Wednesday, June 13, 2018

At what point do we say ‘failed state’?

Image result for venezuela map images
Venezuela is a story that gets worse every day.  Polio is the latest example:
A case of polio has been reported in Venezuela for the first time in nearly 30 years, according to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
An unnamed child, with no history of vaccinations, from the poverty-ridden Delta Amacuro state has been diagnosed with the condition.
According to Dr Jose Felix Oletta, a former Minister of Health in the South American nation, the last case of polio in Venezuela was reported in 1989. 
This is sad and makes me angry. 
Why is this happening?  The answer is that Chávez’s Venezuela is failing across the board.
Yesterday, I spoke with a Venezuelan friend in Miami who explained it this way: chronic medicine shortages and hyperinflation in Venezuela mean that getting medicine is impossible.  He confirmed that pharmacies do not have medicine on their shelves.
In other words, a nation of 30 million people has failed so miserably that people cannot buy the most basic medical supplies.
As expected, the Maduro regime is blaming the U.S.  What else do you do when you are a leftist dictator?  My sense is that Trump-bashing is not working because things are so bad that blaming outsiders goes in one ear and out the other.
Last, but not least, this latest outbreak of polio cannot be good news for Colombia or Brazil, a couple of countries getting a daily dosage of refugees escaping the Maduro regime.
Hello, socialism!
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