Starvation, riots are ‘the norm’ now in Venezuela

Venezuela is crumbling to the point that starvation and lack of medicine and other essentials aren’t headline-worthy stories anymore. How did this happen, and what should other countries be learning from Venezuela’s costly mistakes?

Guatemala City-based writer and researcher Katarina Hall joined the “Pat & Stu” guys this week to talk about Venezuela’s descent into a socialist hell and why she worries that her home country could follow suit. While the oil-rich South American country’s slow disintegration has gotten some news coverage, Venezuela is being largely ignored as things only get worse.

“It’s not news any more for people,” Hall explained. “It’s the norm now in Venezuela to see people hungry, to see people lacking medicine, to see people fighting on the streets.”

The country’s dangerous big-government policies started under revolutionary Hugo Chavez, who came in as a hero but gradually stripped away essential freedoms, taking over private businesses and controlling speech and the right to protest.

“Little by little, he started building this empire around him,” Hall said.

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