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Doctors Now Have to Steal Food From Hospitals to Feed Their Own Families The increasing shortage of food and other basic products in Venezuela, on top of inflation, is now takingits toll on the health of the nation — most notably, on its malnourished children. Children frequently arrive to the San Felipe Central Hospital after having fainted from malnourishment, officials told the PanAm Post, and are given medicine to take three times a day, Mothers tell physicians they don’t have enough food in their homes, even after rationing. “Children under five months of age come in here with diarrhea and...

The force that is driving Venezuela into the ground is socialism. I've had a front-row seat to the consequences of socialism, watching the hardships of my friends and family in Venezuela. I read the messages telling me they had to go to five different markets that day to find bread. Even basic staples like Harina-Pan are missing from the shelves or skyrocketing in price. I've heard them break down crying because they lack basic needs like toilet paper. And I hear the fear of not knowing what's next or when these struggles will end. In the midst of this chaos,...

Venezuela is running out of just about everything. Food, medicine, electricity, toilet paper, condoms -- you name it. ( Full title ). And over the weekend at least two large international airlines -- Lufthansa and LATAM -- said they will suspend service to Venezuela in the coming months due to the economic crisis. The widespread scarcities and fleeing businesses reflect a country in crisis. "There's a shortage of everything at some level," says Ricardo Cusanno, vice president of Venezuela's Chamber of Commerce. Cusanno says 85% of companies in Venezuela have halted production to some extent. Venezuela's economy is spiraling into...

The courts? Closed most days. The bureau to start a business? Same thing. The public defender’s office? That’s been converted into a food bank for government employees. Step by step, Venezuela has been shutting down. This country has long been accustomed to painful shortages, even of basic foods. But Venezuela keeps drifting further into uncharted territory. In recent weeks, the government has taken what may be one of the most desperate measures ever by a country to save electricity: A shutdown of many of its offices for all but two half-days each week. But that is only the start of...

Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelans on Tuesday woke up to discover that the government-controlled price of corn flour -- used to make corn patty arepas, a staple of local cuisine -- has risen 900 percent.

Venezuelans on Tuesday woke up to discover that the government-controlled price of corn flour -- used to make corn patty arepas, a staple of local cuisine -- has risen 900 percent. The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro had kept the price of corn flour frozen for 15 months at 19 bolivares a kilogram (two pounds).

They call them bachaqueros. Venezuela’s army of black market shoppers descend every day at dawn outside Caracas’s biggest stores. They stand for hours in the blistering heat, motivated not by hunger, but profit. Half-empty shelves in most shops means goods bought at government-controlled prices can be sold at a significant mark-up.[snip]Led by Hugo Chávez, the country’s firebrand former president, the country embarked on a wave of expropriation and redistribution with the charismatic leader offering cut-price fridges, appliances and even new homes to poor Venezuelans. Chávez wanted to create a socialist paradise, an ideology that has been reinforced by his successor...

Venezuela can’t pay its millions of dollars in debt to Indian pharmaceutical companies, say Indian officials, so officials are considering a proposal that would see the Latin American company swap oil for its drug debts. After an unlucky gamble on India’s part that Venezuela’s emerging economy would be a good place to hawk Indian pharmaceuticals, the debt is now mounting and poor crisis management coupled with the long-running oil price slump has left Venezuela too cash strapped to pay up. Already, according to Indian media, India’s Dr Reddy’s pharmaceutical company has written off US$65 million in debt in the first...

Coca-Cola is halting production in Venezuela of its namesake beverage due to a sugar shortage brought on by the country's grinding economic crisis. The Atlanta-based company said in an emailed statement Friday said that its production of sugar-sweetened beverages will be suspended in the coming days after local suppliers reported they had run out of the raw material. Sugar-free beverages are not affected and the company said its offices and distribution centers remain open in Venezuela.

As opposition to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro intensifies, the country is now preparing for the biggest military exercises in its history this Saturday – an opportunity to flex its military muscle ahead of possible violent street protests spurred by civilian unrest. Maduro, who is facing a recall referendum, has warned that he may declare a “state of internal commotion” if a coup occurs, according to the Latin America Herald Tribune. The state of internal commotion would allow the government to bypass normal legislative procedures in order to impose stricter security measures.

