The Venezuelan Collapse

This page was first published on the 18th of September, 2018 by Patrick Carpen.

The sidewalks of Boa Vista, Brazil are strewn with Venezuelan refugees who lie on skimpish pieces of cloth and torn cardboard boxes in the open air.

Along the highway in-between traffic signals, young mothers sell cheap merchandise. As we drove past, one of them held a sign that read: 4 towels for 10 reais. I stopped the car and bought it.

I needed the towels, and this woman needed the money more. As we drove a bit further, the red traffic light brought the car to a halt. Two young Venezuelan girls ran out to clean the windshield. They were looking to make a few pennies.

Everywhere around the city, businesses try to employ Venezuelans. From a humanitarian perspective, they need help. From a business perspective, they work cheaper. From a patriotic perspective, hiring them puts your own citizens out of work. How should we look at it?

On the cities’ main highways, ragged Venezuelan men and women hold placards which read, “I need work, food and a place to stay.” Who knows when a next rescue vehicle will pull up to one of them? And who knows what danger lurks the next time a vehicle stops for one of them? We can only hope for the best.

Today, as I came to the bus station in Boa Vista, Brazil, a young woman stood with a bag of sweets. She was selling the sweets to raise money to purchase food. A little boy tagged by her side. She wasn’t getting much customers. My heart went out for this woman and her child. I reached into my pocket and gave her my last time.

But the assault intensifies. Like yesterday, a young woman handed me a small piece of paper. It read in Spanish that she was deaf, had a child and was asking for help.

Who knows if she was telling the truth? But what difference does it make now? I signaled to her that I had already given away everything. She quickly nodded and left.

Some time around September 2018, angry residents of the border state of Pakaraima, Brazil attacked Venezuelan refugees, burned their belongings and chased them back across the border. This was in retaliation to a violent attack carried out by a Venezuelan on a Brazilian businessman in that area.

Yes, there are a few criminals among them, but most Venezuelans are good people. And in this one incident, hundreds of struggling people were punished because of the actions of a few criminals.

The economic meltdown in Venezuela started as early as 2013, and since then, handfuls of them were escaping the country. Many of them returned hoping that things would change or after failing to find prosperity in the foreign territory. But it only got worse.

The economic meltdown intensified through 2014 to 2019. For 4 years now, there had been an outpouring of Venezuelan refugees on every border. They seek refuge as far as Uraguay, Paraguay and Chile.

In the country of Venezuela itself, children are literally dying from hunger, disease and lack of medicine. Violent crimes and murders are an everyday occurrence.

In the capital city of Caracas, the parasitic socialist leaders continue to suck the blood of the poor.

Nicolas Maduro’s administration has committed some of the worst crimes against humanity. Yet, he continues to rule in power while the world turns a blind eye.

Of course, it’s not our problem. But it was the same thing the Americans had said before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It was the same thing the world said when the Jews were being mass murdered by Hitler during the Holocaust. Shall we wait until the problem reaches our front door? Have we forgotten the old adage: the only thing needed for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing?

And have we forgotten that the cost of World War 2 would have been much lower if we had heeded the cries of the persecuted?

The bible commands us to help those in need. It says in Proverbs: whoever shuts his hear to the cry of the helpless, will one day cry and not be heard.

Remember Jesus’ words:

I was hungry and you gave me food. Naked and you clothed me. Homeless and you took me in.

Or did you?