Niagara College staff saddened and angered Venezuela descends into chaos
Canada continues to recognize the crisis the Venezuelan people are in by promising $53 million for humanitarian aid.
“The bulk of the funds will go to trusted partners and neighboring countries to help them support Venezuela and Venezuelans,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a summit meeting in Ottawa on Feb. 4.
According to critics, Venezuela’s embattled president Nicolas Maduro continues to deny the needs of the Venezuelan people to the point where on Feb. 6, Maduro blocked the Colombian border from providing humanitarian aid for the Venezuelan people.
Previously, interim president Juan Guaido, has declared the Colombian border as one of three humanitarian aid entry points.
Maduro has rejected the international humanitarian aid saying “We are not beggars.” His actions have increased the tension in Venezuela as the people’s need for food and medicine rise.
“I do know people who are in that situation (starving and eating garbage from the streets) so it’s really sad knowing their help is so close but they’re not getting it,” says Venezuelan Niagara College staff member, Daniela Vilanova.
“We have a guy that doesn’t even know the basics, and now he’s running a country? We were bad before but that’s when it got worse,” adds Vilanova.
Vilanova isn’t the only Venezuelan in Canada who has strong opinions on Maduro’s government. Roberto Acosta, Venezuelan professor at Niagara College, expressed his views on the issues in Venezuela.
“It’s disgraceful that the government puts ideology before the needs of the people. People are actually dying in Venezuela because of the lack of medicines and this government…decides to block foreign aid coming from all the nations that are willing to help.”
Acosta says many people don’t seem to truly understand what is happening in Venezuela. Democracy in Venezuela has been highjacked by a regime that has become increasingly authoritarian, and it started with a façade of democracy, that has been stripping out Venezuelan society of all their democratic rights.
The Venezuelan people are not fleeing the country just because of a bad economic situation. These people actually fear for their lives. The country lacks food, medicine and basic human needs and people are dying because of that.
“Even if I work here and send them money, they cannot do anything with that. Okay, you have money in your hand but there is nothing to go out and buy with it,” says Vilanova. “It’s really sad to see, to hear stories like that from my parents.”
The Venezuelan people are asking for fair, democratic elections, after the 2013 elections following the death of the previous president.
According to Venezuelan constitutional law, if the acting government is seen as illegitimate, the president of the assembly, which is equivalent to the Congress in the U.S, will have to step in and appoint an interim president until fair elections take place.
This is understood by the Canadian government, the European Union, and various Latin American countries, which is why these governments have recognized Guaido as interim president.
“I’m really glad, really grateful as many Venezuelan Canadians. We are very grateful to what the government of Canada is doing right now to support the restoration of democracy and human rights in our country,” says Acosta.