Nothing misguided or paranoid to see here. I guess the opposition wasn't a fan of the three day weekends.
When baseball scouts visit Venezuela, they typically travel with bodyguards and in two- or three-car caravans, rolling through stop signs and red lights at night to avoid giving thieves a stationary target. Some organizations even take out kidnapping insurance policies on executives... “You have to be very aware of what’s going on. It cost us to fill up a car—total—12 cents. For the whole car. Gas might be free, but they don’t have enough milk or bread or medicine or toilet paper for their people there.” Driver’s license numbers dictate when you can shop at grocery stores, with even and odd numbers alternating days. When one scout woke up at 3 a.m. before a 6 o’clock flight, there was already a long wait. “There’s people lined up for blocks,” he said. “I mean, a quarter of a mile.” “It’s a complete destruction of the middle class,” said Blakeley, who has been regularly visiting Venezuela for 30 years. “In the hotel and at the ballpark, you don’t really get the sense that the situation is that bad, but they tell me it’s three, four hours and then you’re lucky to get anything in the grocery store if you’re waiting that long. When I was there, Congress had issued a decree of emergency on medical supplies. People were dying in the hospital because they simply didn’t have medicine.” “I love the baseball players there,” one scout said. “I have a great time down there, despite [everything]. It’s hard to say, but I’ve enjoyed my time down there. It’s hard to see the people go through that, but the baseball is really, really good.” http://www.vocativ.com/312559/the-dangerous-world-of-venezuelan-baseball/
Perhaps people here can help me understand something. I just searched for the most capitalistic countries in the world. I came back with among others Germany and Japan. These two countries provide heavily subsidized healthcare and university costs. So which is it? Are these things America is incapable of providing? And if they are incapable of doing so, why is that?
Venezuela required a cult of personality to wrest power from the US supported oligarchy. There was never any democratic socialim. The economy is a 100% dependent on oil which you might have heard, is in a glut and depression.
"Stop calling us socialist, we're market economies." -Nordic countries "We are proudly socialist." -Greece
Their economy is based heavily on oil. This model built into a third world country will collapse regardless of politics when the market tanks.
Brazil's economy is heavily based on commodities and it's struggling, but not to the point where inflation is 1000%, electricity is rationed, there are food shortages, etc
Based up to 2013. Do you not think based on that level of dependency your economy will collapse which ever political ideology you follow?
at least complicit, if you remember Chavez faced down a coup d'etat on 2002 that resulted in further radicalization and increased social welfare programs to enlist the poor to hold power. It became unsustainable as oil prices collapsed.
Crazy stuff going on in Venezuela. I feel sorry for what that country is going through. Could be a lame stunt by Maduro to justify expansion of his powers. I think it is more likely that it is an even lamer stunt by a group hoping to spark an all-out revolution, but were stymied by their incompetence. http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-venezuela-court-attack-20170628-story.html
