02-13-2018, 11:45 PM
*** 14-Feb-18 World View -- Colombia and Brazil close borders with Venezuela amid talk of possible military intervention
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Parents send kids to orphanages as Venezuela's oil production collapse
****
![[Image: g180213b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g180213b.jpg)
Venezuelans loot a food warehouse in December
Venezuela's oil output in January fell to its lowest level in nearly
30 years, with production falling 20% from a year ago. Although
Venezuela is the wealthiest country in the world in terms of oil
reserves, the oil company PDVSA has been nationalized, and the
Socialist president Nicolás Maduro has turned it over to the
dictator's Socialist cronies, who are so corrupt and incompetent they
couldn't operate a bicycle, let alone an oil company. The result
is that oil production in the Socialist country has been falling
steadily.
Since oil is pretty much Venezuela's only export that it can use to
earn foreign currency (dollars), Venezuela can no longer import food
or medicines, which is why people are starving to death and babies are
dying in hospitals.
The poverty and hunger rate in the Socialist country have become so
disastrous that parents are unable to find food to feed their
children. Store shelves are empty of food, medicine, diapers and baby
formula.
The International Monetary Fund forecast that the hyperinflation in
Venezuela will hit 13,000% in 2018, meaning that even if food were
available, it would be unaffordable. Human Rights Watch and other
rights groups have accused Venezuela's government of beating and
torturing thousands of people protesting about the economy.
Incredibly, Venezuela's Socialist government even refuses to accept
offers of food and medicine from its neighbors and aid agencies,
including the Catholic Church, because to do so would requiring
admitting that the Socialist economy was in crisis.
In desperation, some parents are placing their children in orphanages,
just so that they can be fed. According to Angélica Pérez, a
32-year-old mother of three, "You don’t know what it’s like to see
your children go hungry. You have no idea. I feel like I’m
responsible, like I’ve failed them. But I’ve tried everything. There
is no work, and they just keep getting thinner. Tell me! What am I
supposed to do?"
Other parents are simply leaving their children in the streets in the
hope that child protective services will find them and find a home for
them. CNN and Miami Herald and Washington Post
****
**** Colombia and Brazil close borders to refugees from Venezuela
****
Colombia and Brazil on Tuesday announced a series of measures to
control border crossings from Venezuela, as the Socialist economy
continues to deteriorate.
With people unable to find jobs or food in Venezuela, waves of
refugees have been pouring across the border into Colombia, and to a
lesser extent into northwest Brazil.
Venezuela's Socialist economy began to crumble in 2013 with the
collapse in global oil prices. Since then, an estimated 600,000
Venezuelans have fled across the border into Colombia. About 100,000
crossed the border in just the last two months of 2017. About 60,000
Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil.
Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday announced that
strict immigration controls would be implemented, with 2,120 Colombian
soldiers deployed to the 1,378 mile long border to enforce them.
In a speech, Santos referred to the time when Venezuelans
were kind to Colombians fleeing across the border into Venezuela
during the civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s. Santos
said:
<QUOTE>"There will be more control and more security at
borders.
Venezuela was very generous to Colombia when Colombians went in
search of a better life [during the height of its civil war in the
1990s and early 2000s]. We should also be generous to Venezuela.
I want to repeat to President Maduro — this is the result of your
policies, it is not the fault of Colombians and it’s the result of
your refusal to receive humanitarian aid which has been offered in
every way, not just from Colombia but from the international
community."<END QUOTE>
Brazil’s defense minister, Raul Jungmann, said that Brazil would
bolster security along the border and relocate the migrants. "This is
a humanitarian drama. The Venezuelans are being expelled from their
country by hunger and the lack of jobs and medicine. We are here to
bring help and to strengthen the border." Costa Roca News and Petroleum World
and Miami Herald and Brookings
****
**** Venezuela fears a military 'invasion' by Colombia and U.S.
****
Last weekend, American Admiral Kurt Tidd, head of U.S. Southern
Command, visited with Colombia's vice president Oscar Naranjo in the
coastal city of Tumaco, nominally to discuss the flow of drugs from
Colombia's Pacific coast.
Tidd's visit to Colombia has triggered suspicions in Venezuela of a
possible invasion by Colombia, backed by the United States.
Venezuela's chief prosecutor said:
<QUOTE>"In Colombia, they are planning to revive eras that
had ended in human history, like military bombing, a military
invasion or the occupation, through blood and gunfire, of a
peaceful country like Venezuela. We will not allow
it."<END QUOTE>
However, the commander of Colombia's armed forces replied, "We have so
many problems in our own country, and that’s what we are solely
dedicated to and focused on. We’re only interested in the problems of
the Colombian people."
