As Venezuela Collapses, Children Are Dying of Hunger

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/17/world/americas/venezuela-children-starving.html

Maduro regime is simply indefensible.

Has it started ripping babies from their incubators yet?

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At least here in the US, unlike Venezuela, we aren't living in a country where the government is cracking down on factual reporting of national medical statistics.... bCDC banned from using 'evidence-based' and 'science-based' in official documents: report

Well, NVM about that. It does sound pretty awful in Venezuela, though. I mean look at these numbers from the article:

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What kind of effed-up developed country has such high infant mortality rates?


Well, whatever's going on in Venezuela, it's totally not OUR fault, right?

US Congress passes bill to impose Venezuela sanctions   11 December 2014

Okay, so maybe that's didn't help. But surely, we're not actively making this worse, right?
White House imposes fresh sanctions on Venezuela 'dictatorship'  25 August 2017
Rubio warns that Venezuela’s tipping point is coming

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Okay, but, you know, it could always be worse! This is fundamentally a case of self-proclaimed Socialist (and de facto autocracy) mismanaging their country. It's not like being forced to starve their people for a bunch of deplorable bankers here in the US or something along those lines.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/-hunger-bonds-sink-into-default-adding-to-goldman-s-headache

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-bonds/venezuelas-pdvsa-pays-bond-default-jitters-ease-for-now-idUSKBN1CV39C

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-debt/venezuelas-pdvsa-begins-making-delayed-bond-interest-payments-idUSKBN1E91C6?il=0

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-debt/venezuela-default-more-likely-on-sovereign-bonds-than-pdvsas-bondholders-idUSKBN1E92UX

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Okay, so maybe, broadly speaking the US does bear some responsibility for this, but at least we're not profiting off this horror. Dozens of U.S. mutual funds and big banks, which invest on behalf of millions of Americans, own portions of the debt.


Well, crap. I guess we'd better start bombing Venezuela soon, before it becomes a hellhole like Yemen. Bomb for the sake of the starving children (and the banks)!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

We're talking about a government that, aside of turning into a blatant dictatorship with a body count, is simply corrupt and highly incompetent, leaving Venezuela with no freedom and no basic welfare for the people. This makes any attempt to defend Maduro and his thugs from the left... weird.

Oh, I've no real interest in defending them. But 'OMG The children!' in a piece that doesn't even mention how the Venezuelan government is choosing debt servicing (to the benefit of US-based vampire squid capitalists) over feeding their own public seems misleading and reminds me of Iraq War propaganda.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

We're talking about a government that, aside of turning into a blatant dictatorship with a body count, is simply corrupt and highly incompetent, leaving Venezuela with no freedom and no basic welfare for the people. This makes any attempt to defend Maduro and his thugs from the left... weird.

Oh, I've no real interest in defending them. But 'OMG The children!' in a piece that doesn't even mention how the Venezuelan government is choosing debt servicing (to the benefit of US-based vampire squid capitalists) over feeding their own public seems misleading and reminds me of Iraq War propaganda.

Stop digging.

Ty, but no. I'll stick my flag on this hill. Maduro (and before him, Chavez) led their coutry in a bleak direction, but we are not blameless in what's going on their now. And this piece reeks of propaganda. Just because it's about real suffering doesn't mean it isn't pushing an agenda, and a potentially nasty one at that. I hope I'm overreacting when I say I'm opposed to a US intervention in Venezula.