by candles, which are costly.

"We can't wait any longer," said homemaker Elsa de Suarez, 58, who says her lifeless refrigerator doesn't allow her to keep food from spoiling. "It's an emergency."

Venezuela's status as home to the world's largest fossil fuel reserves should have made it immune to an energy crisis. It also has the Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydro-electric projects and the cornerstone of an electrical grid once the envy of Latin America that has now fallen into disrepair.

Experts say only two or three of Maracaibo's 24 fuel-powered turbines still run after years of neglect, eking out just 10 percent of their previous output. Other power comes from the dilapidated national grid.

Maj. Gen. Luis Motta, Maduro's minister of electrical power, blamed a series of recent outages in Maracaibo on saboteurs attempting to undermine the government. They attacked power substations using Molotov cocktails, he said on state TV, without providing evidence. He didn't respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment.

However, experts say the power crisis is the government's own making. Powerful officials have been accused in U.S. court proceedings of looting investments earmarked for the electrical system and the country has kept home power bills among the cheapest in the world, around 1 cent a month, meaning the grid depends heavily on subsidies from a government with increasing financial problems.

The shortages are adding to the misery of a Venezuelan economic collapse on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s and as production in the oil industry � the largest consumer of power � has fallen to the lowest levels in decades.

Winston Cabas, president of the Association of Electrical Engineers of Venezuela, estimates that it would take an infusion of $50 billion over a decade to restore the country's electrical system, which he said is as precarious as Haiti's after the 2010 earthquake.

"The problem is not sabotage or terrorism," said Cabas. "The problem is corruption."

Venezuelans just want their lights on.

In downtown Maracaibo, more than 100 senior citizens recently grew frustrated standing in line for hours outside a bank waiting for the power to come so they could cash their monthly pension checks to buy food.

Across the bay, a group of fisherman mending shrimping nets paused when they heard the hum of their refrigerator die from another outage. They worried this was the one that would finally fry the refrigerator where they store their catches.

La Chinita residents show visitors the charred transformer box hanging on a pole. Then they roll up a sleeve to reveal fresh mosquito bites from the night before.

Many gather each evening on a corner in front of a mustard-colored flat-roofed home as dusk turns to dark. Bug repellent is too expensive, so one man burns a cardboard egg carton, which smolders slowly and helps keep the mosquitoes away.

A woman flips through the pages on a clipboard detailing the blackout's impact on La Chinita's 135 residents, including 29 young children and at least three bedridden elderly neighbors. She shows the record to officials urging their help.

Naranjo, pregnant, eats by the light of a shrinking candle stub. Unable to charge her phone at home, she can only talk to her husband in Chile once every three or four days. They often talk about her following him abroad.

For now, Naranjo remains fixated on finding money to deliver her baby in a good clinic and on buying her own mosquito net. She feels guilty asking relatives for too much help.

"Everything is so expensive," she says.

The candle flickers from a breeze and she stops eating to cup her hand behind the flame to shield it from blowing out and leaving her in the dark.

Nikki Haley says it\'s time for Maduro to go.

He won't go until there's nothing left to loot.

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Late-stage socialism,Venezuela edition. There is a wave under way to seize the assets of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, because "No one wants to be last in line."

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Nicolas Maduro has won another term as president of Venezuela. Not exactly a surprise.

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Could China save Venezuela?

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Killings by security forces rife in Venezuela, rule of law 'virtually absent': U.N.

Stephanie Nebehay


GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces suspected of killing hundreds of demonstrators and alleged criminals enjoy immunity from prosecution, indicating that the rule of law is “virtually absent” in the country, the United Nations said on Friday.

The U.N. human rights office called on the government to bring perpetrators to justice and said it was sending its report to the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation in February.

The U.N. report cited “credible, shocking” accounts of extrajudicial killings of young men during crime-fighting operations in poor neighbourhoods conducted without arrest warrants. Security forces would tamper with the scene so that there appeared to have been an exchange of fire, it said.

There was no immediate response from the government of President Nicolas Maduro to the report.

Critics say Maduro has used increasingly authoritarian tactics as the OPEC nation’s economy has spiralled deeper into recession and hyperinflation, fuelling discontent and prompting hundreds of thousands to emigrate in the past year.

About 125 people died in anti-government protests last year.

Security forces were allegedly responsible for killing at least 46 of them, U.N. rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing, adding: “Evidence has reportedly disappeared from case files.”

Maduro says the opposition protests were aimed at overthrowing him and accuses the United States of directing an “economic war” against Venezuela.

“The failure to hold security forces accountable for such serious human rights violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in Venezuela,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “The impunity must end.”

Zeid called on the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday to set up an international commission of inquiry into alleged violations in Venezuela — one of its 47 member states.

“The time has come for the Council to use its voice to speak out before this tragic downward spiral becomes irreversible,” Leila Swan of Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday.

The unpopular Maduro has cast the release of dozens of opposition members as a peace gesture following his re-election to a new six-year term last month, which was condemned by most Western nations as an undemocratic farce. His government denies the detainees are political prisoners.

Venezuela is suffering from an economic collapse that includes chronic shortages of food and medicine and annualised inflation around 25,000 percent. Maduro blames an “economic war” directed by the opposition and the United States — which has imposed new sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.

