Pain and Abandonment in Venezuela
The cook and the cleaner prepared to go home, leaving the men to put themselves to bed by 6pm, before dark. There were no light bulbs left in the entire residence. But the cleaner explained that it was not the dark that prompted them to go to sleep early. It was to make it easier for them to forget their hunger. In countries undergoing an acute economic crisis, like Venezuela, the very young and the very old are the most vulnerable. At least children are given priority by international aid organisations; no one seemed to remember that these older citizens existed.
A lot of Al Jazeera viewers were as heartbroken as we were when they saw our story, and wrote to ask how they could help. But it was impossible by then to wire money into Venezuela because of the financial sanctions imposed by the US government on the Maduro government. Venezuela has become a country where only the fittest survive – and the residents of Hill of Hope are not among them.
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