Today we talk about the protest going on in Venezuela.
Now, if you’ve been following me, back in January, I did a flash news report on different countries uprising against their current elected leaders. There’s so much corruption going on in the world and it seems like it’s all happening at the same time, but today we focus on Venezuela.
At the moment, the people of Venezuela are protesting against their current President, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro has been president since 2013 and the people of Venezuela have asked for him to step down due to corruption, but at this point, the people are trying to ousted Maduro.
Maduro took power in April 2013 after Hugo Chavez, the President before him, died of cancer. The reason people had a problem with Maduro becoming president is due to claims of a fraudulent election. During his transition into presidency, the economy was declining due to claims of corruption during Hugo’s presidency which intensified during Maduro’s presidency. Venezuela has been stricken with increasing inflation which has caused many Venezuelans to be homeless, out of work, and has devastated parts of the country with famine. Literally, you will walk into grocery stores and there will be no food on the shelves.
These protest and unfortunate circumstances have been intensifying since the presidency of Chavo and have gotten to this chaotic point due to Maduro not stepping down. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is also President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, declared himself as acting president due to what many believe (once again) was a fraudulent election.
Now Venezuela has 2 presidents at the moment. Maduro, who is technically president under law, and Guaidó, who is recognized by the people of Venezuela and other nations such as the US as the current acting president.
At the moment, 40 plus people have died in these recent protest, but over hundreds of people have died over the years under Maduro’s presidency. Guaidó has requested that military troops side with the opposition as he enters into what he calls the “final phase” of the operation to ousted Mudaro. Guaidó has requested that they continue rioting and Maduro is decrying claims of there ever being a real riot or coup (as if we don’t have social media to see this 🙄).
My 2 cents on this, the people of Venezuela are tired. Tired of being lied to, tired of starving, tired of not working, and tired of the abuse of power. A place that once had a culturally rich economy has taken a turn due to officials like abusing their power and not wanting to let go of that power. People have suffered enough and the people of Venezuela aren’t condoning the tyranny anymore. As we can see in the video presented by Al Jazeera (the rawest news you’ll ever get), the crisis is intensifying.
So the question is, what’s going to happen next? Are we going to continue to watch this country decline or is someone going to step in and help with this crisis? Should Maduro step down? I pray for the innocent souls in Venezuela that have to go through this. Time will tell over these next few days, but the people of Venezuela are suffering and need help.