President Maduro Deliberately Causes Shortages to Cow Venezuelan Citizens into Submission Even with the collapse of the price of oil, Venezuela’s total export revenue this year will yield a similar amount to Peru’s total exports. Peru and Venezuela have the same population, and the world knows there are no food lines in Peru and no one is dying for lack of medicines in that country. Unfortunately, most reporting by the international press on Venezuela’s current crisis, while mentioning the Chavista regime’s mismanagement and corruption, also places the blame on the economic crisis that befell the country after oil prices collapsed...

Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy a state of emergency that President Nicolas Maduro decreed over a nation sapped by food shortages and a collapsing economy. Key points: Opposition-controlled parliament rejects the President's state of emergency decree The opposition leader asks army: are you "with the constitution or with Maduro" Polls show 70 per cent of the population wants a new government The opposition-controlled National Assembly rejected the decree in a vote, saying it "deepens the severe disruption of constitutional and democratic order that Venezuela is suffering through".

The situation in Venezuela has been steadily declining in the past couple of years, but in the past few weeks, it has become so dire and disturbing that scenes coming out of the socialist country are said to mirror the apocalypse. News reports have surfaced of people having to eat their own pets in order to survive, due to a lack of food in the country. Currently, 75 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty, a stunning increase from the 25 percent rate just two years ago.

In his craving for power, the late Hugo Chávez pledged to redistribute Venezuela’s wealth to the poor masses. The god-father of “21st-century socialism” seems to have been unaware that the resources he promised to shower on his people had to first be produced. Fifteen years into the Bolivarian revolution, Venezuela is facing dire food shortages. Among the many stupidities that socialism promotes is the idea that by imposing price controls and forbidding profits, government can make food both cheap and widely available. The opposite is true, and Venezuela proves the rule.

The Venezuelan economy is buckling1 under the weight of its severe socialist policies, and even as its president admits to a nationwide economic emergency2, the government continues to affirm the drivers behind the collapse, blaming low oil prices and global capitalism instead. This was supposed to be the dawn of “21st-century socialism,” as the late President Hugo Chavez proclaimed3 over 10 years ago, complete with the right tweaks and upgrades to its materialistic, mechanistic approach to the human person. “We have assumed the commitment to direct the Bolivarian Revolution towards socialism,” he said, “and to contribute to the socialist path, with a...

The conflagration that is the collapse of a socilaist utopia continues to escalate in Venezuela today. With morgues overflowing, medicines running out, and apocalyptic scenes playing out across the nation, Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas today - at the behest of the opposition - demanding a recall referendum to end Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's socialist rule. The troubled nations leader was not happy and security forces fired tear gas and shut subway stations to block the thousands of protesters. Over the last two weeks, several provinces have hosted scenes of looting in pharmacies, shopping malls, supermarkets, and food...

It was around noon when a food truck rolled up to a Venezuelan state-subsidized supermarket in the town of Guarenas just east of the capital. But, to the fury of the long line of people waiting out front, the cargo wasn't unloaded. Instead soldiers took it away. "We want food!" the crowd roared in protest, to no avail. Some tried to run after the truck. Under the state of emergency imposed by President Nicolas Maduro, the military, along with government-organized civilian committees, ensures that food packets are delivered door-to-door in order to -- as officials say -- cut out black...

Venezuela's army is to be backed by civilians grouped into ancillary security units, to tackle food shortages and public unrest, under a state of emergency decree published on Monday. The decree, published in the government gazette, brings into effect for at least 60 days sweeping powers President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday. The measures give his government and security forces broad authorization to ignore most constitutional safeguards in a bid to keep order and supply basic food and services, and to counter a crippling energy shortage. But the opposition, which controls the National Assembly and is seeking Maduro's ouster through...

Things are not looking good at all for socialist paradise Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency a couple days ago due to unrest and a shortage of supplies, including flour. It’s so bad, some U.S. officials told Reuters they don’t expect Maduro to stay in power that much longer. They said one “plausible” scenario would be that Maduro’s own party or powerful political figures would force him out and would not rule out the possibility of a military coup. Still, they said there was no evidence of any active plotting or that he had lost support from...

BARCELONA, Venezuela - By morning, three newborns were already dead. The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward. Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died. "The death of a baby is our daily bread," said Dr. Osleidy Camejo, a surgeon in the nation's capital, Caracas, referring to the toll from Venezuela’s collapsing hospitals. The economic crisis in this country has exploded...