Social media are the new public space of the world. We cannot allow private corporations to be the masters of what we can or cannot say online, since that is tantamount to FASCISM. Take this example: This image was deleted by Facebook without any motivation or due process, just referring to what they euphemistically call “Community Standards.” For 7 days they blocked me, removing everything I had published on Facebook, much of it warning of the risk of fascism under Trump. Did Facebook silence me to cover their behinds from retaliation from the president elect? How can we ever know that Facebook is NOT playing nice to Trump, helping him to silence free speech? How can we know that we are not in fascism already? Simple answer: We can’t.
The image that caused Facebook to suspend my account and remove all that I had published, most of which was warning of the risk of fascism under a president Trump.
My conclusion is that every democracy needs a social media ombudsman to prevent fascism, but in the United States it may be too late already. When public space moved from the street to social media, the free speech protections did not keep up. Whoever controls the online space controls what the People knows, believes, and thinks.
Authoritarians like Putin, Maduro, and Trump don’t write laws to control the Internet corporations; they just let them know what they expect and that if they don’t preemptively do what the Leader wants, there will be “consequences.” It’s a brave new world.
The head of a country, the person who represents the country, is called the Head of State. To replace the head of state by illegal means is called a coup d’état. The head of state in the United State is the President. The election of a president is not allowed to involve foreign influence, yet Russia clearly decided the outcome by waging a full scale dirty election campaign, in which the hacking of the Democratic e-mails was just the tip of the iceberg. The Russian involvement was therefore an act of war, since it illegally changed the head of state in another country.
The realization that it was an act of war is crucial, since in war it is unconstitutional to give aid and comfort to the enemy. That is defined as treason. Treason trumps the First Amendment but it only applies in war. Those in the Trump campaign and in media who have spread the Russian propaganda lies, and who have disputed U.S. intelligence in order to get Trump elected, have committed treason, a crime punishable by death.
The base of the Statue of Liberty would make a good place to execute the traitors by firing squad since it would create a powerful imagery and be seen by millions.
While the President weighs the options for how to deal with Russia, he should start by declaring it an act of war so that justice can be made at home. Those who put a kleptocratic fascist in the presidency have to pay a heavy price for their crime. It is not the voters’ fault because they based their decision on what they heard, read, and saw, and that was largely foreign propaganda, as a result of media outlets like FOX News. More than one in that outfit should therefore be charged with treason.
Russia wants a navy base. Period. It’s not a mystery. If you understand that Putin is supporting Assad for the purpose of having a navy base with a harbor that doesn’t freeze in the winter, and that is not cut off from the rest of the world by straights guarded by NATO, then Russia’s behavior becomes totally predictable and understandable.
How do I know this? Easy. Putin said as much. In 2008 if my memory does not fail me, he announced plans for a new oceanic fleet by 2020, with navy bases in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela. Then came the Arab Spring and wiped away Kadaffi in Libya, and created civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
Russia already had a small base in Syria that seemed about to be lost, just like Sevastopol in Crimea would be lost when the treaty with Ukraine expired. Which is why Putin installed his man as president, but he was ousted in an uprising in 2014. So Putin invaded Crimea in order to hold on to Sevastopol. After that victory he turned to Syria and decided to hold on to that base as well, which is why he has backed Assad for a year now. Another stop gap measure has been a cooperation with Iran, using one of their bases in the Indian Ocean.
Libya and Yemen are out of reach now, but Venezuela is un unknown case. The area where the base presumably would be built has been closed off for civilians, and there are a lot of work going on under foreign direction. Not Russian though, but Asian. Tensions have gone high recently when foreign work leaders have pushed local crews beyond what they deem acceptable.
Russia is bombarding Aleppo because Putin wants a navy base in the Mediterranean, and his ticket to that is to keep Assad in power in Damascus no matter the cost. There are moderate rebels striving for a modern state, there are islamic extremist rebels, and there are some ethnic Turks and Kurds. This comes on top of the previous conflict in Iraq with Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds fighting each other, each with their links to kinfolks in other countries in the region.
The most problematic of these circumstances is the Kurdish case. It is the largest ethnic group in the world that does not have a country, a nation state. Their land is split between four countries, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Turkey is helping the moderate rebels in Syria against Assad but their main foe is the Kurds. Apparently the situation is as follows:
There is one factor and one factor only that prevents the West from showing a united front, and it is the Kurdish problem. The fact that Turkey is insisting on subjugating a large tract of Kurdish land.
