*By Bridgette Webb* Venezuela, once among the wealthiest economies in Latin America, is now in a state of crisis. According to Brian Price, executive producer of a new documentary "Venezuela: State of Disaster'" decades of greed and corruption have created an impenetrable barrier. "They had tremendous oil resources and still do," Price said in an interview on Cheddar Wednesday. "Right now they are sitting on 300 million barrels of oil ー in a conservative market call it $1 trillion dollars worth ー and they have no way of extracting that wealth because the entire system of extraction has been completely decimated." Venezuela’s drop in oil production volumes was the largest global unplanned fall in crude oil in 2017. That trend has continued. Oil production in the nation now stands at its lowest level in more than 50 years. Of the oil that is produced, much of it is being used to pay off interest on Venezuela's massive debt load to countries like China and Russia. Venezuela has borrowed billions of dollars from the two over the years, mostly through oil-for-loan deals. The economic crisis is also hitting Venezuela's public health system. In addition to a shortage of doctors, nurses, and supplies, Price said even the most basic needs of patients can't be met. "They have to ask patients to bring their own light bulb when they check in the hospital because there is no light in the room. It's a good and it has value and people will steal that from the hospital," he said. Meanwhile, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has been steadily shifting the country from a democratic nation into a dictatorship. Since he was elected back in 2013 Maduro has consolidated power by jailing would-be competition and neutralizing any opposition. Although his presidency is slated to end on Jan. 10 2019, Maduro is expected to be "re-inaugurated" that day on the basis of elections held last May, which are widely viewed as fraudulent. There have already been rumblings that the International community is ready to act against Maduro, though Price believes it will be very challenging to remove him from power. "He will do whatever he has to do to stay in power ー \[including\] moving up an election, that was supposed to occur in December because it fit his needs. He is a corrupt leader, like any dictator you have to be skeptical of any tactics he uses, specifically because he wants to stay in power."

Share:
More In Politics
Why Democrats Losing Hispanic Voters
Chuck Rocha, host of 'Nuestro' podcast and opinion contributor at The New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Democrats are losing Hispanic voters.
Return-to-Office Mandates Might Be Hurting the Middle Class
More businesses are requiring workers to return to the office, but there is concern that many employees in the middle class, especially women and people of color, need remote work options for reasons including childcare and financial security. Joan Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, joined Cheddar to discuss why office mandates could be detrimental to the middle class. She noted that while companies claim a return to offices would help foster more collaboration and efficiency, reports show that they are successfully able to do their jobs from home.
California Governor Explores Texas-Like Law to Ban Assault Weapons
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the controversial Texas abortion law to remain in effect, banning abortion at six weeks and allowing any private citizen to sue a person or doctor aiding or abetting someone seeking an abortion. Outraged at this decision, California Governor Gavin Newsom is working to draft a proposal in line with the law as it relates to guns. Shawn Hubler, California correspondent at the New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Getting Into the Vaccine Mandate Debate as Google Implements Its Own
Even as tech giant Google implements a vaccination mandate, charging its employees to declare their vaccine status within a time frame or risk dismissal, the federal government is tangled up in the court system trying to impose one of its own. Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Harry Nelson, founder and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman LLP, joined Cheddar to debate the ethics, efficacy, and legality surrounding the issue. While Cohn noted that she thinks the federal mandate might be legally sound, her organization is also concerned with a separate question of privacy. "At EFF what we're most interested in is the digital surveillance that's going along with some of these attempts to try to track and confirm whether people are vaccinated or not," she said.
Load More