https://www.theguardian.com/comment...enezuela-the-impasse-continues-the-people-pay
"It is almost a week since 21 Venezuelans went missing when their boat sank en route to Trinidad and Tobago. They were part of a much greater outpouring of citizens; more than three million have left the country since 2015, as conditions there have become increasingly desperate under President Nicolás Maduro. As a new bout of turmoil hits Venezuela, with tear gas loosed on protesters in Caracas, the political drama quickly claimed any attention given to the case. But those lost souls should remind those watching from outside Venezuela that this is a human crisis above all...
There is no doubting the oppressive nature, the shocking incompetence and blatant kleptocracy of Mr Maduro’s rule. His government has tossed opponents into prison; brutally attacked demonstrators; and set up a new legislature to bypass the opposition-held national assembly. Dodgy elections for both that body and the presidency itself followed. Around nine in 10 Venezuelans are living in poverty and the country is enduring one of the longest runs of hyperinflation in history. Shortages of food and medicine are rife; diseases such as diphtheria are resurgent. US sanctions have only exacerbated this disastrous course. Venezuela cannot recover politically, socially or economically while Mr Maduro remains in charge. Even a tranche of Chavistas have abandoned the man Hugo Chávez picked as his successor.
But there is also no doubting that many in Venezuela are fearful of the right, and have vivid and painful memories of the US backing military seizures of power in Latin America – even if they recognise the hypocrisy of an authoritarian portraying himself as a second Salvador Allende..."
"It is almost a week since 21 Venezuelans went missing when their boat sank en route to Trinidad and Tobago. They were part of a much greater outpouring of citizens; more than three million have left the country since 2015, as conditions there have become increasingly desperate under President Nicolás Maduro. As a new bout of turmoil hits Venezuela, with tear gas loosed on protesters in Caracas, the political drama quickly claimed any attention given to the case. But those lost souls should remind those watching from outside Venezuela that this is a human crisis above all...
There is no doubting the oppressive nature, the shocking incompetence and blatant kleptocracy of Mr Maduro’s rule. His government has tossed opponents into prison; brutally attacked demonstrators; and set up a new legislature to bypass the opposition-held national assembly. Dodgy elections for both that body and the presidency itself followed. Around nine in 10 Venezuelans are living in poverty and the country is enduring one of the longest runs of hyperinflation in history. Shortages of food and medicine are rife; diseases such as diphtheria are resurgent. US sanctions have only exacerbated this disastrous course. Venezuela cannot recover politically, socially or economically while Mr Maduro remains in charge. Even a tranche of Chavistas have abandoned the man Hugo Chávez picked as his successor.
But there is also no doubting that many in Venezuela are fearful of the right, and have vivid and painful memories of the US backing military seizures of power in Latin America – even if they recognise the hypocrisy of an authoritarian portraying himself as a second Salvador Allende..."