Turkey would have a lot to win on reconsidering its stance on Kurdistan. They would get more stability, and stability leads to economical development. It could also open the doors for EU membership. Furthermore, it would give them a friendly eastern neighbor that can act as a buffer to Iran, a very useful buffer since there are Kurds on the other side of the border as well, inside Iran. A Kurdistan created with pieces from present Iraq and Turkey would put Teheran on the defensive. By removing this problem from the table, all efforts could be focused on defeating the bad guys in the Levant (a people wanting sovereignty is not a bad guy!). It seems that it’s in Ankara’s interest to reconsider the Kurdish question.
Both Brexit and Trump are reactions to irresponsible politicians. Just like Hugo Chávez was in Venezuela in the 1998 election, for which the people now pay a huge price: Dictatorship, or rather pure tyranny, with Holodomor and Holodolencia (the regime preventing access to food and medicines). But back to Brexit and Trump.
Western Europe and USA are part of the same culture, which since WWII has created a global system in which intervention in other countries is prohibited except as permitted by the UNSC, but due to the veto powers that body rarely allows such moves. This means that the global community protects governments, even in the case of regimes that are un-democratic and lack support among the population. This has given oppressive regimes a free hand to do what they do best: Repress, rob, steal, and deprive people of hope, while holding up a pretty facade in the diplomatic arena. It’s hard to call it corruption when it is the very essence of what they do.
Since the free world has chosen to tie their hands, the people living under oppression and the violence that repressive regimes lead to, have had no other recourse than to flee to the free world if they want opportunities for themselves and their children. From Latin America they risk their lives to come to the U.S., and from Africa they risk their lives to come to Europe. Both regions have chosen to accept these refugees rather than taking effective action to improve things in their home countries.
In Europe it has for decades been politically incorrect to even question the policy of accepting the refugees rather than try to help them achieve freedom of opportunity at home. So people have gotten fed up. That’s how I interpret Brexit and Trump: Both Brits and Yankees are tired of the lack of political will to deal with the real problem, and so they do something desperate that actually can make things much worse.
Look at the countries from which the refugees come. Third world countries tend to have a filthy rich elite and a large poor population that does not have opportunities to get ahead, regardless of education, because of corruption. The wealth of the rich is such that they even can bribe leaders of the free world, and nobody will be the wiser because there is no control or oversight in these countries I’m talking about.
The international system needs to take the focus away from preserving the Status Quo and the sitting government, and focus on getting effective human rights such as freedom and opportunity to the people.
As one example of a policy area where a new tack may be needed I’d like to mention weapons control. The right to rebellion against a tyranny is a fundamental right that predates civilization itself. But the right to rebel is only a chimaera when citizens are denied the right to bear arms. For many years the international community has worked towards limiting international arms traffic to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of criminals, leaving the government in total control. That is good and well, but what about if the government is the criminal, leaving the potential rebels with no recourse? That’s what makes people flee to USA or Europe, because they have no way of fighting back, and the west will not help them in any way, shape, or form.
For 6 years I’ve followed the Venezuelan people’s fight for freedom from the dictatorship that controls their country since 2002, when the military reinstated Chávez as president after a non-violent movement had forced his resignation by peaceful protests. The dictatorship deliberately disarmed the people, and armed criminal gangs loyal to them—the Venezuelan version of Brownshirts, called “colectivos.” In 2014 the colectivos met peaceful protests with guns, for instance. Any rebellion will need to be able to neutralize the armed colectivos, but where to get the necessary weapons? There is no legal way that the rest of the world can help, and apparently no country wants to do it illegally either (since if so, it would already have been done). This leaves the Venezuelan people at the mercy of a regime that denies them food and medicines. Yes, denies: The regime does not allow these things even to be donated from abroad. What recourse does the Venezuelan have? His choices are to starve and possibly die; to fight unarmed against one of the heaviest armed nations in the Western Hemisphere; or to emigrate. Millions have already taken that las option and many of them are now homeless abroad, but at least not denied food.
There is something fundamentally wrong when the international community helps the despots against people with a legitimate right to rebel.
Queda imposible instalar comunismo sin cometer un genocidio. El genocidio está en la fibra de la ideología del comunismo.
