The Height of Cynicism

The humanitarian crisis is one of the lies that imperialists desperately reiterate to justify eventually coming into Venezuela. Brazenly, they attribute responsibility to the Bolivarian government. Impudently, they try to convince us that we need humanitarian aid.

We are not surprised by their shameless lying. In 2016, the head of the U.S. Southern Command revealed the plan:

“Special interest is gained by positioning the matrix that Venezuela is entering a humanitarian crisis as a result of the shortage of food, water and medicine. It is necessary to continue to manipulate the situation to give the message that Venezuela is close to ‘collapse and implosion’ demanding the international community intervene with humanitarian aid in order to maintain peace and save lives and … Doctrinally, the State must be held responsible for economic stagnation, inflation and scarcity.” (Freedom 2 Operation)*

Without ignoring the complex economic situation in which we Venezuelans live, we ask the international community: Which country of 30 million people, while in a humanitarian crisis, builds 2.5 million homes in six years, welcomes daily 10.5 million children in school, administers 9 million doses of vaccines that are 84 percent effective, distributes monthly food supplies for 6 million homes and, furthermore, continues to lead the list of the region’s least unequal countries?

We would like European governments to explain why we are experiencing a humanitarian crisis with only 6 percent unemployment. We would like the world to explain why it remained silent during the 80s when our infant mortality rate exceeded a rate of 26 deaths per 1,000 registered live births, and today, with a 44 percent lower rate, they insist that we are experiencing a humanitarian crisis.

More than $34 billion in losses have been generated by coercive unilateral U.S. measures, including blockades, seizures, sanctions and the recent theft of CITGO assets. With $4 billion, we Venezuelans import the medicine and food supplies that we require for one year. The criminal blockade is equivalent to the loss of eight years of food and medicine for our people.

Trump says he will send us help, that he will donate $20 million to save us from the “humanitarian crisis.” This is .06 percent of what he has stolen from us. This is the height of cynicism!

*Editor’s Note: The authenticity of the “Venezuela Freedom” document by the U.S. Southern Command has not been verified.