Christian K. Caruzo

It has now been two years since the start of the new chapter in Venezuela’s ongoing political crisis.

The ongoing collapse of this country has irreparably damaged people’s ability to partake in Venezuela’s Christmas traditions.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro celebrated his 58th birthday on the 23rd of November with a soirée broadcast by the state’s media apparatus with all the bells and whistles — while his citizens, reaching a new stage of the painful collapse of socialist Venezuela, are forced to chop down trees to use as firewood to cook.

CARACAS – Venezuela’s socialist regime has made it nearly impossible for citizens to renew or obtain new passports – a violation of international human rights law that could leave millions stranded and deprived of identity in the middle of Latin America’s worst-ever migrant crisis.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Presidential elections in the United States are quite the global event, with the power to paralyze news cycles across the globe as everyone waits to see who will sit in the White House for the next four

CARACAS, Venezuela – Ever since its inception, the “Bolivarian, Socialist, Anti-Imperialist, and profoundly Chavista” Revolution has stylized itself as a champion of the downtrodden, a reclaimer of rights for the dispossessed, a voice of the voiceless, and as a paragon of human rights.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Dictator Nicolás Maduro has begun the process to formally allow for the sale of businesses stolen from their rightful owners under socialism, a move he claims necessary in the face of global sanctions on his regime.

CARACAS – The start of Venezuela’s 2020-2021 school year is marred with problems both old and new, and under an ongoing fierce Chinese Coronavirus lockdown that prevents you from leaving the country.

CARACAS – An oil spill has unleashed a wave of devastation onto the shores of Venezuela’s Morrocoy National Park and its mangroves, gravely endangering its fragile ecosystem.

Venezuela is coping with crippling shortages of gasoline and lines so long the socialist government had to outlaw camping for gas.

CARACAS – The first Iranian supermarket in Venezuela has been generating buzz. Sold to us as a “take that, America” joint venture between both “rebellious” nations, it’s further proof of the growing Iranian influence in what’s left of this country.

CARACAS – It has now been four months since the Chinese coronavirus lockdowns began in Venezuela with no apparent end in sight. The Maduro regime recently extended lockdowns again last week.

In this post-collapse socialist Venezuela, bureaucracy has become a monster worthy of a mythological tale and, much like everything else that has systematically collapsed over the past years, it has become ripe for corruption and bribery.

CARACAS – The Venezuelan socialist regime has transformed law enforcement agencies into a many-headed hydra of terror. The global media doesn’t seem to be calling for their defunding or even denouncing their heinous acts with the same fervor as they do to America’s police institutions.

CARACAS – The socialist regime of Venezuela has once again violated the constitution and designated a new tailor-made leadership for the National Electoral Council — a task that, by law, was to be carried out by the opposition-led National Assembly.

Imagine having to submit your biometric data at a gas station, which is then cross-referenced with your nation’s socialist system database, to receive a monthly ration of fuel. Such a dystopian concept is now a reality in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

CARACAS – It has been over a week since the U.S.-based cable company DirecTV ceased operations in Venezuela, unplugging ten million viewers — yours truly included.

CARACAS, Venezuela – By now the world is well aware of the dire state of Venezuela. Photos of violent repressions of protests, of mobs attacking official “president” Juan Guaidó, of the thousands flooding the Colombian border have become commonplace in global media in the past decade.

What if I told you that in the socialist paradise of Venezuela, everyone’s a millionaire?

CARACAS, Venezuela – It certainly goes without saying that the past weeks have been tumultuous and atypical for all of us, and lives have been turned upside down as a result of Coronavirus — Venezuela being no exception.

CARACAS, Venezuela – The late 2000s were a hip time for smug leftists around the world, who were quick to praise the new sweetheart on the socialist housing block: Venezuela.

Given the hostility from the U.S. and other Western countries, foreign allies matter a great deal to Venezuela. Luckily for the regime, a cheap supply of oil also matters a great deal to its allies.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Of all the woes bought upon us by Venezuela’s “Socialism of the XXI Century,” this is the one where my life took the heaviest blow, and the one where the government’s hypocrisy and indolence shine the most.

CARACAS – Venezuela has always had trouble maintaining a functional power grid. I lived in the city of Punto Fijo from 1992 to 1996, blackouts were occasional back then. But those woes of times past are nothing compared to the catastrophic collapse of our power grid that started almost a decade ago.

Venezuela’s freedom of speech was mutilated long ago. It wasn’t done overnight but, rather, carried out through a series of incremental steps that led us to this point.

Venezuela, my home country, has it all: beautiful and breathtaking landscapes, abundant resources, even unique wonders of nature.