People In Socialist Venezuela Killing Flamingos And Dogs Just So They Can Eat

Thank God we didn't elect Socialist Bernie or Communist Hillary! I really don't believe I'd like the flavor of flamingo or dog, thank you very much.

Venezuelans killing flamingos and anteaters to stave off hunger amid mounting food crisis



February 10, 2017

Venezuela’s food crisis has gotten so bad that people are apparently killing pink flamingos and other protected animals in order to stave off hunger.

While flamingo hunting is both illegal and uncommon in the South American nation, investigators from Zulia University in the northwestern Venezuelan city of Maracaibo have noted at least 20 cases of bird carcasses being discovered with their breasts and torsos removed.

And flamingos aren’t the only unusual animal to become a victim of Venezuela’s worsening food crisis. Remains of everything from dogs and cats to donkeys and even giant anteaters have been found in garbage bags at city dumps around the country.

“Sometimes we only find the animal’s heads, guts and legs. We used to see this very little in the past, but this practice is now out of control and on the rise,” Robert Linares, a Maracaibo waste disposal worker, told the Miami Herald. Linares added he recently found on the street the remains of a dog that had been skinned and dismembered.

The once-wealthy oil producing nation has fallen on hard times since Nicolás Maduro took power following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chávez in 2013. A drop in global oil prices has crippled the country’s economy and Venezuela has been plagued with the worst inflation rate in the world, close to 700 per cent last year, according to International Monetary Fund.

The collapse of the country’s economy has made it difficult to import basic goods such as food and medicine, created acute shortages and stirred deep-seated anger toward Maduro. A recent study conducted by three universities found that in 2015 87 percent of Venezuelans didn’t have enough money to buy sufficient food for their families.

The lack of food has even earned its own nickname: “The Maduro Diet.”

“We find these killings grotesque, but how can we be critical of someone who hunts a pigeon, a dog, a cat or any animal because he or she is hungry?” Doris Rubio, CEO of the Venezuela-based Animal Protection Association, said to the Herald. “People used to hunt lizards for sport. Now they do it out of necessity.”

Researchers in Venezuela warn that eating animals that are not raised for the purpose of consumption – whether that be a wild flamingo or a stray dog – is extremely dangerous to people’s health as they could possibly host bacteria and viruses that could be deadly.

“In France, they eat horses and in China they eat dogs and cats, but after being raised according to sanitary programs," Hugo Hernández, a veterinary sciences professor in University of Zulia, said. "In our country, these animals are being hunted in the wild or in the streets and cannot be consumed by humans."

In Venezuela, two pounds of sugar or corn flour cost about 7,800 bolivares, or $2 dollars, on the black market, while two pounds of good meat goes for about 10,000 bolivares. Adding these three items together results in a cost that is around half of the country’s official monthly minimum wage of 40,000 bolivares, or $11 dollars.

Besides killing “vulnerable” animals, many Venezuelans have taken to scavenging for discarded items of food to supplement their diet – a move that had previously only been done by the country’s homeless and mentally ill population.

Adding to the overall misery is a drastic rise in violent crime, especially in the capital city of Caracas, rolling blackouts and widespread and often times bloody protests against the government. There have been casualties and deaths on both sides of the protests and accusations from the international community of human rights abuses and political oppression.

“The pressure that Venezuelans face every day is tremendous because of all the uncertainty,” Sonia Schott, the former Washington, D.C., correspondent for Venezuelan news network Globovisión, told Fox News. “Nobody knows what will happen the next day.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...ave-off-hunger-amid-mounting-food-crisis.html

 

So you think President Trump ought to wear shades. Oh, well.

 

I hear fat people like trump have trouble passing things, even on a golden throne. If he pushes too hard, he might rupture something.

 

And I hear democrats have trouble living in reality!

 

Ahhh, the Socialist paradise that is Venezuela.

Venezuelans lead in US asylum requests as crisis deepens



February 12, 2017

New data shows Venezuelans are leading asylum requests to the United States for the first time, as the middle class in the country are fleeing the crashing, oil-dependent economy.

The U.S. government's Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that 18,155 Venezuelans submitted asylum requests last year, a 150 percent increase over 2015 and six times the level seen in 2014.

Data showed China in second place, with 17,745 requests coming from the country’s citizens.

In 2014 a large number of Venezuelans sought asylum following months of protests seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

A large surge in applicants took place since late 2015 after the opposition took control of congress in a landslide election, giving hope to many that it could disrupt 17 years of socialist rule. Instead of reaching out to his opponents, Maduro retrenched and Venezuelans began to uproot as triple-digit inflation pulverized salaries and widespread food and medicine shortages made life unbearable for many.

A large number of the asylum seekers are middle-class Venezuelans who don’t qualify for refugee status reserved for those seeking to escape political persecution, according to Julio Henriquez, director of the Boston-based nonprofit Refugee Freedom Program.

"The pace at which requests are increasing is alarming," said Henriquez, whose group obtained the still-unpublished data in a Feb. 8 meeting between U.S. officials and immigration lawyers. "It's not just worrisome that so many people are escaping the terrible situation in Venezuela but also that the practice of sending asylum-seekers with poor advice and false proof is proliferating."

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s estimate of visa overstays, Venezuela became one of the top 10 countries whose citizens overstayed their U.S. visas during the fiscal year in 2015.

Venezuelans seeking U.S. asylum represent a small share of the overall Venezuelan immigrant population, some of whom have made their home in the U.S. for decades.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...-in-us-asylum-requests-as-crisis-deepens.html