El odio es el primer paso al genocidio. Personas adoctrinadas con odio no sienten simpatía ninguna a las víctimas de genocidio u otros crímenes de lesa humanidad. Más bien sienten que lo están haciendo bien torturándoles, dejándoles morir por hambruna.
Los rusos no ayudaron a los ucranianos que estaban muriendo porque los consideraban infrahumanos. Las víctimas no pueden cambiar esa situación apelando a la simpatía, porque los victimarios ya no son capaces de sentir simpatía hacía ellos. Solo hay una respuesta viable, y es luchar por su vida.
Holodomor en Ucrania 1933
Los victimarios solo pueden ser derrotados por la fuerza. Usar fuerza contra los que cometen un genocidio no solamente queda legítimo, sino que es un DEBER. No solamente es un DEBER para el resto del mundo, sino es un DEBER para las víctimas también. Nadie debe dejarse ser exterminado sin resistir hasta la muerte, y provocar el máximo daño posible para el victimario. ¡Confrontación total como un animal rabioso! Solo así se puede llegar a la humanidad de la otra persona – por medio del miedo.
El primer paso de la resistencia es hacerlo bien claro a los victimarios que las víctimas van a defenderse, que aún cuando saben que van a morir, van a provocar el máximo daño a los victimarios primero. De esa manera los victimarios saldrán de su burbuja de sentirse invulnerables, y vuelven a ser como seres humanos. Vuelven a pensar en su propia mortalidad.
Por eso los venezolanos tienen que dejar de tratar de buscar reconciliación con el régimen genocida. Más bien deben enfrentarles con un mensaje desafiante y con símbolos bélicos, para así sembrar miedo, el único antídoto al odio.
Ojo que la manera de enfrentarse a un régimen genocida es muy distinta a la manera de enfrentarse a una dictadura normal, lo cual se combate con lucha no-violenta. Pero contra un régimen genocida la respuesta tiene que ser mostrar los dientes. Son dos situaciones distintas que requieren respuestas distintas.
In Venezuela the regime is executing a deliberate policy of extermination by the denial of access to basic health care and medicines. This leads to a large amount of preventable deaths in many diseases, from tropical fevers leading to death by lack of acetaminophen, to cancer for lack of treatment in the early stages. The deaths are not random but are used as a political tool against dissidents. The regime is also executing a Holodomor, extermination by starvation, but that seems to be less effective, probably because in the tropical climate of Venezuela there can be many harvests a year; unlike Ukraine, where there is only one, and the regime successfully confiscated all seeds during the winter.
I suggest the term “Holodolencia” in analogy with “Holocaust” and “Holodomor”. Holocaust is from Greek and means “all burned”, and Holodomor is from Ukrainian and means “starvation-murder”. The word Holodolencia is created by keeping “holo-” from the previous words for genocide, and adding the Spanish word “dolencia” which means ‘disease,’ ‘illness,’ since the genocide consists of making a not very serious condition lethal by denying basic health care.
The method by which the regime is denying basic health care is as follows: First, declare that health care is a human right that all should have. Second, declare that the government shall be responsible for it, and create a national system but designed to support the regime base only. Third, take control over all imports and manufacturing of supplies to the private clinics, and deny them supplies and medicines so that they gradually stop functioning and have to cease their activities.
At present, the regime is prohibiting the import of medicines, it is actually forcing importers to burn medicines, and it is denying import for humanitarian reasons. Donated medicines that arrive to hospitals are ceased and destroyed. Predictably, the deaths are sky-rocketing. This Holodolencia may be more effective in Venezuela than the simultaneously executed Holodomor.
Venezuela styrs idag av världens kanske ledande knarkkartell. Den sydamerikanska regimen står för en stor del av kokainsmugglingen till Nordamerika, Europa, Mellanöstern och Afrika. Det är också en terroristregim som är lierad med världens ledande terroristorganisationer, från ETA i Spanien till Hezbollah i Libanon. Slutligen är de lierade skurkstater som Nordkorea, Kuba, Syrien, Iran, Ryssland och Vitryssland. Men det värsta med Venezuela är inte det jag nu nämnt, utan det de sysslar med på hemmaplan för att hålla sig kvar vid makten.
