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A couple walks by graffitis reading "We Are Hungry" and "Maduro Dictator" in Caracas on August 8, 2017.
Recent demonstrations in Venezuela have stemmed from anger over the installation of an all-powerful Constituent Assembly that many see as a power grab by the unpopular President Nicolas Maduro. The dire economic situation also has stirred deep bitterness as people struggle with skyrocketing inflation and shortages of food and medicine.
(Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)
Venezuela authorities investigating numerous animal thefts from the Zulia Metropolitan Zoological Park in Maracaibo, Venezuela, suspect that the stolen zoo animals are being sold as food. “What we presume is that they [were taken] with the intention of eating them,” said Luis Morales of the National Police.
Reuters reports that at least ten species of animals including a buffalo, two wild boar-like collared peccaries, and two South American tapirs have gone missing from the zoo in the last two months. Zoo head Leonardo Nunez believes the buffalo was dismembered and cut into pieces before it was taken off-site, and according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the tapirs are vulnerable to extinction.
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Theft is not the only issue.</span></p><p>Zoos across Venezuela have lacked sufficient food supplies to feed their own animals, resorting to diets of chopped pumpkin and other scraps. Last year at the Caricuao Zoo in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, 50 animals <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-zoo-2017-story.html">died from starvation and malnutrition</a> as vultures circled above. The Los Angeles Times reported in July that a mountain lion and an American buffalo are among this year's casualties.</p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p>Ruperta, an emaciated elephant and once prominent attraction at the 40-year old Caricuao Zoo, now awaits a similar fate. “She’s been here ever since the zoo opened. It’s not right that she is dying of starvation,” <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-zoo-2017-story.html">said</a> Maribel Garcia of the Caricuao Ecological Network, a volunteer support group claiming to have been ignored by the Maduro appointed zoo administration.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzODkwNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTgyOTM1OH0.JnSHgWzJ5PMoSK4bca05prIUziFpYpVYktaVoRrAB1g/img.jpg?width=980" id="6a562" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2a09cc3a9d61c5e2d3e02954f5c133e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Tapirs at Venezuela’s Zulia’s Metropolitan Zoological Park in Maracaibo. Photo by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/thieves-stealing-venezuela-zoo-animals-to-eat-them-say-police#img-1">STRINGER/Reuters</a></small></p><h3><b>Ghost Zoos</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Because of the thefts and the deaths, the animal population at the Caricuao Zoo has </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-zoo-2017-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">dropped</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from 700 in 2006 to less than 150. Last year, it was confirmed that a black stallion was butchered for meat, and this year a prized leopard disappeared. Other </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-zoo-2017-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">stolen</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> zoo animals include peacocks, mandarin ducks, goats and wild pigs. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite reports and personal accounts, the government </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-animals-idUSKCN1AW2NN"><span style="font-weight: 400;">denies</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the animals are starving or being slaughtered for consumption. According to Reuters, a government official told Venezuelan reporter Isaac Urrutia that the animals are treated “like family.” In which case, it does not seem the government thinks much of family.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like Zulia, the Caricuao Zoo is for all practical purpose abandoned. It has become a no man’s land, due to lack of management, staff and security. Local resident Carlos Avila speaks to its </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-zoo-2017-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">deteriorating conditions</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">:</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In my youth this was my favorite place in Caracas. There were exotic animals like ostriches, rhinoceros, lions, bison. Now people don’t come. It’s turned into a ghost zoo.”</span></p><p></p><h3><b>Venezuela Is Starving</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela’s zoo problems are a microcosm of greater issues affecting a country caught in the chaos of social and economic destabilization, whose people — like the animals — are also starving.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once the </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/26/news/economy/venezuela-economic-crisis/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">richest country in Latin America</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Venezuela is now the poorest. It is essentially broken, due to the spiraling collapse of an oil-driven economy that has been devastated by government abuse and mismanagement. Despite being </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">one of the top oil producers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and purportedly having </span><a href="http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/330.htm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the largest oil reserves</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the world—a </span><a href="http://blogs.platts.com/2017/07/10/venezuela-oil-reserves-kick-reverse/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">widely-accepted belief</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that has now come into question—</span><a href="https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21718572-how-steal-country-will-venezuelas-dictatorship-survive"><span style="font-weight: 400;">82% of households now live in poverty</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A recent joint study conducted by universities and Venezuelan nonprofit groups found that last year alone </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-weight-loss-average-19lb-pounds-food-shortages-economic-crisis-a7595081.