We found @Reuters' favorite trick. After the "once-prosperous country" come the "once-booming oil capital" and the "once-flourishing western oil state of Zulia." We'd call Reuters a once-respectable media outlet but who are we kidding really?
reuters.com/business/energ…
So the story is how a migration flux of some 5,000 Venezuelan migrants a month across the Mexico-US border is "emptying" the major city of Maracaibo (1.7 million people) and the oil-producing state of Zulia (almost 5 million people).
You really can't make this s*** up!
Surely Reuters must have done some major research to back up this absurd claim. You better sit down for this: journalist Mariela Nava talked to eight families! Oh and then there's an anti-government NGO saying there are "neighborhood areas with few people left." Case closed!
Later on there's more fun w/ numbers. Some other useful source says there's a net 1400 people a week crossing into Colombia. Even assuming they're all from Maracaibo it would take 11 years to "empty" half the city. Never mind journalism standards, Reuters needs a calculator
Unmissable of course is a dishonest depiction of sanctions. "Critics say" mismanagement is also to blame, and the oil industry collapse is just due "in part" to murderous US sanctions. Yes,being hit by a truck aggravated the patient's life, he was already suffering from migraines
To set the record straight, there has been indeed a huge migration in recent years as the crisis takes its toll. UN estimates are 5-6M, though many Venezuelan sources argue figures are lower. It is a serious issue. But to claim a major Venezuelan city is being "emptied" is a joke
Also completely dishonest is to claim there's an issue w/ Venezuelan migration into the US. 50,000 people a year is next to nothing, both in terms of US-Mexico border traffic and Vzlan migration in general. But that racist, anti-immigrant dog whistle is not going to blow itself
And for an honest look at the slew of unilateral sanctions levied against the Venezuelan oil industry, as well as their impact, check out the following infographic: venezuelanalysis.com/images/15301
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