Venezuela håller på att genomföra ett folkmord typ “holodomor” (svältdöd) på samma sätt som Josef Stalin gjorde i Ukraina vintern 1932-33. Metoden är att konfiskera jordbruk och livsmedelsproducenter, och att kontrollera all import och distribution av mat. Detta har förberetts under många års tid. Vidare finns lagar på plats sedan åratal som förbjuder transport av mat, och att lagra mat hemma. Folket är därför helt beroende av att regelbundet (varje vecka) fylla på skafferiet. Sedan början av året har regimen nu introducerat det sista och avgörande instrumentet för att genomföra folkmordet genom svält: Selektiv distribution av mat.
Protestmarch i Valencia, delstaten Carabobo, Venezuela igår. Banderollen säger “Maduro bär skulden för hungern” (diktatorn heter Nicolás Maduro Moros).
Selektiv distribution av mat
Detta började i delstaten Yaracuy. Metoden är följande: Först går man dörr till dörr och genomför en “folkräkning”, där man låter hushållets ledare fylla i uppgifter om alla som bor där, inklusive ålder, utbildning, om kvinnorna har mens eller inte (för att veta hur många dambindor hushållet behöver per månad), och om de är aktiva eller inte i kommunistpartiet PSUV. Sedan utses en ansvarig person per gata. När mat, tvål, dambindor, schampo och så vidare kommer så packar denne påsar och delar ut en påse per hushåll ungefär varannan vecka, enligt guvernören för Yaracuy, León.
Men folket i Yaracuy där detta började, kommunen Independencia för att vara exakt, säger nu flera månader efter att detta började, att de ännu inte fått några matpåsar, att de svälter redan. De har förgäves försökt köpa mat, men mataffärerna har stängts av regimen. De har också tagit sig till delstatens huvudstad San Felipe för att söka mat, men bara för att finna att där finns inte heller någon mat att köpa. De har protesterat men mötts av polis som har arresterat dem, och inte släppt dem förrän de lovat att sluta protestera.
Efter att allt detta hände i Yaracuy började samma folkräkning i delstaten Carabobo, och sedan i Guarico. Då en bekant i den sistnämnda delstaten vägrade att ens ta emot formuläret sa de till henne att “om du inte skriver under så får du ingen mat, du har till i morgon att bestämma dig”.
Holodomor i Venezuela
Det råder inte skuggan av tvivel om att regimen i Caracas agerar i akt och mening att genomföra ett folkmord mot oppositionen. Jag kan lägga till ett annat exempel, en video som någon i hemlighet spelade in i delstaten Yaracuy, där en minister först talade om att de skulle bygga ett nytt center för cancervård, och sedan i samma andetag anklagade 5 tusen invånare på orden för att ha röstat på oppositionen i parlamentsvalet den 6 december förra året. Och så sa han, men emfas: “I fortsättningen kommer röstningen att vara övervakad. Gå inte själva att rösta utan vänta tills vi kommer och plockar upp dig, så att vi kan se vem du röstar på. Röstningen kommer att vara övervakad, och den som inte accepterar det får stå för konsekvenserna.”
Till saken hör att det finns vittnesmål om att det finns politiska kommissarier som bestämmer vem som skall får cancervård och vem som lämnas att dö; det är inte upp till läkarna att bestämma vem som får vård eller inte, utan det beror på patientens politiska åsikter.
Vad göra?
I många år har venezolanerna använt icke-våld för att försöka komma ur denna diktatur, och jag har själv följt denna kamp på nära håll sedan över 5 år. Principen för icke-våld är att undergräva stödet för regimen genom att vädja till människors samveten, vilket kräver att bryta igenom propagandan och visa sanningen. Tanken är att vanliga människor inte har resurser för en väpnad kamp, men att i ett normalt samhälle det finns resurser för en ickevålds-kampanj (framför allt kommunikationsmedel inklusive papper och bläck). Men regimen i Venezuela har slagit ner så hårt mot de resurser som krävs i en ickevålds-kampanj så att det blivit hart när omöjligt att bedriva opinionsbildande verksamhet i landet. Det är förbjudet att ta emot hjälp från utlandet, det finns nästan inget papper, maten får inte transporteras eller lagras och är dessutom hårt ransonerad, det är förbjudet att sprida denna typ av information på sociala nätverk eller mobiltelefon, valutans köpkraft är nästan noll, och så vidare. Folkmordet genom svält är denmest desperata taktiken för att slå ner allt motstånd: svältande människor protesterar inte och orkar inte slåss, och om några ändå skulle sticka upp så står regimen beredd med tungt beväpnade brottsliga gäng som inte tvekar ett ögonblick att slakta dem. Dessa gäng har till och med utrustats med svensktillverkade pansarskott typ AT4 från arméns arsenaler.
