UNICEF said its regional humanitarian partners – Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago – estimate as many as 4.9 million people — adults and children — will need assistance this year because of the political and economic upheavals in Venezuela that are forcing the country’s citizens to flee
The crumbling health system in Venezuela is worsening every week. After a nationwide electrical shutdown cut power for many days, major hospitals in Caracas continue to face serious problems, including a lack of running water, supply shortages and enough staff to operate properly
U.S. efforts to unseat Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolas Maduro are also aimed at confronting the communist government in Cuba that conservative critics say continues to destabilize its neighbors in Latin America by exporting its failed economic model and fostering political repression
Twittersphere reacts to ongoing Venezulean crisis
The International Monetary Fund would likely require Venezuela to lift price controls and privatize state-owned companies, including the oil and gas company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), in exchange for billions of dollars in aid and loans
Representatives of Venezuela’s interim president, Juan Guaidó, are in Washington organizing aid for their troubled country from many nations. They have raised substantial sums of money, but must still figure out how to get supplies into Venezuela
Soldiers deployed to a bridge connecting Venezuela with Colombia preventing humanitarian aid on the Colombian side, with a tanker and two large trucks getting stuck in the middle of the bridge
Guaido has rejected offers from Mexico’s and Uruguay’s presidents to negotiate with Maduro. Guaido told them in a letter that “to be neutral is to be on the side of the regime that has condemned hundreds of thousands of human beings to misery, hunger and exile, including death.”
Maduro remains dug in, blaming the White House for openly backing what he calls a coup to remove him from power and exploit his country’s vast oil wealth. He retains support from powerful allies, including Russia and China, but is growing increasingly isolated as more nations back Guaido
The U.S. imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela announced this week are part of a larger strategy to both pressure and entice the country’s military to help oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro