As we who have been paying attention to life beyond our national election circus, Facebook and Pokemon Go know, Venezuela has been slowly imploding for the last couple of years. I’ve posted about it HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
 
But there’s barely been a peep from the mainstream media. Guess they don’t want the sheeple to get a good hard look at socialism-on-steroids. It’s not a pretty sight ~
 
 
• the highest inflation in the world (it takes an average worker a year and a half to earn enough food for a month!)
• a crisis in medical care
• toilet paper shortages
• food lines with 12 hour waits – disrupted by the occasional riot
• no choice in what and when you eat
• restricted areas – journalists and reporters aren’t allowed access (wouldn’t want the really ugly truth to get out)
• hopelessness and despair

 
It gets worse. Just last Thursday (July28th): Venezuela’s socialist government adopted a forced labor law ~

President Nicolás Maduro signed a decree at the end of last week that gives powers to the labor ministry to order “all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how” to join a government drive aimed at increasing food production.
 
They can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a 60-day period that can be extended for another 60 days “if the circumstances require it.”

Sounds like Maduro’s well on his way to turning his country into the next North Korea!

 
As John Sexton writing at Hot Air explains ~

(S)ocialism has been a disaster for Venezuela. The latest attempt at central economic planning is reminiscent of the Soviet Unions five year plans in the 1920s and 1930s. The difference here is that Venezuela is working on 60-day plans because, with inflation already in the triple-digits, it’s hard to imagine how the country could continue for another five years unless something changes.
 
One survey found that about half of Venezuelans can no longer afford to eat 3 meals a day. Dumpster diving for food, food riots and cross-border grocery shopping have become facts of life in the country. Today the BBC published a story explaining just how dire the hunger situation in Venezuela has become:

Update: 9-25-16 ~ Just noticed this video was pulled- by Hernandez. Awfully suspicious considering Venezuelan authorities are not especially fond of journalists critical of the regime ➡ Venezuelan journalist arrested after reporting on protest
 
[Here’s more from Hernandez at the BBC website – including a short video in which police ordered him to stop filming]
 

When the government is in charge of everything you get equal misery for all (- except of course for the elite). The poor animals suffer too ~ More Than 50 Animals Starve to Death in Venezuela’s Zoos as the Nation Endures Devastating Food Shortages ~

Marlene Sifontes, a union leader for employees of state parks agency Inparques which oversees zoos, told Reuters that the zoo lost Vietnamese pigs, tapirs, rabbits and birds after the animals went weeks without eating. Others animals at the zoo are in danger of severe malnutrition. Lions and tigers, which should be on a carnivorous diet, are being fed mango and pumpkin just to get something in their empty stomachs, while an elephant is being fed tropical fruit instead of its usual diet of hay, the union leader said. According to one report, the big cats are being fed slaughtered thoroughbred racehorses from a nearby race track […]
 
The situation is very grim for the humans in Venezuela, so it’s no wonder that animals are not being properly cared for. The situation is even worse for animals outside the capital […]

 
(T)he people of Venezuela regularly go without food and many have begun hunting dogs cats, and pigeons so they can feed their families. And last week prosecutors say someone broke into the Caracas zoo and stole a horse that they later butchered for food.

Maybe this tragedy will finally get the attention of the network news folks and inspire them to report on Maduro’s utopia. After all, lefties do tend to care more about animals than their fellow human beings.
 
On the other hand, perhaps they’ll get around to it after the election. Wouldn’t want the sheeple to get the wrong idea about socialism before then.

 
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Related:
Update 8-5-16: A quick but effective reminder that ~
Socialism kills: Forced labor in Venezuela ~