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">75% of the country’s population</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> lost an average 19 pounds per person. The vast majority of the people are eating two or fewer meals a day, if they are eating at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuelans are starving, because </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/26/news/economy/venezuela-economic-crisis/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">there is no food left</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-venezuela-diary/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Photos of grocery stores with empty shelves</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> look like scenes from the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Walking Dead</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, children suffer from </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/06/01/venezuelas-hunger-crisis-is-for-real/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">acute malnourishment</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and due to the </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/06/01/venezuelas-hunger-crisis-is-for-real/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">severe food shortages</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> brought on by the socio-economic collapse, </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-animals-idUSKCN1AW2NN"><span style="font-weight: 400;">millions have turned to alternative food sources</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. This includes raiding the trash and dumpsters, and even stealing and slaughtering exhibit animals in captivity. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Susana Raffalli, head of the Catholic charity </span><a href="http://www.caritas.org/2017/05/children-face-hunger-crisis-in-venezuela-as-malnutrition-soars/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Caritas</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, says her home country of Venezuela is well past the threshold when humanitarians such as herself would declare a food crisis. She compares the emergency adaptation strategies of families in Venezuela to those she’s seen in </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/06/01/venezuelas-hunger-crisis-is-for-real/?utm_term=.86de44d5754e"><span style="font-weight: 400;">war-torn countries</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“People come here and see all these highways and skyscrapers and they just can’t believe there could be a hunger crisis here,” </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/06/01/venezuelas-hunger-crisis-is-for-real/?utm_term=.86de44d5754e"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Raffalli. </span></p><h3><b>The Venezuela Crisis</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela is a </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/19/there-has-never-been-a-country-that-should-have-been-so-rich-but-ended-up-this-poor/?utm_term=.c0985e137622"><span style="font-weight: 400;">failed state</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The country is down to its </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/17/news/economy/venezuela-reserves-20-year-low/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">last $10 billion in reserves</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (less than what Americans spent on bottled water in 2012), and the International Monetary Fund listed Venezuela as having the </span><a href="http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2016/01/weodata/index.aspx"><span style="font-weight: 400;">worst economic growth and inflation in the world</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/26/news/economy/venezuela-economic-crisis/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hospitals are overcrowded</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and running out of </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/americas/venezuela-crisis-explained/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">medical supplies</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, while </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/americas/venezuela-crisis-explained/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">malaria</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and other once eradicated diseases are making a comeback. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The currency’s </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/28/news/economy/venezuela-cash-crisis/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">exponentially out-of-control inflation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has made any remaining food too expensive to afford, </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/americas/venezuela-blackouts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">rolling blackouts and water shortages</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> are the norm, and unemployment is rising. Last year </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-venezuela-says-murders-soared-to-60-per-day-in-2016-2017-3"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the murder rate soared</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to 60 per day, making Venezuela one of the most violent countries in the world. CNN estimates that </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/30/americas/venezuela-on-edge-vote/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">more than a hundred Venezuelans have died</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> since April while protesting the government. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela is not suffering from just food shortage or an economic crisis, but a humanitarian catastrophe.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/03/how-nicolas-maduro-went-from-a-bus-driver-to-venezuelan-president/?utm_term=.47a11dbf80ec"><span style="font-weight: 400;">former bus driver</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> now waging an ongoing international economic war inherited from his predecessor Hugo Chavez, </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-animals-idUSKCN1AW2NN"><span style="font-weight: 400;">blames the food shortages on the opposition protests as well as his political adversaries</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, including the United States. While his supporters </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis"><span style="font-weight: 400;">blame plummeting oil prices</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and abandonment by </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-gm-20170424-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">foreign multinational companies</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, others say that the effects of Venezuela’s societal collapse are symptoms of corrupt governing by Chavez and Maduro, and their </span><a href="http://www.pgwglobal.com/venezuelan-crisis/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">legacy of economic malpractice</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The answer to the question of how Venezuela has arrived at this point is complicated, and it begins with the birth of their nation.</span></p><p></p><h3><b>A Brief History of Venezuela</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roughly two times the size of California, Venezuela is </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">located</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> along the northern coast of South America, south of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and shares borders with Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, and the Caribbean Sea.