Venezuelan President Juan Guaido is fighting for what’s left of his country as citizens rummage through the garbage for scraps to eat and collect sewer water for their children.
Humanitarian aid is waiting at the border, but anyone who attempts to retrieve it is attacked by the military. Those who haven’t already fled the country are now rioting in the streets against Nicolas Maduro, an illegitimate dictator using all available resources to cling to power despite overwhelming opposition.
It’s what’s become the daily life in the once flourishing country, and it should serve as a loud and clear warning to folks in the United States pursuing similar government controls through the Green New Deal.
Guaido spoke with Fox Business Network’s Trish Regan on Monday, when he issued an invitation to self-professed socialist Democrats to visit Venezuela to get a closer look at their policies in action.
.@JGuaido invites far-left dems like #IlhanOmar and #AOC to come to Venezuela to see for themselves what #Socialism does to a country, watch: pic.twitter.com/5NthD2POQ5
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) March 12, 2019
“.@JGuaido invites far-left dems like #IlhanOmar and #AOC to come to Venezuela to see for themselves what #Socialism does to a country,” Regan posted to Twitter with a video of the interview.
“Surely, it’s about knowledge. It’s about a lack of information. So if you want to talk about the economy, we’re seeing 53 percent rates, thousands of percents in inflation, lack of basic products, medications and food,” Guaido said.
“If we look at the day to day suffering of the Venezuelan people, that’s not about numbers it’s about human beings. It’s about lives, people who are suffering right now who see their lives in danger and who cannot provide for themselves as human beings to sustain a society and the world,” he continued.
“And so regarding the crisis going on in Venezuela, I invite everyone to see what’s going on in Venezuela and macro economically the amount of displaced persons in our country and the drama it’s become, the day to day living of seeking out food and water or simply having power in our country,” Guaido said.
In #Venezuela, citizens run away from #socialism as fast as they can. pic.twitter.com/4yBugIVmiU
— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) March 9, 2019
Guaido is among millions of Venezuelans who blame the country’s demise on socialist policies implemented by former president Hugo Chavez and continued by Maduro, who allegedly won another term in office last year in what many viewed as a rigged election.
In February Guaido invoked provisions in the Constitution of Venezuela to take a public oath as the acting president to formally contest Maduro’s leadership, a move that’s since gained the support of 50 countries including the United States.
Yet despite overwhelming support in the U.S. and the dire conditions in Venezuela, some self-described socialists in Congress have refused to denounce Maduro. Even after the dictator ordered the country’s military to burn humanitarian aid trucks attempting to bring in supplies, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and others remain committed to the failed political ideology.
Starving Venezuelans take to the streets daily to find whatever they can from the garbage for their next meal. Under #socialism, the choice is clear: eat garbage, or starve. pic.twitter.com/s1COo6SI6D
— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) March 9, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez earlier this month described the situation in Venezuela as “absolutely a complex issue” and chided President Trump for recognizing Guaido as the country’s interim leader, The Daily Caller reports.
“I am very concerned about U.S. interventionism in Venezuela and I oppose it,” she said.
Sanders, meanwhile, recognizes that Maduro “clearly … has been very, very abusive” but has also refused to condemn the dictator.
“Well, he — I think it’s fair to say that the last election was undemocratic,” Sanders told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in a recent town hall. “But there are still democratic operations taking place in their country. The point is, what I am calling for right now is internationally supervised free elections.”
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