Guest MattP Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 http://news.sky.com/story/1702016/venezuelan-patients-dying-amid-lack-of-medicine Surprised we haven't had a thread on this, Pretty harrowing scenes on the report I've just watched on Sky News, the country is on the brink of collapsing. Patients are dying because they have ran out of medicine, parts of the country are totally lawless, people are queuing for hours for a tub of mayonaiise and thousands of businesses have shut down over night. More than $350 billion has been stolen from the people by the Chavez government. A very good read from Reynaldo Trombetta in the Guardian who explains the situation. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/19/venezuela-nicolas-maduro-hugo-chavez-chaos
kingcarr21 Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 My wife is Venezuelan so this is a sad time in our family. My father in law could see that the country was going to ruin back in the 90s so got his family out of there and moved here in Leicester. Since we have been a couple the father in law has gone back to Venezuela a couple of times to sell there house. He used to work for DHL and their house was the size of a 5 bed house here. few years ago Chavez decided that any houses that were not occupied were to be taken by the government and used to house the homeless so my father in law flew back and ended up selling his house for approx. a sixth of the price. Devastated wasn't the word as obviously their nest egg had been ripped away from them. Every election that would come around we would be sat there early hours waiting for the result in the hope that Chavez would finally be removed. Rumours of Rigged votes made sure that didn't happen. He died couple of years ago but even that didn't change anything as his right hand man took over and has made things worse. Loads of family (who I have never met face to face) are still out there and are struggling. For such a rich country the people are incredibly poor. Each year that goes by my wife hears about a childhood friend that has passed away or gone in prison etc. Was only a couple of years ago an ex boyfriend of hers was shot and killed at the airport at point blank range in broad daylight just for his jewellery. Things are that desperate people just aren't bothered about what they do and the consequences. The police are corrupt as well. I don't know how Venezuela will recover from this. I have always told my kids to be proud of their heritage but I daren't show my eldest the turmoil that is happening over there. I would have loved to have been able to go over there for holidays and to meet relatives. We got married in the Dominican and was very tempted to go Venezuela for a couple of days to visit. Father in law wouldn't allow it. If I went over there (white tourist are first targets for thieves) I would most certainly not make it out of the airport and obviously couldn't take our kids there. Such a sorry state of affairs considering the country itself (from photos my in laws have showed me) has some absolutely beautiful areas. The mountains and Angel Falls look absolutely stunning. Here's hoping we will be able to go there and see them with my own eyes in the future.
foxy boxing Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 still they do have the world's highest waterfall(that should count for something)
leicsmac Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Horrific stuff. The system of governance has clearly failed there, Too much corruption, backed by the oil money (I would guess) and too many people at the top drunk with power, and keeping the money right there. @@kingcarr21 As you probably know more about what's going on than I, do you hold out much hope of any meaningful change in the near future?
kingcarr21 Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Horrific stuff. The system of governance has clearly failed there, Too much corruption, backed by the oil money (I would guess) and too many people at the top drunk with power, and keeping the money right there. @@kingcarr21 As you probably know more about what's going on than I, do you hold out much hope of any meaningful change in the near future? The damage was done a long time ago and its been in a steady decline for years. The past year it has escalated to a point where the change required is so drastic i'm not sure it can ever return to a state of normality. Im no expert on the matter. Just my observations from what my in laws have told me. I will be speaking to my father in law later. See what he thinks will happen and I will post on here his thoughts.
Rincewind Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 I very much doubt it. He has stated many times he is against corrupt governments and politicians that put self interest before the interest of the people.
Captain... Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Shocking to read, not seen much coverage over here, I guess everything is focussed on IS and EU referendum, is it time for South America to form an SAU based on the successful EU model to stop this kind of thing happening again... That was a slightly tongue in cheek, but as a continent of countries with similar cultures and beliefs is there any sort of co-operative body that would allow the stronger countries to help Venezuela. It seems that South American countries are very isolated and take it in turns to go through crisis. It seems crazy that a continent that has such abundance of natural resources that they swing between crisis, revolution, corruption and back to crisis so freely.
Guest MattP Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 I very much doubt it. He has stated many times he is against corrupt governments and politicians that put self interest before the interest of the people. Let's not turn another thread into Corbyn but his support for this government is not in doubt, he's made speeches supporting them and generally blames anything that goes wrong on the USA. ( http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/British-MP-Jeremy-Corbyn-Speaks-Out-For-Venezuela-20150605-0033.html ) Thanks for that post King Carr, that sounds absolutely horrific for your family, I've read things about the Chavez government over time and you often do wonder whether it's just our media trying to put across an argument that suits the West, it's always refreshing to hear it from the horses's mouth.
kingcarr21 Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Let's not turn another thread into Corbyn but his support for this government is not in doubt, he's made speeches supporting them and generally blames anything that goes wrong on the USA. ( http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/British-MP-Jeremy-Corbyn-Speaks-Out-For-Venezuela-20150605-0033.html ) Thanks for that post King Carr, that sounds absolutely horrific for your family, I've read things about the Chavez government over time and you often do wonder whether it's just our media trying to put across an argument that suits the West, it's always refreshing to hear it from the horses's mouth. I remember watching a documentary about the state of Venezuelan prisons. You see our prisons over here and they look like 5 star hotels compared to over there, yet knowing this the people still commit atrocities in front of everyone just because they have to to survive. That was before it escalated to what it is now so I dread to think what it must be like to be a civilian there. Really makes you open your eyes. We complain about potholes on our roads and the NHS etc. People here have no idea how lucky they are (myself included)
MPH Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Kingcarr, do you think any of the current problems have anything to do with their economy being heavily reliant on Oil sales and the drastic drop in global oil prices the last couple of years?
kingcarr21 Posted 26 May 2016 Posted 26 May 2016 Kingcarr, do you think any of the current problems have anything to do with their economy being heavily reliant on Oil sales and the drastic drop in global oil prices the last couple of years? The drop in oil prices would have had an effect on the problems most certainly. Probably the reason why the decline has escalated so rapidly in such a short space of time. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/05/25/venezuela-is-running-on-empty/ This is an interesting read. The opposition government stepped in in December to try and halt the decline but have failed. Supermarkets are having to fill the shelves with anything they can find but eventually there will be nothing left. The price of a happy meal is now so big nobody is eating at mcdonalds. Unfortunately for years the government have been lining their own pockets without a care in the world for the future of Venezuela. Something has got to give. Not quite sure what that will be though. The comments at the bottom of that article is quite sad to read
kingcarr21 Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Spoke to my father in law last night. He has no idea how this will be resolved. The opposition government are trying to arrange for a referendum to get them into power. They have a certain length of time to do this before it becomes impossible by law for them to arrange a referendum. They have X amount of Working days to get it set up so they have officially made the working week go from 5 days to 2 days to give them more time to set up the referendum. I don't know what the legalities are for reducing the working week but that's mental. Also the father in laws nephew has been traumatised recently. His uncle died few weeks ago and somebody was needed to go and identify the body. Its got so bad that when he went to identify the body he had to do it whilst seeing his uncles body naked, ripped open with all his insides on show (from the autopsy). Nobody was there to clean the body, the stench was horrific and there were dead bodies everywhere. No order at all. Now the nephew has practically lost his mind. Wouldn't wish that view on anyone. There are a lot of big wigs with a lot to answer for.
SMX11 Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Socialism at its best. Didn't Corbyn praise said regime not so long ago?
leicsmac Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Socialism at its best. Didn't Corbyn praise said regime not so long ago? And there's the inevitable ad hominem. Amazed it took this long.
Rincewind Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Do people really think Corbyn would praise a regime like that? The mind boggles. Sounds more like a dictatorship. The ones at the top fiddling and taking money off the poorest to feather their own nests.. I believe Corbyn would not be in favour of that if it happened in this country. Corbyn may have his faults but being uncompassionate is not one of them.
SMX11 Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Pretty sure it was before most of these troubles come to a head. Also I was referring to the economic policies and not the obvious democratic shortcomings.
Rincewind Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Pretty sure it was before most of these troubles come to a head. I believe Cameron supported the Romans throwing people to lions. Although it was before they built the arenas.
SMX11 Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 I believe Cameron supported the Romans throwing people to lions. Although it was before they built the arenas. I think you have mistaken me for a Conservative supporter.
Guest MattP Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Do people really think Corbyn would praise a regime like that? The mind boggles. Sounds more like a dictatorship. The ones at the top fiddling and taking money off the poorest to feather their own nests.. I believe Corbyn would not be in favour of that if it happened in this country. Corbyn may have his faults but being uncompassionate is not one of them. Yes, there is a video of him here doing it. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/British-MP-Jeremy-Corbyn-Speaks-Out-For-Venezuela-20150605-0033.html Unles the mainstream media have superimposed him onto it and hired an impressionist to says the words while usuing technology to make his mouth move.
Rincewind Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 I think you have mistaken me for a Conservative supporter. Sorry. Did not mean to insult you.I misunderstood your meaning. I just could not see how it is relevant or was mentioned that Corbyn supported a regime before it was infiltrated by corrupt politicians. I would imagine the country has changed a lot since he did show support. USA supported Iraq before 9/11, it does not mean they were in favour of Iraq's actions.
Guest MattP Posted 27 May 2016 Posted 27 May 2016 Sorry. Did not mean to insult you. I just could not see how it is relevant or was mentioned that Corbyn supported a regime before it was infiltrated by corrupt politicians. USA supported Iraq before 9/11, it does not mean they were in favour of Iraq's actions. Corbyn was and still is as as far as I am aware a supporter of Chavez. They have stolen around 350billion from the country.
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