Under previous attorney-general Luisa Ortega Diaz, who fled Venezuela last year, 357 security officers were believed to be under investigation for crime-related killings, but there has been no public information since then, the report said.

Higher oil prices won't save Venezuela. Venezuela was one of the richest countries in South America - when oil was $18 a barrel. The price of oil is not what's wrong with Venezuela.



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Venezuela's inflation rate could reach ONE MILLION PERCENT by the end of the year. And that, folks, is hyper-inflation.

What does an inflation rate like that even mean? If you can buy a candy bar for a dollar now, ONE HOUR FROM NOW it will cost $2.15.

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Venezuela removes zeros from currency to slash inflation. Yes, you read that right. That should cure the 1,000,000% inflation in Venezuela.



Socialist countries eventually run out of everything except zeros. You can't make this stuff up.

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airforce

Venezuela just raised the minimum wage 3000%. Can you guess what happened?

Yep. Workers are getting fired.



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airforce

Venezuela’s Economic Collapse Was Enabled by its Central Bank

Venezuela was the fourth richest economy in the world in the 1950s!

By Mises.org Tuesday, January 22, 2019

One of the most remarkable aspects of the economic meltdown in Venezuela is just how far the country has fallen in terms of economic prosperity.

After all, Venezuela was the fourth richest economy in the world in the 1950s. The Venezuelan currency, “the bolivar” was one of Latin America’s strongest currencies during Venezuela’s peak from the 1950s to 1970s.

However, the economic meltdown in Venezuela has its origins, in part, in the founding of the Venezuelan central bank in 1939. This was followed by the nationalization of the oil industry in the 1970s by Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Perez, which was coupled with the central bank’s easy money policies. The final crisis has come with the socialist /communist measures of the past twenty years.

Rising oil prices in the 1970s brought wild speculation in Venezuela. State agencies and private enterprises continuously encouraged and engaged in massive amounts of loans in an unregulated, corrupt banking system , in the naïve belief that an everlasting boom could be sustained. The nations central bank helped fuel the fire.

Oil revenues had reached a peak during Carlos Andres Perez’ presidency, but despite the incredible amount of oil revenues, the national debt reached unprecedented levels. As oil prices eventually collapsed in the 1980s, the bubble burst and Venezuela suffered a banking crisis followed by a deep recession. Government’s use of easy-money policies from the supposedly “independent” central bank was in full swing, and the government used inflationary monetary policy to finance ever higher levels of government spending. This was the beginning of the end.


Eventually, debts began to go bad, and the banking crisis brought with it a currency crisis, as the Venezuelan bolívar suffered its first major devaluation, of nearly 100 percent, on the so called Black Friday of February 18, 1983. The Bolivar has never recovered to its pre-crisis levels and has suffered even larger devaluations since.

When everyone thought that the economic crisis couldn’t get any worse, then Venezuelan presidential candidate Hugo Chávez was able to capitalize on the economic instability plaguing the 90s and win the 1998 presidential elections. His presidency turned into a full-blown socialist/communist regime supporting an agenda of widespread nationalization of private industry. Chávez’s anti-growth policies brought Venezuela to its knees and ultimately destroyed the economy.

But none of this could have been possible without the central bank which enabled the regime to finance its own programs with endless waves of money printing.

This led to price inflation, which the regime than attempted to fight with prince controls. This had had some of the most devastating effects on the Venezuelan economy. According to a Johns Hopkins study by María Belén Wu:

In 2003, Chávez installed price controls for essential consumer products, which increased supply shortages from an average of 5 percent to 22.2 percent in 2013, the last record published by the central bank. Currently, in 2016, the shortage of products in the basic household consumption basket has quadrupled and stands at 41.3 percent.

The exponential increase in Venezuela’s monetary base as well as in official CPI inflation, had devastating effects on the economy and society as a whole. The continuous devaluation of the bolívar occurred with such speed and momentum that in January 2008 the government decided to create a new currency, the bolívar fuerte, by eliminating three zeros from the old currency. Obviously, this did not eliminate the core problem.

The last two decades have been marked by the Venezuelan government nationalization of the banks. As the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez nationalized the banks, he added that clients of the banks should not be alarmed: “To those who have their savings in the bank, don’t worry. You will be more than guaranteed in the hands of the Republic. You know the banking sector of Venezuela is one of the most solid in the world.”

According to Steve Hanke and Nicholas Krus in “Inflation by the Decades: 2000s” report, Venezuela stood at number 7 in the world inflation ranking for 2000-2009, with a cumulative inflation rate of 567.7 percent, and this period was only the beginning of the crisis. Hanke calculates the current hyperinflation in Venezuela is running at 48,760 percent at year as of December, 2018.

Today at least 70% of Venezuelans face starvation, food and medicine shortages and no health care. A humanitarian crisis is currently taking place in a country that once had one of the highest standards of living in the world, and this is a tragic example of how a once prosperous country with vast amounts of resources could become a failed state due to vast government mismanagement and corruption through its central banking system and through monetary policy.

President trump and other world lea...uaido as the new president of Venezuela. It's looking like a civil war is in the works.



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airforce

Nicolas Maduro has just given U.S. diplomatic personnel 72 hours to get out. Things seem to be coming to a head.

Onward and upward,
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