Ironisk nog, samtidigt som ickevåldets väg har stängts av regimen, så har den gjort våldets väg enklare genom att sprida så mycket vapen i landet. Venezuela är ett av världens 10 mest vapentäta länder vad gäller civila vapen. Det är alltså ungefär lika vapentätt som Sverige, fast medan de flesta vapnen i Sverige är långa och lagliga vapen, så är de flesta i Venezuela illegala handeldvapen.
Den vanligast kalibern bland dessa handeldvapen lär vara 9 mm, följt av 38 Special och 380 ACP, samt den allestädes närvarande 22LR. Många på landet har också hagelbössor i 12 gauge. Antalet legala vapen minskade mycket då Chávez genomförde en kampanj för att minska antalet vapen bland allmänheten. (Senare delade de ut vapen till brottslingar.) Den största svårigheten är att få tag på ammunition eftersom det inte finns någon laglig möjlighet till det. Allt måste smugglas in vilket heller inte är lätt, eftersom grannländerna också har hårda restriktioner. Det finns alltså gott om vapen men ont om ammunition.
När det gäller militära vapen så använde landet förr FN/FAL, med 7.62×51 NATO, men har på senare år köpt en moderniserad version av AK47 med 7.62×39, samtidigt som de beväpnat en numerärt stor men utbildningsmässigt bristfällig milis med urgamla ryska och kinesiska Mosin-Nagant kolvgevär. Detta säger dock inte mycket, för den första försvarslinjen som regimen har är varken polis, nationalgarde eller armé, utan de tungt beväpnade kriminella gängen, knarklangare helt enkelt.
Och därmed återvänder jag till artikelns titel. De som köper kokain i Sverige eller andra länder, hjälper högst sannolikt till att finansiera det nu pågående folkmordet genom svält i Venezuela. Det första som riksdagen och regeringen bör göra är därför att förklara den pågående politiken i Venezuela ett FOLKMORD, samt uttala sin åsikt att folkmordet genomförs för att en knark- och terrorist-regim skall hålla sig kvar vid makten, och därför dra slutsatsen att den som köper knark stödjer folkmord och terrorism. Detta skulle öppna dörrarna för att dels ta i med hårdhandskarna mot alla inblandade, speciellt det finansiella systemet som skyddar deras stulna biljoner, men även att begära att FNs säkerhetsråd ingriper, för sedan år 2005 kan FN ingripa mot ett pågående folkmord med militär makt. Det skulle inte krävas mycket för att besegra den papperstiger som är Venezuela, med riktade aktioner i samarbete med den väpnade motståndsrörelsen.
The people of Venezuela don’t want Maduro as president. In fact, the opposition has been a majority since 2002, but the regime has stolen the elections to hold on to power. In the parliamentary elections on Dec 6, 2015, the opposition won an absolute majority but only because the military threatened a coup d’état if the regime stole more votes than required to hold on to just under one third of the seats.
However, since then the executive has made it abundantly clear that it has no intention of respecting the parliament or the laws it passes, and has ordered the supreme court to strip the parliament of its powers. At the same time the regime continues its blatant violations of human rights, amounting to prima facie crimes against humanity, for instance the butchering on 28 persons in a mining town and the parading of the chopped up corpses in town to saw fear. Witnesses say that this was done by the governor’s police force.
Non-violent struggle could have been effective but it is failing in Venezuela for lack of resources. It is impossible to rally enough people because of lack of basic resources for communication, such as paper and ink for flyers. The rallying cries only reach a small minority, and most of them stay away out of fear. Social media have been stifled too, by a law making it illegal forwarding the messages from the non-violent resistance.
After a decade of harsh punishment for any dissent, the fear is deeply engrained. The punishment is a matter of life or death. Just yesterday an acquaintance died 5 days after running out of medicine. The regime is withholding medicines and urgent medical care from dissidents. This amounts to a genocide of political opponents. A Holodomor by starvation is also being executed, but with less success: The regime has tried to ration the food like Staling did in Ukraine in the winter of 1932, but Venezuela is a tropical country with harvests year-round in less than two months from sowing, so it’s hard to starve its people to death.
