Can Venezuela Be Saved?

Reynaldo Trombetta, The Guardian: Venezuela needs Nicolás Maduro’s allies to make him see reason

In Venezuela, newborn babies are dying at obscene rates. In the first three months of 2016, more than 200 died in hospitals in Caracas, Cumaná and San Cristóbal. Doctors and parents blame power outages, damaged incubators and shortages of medicines. Many Venezuelans, myself included, also blame the government of Nicolás Maduro.

In the last three years, the “heir” of Hugo Chávez has led the country into a maelstrom of anarchy and annihilation that one would expect only of a nation devastated by war. Statistics for homicides, impunity, repression, political persecution, censorship, inflation, devaluation, business closures and expropriations, unemployment and migration – already terrifying during the Chávez era – have gone through the roof.

Maduro and his allies are not blind; they probably realise that they are not capable of running the country. That’s not to say that that was ever a concern for them. Like their patriarch Chávez, they seem to be more interested in encouraging conflict and facing off with enemies, real or imaginary, than in the tedious and complex job of actually managing a government. But they can’t and won’t admit defeat.

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Update: 'We are like a bomb': food riots show Venezuela crisis has gone beyond politics (Sibylla Brodzinsky, Venezuela)

WNU Editor: The collapse of Venezuela reminds me of the collapse of the Weimer Republic of Germany in the 1930s. The trains ran on time, people walked about freely, buildings were left standing .... but the destruction of the economy and the obliteration of its currency produced millions of angry and bewildered victims who then looked for a savoir in the form of Adolf Hitler. The same for the Soviet Union .... no Adolf Hitler came about (thank God), but when the economy collapsed the Soviet Union then disintegrated .... followed by a period of extreme suffering that lasted for years.  As for Venezuela, its collapse is even more telling because it sits on one of the largest reserves of oil in the world .... reserves that are literally worth multi-trillions of dollars. And while commentator Reynaldo Trombetta likes to believe that maybe Venezuela's neighbours can play a role in stabilizing Venezuela .... I am not that optimistic .... and the reason why is simple. The country is bankrupt with all the social and economic problems associated with such a collapse, but to the ones who run it .... it has (and still is) incredibly profitable and they are not going to give it up .... $350 Billion Lost to Corruption in Venezuela: Expert (Oximity)