Thread by @lenguaraz

Here's a thread for @JohanGaltung and other non-VZ friends that have asked me to share some thoughts regarding #Venezuela. Bear with me. Impossible to reflect on so much complexity in three or four tweets.

The situation in VZ is beyond desperate. As a VZ abroad having to deal with over simplified versions of what is going on, I feel disheartened to see such a blatant refusal to listen to the people they say they’re defending. There are many important things they’re ignoring:

Human Rights org @_Provea has reported 54 deaths in protests *just* in 2019. 53 of them died from gunshots. 80% of deaths fall under responsibility of the police, the military and pro government armed groups. The number soars horribly when checking protests in 2017 and 2014.

Important to keep in mind when seeing people in the streets. The risks of going to the streets is very high, and people are still going.

The humanitarian crisis is complex, and no, it wasn’t caused by US sanctions. The most recent sanctions (2019) could be those that can contribute to people's struggles. The first were aimed at political elites
pri.org/stories/2019-0…

This narrative of US/LatAm works because it resonates with the horrors of the 60s and 70s. Seeing the US intervene, and under this administration, is frightening indeed, but why forget that China, Russia and Cuba have intervened in their own ways already?

No one is naive enough to think that US intervening will be the ultimate solution. Even less to think they do it for humanitarian reasons. What is cleat, though, is that the situation is absolutely desperate, and that VZ’s government doesn’t seem too interested in solving it.

There's shortage of food, medicine, electricity, water. Zulia state, has been on with no electricity for periods of weeks, only to have it back for just few hours each time. In the rest of the country deaths for malnutrition and treatable deseases keep soaring.

And we haven't even tackled the hyper inflation problem.

Information and press are heavily controlled and censored. Internet gets blocks routinely, newspapers have slowly close down for lack of paper. The methods to isolate the press have been ongoing, slow and smart. advox.globalvoices.org/2018/06/28/no-…

Furthermore, a lot of researchers and journalist have put light on links between the government and drug trafficking groups. At the same time, the amounts of money that has left the country due to corruption is monumental:
theconversation.com/venezuela-is-f…

Very important also to remember that the last elections that gave victory to Maduro were deemed fraudulent, and declared so by a group of 65 countries. globalvoices.org/specialcoverag…

Around ten percent of people have fled the country. This crisis is also a regional crisis.

The last five years or so have been collectively disastrous for Venezuela. The amount of death, suffering and HR violations are difficult to count (I should add here that the government stoped giving data on hospitals and health for a long time now).

Seeing this being reduced to “far right Venezuelan groups” giving a “coup” is just demoralizing. Too many people suffering, too difficult to ignore unless one willingly choses to.

And finally, regarding so called feminist groups defending a government like Maduro's. I wonder if they know that after years of this administration, women’s health is worse than ever, gender violence is rampant...

...marriage equality hasn’t been close to be part of any governmental conversation, abortion rights are denied, birth control pills are unavailable for most, and women carry the heaviest burden of the crisis.

The images coming from the Washington embassy are heartbreaking. American citizens that have probably never been to Venezuela “defending” an embassy of a country that is not theirs and calling “right wing” to shut actual Venezuelans up protesting their presence there.

A whole new way of colonial abuse, in my opinion.

This is all complex AND complicated. There’s no Hollywood-like story with pure good and evil. However, the refusal to even listen to those who have been there, those who struggle to help their families, who work researching, explaining, denouncing is just overwhelming.