Crisis in Venezuela Reaches Apocalyptic Proportions

A woman holds a sign reading 'Hunger' during a demo against the government of Venezuelan P
FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images

The situation in Venezuela has been steadily declining in the past couple of years, but in the past few weeks, it has become so dire and disturbing that scenes coming out of the socialist country are said to mirror the apocalypse.

News reports have surfaced of people having to eat their own pets in order to survive, due to a lack of food in the country.

Currently, 75 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty, a stunning increase from the 25 percent rate just two years ago.

This rapid poverty rate increase is a reflection of the precipitous disintegration of the political and socioeconomic state of the country. On May 13, the current embattled President Nicolas Maduro signed a sixty-day state of emergency decree on TV, then shortly after, accused the United States for ordering a coup against him and his government. U.S. intelligence services predict that it is unlikely that Muduro will finish his term as president.

All of the political infighting within the country has overshadowed the dire situation that the people of Venezuela find themselves in. Local pharmacies and supermarket shelves have been looted and depleted. Meanwhile, the stores that still have food and medicine have lines that go on for days. Food rationing only allows individuals to go to the supermarkets on certain days dictated by government-issued IDs. The government is incapable of providing for the most basic human needs. The videos below shed light on what citizens are having to endure on a day-to-day basis:

However, the threats to the country go far beyond the shortage and rationing of food and medical supplies. Although Venezuela sits on some of the largest oil reserves in the world, it is competently dependent on hydro-electric power.

Nevertheless, the lack of rain because of the El-Nino weather system this year has forced the country into a drought that has resulted in a lack of electricity.

As the food, medical, and electric situation worsens, the social order in the streets is also rapidly deteriorating. There has been clash after clash between protesters and police. The leader of the opposition, Henrique Capriles, has said that the only thing that can change Venezuela is a “social explosion,” noting that “Venezuela is a bomb that could explode at any moment.”

Breitbart News previously reported:

The national anti-socialist opposition, led by opposition members of Congress, have begun an effort to bring Maduro to the polls once again in 2017. Henrique Capriles Radonski, who lost in an election many have argued was fraudulent in 2013, is leading the effort to collect signatures on the group. Through his work, the opposition submitted 600,000 signatures — 200 percent more than the necessary amount to get to the second step of the process — last week, and they are currently waiting for the Venezuelan Election Commission to verify the signatures.

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