We don’t have to go back that many years to find the progressives praising Venezuela as the path to follow – this is the bright new down of socialism. OK, it’s Bolivarian socialism, tinged with a but more anti-Yanqui rhetoric than normal, but still, it’s socialism and it’s great. Own Jones in the UK, David Sirota in the US, supey dupey system and we should all do the same.
At which point:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The United Nations is being urged to declare a full-scale humanitarian emergency in Venezuela in the light of the “utter collapse” of its health system and widespread food shortages. A major report by Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health details the scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Venezuela, once one of the richest countries in South America but now in the grip of a severe economic and social crisis. It says that health services have been in decline since 2012 – a year before current president Nicolas Maduro took office – but the crisis has accelerated since 2017. As the emergency has deepened – with supermarket shelves empty and hospitals unable to get hold of basic medical supplies – the president has refused offers of help from outside and protest within the country has grown. [/perfectpullquote]Well, yes, socialism and medicine, perhaps not that good a mixture. The report is here:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The combination of severe medicine and food shortages within Venezuela, together with the spread of disease across the country’s borders, amounts to a complex humanitarian emergency that requires a full-scale response by the United Nations secretary-general, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.[/perfectpullquote]Yep, the kiddies are dying because of the efficiency of that progressive led management of the economy:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The 71-page report, “Venezuela’s Humanitarian Emergency: Large-Scale UN Response Needed to Address Health and Food Crises,” documents increased numbers of maternal and infant deaths; the unchecked spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and diphtheria; and sharp increases in the transmission of infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis in Venezuela.[/perfectpullquote]After we’ve airdropped in whatever aid is needed to help our fellow humans let’s use this as a teaching moment. Socialism and health care don’t mix perhaps?
But it’s the wrong sort of Socialism! We just have to try again, without outside interference from people trying to force it to fail.
And this on top of the continuing power blackouts they’ve had since the start of last month, which are, of course, due to the sabotage efforts of the Juan Guaido-US sabotage conspiracy (the wreckers!) and nothing to do the invisible investment that has occurred in the national grid since it was nationalised by the sainted Hugo Chavez 10 years ago (a move much feted by the usual suspects in UK and US politics and media).