The 'Tragedy' of Venezuela: Film Shows How Oil-Rich Nation Was Destroyed From the Inside
*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."
The Biden administration is making changes to federal student loan programs, bringing more than 3.6 million people closer to debt forgiveness under the new rules, providing 40,000 with immediate debt cancellation, and allowing several thousand more with older loans to get some relief. Rob Franek, Editor-In-Chief of the Princeton Review, joined Cheddar News to break down how these changes might impact the lives of student loan borrowers and addresses some of the pushback against doing even more. "This is not a bankruptcy bailout of industries that are supporting the American economy," he said. These are for students right now who would otherwise be hobbled financially if they didn't experience some sort of forgiveness overall."
After a secrecy-shrouded visit to Ukraine's capital, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is failing in its war aims and “Ukraine is succeeding.”
Emmanuel Macron staves off the far right challenger Marine Le Pen in France, conservative lawmakers find themselves embroiled in varying controversies, and pickleball is hotter than ever in the U.S.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 25, 2022, with Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin visiting Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is reelected as president of France, Twitter is talking to Elon Musk about his purchase bid, and more.
An increasing number of countries are recognizing "Rights of Nature", a legal movement that says ecosystems and species have basic rights to exist and flourish. Grant Wilson, executive director at Earth Law Center joins Cheddar News to explain what the movement is aiming to achieve.
The saga surrounding Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter has made its way to Washington, DC. A group of 18 House Republicans are calling on the social media platform's board to preserve all records and documents related to the company's response to the offer from the Tesla CEO. Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia, joined Closing Bell to discuss. "This is a long term play, but it's just a shot across the bow by congressional Republicans, who probably will end up taking the House, that they're going to be tough on Big Tech and they're going use Musk's bid for twitter to take it private, so that he can get the platform to be open source and remove its censorship."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s private government after the entertainment giant criticized a measure that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Autumn Peltier, an indigenous water activist, joined Cheddar News to talk about the lack of access to clean water among indigenous communities in Canada. “I say the government to hold themselves accountable for the promises that they make because Canada and indigenous people have a long history of broken promises and they still continue to this day to keep breaking promises with the nation's people," she said. "Less talk and more action is very much expected from me."
Robert Bonnie, farm production and conservation undersecretary for the USDA, spoke to Cheddar about climate-smart strategies to help farmers reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. "We share the costs of installing those practices on their lands in ways that will protect the climate and maintain agricultural productivity, and we're also partnering with farmers to draw in private investment in greenhouse gas emissions reductions provided by agriculture and forestry," he said. The hope is to get farmers and ranchers to produce climate-smart commodities to lessen the impact of climate change.
