Let Us Not Become Veneztralia

Venezuela,  the richest country in South America not so long ago,  is sliding into the abyss of civil war and bloodshed. The shops are empty and astronomic inflation has rendered worthless the national currency,  the Bolivar. Oil production, the economy’s mainstay, is reduce to a trickle and  default on overseas loans is likely. Venezuela’s military, up to its neck in drug-trafficking, has been shooting people on the streets, with 26 are dead by the latest count. The country is in torment and turmoil. Whether one calls the massive protests and demonstratikons a rebellion, a revolution or an insurrection makes no difference; suffering is the same no matter what name you give it.

This tropical country, blessed with abundant fertile soil, an extensive coastline and one of the world’s largest known oil reserves, is motherless broke. People are emigrating in droves to anywhere they can, voting with their feet. The only governments which support the present regime are the usual suspects:…