Socialist Paradise Turns into a Nightmare - Venezuala

[Chef Ramsay]

Medical shortages claim lives as oil price collapses
Peter Foster reports exclusively from Caracas, where ordinary Venezuelans battle for survival as hospitals are left without supplies and shops without basic necessities

For Jose Perez, a Venezuelan taxi driver from Caracas, the hardest part about watching his wife die from heart failure was knowing just how easily she could have been saved.

The surgeons at the Caracas University Hospital were ready to operate on 51-year-old Carmen, but because of the shortages of medicines now ravaging Venezuela, they had no stocks of the prosthetic artery that would have saved her life.

For a day, the family enjoyed a glimmer of hope after a nationwide search uncovered one such device, but Carmen needed two and a second one was nowhere to be found. She died two days later.

It is life-and-death stories like these that illustrate the depth of the economic crisis now confronting Venezuela, a crumbling socialist-run petro-state that looks in danger of being tipped over the edge by the crunch in world oil prices.

For Venezuelans like Mr Perez and tens of thousands more awaiting medical treatment around the country, the magic realism of Hugo Chavez’s great Bolivarian socialist revolution has turned to bitter reality less than two years after the former leader’s death from cancer.

More...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/11385294/Venezuelas-socialist-paradise-turns-into-a-nightmare-medical-shortages-claim-lives-as-oil-price-collapses.html

[Wilikon]

Medical shortages claim lives as oil price collapses
Peter Foster reports exclusively from Caracas, where ordinary Venezuelans battle for survival as hospitals are left without supplies and shops without basic necessities

For Jose Perez, a Venezuelan taxi driver from Caracas, the hardest part about watching his wife die from heart failure was knowing just how easily she could have been saved.

The surgeons at the Caracas University Hospital were ready to operate on 51-year-old Carmen, but because of the shortages of medicines now ravaging Venezuela, they had no stocks of the prosthetic artery that would have saved her life.

For a day, the family enjoyed a glimmer of hope after a nationwide search uncovered one such device, but Carmen needed two and a second one was nowhere to be found. She died two days later.

It is life-and-death stories like these that illustrate the depth of the economic crisis now confronting Venezuela, a crumbling socialist-run petro-state that looks in danger of being tipped over the edge by the crunch in world oil prices.

For Venezuelans like Mr Perez and tens of thousands more awaiting medical treatment around the country, the magic realism of Hugo Chavez’s great Bolivarian socialist revolution has turned to bitter reality less than two years after the former leader’s death from cancer.

More...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/11385294/Venezuelas-socialist-paradise-turns-into-a-nightmare-medical-shortages-claim-lives-as-oil-price-collapses.html

Ignored for months. Now too big to hide. What a disaster. And no one saw that coming. What a socialist train wreck...

[BitMos]

what a surprise ... you did except anything less? btw maybe deport some fanatics there to live the dream...

[grendel25]

It's just like America for the uninsured, pre-"Obama"care.

[saddampbuh]

inadequate healthcare in venezuela its because of socialism, no healthcare whatsoever for hundreds of millions of people in other developing countries its because they are poor, no medical insurance for working class americans its because they are lazy to get better jobs, this is how libertarians think

[Snail2]

inadequate healthcare in venezuela its because of socialism, no healthcare whatsoever for hundreds of millions of people in other developing countries its because they are poor, no medical insurance for working class americans its because they are lazy to get better jobs, this is how libertarians think

It's not because of socialism. BTW during the socialist times in Hungary we had a very good and free (not really free of course, as we had to pay 15% heath care and state pension contribution) heathcare sytem. After switching to capitalism that was privatized and/or stolen and now the standards are much lower than 20 years ago :/. I think poor healthcare in venezuela is because of ignorance.

[bitcats]

It's just like America for the uninsured, pre-"Obama"care.

It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stop at the end.

[Ingatqhvq]

is in understanding why Venezuela's number one trading partner hasn't sent so much as an aspirin or a loaf of stale bread to alleviate any of the suffering there.

[Nemo1024]

is in understanding why Venezuela's number one trading partner hasn't sent so much as an aspirin or a loaf of stale bread to alleviate any of the suffering there.

Are you nodding at Russia? It should have. But I can understand why they didn't. Not long ago Russia wrote off 90% of Cuban debt, after that the debt of Armenia. Before that subsidising Ukraine. Currently Russia uses large state resources to save lives of people in Donbass, who face a disaster of worse proportions as hospitals are in addition shelled by artillery. And in addition *someone* decided to play silly buggers with Russian economy through illegal sanctions. Sending money and supplies to Venezuela would be an additional strain and will not find dues support domestically. Soviet Union, was very glad in helping out and strewing money with zero (and in many cases negative) returns, as many countries, that lives well on Russian money are now in the enemy camp.

If you mean China, there were talks about economic aid from it:
http://itar-tass.com/en/economy/770499

[Wilikon]

inadequate healthcare in venezuela its because of socialism, no healthcare whatsoever for hundreds of millions of people in other developing countries its because they are poor, no medical insurance for working class americans its because they are lazy to get better jobs, this is how libertarians think

It's not because of socialism. BTW during the socialist times in Hungary we had a very good and free (not really free of course, as we had to pay 15% heath care and state pension contribution) heathcare sytem. After switching to capitalism that was privatized and/or stolen and now the standards are much lower than 20 years ago :/. I think poor healthcare in venezuela is because of ignorance.

From 1946 to 1991, healthcare was free and amazing in hungary and everybody was happy. Venezuela is failing because people are ignorant. BUT at least healthcare is free and waaaayyy better in Cuba now and everybody is happy

 

[BADecker]

I wonder how the island of Aruba is faring. Only 12 miles away from Venezuela.

Aruba Says Venezuela Raised Military Pressure on It - http://www.wsj.com/articles/aruba-says-venezuela-raised-military-pressure-on-it-1406594604.

Venezuela confirms shooting down small plane near Aruba - http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/us-aruba-airplane-idUSKBN0L32CN20150130.

[Wilikon]

I wonder how the island of Aruba is faring. Only 12 miles away from Venezuela.

Aruba Says Venezuela Raised Military Pressure on It - http://www.wsj.com/articles/aruba-says-venezuela-raised-military-pressure-on-it-1406594604.

Venezuela confirms shooting down small plane near Aruba - http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/us-aruba-airplane-idUSKBN0L32CN20150130.

Wow... I hope she wasn't in that plane
https://i.imgur.com/HBSw2a2.jpg