Nonetheless, with Venezuela's economy deteriorating rapidly and the
flow of refugees surging, there is growing fear that Venezuela will
destabilize the entire region, and that military action must be taken.
Vanessa Neumann of the Foreign Policy Research Institute was
interviewed on Fox Business News, and said that Venezuela is
presenting a major security threat to Colombia, because locals are
getting into fights with the refugees, and there are terrorists mixing
in with the refugees coming across the border.
Neumann gave the following assessment (my transcription, slightly
edited):
<QUOTE>"[Colombia's] military is sending armored personnel
carriers with 50 caliber guns on top to stop the flow [of refugees
from Venezuela]. It's gotten so bad that the locals are beating
up the homeless Venezuelan refugees because there's just too many
of them, even though they really consider themselves as brothers.
The other thing is Venezuelans have now joined some of the
terrorist groups, because they've given them food, and the uniform
and the job. They have launched 11 terrorist attacks in Colombia.
The Colombians won't take this sitting down. They will go and
cross the border into Venezuela, and then they'll have military
assistance from the United States. ...
That's what I see happening, as well as more violence within
Venezuela, because of the food. People are now just killing each
other for food.
And in the border towns when they do escape I see them, selling
gasoline, selling their own hair, selling their bodies, giving
away their children. I saw it first-hand last week, and this week
it's much worse. This won't last much longer.
And now some of the Venezuelans are saying, please -- they've
never really advocated for American intervention before, but now
'We're so hungry, this is so bad, please come help
us.'"<END QUOTE>
Maritime Herald and Miami Herald and Russia Today
Related articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil,
Nicolás Maduro, Angélica Pérez, Juan Manuel Santos, Oscar Naranjo,
Raul Jungmann, Kurt Tidd, Vanessa Neumann
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Parents send kids to orphanages as Venezuela's oil production collapse
- Colombia and Brazil close borders to refugees from Venezuela
- Venezuela fears a military 'invasion' by Colombia and U.S.
****
**** Parents send kids to orphanages as Venezuela's oil production collapse
****
Venezuelans loot a food warehouse in December
Venezuela's oil output in January fell to its lowest level in nearly
30 years, with production falling 20% from a year ago. Although
Venezuela is the wealthiest country in the world in terms of oil
reserves, the oil company PDVSA has been nationalized, and the
Socialist president Nicolás Maduro has turned it over to the
dictator's Socialist cronies, who are so corrupt and incompetent they
couldn't operate a bicycle, let alone an oil company. The result
is that oil production in the Socialist country has been falling
steadily.
Since oil is pretty much Venezuela's only export that it can use to
earn foreign currency (dollars), Venezuela can no longer import food
or medicines, which is why people are starving to death and babies are
dying in hospitals.
The poverty and hunger rate in the Socialist country have become so
disastrous that parents are unable to find food to feed their
children. Store shelves are empty of food, medicine, diapers and baby
formula.
The International Monetary Fund forecast that the hyperinflation in
Venezuela will hit 13,000% in 2018, meaning that even if food were
available, it would be unaffordable. Human Rights Watch and other
rights groups have accused Venezuela's government of beating and
torturing thousands of people protesting about the economy.
Incredibly, Venezuela's Socialist government even refuses to accept
offers of food and medicine from its neighbors and aid agencies,
including the Catholic Church, because to do so would requiring
admitting that the Socialist economy was in crisis.
In desperation, some parents are placing their children in orphanages,
just so that they can be fed. According to Angélica Pérez, a
32-year-old mother of three, "You don’t know what it’s like to see
your children go hungry. You have no idea. I feel like I’m
responsible, like I’ve failed them. But I’ve tried everything. There
is no work, and they just keep getting thinner. Tell me! What am I
supposed to do?"
Other parents are simply leaving their children in the streets in the
hope that child protective services will find them and find a home for
them. CNN and Miami Herald and Washington Post
****
**** Colombia and Brazil close borders to refugees from Venezuela
****
Colombia and Brazil on Tuesday announced a series of measures to
control border crossings from Venezuela, as the Socialist economy
continues to deteriorate.
With people unable to find jobs or food in Venezuela, waves of
refugees have been pouring across the border into Colombia, and to a
lesser extent into northwest Brazil.
