Venezuela in humanitarian emergency

A slow and progressive deterioration of the economic apparatus, as well as the capacity of the State to meet the basic needs of the population, endangers the survival of Venezuelans, especially the 51% who are part of the strata in greatest poverty. The government has been exceeded in its ability to deal with this scenario, so it will be imminent to accept international cooperation if you want to prevent further suffering, experts say. More than 4 million people without access to medicines, 1 million children under 3 years of age who do not eat as required, the increase in maternal and infant mortality figures and the massive displacements at the borders are evidence of a crisis that the government denies

Plunged in deep economic, political and health crises or devastated by violence, 17 countries will require the assistance of the international community in 2018. Venezuela is the only Latin American nation that makes up this list, which includes mostly African countries and in the Middle East, such as Libya, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, according to a report that was presented earlier this month by the non-governmental organization Acaps, which specializes in the analysis of the scenarios that characterize humanitarian emergencies.

In the Venezuelan case, the ONG bases its diagnosis on a review of the events that occurred in 2017, an explosive cocktail in which hyperinflation converges, the fall in economic income, the restriction of access to basic services, the erosion of democratic institutions and repression against public protests. For the next year, the survival of the population will be even more compromised, they say, due to the decomposition of government institutions, the worsening of economic conditions and the growing insecurity.

While the deterioration worsens and becomes evident to the observers, the government of Nicolás Maduro is still determined not to recognize it. "Venezuela is a thriving, hardworking country, it is not a country of beggars as some have claimed with humanitarian aid," the president said during a recent broadcast of his Sunday television program.

The specialist in food management Susana Raffalli, adviser of Cáritas de Venezuela, corrects the misunderstanding: when talking about humanitarian action is not talking about alms or solidarity, but a body of knowledge and actions that must be activated when damage occurs mass to the health and integrity of the population and human lives are lost.

"The food crisis became a humanitarian crisis when the first child died from malnutrition," he says. At this moment, in the scale of criteria that define this type of situation, the country has gone from the crisis to the humanitarian emergency, which is characterized because, in addition, the State lost the capacity to respond and assist those affected, that makes international aid urgent.