Letter to the Editor: Helping Out in Venezuela

Venezuela has been in the midst of a severe political and economic crisis for several years, made more complicated by an ongoing leadership conflict between Nicolas Maduro, who won a heavily disputed election in 2018, and Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself president in 2019 using a constitutional provision. We should (and can!) intervene in their situation, at least for now.

The Venezuelan Human Rights Watch reported “credible allegations of government involvement” in human rights abuses against people working in illegal gold mines. According to UNICEF, 3.2 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, along with the number of refugees that have left the country, which has increased by over 8,000%. 90% of Venezuela’s economic growth comes from oil exports. However, it has also been in a state of economic collapse since 2013.

With our current oil crisis after banning Russian oil, and Venezuela’s economic situation, it makes sense that we could help to improve the economy of a collapsing country and help our own supply as well by using Venezuelan oil.  – Kevin Randles