Venezuela's Socialist economy began to crumble in 2013 with the
collapse in global oil prices. Since then, an estimated 600,000
Venezuelans have fled across the border into Colombia. About 100,000
crossed the border in just the last two months of 2017. About 60,000
Venezuelans have crossed the border into Brazil.
Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday announced that
strict immigration controls would be implemented, with 2,120 Colombian
soldiers deployed to the 1,378 mile long border to enforce them.
In a speech, Santos referred to the time when Venezuelans
were kind to Colombians fleeing across the border into Venezuela
during the civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s. Santos
said:
<QUOTE>"There will be more control and more security at
borders.
Venezuela was very generous to Colombia when Colombians went in
search of a better life [during the height of its civil war in the
1990s and early 2000s]. We should also be generous to Venezuela.
I want to repeat to President Maduro — this is the result of your
policies, it is not the fault of Colombians and it’s the result of
your refusal to receive humanitarian aid which has been offered in
every way, not just from Colombia but from the international
community."<END QUOTE>
Brazil’s defense minister, Raul Jungmann, said that Brazil would
bolster security along the border and relocate the migrants. "This is
a humanitarian drama. The Venezuelans are being expelled from their
country by hunger and the lack of jobs and medicine. We are here to
bring help and to strengthen the border." Costa Roca News and Petroleum World
and Miami Herald and Brookings
****
**** Venezuela fears a military 'invasion' by Colombia and U.S.
****
Last weekend, American Admiral Kurt Tidd, head of U.S. Southern
Command, visited with Colombia's vice president Oscar Naranjo in the
coastal city of Tumaco, nominally to discuss the flow of drugs from
Colombia's Pacific coast.
Tidd's visit to Colombia has triggered suspicions in Venezuela of a
possible invasion by Colombia, backed by the United States.
Venezuela's chief prosecutor said:
<QUOTE>"In Colombia, they are planning to revive eras that
had ended in human history, like military bombing, a military
invasion or the occupation, through blood and gunfire, of a
peaceful country like Venezuela. We will not allow
it."<END QUOTE>
However, the commander of Colombia's armed forces replied, "We have so
many problems in our own country, and that’s what we are solely
dedicated to and focused on. We’re only interested in the problems of
the Colombian people."
Nonetheless, with Venezuela's economy deteriorating rapidly and the
flow of refugees surging, there is growing fear that Venezuela will
destabilize the entire region, and that military action must be taken.
Vanessa Neumann of the Foreign Policy Research Institute was
interviewed on Fox Business News, and said that Venezuela is
presenting a major security threat to Colombia, because locals are
getting into fights with the refugees, and there are terrorists mixing
in with the refugees coming across the border.
Neumann gave the following assessment (my transcription, slightly
edited):
<QUOTE>"[Colombia's] military is sending armored personnel
carriers with 50 caliber guns on top to stop the flow [of refugees
from Venezuela]. It's gotten so bad that the locals are beating
up the homeless Venezuelan refugees because there's just too many
of them, even though they really consider themselves as brothers.
The other thing is Venezuelans have now joined some of the
terrorist groups, because they've given them food, and the uniform
and the job. They have launched 11 terrorist attacks in Colombia.
The Colombians won't take this sitting down. They will go and
cross the border into Venezuela, and then they'll have military
assistance from the United States. ...
That's what I see happening, as well as more violence within
Venezuela, because of the food. People are now just killing each
other for food.
And in the border towns when they do escape I see them, selling
gasoline, selling their own hair, selling their bodies, giving
away their children. I saw it first-hand last week, and this week
it's much worse. This won't last much longer.
And now some of the Venezuelans are saying, please -- they've
never really advocated for American intervention before, but now
'We're so hungry, this is so bad, please come help
us.'"<END QUOTE>
Maritime Herald and Miami Herald and Russia Today
Related articles:
- Venezuela threatens to close borders with Colombia and Dutch territories (10-Jan-2018)
- Socialist Venezuela may or may not have declared bankruptcy on Thursday (04-Nov-2017)
- Russia considers taking on a huge financial burden - Venezuela (05-Oct-2017)
- Venezuela's economic crisis is hitting Cuba hard (06-Aug-2016)
- Hugo Chávez dismantled Venezuela's businesses on purpose to create Socialist Paradise (29-May-2016)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil,
Nicolás Maduro, Angélica Pérez, Juan Manuel Santos, Oscar Naranjo,
Raul Jungmann, Kurt Tidd, Vanessa Neumann
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