</span></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzODkwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDk1ODk3N30.SkrCZDfbudiWn0xvkZzArFkBvI-eufzkV7YjpJeZ3No/img.jpg?width=980" id="53b0e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="03573b9ccb64fae46835bad9b19d0d98" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Venezuela in northern South America. Image by TUBS/Wikimedia Commons</small></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After declaring independence from Spain in 1811 and becoming a separate republic in 1830, Venezuela was </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">plagued</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by political instability, coups, dictatorships, and military rule until the democratic election of President Romulo Betancourt in 1958. Even with Betancourt’s moderate democratic reforms, the country continued to </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela/The-Andinos#toc32707"><span style="font-weight: 400;">struggle</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with political unrest and economic uncertainty. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela experienced </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela"><span style="font-weight: 400;">prosperity in the 1970s</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as a result of the Arab oil embargo, which caused oil prices to rise rapidly. The country’s naturalized oil industry boomed. But a </span><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/09/201292121430533264.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">returning drop in oil prices</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the early 1980s forced significant spending cuts upon the government. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">After corruption charges led to the </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">impeachment of President Perez</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in 1993, Hugo Chavez, a former military officer previously </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis"><span style="font-weight: 400;">imprisoned for a failed coup</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, ran for office. He rode a populist platform with great success and was elected president in 1998.</span></p><h3><b>Government Malpractice </b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One explanation for Venezuela’s economic collapse is </span><a href="http://www.pgwglobal.com/venezuelan-crisis/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">years of poor management</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and governing. Venezuela was officially renamed the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in 1999 by then newly-elected President Hugo Chavez. He </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">instituted a new constitution</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that extended his powers, the length of his term, and his ability to be re-elected. This marked the beginning of the political Bolivarian Revolution. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During his multiple-term presidency, Chavez </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-nationalizations-idUSBRE89701X20121008"><span style="font-weight: 400;">expropriated millions of acres</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, forced the </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/05/07/how-venezuela-ruined-its-oil-industry/#5e0b01627399"><span style="font-weight: 400;">renegotiation of contracts</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with international oil companies during an oil price high, and </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2010/10/expropriations_venezuela"><span style="font-weight: 400;">nationalized</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> hundreds of private businesses and foreign-owned assets, bringing all of it under the ownership of the government. While many Venezuelans saw this as a rightful reclaiming of their property from invading foreign entities, others saw these actions as an abuse of economic and political power. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some of the assets reclaimed </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis"><span style="font-weight: 400;">were taken</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from ExxonMobil, which led to a lengthly legal dispute between the multinational American oil and gas corporation and the Venezuelan government. ExxonMobil lost its nationalization case in 2012, and was awarded </span><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/201215194512924679.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">only 10 percent</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of its claim over what it considered the planet’s largest oil deposit. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The government further destabilized following the </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/05/world/americas/venezuela-chavez-main/index.html?iref=allsearch"><span style="font-weight: 400;">death of Chavez and the subsequent succession of Vice President Nicolas Maduro</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in 2013. Over the past few years Maduro’s administration has printed additional currency to combat dropping oil prices, which has only led to </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/18/news/economy/venezuela-economy-meltdown/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">massive inflation and plummeting currency rates</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In March of this year he attempted to </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/americas/venezuela-dissolves-national-assembly/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">dissolve the National Assembly</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (Venezuela’s congressional body). In July, a </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/08/01/venezuelas-dubious-new-constituent-assembly-explained/?utm_term=.72c57b7a5af0"><span style="font-weight: 400;">controversial election</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> paved the way for Maduro to rewrite the constitution and redefine his executive powers, much like his predecessor.</span></p><p></p><h3><b>A Failing Oil Economy</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela has also suffered in the past decade from its </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/venezuelas-oil-dependency/2014/09/03/3b7a2d80-33ab-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02_graphic.html?utm_term=.20d53b97ba6"><span style="font-weight: 400;">crippling oil dependency</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), oil accounts for </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis"><span style="font-weight: 400;">95 percent of Venezuela’s export earnings</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and 25 percent of its gross domestic product. So if the oil industry fails in Venezuela, the entire country fails, which is exactly what happened. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2002 and 2003, a </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/05/07/how-venezuela-ruined-its-oil-industry/#5e0b01627399"><span style="font-weight: 400;">general strike in Venezuela</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> resulted in Chavez firing nearly 20,000 employees of the state’s oil company. He replaced them with those loyal to him, though lacking in experience. This oil purge proved to be a </span><a href="http://www.pgwglobal.com/venezuelan-crisis/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">fatal economic mistake</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Oil is </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/05/07/how-venezuela-ruined-its-oil-industry/#5e0b01627399"><span style="font-weight: 400;">challenging and expensive to produce</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, requiring billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure and technology. The combination of inexperienced labor with both a drastic drop in oil prices in 2008 and another decline since 2014 has led to billions of dollars in losses, and is key to what is happening in Venezuela’s economy today. