Venezuela: Life Is Chaos

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remains entrenched in Caracas despite more than 6 years of U.S. sanctions. Mr. Maduro sells off the nation’s vast oil and gold resources to reward loyalists, exploits the splintered opposition, and benefits from economic and diplomatic support from Russia, China, Iran, and other countries.

Meantime, Venezuela’s 30 million people are suffering through the worst economic crisis in a century. An estimated 5 million have fled the country. Those who remain face shortages of food, fuel, clean water and a viable healthcare system in the era of coronavirus. Incomes have been obliterated by mismanagement, corruption and hyperinflation.


Voices of Venezuela

In one on one interviews they talk about their lives and the challenges they and their families face

Venezuelans today are torn at every level. Between two current Presidents, two current Parliaments, two socialist rulers over 20 years, first with the popular Hugo Chavez and today the unpopular Nicolas Maduro. 

Two decades of noose-tightening by the U.S. to topple the socialist reign sitting on the largest oil reserves in the world have succeeded in isolating Venezuela from even its staunchest supporters and eroded its main source of revenue, oil. The country that was once flush with cash is now broke and importing gasoline. Venezuelans have been dependent on imports for decades, now they can’t afford even the bare minimum daily needs such as food, medicine and clothing when available.  Hyperinflation has rendered the currency worthless. 

Today, two very different generations live side by side. 

Older Venezuelans benefited from the country’s oil bonanza in the seventies through the nineties.   They also witnessed their country’s transition from liberalism to hardcore socialism.


Venezuela: Where Life is Chaos

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remains entrenched in Caracas despite more than 6 years of U.S. sanctions. Mr. Maduro sells off the nation’s vast oil and gold resources to reward loyalists, exploits the splintered opposition, and benefits from economic and diplomatic support from Russia, China, Iran, and other countries.

Meantime, Venezuela’s 30 million people are suffering through the worst economic crisis in a century. An estimated 5 million have fled the country. Those who remain face shortages of food, fuel, clean water and a viable healthcare system in the era of coronavirus. Incomes have been obliterated by mismanagement, corruption and hyperinflation.


CIJN Exclusive: Juan Guaido Interview

Venezuela’s Juan Guaido broke a two-year moratorium on interviews from Caracas with all media outlets. On August 13, 2020 Juan Guaido gave his first interview to CIJN from an undisclosed location in Caracas, Venezuela.

During the 40-minute interview, Mr. Guaido addressed the obstacles ahead for a transition to democracy, amidst the country’s economic collapse and a pandemic that has redefined the stage.

“It’s been two years now that I haven’t been allowed to go on television, not even radio, because they shut down the radio! Those spaces are important to communicate.” Guaido exclaimed.


PetroCaribe Country Report: Haiti

The PetroCaribe accord offered Haiti a unique chance to turn around economically. 

“It was a Bonanza!”- Kesner Pharrell, leading Haitian Economist. CIJN Interview

Summary

Decades of violent political rivalries and instability, devastating natural disasters, and a dependence on external aid held hostage the island’s capacity to grow. In the past thirty years, there have been over thirty governments. Natural disasters have wiped out its agricultural sector. It remains dangerously underdeveloped.