Venezuelans’ acute suffering

Prolonged power blackouts that have caused chaos and left many people dead underline the need for swift international action to end the suffering of Venezuela’s impoverished people. As he fights for political survival, the country’s socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, supported by Cuba, Russia and China, has predictably blamed the unprecedented blackouts on a conspiracy led by Donald Trump. It is Mr Maduro, however, who has been cruelly blocking US-led attempts to bring desperately needed humanitarian and medical supplies to Venezuela’s people. A more likely reason for the blackouts and their deadly consequences is an attempt by the regime to feed its anti-US conspiracy theories by stirring popular resentment against Washington.

The scenes of suffering and death are harrowing. Witnesses say doctors and nurses at Caracas’s Supreme Commander Hugo Chavez pediatric hospital used candles and the fading light of mobile phones as they battled to save the lives of premature babies. At least 15 of the country’s 10,200 kidney dialysis patients are known to have died. The fate of others is uncertain.

With inflation at 800,000 per cent in a country whose oil reserves should make it one of the world’s richest, the consequences of decades of clapped-out Cuban-inspired socialism imposed by Mr Maduro and his mentor Hugo Chavez — beloved by leftist groupies around the world — are clear.

Mr Trump, correctly, has led the world in imposing sanctions and other forms of pressure on the Maduro regime. More than 50 nations, including many in Latin America, have followed his lead in recognising the head of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the nation’s legitimate president. Polls show 60 per cent of Venezuelans support Mr Guaido. Massive street demonstrations underline his backing. Mr Maduro has countered with his pointless “anti-imperialist” street demonstrations. He claims to retain the support of the powerful armed forces. As long as that support continues, the change needed to alleviate the nation’s problems is unlikely to occur.