Venezuela is easily one of the most resource dense countries in the western hemisphere. With a large supply of oil, their economy should be booming, but it isn’t. They have been exploited by world powers looking for oil over the years, meaning that the profit that the people could be getting from the oil is going to the top officials in Venezuela as well as to other countries. Because this money isn’t staying in the country, the citizens have been getting increasingly poorer. Recently, this has led the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator speaking out in favor of the Venezuelan people. In his report, he cites some of the terrible conditions he saw in the country. Many of these can be seen in what should be the cleanest buildings ever, hospitals. At the hospital he visited, only a fifth of the building had electricity due to power outages. Additionally, water only runs two days a week, and the water that comes out is rancid. Likewise conditions around the country have forced 4.5 million people out of Venezuela and into surrounding South American countries.
He proposes that the only solution to the humanitarian crisis is through a political solution. This would come in the form of UN Humanitarian aid, but funding is falling short. While $155 million has been received from donations this year, it is a long way off from their needed $223 million. If this crisis continues, the political climate of Venezuela will only get worse, encouraging even more people to leave the country. Either the United Nations needs to figure out a way to get funds for their aid plan, or Venezuela’s government needs to do its part in evening the extreme wealth gap. The news only seems to focus on the actions of Venezuela’s leader and the problems surrounding the presidency, they never focus on the people who are suffering because of it.