Venezuela’s crisis is effecting surrounding states Skim

November 23, 2016
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Dominic Ciano
Ms. Castillo
Latin American Politics
November 23 2016

The Venezuelan crisis effects other Latin American States

Who: Venezuelan citizens going across the boarder into Colombia to get food, toiletries, and other basic necessities. Many Venezuelans are going to Colombia as a safe haven and are trying to work there. Many Colombians are upset about this.

Where: The country of Venezuela and the country of Colombia. This particular story takes place in the town of Maicao which is a Colombian city located north and boarders Venezuela. Here in Maicao many Colombian businesses are failing because they made a large prophet off Venezuelans who would cross the boarder to buy luxuries. Now they can no longer afford such luxuries.

Why: Venezuela is going through a horrible economic crisis. There are large protest and people are desperate. For a long time the boarders were closed but now that they are open so many people are trying to flee or just get food. Because of the crisis Venezuela has a huge food shortage. The Venezuelan currency is basically worth nothing right now.

Why is this important: There are several reasons why the is important. The most important point is the people of Venezuela are hungry, they are having a hard time getting food which is horrible for millions of people that they must go to another country to get food. This crisis if affecting surrounding Latin American States. Especially Colombia where businesses could possibly fail and many lower wage jobs are being taken from Colombians. Street crime and prostitution is on the rise in some cities. This shows that the government in Venezuela is currently failing. If things do not get on track soon I believe we will see violence only get worse and we could possibly see people rising and try to take over the current government.

References:
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/11/22/503011843/venezuelans-used-to-cross-borders-for-luxuries-now-its-for-toilet-paper
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2016/10/17/venezuelas-economic-collapse-turns-this-border-stop-into-a-boomtown/
http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/07/venezuela-economy-burst/