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another reason for Venezuela’s weakening presence in the international oil industry also stems from Chavez’s oil purge. Experienced workers and production leaders migrated to neighboring countries, and this in turn contributed to </span><a href="http://www.pgwglobal.com/venezuelan-crisis/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Colombia's oil production renaissance</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> beginning in 2003. </span></p><h3><b>Tense International Relations and Opposition</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Venezuela and the United States have had a </span><a href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35766.htm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">tense relationship and history</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. An ultimately failed coup against Chavez in 2002 </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela"><span style="font-weight: 400;">had close connections with senior officials</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> within the U.S. government. These same persons of interest had links to guerilla death squads operating in Central America in the 1980s. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is not a far stretch to say that the U.S. government has interest in governmental change in Venezuela, perhaps influenced by private interests seeking to gain from the country’s still vast oil resources. At the least, it </span><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/20/mapped-the-7-governments-the-u-s-has-overthrown/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">wouldn’t be the first time</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the US government has been involved in a South American regime change. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The U.S. Department of State </span><a href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35766.htm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">claims</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to be Venezuela’s largest trading partner, and that both export and import between the two countries dropped significantly between 2014 and 2015, primarily due to the fall in oil prices. Despite this trade relationship, the U.S. government has </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-fast-facts/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">imposed sanctions on Venezuela</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, as have other nations, many times throughout their shared history. In kind, Maduro has </span><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/30/venezuela-russiaoil.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">accused</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the U.S. of manipulating the oil industry in an attempt to destroy Russia and Venezuela. </span></p><h3><b>An Uncertain Future</b></h3><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plunging oil prices leading to Venezuela’s economic crisis, leading to soaring inflation and strict rationing, has left </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/world/americas/strict-rationing-in-venezuela-as-plunging-oil-prices-hurt-economy.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">food shelves bare</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, including shortages of medicine and staples like </span><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/19/venezuela-maduro-food-shortages-price-controls-political-unrest/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">toilet paper and soap</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Ironically, the government’s imposed lower-price controls, meant to keep basic goods affordable for the quickly-growing poor population, has </span><a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis"><span style="font-weight: 400;">forced manufacturers to cut back on production</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The economic law of supply and demand takes a dark unprecedented turn.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A country reliant on oil wealth, failing to diversify, has gone </span><a href="http://www.pgwglobal.com/venezuelan-crisis/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">bankrupt</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. What jobs there were from international companies have left. General Motors has </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-gm-20170424-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">abandoned its car assembly plant</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> after the Venezuelan government seized it in 2015. Clorox, Bridgestone and several other companies have also left, their assets seized; and Pepsi, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s all </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-gm-20170420-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">report major financial losses</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p>According to Tulane University’s Venezuelan expert David Smilde, the government itself is <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-gm-20170420-story.html">placing all the blame on everyone else in the world</a>: “The government’s narrative is that there is an economic crisis in Venezuela… because they’re in an economic war with business.”</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And in the midst of all this turmoil and chaos, the government has </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/americas/venezuela-on-the-ground/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">banned protests</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, silencing the voices of an angry and starving population. </span></p><p>After months of deadly illegal protests, a moment of hope finally arrived last week on October 15 when the country held regional elections, though it quickly faded. Opposition to the current government was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/10/venezuela-opposition-faces-divisions-elections-171019132458721.html">expecting to gain control</a> in light of the current crisis, but was shocked when Maduro's party won the majority of open seats. Disappointed Venezuelans who see no end to the crisis have begun to flee the country in droves.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What is known for certain, while the world speculates as to what went wrong in Venezuela, is that the people of Venezuela are waking up each day into a nightmare reality. One in which the stealing and eating of zoo animals has become the norm.</span></p><p></p><div id="3b412" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SH42841574878600"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="917835671124942848" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Conoce la 8va edición del Boletín Conjunto “Crisis en Venezuela” https://t.co/eBRaPSU7sm - vía @_provea https://t.co/1JDY7X0Iux</div> — nortesurvenezuela (@nortesurvenezuela)<a href="https://twitter.com/nortevenezuela/statuses/917835671124942848">1507664051.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p>
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