The young, the old and the disabled cluster around the lone Western
Union office — recently established to deal with the Venezuelan influx —
in the hopes of receiving a few dollars from home or sending them
there. Without passports or work permits, the Venezuelans — many with university degrees or decent jobs in what was once the wealthiest nation in Latin America — are now resorting to whatever it takes to survive.
“Hair, looking for hair,” an older man choruses through the crowd,
turning to a group of women clutching their small children. Another man
nearby holds a sign reading, “We buy hair.” More and more girls and
women are turning to a cut to make ends meet, and feed their families
for a few days.
...
Both men and women are exposed to sex trafficking along the route
from Venezuela to Colombia. According to several walkers, some women
“chose” prostitution as a means to make money and earn rides along the
way. And some heterosexual men “sell themselves on the gay market” for a
little money.
Other women are manipulated or forced into giving “pimp types” their
documents and identification cards, and are subsequently drawn into
prostitution rings. That’s particularly the case in border areas, where
many rebel and drug-trafficking groups operate.
2 comments:
The counterargument, if one may dignify it with a term it does not merit, heard on American college campuses is that the US waged economic warfare against Venezuela to bring its economy and government down.
How? By continuing to buy Venezuelan oil even at the $200+/barrel post/9-11 prices OPEC demanded, which we did? By giving Venezuela "normal trade relations," which we used to call "Most Favored Nation" status? We did that too. The US poured aid into Venezuela through the Organization of American States even as the Chavez regime was caught attempting to sell F16 jet fighters to Cuba and Iran and expelling American diplomats on probably false charges of all manner of bizarre treachery. Tens of billions of US dollars in aid and trade continued to flow even as the Chavez regime was caught red-handed in 2008 arming FARC narcoterrorists in neighboring Columbia, even as Chavez denounced the US for killing Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Venezuela's economy has been in a death-spiral ever since oil prices dropped below their all-time highs. The US did not seriously consider applying economic sanctions to Venezuela until 2014. The House passed a sanctions bill during the 113th Congress but it was never sent over to the Senate and it remains in legislative limbo. Obama imposed very limited sanctions against specific individuals and specific Venezuelan government organizations by executive order in 2015. That has been the extent of the US government's "economic warfare." Compare and contrast what the US government did to Rhodesia and South Africa in the 70s and 80s.
No, the US government didn't wreck Venezuela's economy. Chavez and Maduro did that all by themselves, without any help from us.
Much like the "Cuba's economy is a wreck because of the US!" crap.
My response has been
"You mentioned that all the rest of the world trades with Cuba."
"They do, so why can't we?"
"If the REST OF THE WORLD is trading with them, how's it our fault their economy has been in the toilet for decades?"
It usually either gets a pissed-off stuttering "BECAUSE WE CAUSED IT!" response, or they go away.
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