Story by Noel Ramos, Reporter

It seems as though the people of this country are more focused on tide pods than they are on international crises.  Venezuela has been having major problems since last year.  The country that was on the verge of economic and sociopolitical collapse is now attempting to recover.   As of Oct. 2017, about 80% of Venezuela’s people are living in poverty. Children are starving to death because of food shortages.  Health care is depleting because of the lack of everything from important medicines to supplies such as soap and gloves.  Violence and crime has become a part of life for the citizens.  They deal with street crime, kidnapping and stealing on a daily basis.  Protesting has become violent.  People have been run over by tanks, guards are using tear gas and thousands have been arrested.

So, if all this is happening, what is the U.S. doing about it?  Trump has been involved in this crisis, but not in the way you might think.  Sanctions have been placed on many of Venezuela’s leaders because they undermine democracy by supporting the President, Nicolás Maduro.  Because of the many sanctions, an election is being held by April 2018 to prove they are still a democratic country.

The way Trump is handling this situation is interesting and alarming.  He has even considered military action.  There likely will not be troops sent over, however, the fact that this was even considered is scary.  Our sanctions and disapproval of the country has forced them to lean on China and Russia for support.  My question is, if the U.S doesn’t like the authoritarian leader and how the people are handling it, why are we letting them be dependent on nations that we are struggling with ourselves?

It seems as though we are turning our back on a country that needs help.  We are shunning them because we do not like the way their leader is putting on a front.  He says he wants to bring back democracy and is holding elections to prove a point, yet he acts like a dictator. His people are protesting and don’t like him.  If his people don’t like him and neither do we, why aren’t we helping them where we can?

America does have its own problems and we should be dealing with them.  This being said, we shouldn’t put ourselves in a bubble and ignore the rest of the world because we feel like it.  We should, at the very least, be aware of what is happening.  Ignoring problems is never the way to solve them.