Empty shelves in Caracas. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian: Hunger eats away at Venezuela’s soul as its people struggle to survive
The Maduro regime denies its once oil-rich country is in crisis. But on the streets the desperation cannot be hidden
Hunger is gnawing at Venezuela, where a government that claims to rule for the poorest has left most of its 31 million people short of food, many desperately so. As night falls over Caracas, and most of the city’s residents lock their doors against its ever more violent streets, Adriana Velásquez gets ready for work, heading out into an uncertain darkness as she has done since hunger forced her into the only job she could find at 14.
She was introduced to her brothel madam by a friend more than two years ago after her mother, a single parent, was fired and the two ran out of food. “It was really hard, but we were going to bed without eating,” said the teenager, whose name has been changed to protect her.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I have a friend who did some reporting in Venezuela a few weeks ago. She has been around the world, but Venezuela will be a special case for her. As she told me .... she has never seen that many people that are truly desperate with their situation. But the ones who are suffering the most are the elderly, the children, the sick, and especially the poor. And the sad part of this crisis .... as she sees it .... is that the government is in complete denial of the situation, and they have shown zero interest to change.
Posts
