Venezuela Now a Military Dictatorship

Venezuela’s Marxist President Nicolás Maduro (shown, left) closed the loop on Monday night, declaring under powers granted to himself by his “emergency decree” announced in January (later to be declared “constitutional” by his hand-picked Supreme Court) that his new Great Sovereign Supply Mission would be run by the country’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López (shown, right).
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EXCLUSIVE - 'Why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves just because the country is burning?'

Venezuela's super-rich are enjoying lavish parties and gourmet cuisine, while middle-class people are forced to scavenge for food as the Socialist country's economy collapses. In the opulent Caracas Country Club, where membership costs an astonishing £77,000 – 458 times the average Venezuelan salary – glamorous women in cocktail dresses were seen relishing a banquet of beef and lobster...
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Vox: How Venezuela’s socialist dream collapsed into a nightmare

Venezuela is in the midst of a stunning social, political, and economic collapse. The country of 30 million people is facing dire food and medicine shortages, frequent power outages, serious political unrest, the world’s highest inflation rate, rampant violent crime, and one of the world’s highest murder rates. Earlier this month, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, declared a state of emergency. --In short, Venezuela has become the world’s most visibly failing state. --It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Not so long ago, Venezuela’s socialist revolution attracted its share of fellow travelers — first-world idealists hungry for the next earthly utopia.

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Venezuela president declares emergency, citing U.S. domestic 'threats'

Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president  declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government.
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In Venezuela, Former Chavistas Risk Lives Fighting over a Bag of Onions

A disturbing video of a crowd physically beating each other to get at a select few bags of onions outside a supermarket in Venezuela highlights the struggle the average Venezuelan must endure to keep his or her family fed in the increasingly impoverished socialist nation.
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Fridges go off as Venezuela power-rationing hits

Fridges zapped off in kitchens across Venezuela as the government turned off the electricity supply to help ease a power shortage that is worsening the country's economic crisis.
It is the latest drastic measure by the government in a crisis that already has Venezuelans queuing for hours to buy scarce supplies in shops.
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Of Diapers and Dictators in Venezuela

“Welcome to the Maiquetia Simón Bolívar International Airport,” said the stewardess with a metallic voice as our plane touched down on Venezuelan soil. The excitement of a family reunion and anguish over the situation in the country shook me out of a brief sleep after eight hours flying from Paris. I was coming back to my country after three years of absence, in the company of my almost-2-year-old daughter and her father.
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Venezuelan economy to turn even worse in 2016, study finds

If misery loves company, then at least Venezuela is located in the right corner of the globe. A recent study projects that the South American nation has far and away the world's most miserable economy in 2016, nearly four times worse off than second-place Argentina.
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Military vows Maduro support in deepening Venezuela crisis

Venezuela's military pledged loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, ramping up a high-stakes standoff between his socialist government and a center-right opposition that has vowed to use its new legislative powers to oust him. The opposition laid claim to a big majority in the National Assembly, which could empower it to force out Maduro. He has rejected the assembly as illegal and formed a new hardline leftist cabinet to fight it, in a deepening political crisis.
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Venezuela Awakens From Its 17-Year Socialist Nightmare

Elections: Venezuela's voters delivered a sledgehammer blow to the country's ruling Chavista socialists Sunday, winning a likely supermajority in the National Assembly. It's a great awakening from a 17-year nightmare.
Given the past two decades of near-victories, electoral fraud, chicanery and fractious political opposition mistakes, many Venezuelans are still in disbelief at the scale of the victory in the nation's legislative elections, which have decisively handed one of Venezuela's leading governing bodies over to the democratic, pro-free-market opposition.


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Even in Chavez's hometown, Venezuela 'revolution' ails before election - "Chavistas destroyed us"

..."We were 'Chavistas'," said Julio Coromoto...a workman next to a queue of dozens at a shabby supermarket.  "But they destroyed this town."....
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Venezuelan opposition candidate shot dead at campaign event

"Luis Manuel Diaz, local leader of the Democratic Action party in Altagracia de Orituco (Guarico state) has just been shot dead," the party's chairman Henry Ramos Allup said on Twitter.  Ramos Allup said Diaz was standing next to Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who is in prison for incitement to violence in 2014 antigovernment protests.  He added that the shooter, whom he believed to be a member of an "armed gang" linked to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), carried out the attack from a vehicle.
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Hugo Chavez's daughter is Venezuela's richest woman-- $4.2 billion

The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared 'being rich is bad,' may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets. Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president's second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports.


