Well, we’re still playing catch up with current dispatches of madness courtesy of the “Glorious Bolivarian Revolution” so we will have to put off our “The Real War” segment from Venezuela : Down The Rabbit Hole but I assure you,as always, it’s worth the wait. Now let’s get started…

 UN News reports that sanctions are hurting Venezuelan cancer patients. This story demonstrates the anti-US bias at the UN on behalf of the worst the world has to offer (You know who they are). As we’ve said before, in order to believe that lifting sanctions would help the Venezuelan people you need to believe that Chavismo would use any money freed up by sanctions relief to help the general population which hasn’t happened yet and they’ve had 22 years of opportunities.

 I thought I would have to go to the archives to get an example of Chavismo’s disdain for the average Venezuelan but wouldn’t you know…there was a story in the same news feed that illustrates my point exactly. Caracas Chronicles reports that Venezuela’s Prosecutor General has formalized the allocation of three million dollars to military hospitals which includes some supplies JM de los Rios Hospital (not a military hospital) had demanded for their patients. Buying the loyalty of the military is far more important than helping the general population. ( the same principle as shipping gasoline to Cuba when they can’t supply their own people) Do you believe they care at all about the welfare of the Venezuelan people?

 Hungry for more news from the misery capitol? How about CENDAS releasing their monthly food basket figures. The monthly food basket number is how much it would cost to buy enough food to feed a family of five for a month. That number came in at 928,333,143 bsS (Bolivares Soberanos). I know…I know…numbers are so insane coming out of Venezuela it’s hard to figure out what they mean. Maybe this will help. To feed that family of five for a month you would need over 132 Monthly Minimum Wages!!!

 Our next two stories are related. First, Telesur (Chavista Media) reports that VP Delcy Rodriguez calls for talks with the private sector to boost production (announced at a meeting with Venezuela’s equivalent of a Better Business Bureau). The Chavistas do this in one way or another about once a year. “How can we help you do better?” then they follow through with zero of the recommendations.

 That story was reported the same day that the World Bank rated Venezuela the worst country in Latin America and the second worst in the world in which to do business.

 And in the ongoing saga of Venezuela’s bond defaults the US Treasury Department granted an extension to prohibit holders of  PDVSA 2020 bonds from seizing the assets of CITGO, just about the only thing of value left in PDVSA. They are trying to drag this out long enough so if there is regime change there will be something left of PDVSA to build upon.

 Oh, and in case you missed it, Epoch Times reports more Venezuelans were picked up by Border Patrol in Del Rio,Texas. Further proof the Venezuelan Exodus continues. Look out Syria!! Venezuela may catch you this year for the #1 spot in refugees.

 CEPAZ reports that there were 434 acts of political persecution and criminalization by the Maduro regime in the 1st quarter of 2021. And even in Argentina they’re beginning to wonder what the hell is going on with Venezuela. The Argentinian Chamber Of Deputies (representatives) is now questioning the Argentine government’s silence in condemning Venezuela. I don’t know what the big mystery is. As soon as the socialists got back in power the opposition to Chavismo came to a halt as many of those in power are friendly with Maduro.

 In the “somebody should say something” category, the Venezuelans continue to try to raise awareness to their plight on many levels. Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social reports there are, on average, 19 protests a day in Venezuela. You gotta’ admire their staying power (if you can say that about a country where almost six million people have fled).

 And speaking of protests, teachers protested outside the Education Ministry saying the 120% wage increase is only $15. Remember, inflation projections for this year fall between 2,000 – 2,600%.

 Just to keep things in perspective the black market exchange rate for the bolivar hit a new high of 4,000,000 bsS per dollar. The monthly minimum wage is 7,000,000. You do the math.

 And the hits just keep on coming. The Venezuela Observatory of Finance reports Q2 economic activity was down 3% and that between 2013 and 2020 economic activity was down 83%. This is beyond recession,beyond depression. It’s… well… it’s beyond words.

 But have no fear, Rigzone reports PDVSA says they will triple output by the end of the year and highlighted they are using condensate they are currently offloading. Is that the same shipment nobody knows where it came from? The one with the transponder turned off since it’s last port of call in Sri Lanka? Is that really the answer?

 In the better late than never category we have the UK sanctioning Alex Saab. What’s interesting is that Reuters refers to him as “Maduro Envoy Alex Saab” not disgraced businessman Alex Saab currently sitting in the slammer awaiting extradition to the US from Cape Verde. Maduro gave him the Envoy tag before he left in case he needed to claim diplomatic immunity somewhere, which he did,and which was thankfully laughed off.

 STOP THE PRESSES!! Just kidding. BNN Bloomberg reports “Venezuelans endure day long waits to fill gas tanks!” How is this a headliner? It has been like that for a couple of years now although they still manage to send gasoline to Cuba.On one occasion when they didn’t have gasoline to send they paid for a drop-shipment sent directly to Cuba. (at the same time bemoaning how they had no money for food and medicine due to sanctions?)

 We should be back to our standard format of half current news and half Down The Rabbit Hole tomorrow but these last two days of just current news got me thinking (uh oh). The last two days of horrendous bad news about Venezuela is from only five days of my news feed. Having lived there for twelve years I can tell that this is more or less the norm, what Venezuelans face every day. That is the reason I like to give you a bit of the past when I can and balance this out with the present. Every day Venezuelans are starving, dying,and or being killed under Chavismo and it has been going on for a long time.