What can we do to help the people of Venezuela?

[SuzzieWithEthics]

It just gets woorse and woorse, can't believe it's still in such a mess :(

99.99% of mumsnet people don't give a fuck about Venezuela

Not necessarily but I know posting on a UK forum when our country is racing at a precipice and their country has closed its borders to aid means that as priorities go, campaigning for our government to do something is shouting in a vacuum and no better than virtue signalling.

When I care about something, I do something about it. Donate money, contact my MP, get involved in charitable works. I don't post on MN declaring everyone on the forum doesn't care. Where's your petition? Where's your template letter to encourage others to contact their MP? Where are your links to charities that are helping?

There's not much to debate. No one will come on here and agree that starving a population is a good thing so you'd only end up with a thread full of handwringing. The reason the Begum threads attract attention is because there are opposing views to discuss however I didn't click on any of those and have on this one to see if you could offer a new insight into what is going on over there

Fair points itsallgone.

Stupid points it's all. You have no idea what I've done

By the same token, you have no idea what 99.9% of MN have done though...

Well seeing as 99.99% have no interest in talking about it then it's a good educated guess that they aren't interested / don't care

No it isnt. Not in the slightest. People do things and have interests they dont necessarily talk about on here, and it's not a situation where discussion on MN has any possibility of impacting the nature of the situation, unlike some of the other examples given.

You've just had a punt, that's all, then got annoyed when someone else did the same.

I think people are more concerned about no deal Brexit, they see the news and think "that could be us soon"

Ridiculous, all the threads on mn make no impact and people are interested in something but don't want to talk about it

I guess the only solution would be to force a revolution/civil war.

Short of military intervention there isn’t much to be done beyond taking refugees. Perhaps an attempt at assassination.

What have you done then OP?

Could someone be kind enough to explain in simple terms what is happening over there and why?
I've only just heard of stories of people starving and people using Venezuela as a example to have a go at Corbyn.
Yes I have tried googling but it's not making sense as I don't know who this president is or what he wants and why he would burn foreign aid?

Fedup top comment on this reddit thread is a pretty good overview www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/aj3mdi/what_is_going_on_with_venezuela_and_the_new/

I have a friend who until a few years ago worked in Caracas. There has always been corruption and an active black market economy, but things have gone down at a catastrophic rate in recent years. There are two issues that have caused the situation:

1. Mass corruption by the government. The current government needs removing, but the opposition is no better. Both are focused on their own gains, whilst the people are left to rot.
2. Intervention from the US. The sanctions applied by the US government have crippled the country. A bad situation made infinitely worse. And their motivation is far from humanitarian.

Who to trust? None of the above. The US are "helping" because they want control, they want their oil. The current and prospective president are both corrupt, neither should be in control.

It's a horrible situation. I don't know what the answer is.

Thank you for the link will have a read

@Micom, that article talks of fixed elections, yet none of the independent observers (from multiple countries) support that assertion.

Nothing, and nor should we try. The Venezuelan people need to learn for themselves that communism doesn’t work, as did the people of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia etc etc.

I think, as shown in this thread, most just don't have any answers to the question. It's very complicated issues and a lot of mixed information has come out.

That alongside feeling overwhelmed not just by not knowing enough to put forward any ideas but knowing there is plenty we don't know, they'll move onto other topics.

People can care and feel they're not in a place to give any ideas or answers.

Ridiculous, all the threads on mn make no impact and people are interested in something but don't want to talk about it

But this just isn't true OP. There are lots of discussions on MN where posting might directly influence people's behaviour.

For example, people mentioned the threads about those of us with supply chain concerns after Brexit. Well, what many of us want is for people to be aware of the potential problems and to get in extra supplies accordingly, and there are people who have obtained that knowledge and made the decision to buy extra as a result of the threads. There are people who post asking for information and get it. I've had good recommendations from here before and acted on them. We know that political parties and politicians keep an eye on what happens on busier online forums like this one, so that would be a good reason for anyone with strong feelings about Shamina Begum to noisily air them since the revocation of citizenship is a decision made to try and garner votes. None of these things are true of the situation in Venezuela. Maduro doesn't have any interns keeping an eye on threads proposing policy changes to see how it goes down with the MN demographic.

That is not to say that every thread on MN has any kind of impact of course. Plenty, like this one so far, do absolutely nothing.

Though if you were actually doing anything re the situation in Venezuela beyond posting about it, this would be your opportunity to communicate that information to others. It wouldn't make a great deal of sense for you to be keeping quiet...

www.mintpressnews.com/roger-waters-slams-richard-branson-fronting-us-trojan-horse-aid-venezuela/255460/

Another perspective worth reading. The bridge that the US claim is being blocked so aid cannot enter Venezuela has actually never been opened.

And for anyone praising Branson, look at his actions against the NHS (and the abysmal services he provides under his many NHS contracts). They might make you rethink his "philanthropic" ways.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/richard-branson-virgin-care-nhs-privatisation-outsourcing-contracts-a8482826.html

It strikes me that there are many many people trying to take advantage of desperate people.

I think people are more concerned about no deal Brexit, they see the news and think "that could be us soon"

Ridiculous!

Stupid points it's all. You have no idea what I've done

And for all your bleating you still haven't declared what you've actually done to help the people of Venezuela or anyone else

Like I said where's the templates to encourage people to write to their MP in a coherent and unified way?

Where are your links to reputable charities that can help people on the ground?

What have you done to try and help those people.

Nothing except berate a bunch of principally UK based women and some men for their apathy when you have zero proof of that apathy.

You know what they say about empty vessels...well you're kind of proving that.

The Venezuelan people need to learn for themselves that communism doesn’t work, as did the people of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia etc etc

Wow!
What an incredible lack of awareness and knowledge.

The current Venezuelan crisis is a perfect example of the economic ineptitude of socialists in government

Also, not a question of aptitude.

@ SuzzieWithEthics

Things are really hotting up in Venezuela now - those poor people, surely there must be an end in sight.
Silence from Jeremy Corbyn surprise surprise.