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Venezuelan Strongman Wants to Seize 2/3 of Neighboring Guyana

Apparently all of that “anti-imperialist” rhetoric from Caracas was just a farce for public consumption. As Venezuela’s economy implodes amid skyrocketing inflation and crippling shortages of practically everything, Socialist strongman Nicolás Maduro (shown) has a new plan to prop up his imploding regime: annex two thirds of neighboring Guyana’s territory and almost one third of its population. The area eyed by Maduro’s autocracy is especially noteworthy now that potentially lucrative oil deposits have been discovered offshore. Unsurprisingly, a powerful alliance of the region’s socialist strongmen and their allies has sided with the regime in Venezuela. Talk of war is escalating. Now, the United Nations is getting involved, too.


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Looting Sweeps Venezuela as Hunger Takes Over

It’s the law of the jungle in Venezuela, as shopping for groceries becomes an increasingly dangerous activity. As the shortage crisis worsens, more and more angry mobs are raiding the nation’s supermarkets, looting whatever basic goods they can find.
During the first half of 2015, the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict (OVCS) registered no fewer than 132 incidents of looting or attempted looting at various stores throughout the country. In addition, Venezuelan consumers staged over 500 protests that condemned the lack of available products at state-run grocery stores, markets, and pharmacies.


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Reinforcing Failure

Richard Fernandez - Pop quiz. Suppose a whole country decides to live off an imaginary inexhaustible stash promised by its president. One day it runs out of other people’s money and begins to starve. Hospitals start to close. Even the beer runs out. What do you do? What do you do? --According to the International Crisis Group that is the problem the world faces in Venezuela. “Some economists predict a sudden collapse in food consumption and widespread hunger, and public health specialists already say that some surveys are showing chronic malnutrition.” If the Colossus of the North doesn’t save it, then all hell with break loose. Can’t let that happen can you?

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Venezuela could run out of beer by next month

Venezuela could stop making beer by August, as local breweries run out of ingredients needed to produce the country’s most popular alcoholic drink. A brewery shutdown would reduce the country’s beer supply by a terrifying 80 percent, according to industry leaders.
Local breweries say they are down to their final batches of barley, malt and other imported products needed to make beer, thanks to Venezuela’s strict currency controls that have made it almost impossible to purchase supplies. The industry, which is calling the situation an “unprecedented crisis,” is already some $200 million in arrears to suppliers around the world.


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It's No Joke:Venezuela Cracks Down On Comedians

Laureano Márquez was performing a benefit at his old high school in the Venezuelan city of Maracay. The comedian dwelled on the absurdities of life in this oil-rich nation, where gas is cheaper than water but it's hard to find milk, toilet paper and many other everyday goods.
In the supermarket, Màrquez said, desperate customers will steal scarce items right out of your shopping cart.
"In Venezuela, you get robbed of stuff that isn't even yours yet," he said to a round of laughs.


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Vox Avoids S-word in Venezuela Crises Photo Essay

Say it! SAAAAY IT!!! ---Sam Kinison  General Electric Vox published a photo essay about the crises in Venezuela. The photos of the protests were picturesque but something important was missing. It was especially noticeable when the essay by Amanda Taub, 11 stunning photos of the protest movement sweeping Venezuela, touched on the dismal economy. Therefore the most stunning thing about the essay wasn't the photos but the very noticeable failure to mention a certain word seen all over Venezuela.  A certain S-word seen all over the walls and billboards of Venezuela. A word that the corrupt government in Caracas proudly hails. A word describing an economic system that took a nation with the largest proven oil reserves in the world and turned it into a basket case where basic commodities such as milk, flour, and toilet paper are scarce.

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Marco Rubio Destroys Apologists for Cuban and Venezuelan Oppression

A new low in the disgrace of the American political class was reached when Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) took the floor this week to extol the virtues of Cuban communism. A new high immediately followed, as Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) rose to annihilate Harkin, and all the other miserable apologists for left-wing tyranny. Read more and watch video at Human Events Read More......