One of the reasons why Gene Sharp developed the non-violent method as an alternative was because it would be cheaper and more feasible, lacking access to weapons. However, in Venezuela the regime has managed to all but eliminate the availability of resources for non-violent struggle, while at the same time inundating the country with weapons. It has the world’s highest murder rate, and most of it is by handguns. The slum is full of weapons. They have told me it’s easier to buy military explosives in the slum than it is to buy food!
This combination of utter despair, and the armed struggle being relatively more feasible in relation to non-violent struggle, means that the balance has shifted. The non-violent struggle in 2014 was beat down by hard military force. The Venezuelan people had to make a strategic retreat in order to arm themselves. Unless the regime sees the fiery script in the sky and dramatically changes strategy, war is probably coming to a South American country near you pretty soon.
On the south shore of the Caribbean Sea a totalitarian communist state is new being consolidated. On August 19th, Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro introduced a State of Emergency in five municipalities on the border to Colombia, and closed the border. He also started expelling Colombians from all over the country. Six paragraphs of the constitution were suspended. Apart from the usual four (the inviolability of the home, the right to private communications, the right to freely move about and to leave and enter the country, and the right to peacefully assemble) two more were suspended: The prohibition against using firearms and chemical weapons against peaceful protesters, and the right to do business.
On the night of September 7th, this was extended to three municipalities in the northern end of Zulia state. The following day the regime (using a combination of twitter bots, hired staff and supporters who are being systematically brainwashed in workshops) launched the hashtag #CierreTotalDeLaFrontera (total closure of the border). The next day (today) they launched #NuevaFronteraDePaz (new border of peace), suggesting that peace will be achieved by closing the border.
They conveniently forgot that the violence of the past largely was caused by the regime allowing several Colombian terrorist groups to have their bases on Venezuelan soil (FARC in Zulia state, ELN in Apure state). Furthermore, the smuggling that they want to stop, was carried out with the permission of the armed forces, who charge a fee for each load. In other cases it was the military themselves who did the smuggling over the border, closing it down for a few hours to have the zone for themselves.
Nicolas Maduro is implementing the same policies in Venezuela that Joseph Stalin did in the Soviet Union, and which led to the Holodomor, genocide by starvation.
While this is going on at the border, the regime is also cracking down on the private vendors who have been buying at government stores at regulated prices, and resold it at free market prices. These so-called bachaqueros have been sharply attacked by the dictatorship, accusing them of causing the shortage of regulated products, an accusation that the average Venezuelan does not buy into.
Eighty “bachaqueros” were arrested in Puerto La Cruz, Anzoategui, the other day for “speculation” and their merchandize was seized.
It seems that all except the communists themselves consider the shortage to be caused by the following government policies: The regime confiscating and closing farms so that the domestic production decreased to a trickle; the regime confiscating food production companies and running them in a very inefficient way; the inflation and the unsustainable exchange rate and lack of hard currency, which has meant that farmers and producers are unable to import necessary spare parts and raw materials, thus further decreasing production; and the regulated prices which means that the producers are unable to charge enough to cover the cost of production, thus further decreasing output. All the actions the regime is taking to “solve” this problem are related to distribution (prohibiting transporting food, prohibiting the stockpiling of food, rationing sales, price control), while none is aimed at increasing production of food, or enabling the importation of more food by improving the trade balance.
Venezuela is a narco-oil-state that has been heavily armed by Russia and China, and is backed up by the security services of Cuba and Iran. The leadership has become outlandishly rich by systematically skimming the oil revenues, and by engaging in drug trafficking using the military and other state resources. Just one example, one of Hugo Chávez’s daughters allegedly has a fortune of $4 billion dollars, with a B.
The development of Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro resembles quite a bit the development of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. After a few years under the 1920’s when Stalin allowed “bachaqueros”, they were cracked down on in the early 1930’s. Just like in Venezuela today, people were prohibited from storing food, from transporting food, from traveling, and from doing private enterprise. In the Soviet Union this policy led to the Holodomor with around 10 million dead. In Venezuela the food shortage has been present for years but is gradually deteriorating. The new policies, which allegedly are introduced to solve the problem, instead run the risk of creating a holodomor in Venezuela, if nothing is done to stop this madness.
