Online Videos Of President Maduro Eating Meat With “Salt Bae” While Venezuela Starves

A viral video has surfaced of Venezuelan President Nicolás Marduro dining at a restaurant run by the world-famous Nusret Gökçe, also known as the internet’s “Salt Bae.” Maduro and his wife Cilia were gifted cigars while Gökçe prepared a steak for them at one of Gökçe’s chains in Turkey. This occurred while millions of Venezuelans are starving and living in poverty due to a broken government and a hyper-inflated economy. A Venezuelan university study published in February reports that almost two-thirds of Venezuelans surveyed say they have lost an average of 24 lbs in the past year; 87% were assessed to live in poverty. Maduro was on the way to Beijing in hopes of securing funds for his socialist government, but he returned only having signed several deals regarding Venezuela’s energy sector.

“While Venezuelans suffer and die of hunger, Nicolas Maduro and Cilia enjoy one of the priciest restaurants in the world, all with money stolen from the Venezuelan people,” tweets opposition leader Julio Borges, the former head of Venezuela’s Congress. U.S. Senator of Florida Marco Rubio tweeted, “I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition.” Rubio also shared the phone number of Gökçe’s Nusr-Et Steakhouse Miami location, an action that was met with strong criticism.

As of August 2018, Venezuela’s inflation rate was 100,000%, and is projected to hit 1,000,000% by the end of this year. Rampant inflation has driven up food prices, and has caused Venezuela’s citizens to skip meals, undertaking what is known as the “Maduro Diet.” According to a poll published in The Miami Herald, 30% of Venezuelans say they often eat only once a day, and 78% say they have trouble keeping themselves fed. Simply delivering food is a danger, as food trucks have been attacked and looted.

Venezuela owes this crisis to a key historical weakness: an economy largely dependent on a single commodity—oil. Venezuela’s oil reserves are some of the largest in the world, but in 2003 the country experienced a slump in oil prices. The state-owned oil company PDVSA also went on strike. With around 95% of government revenue coming from oil exports, Venezuela’s GDP fell 27% that year. In response, the government printed more money and set a number of measures (e.g. consumer subsidies) that only encouraged future inflation. The price of oil again plummeted in 2014, and the country further experienced a lack of foreign income. Venezuela could not import the typical number of goods for its citizens, and people were left demanding more goods than were available. To deal with increasing inflation, the Venezuelan government lopped 5 zeroes off the old “strong bolivar,” renamed the currency, and raised the minimum wage more than 30 times. These actions, along with others, made it impossible for producers and employers to make a collective profit, which weakened the economy and overall infrastructure.

Water and power shortages have become common, which proves a serious problem for hospitals. Deaths are rising and birth rates are falling. In 2015, 600,000 children were born; a year later, 561,000—that’s a drop of 6.5%. There has been a resurgence of guerrilla military groups, with multiple violent attacks. These events have caused Venezuelans to flee, in what the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs calls “one of the largest population movements in Latin American history.” BBC reports that 2.3 million people have left the country since 2014. Many have flooded into Colombia, as well as Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. This population movement has become a full-blown refugee crisis, bringing with it serious health problems: diseases are plaguing Venezuelan masses as they move away from urban areas into squatter communities.

On September 27, 2018, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, and Canada submitted their request to the International Criminal Court to investigate Venezuela for crimes against humanity. These crimes date back to 2014 and include torture, arbitrary detention of political opponents/protesters, and 8,000+ extrajudicial executions. Colombian President Ivan Duque called on the world to help end the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, stating, “[T]he end of the dictatorship, the return of democracy and outright reform is the only possible path. The world must act and come together so that this tragic exodus comes to an end and so that hope can flower again [in Venezuela].”

An investigation might result in the U.N.’s “responsibility to protect,” or a pledge by U.N. member states to prevent such crimes against humanity. The United States has already acted by sanctioning 4 Venezuelan officials, including Venezuela’s First Lady, Cilia Flores. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the U.S. “will continue to impose a financial toll on those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline, and the networks and front-men they use to mask their illicit wealth.” President Trump has suggested that military intervention might be necessary.

Years of government neglect have resulted in a massive human rights crisis that is earning international attention. Millions of people are starving, homeless, and scared. Meanwhile, Maduro dines on expensive steak approximately 10,000 miles away. The Venezuelan government must pay attention to its citizens, adopt sound economic policies, and patiently do the work necessary to rebuild a broken country. Millions of lives are at stake.

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