Beauty and Ugliness

Dear Foreign Press,

Instead of reporting about the beauty of Venezuelan women why don't you take a closer look at the ugliness of our current political system. Of course, not all of you have been blinded by beauty. Some of you have been actually following the myriads of problems affecting our country this week:

• State sponsored looting of appliance stores. For more information read the report Venezuelan Shoppers Amass Outside Seized Stores.
• Collapsing healthcare system. Associated Press recently published an article about the current crisis in health care where cancer patients are not getting treated because radio therapy machines are broken and there is a shortage of cancer drugs -- courtesy of deranged economic policies implemented by the Maduro government.
• Reigning motorcycle chaos in big cities as reported here by Reuters.
• Crime rate spiraling out of control. Venezuela now has the highest murder rate in Latin America with an average of 53 murder per day.
• Highest inflation rate in the world --well above 50 percent. A sad record, consequence of misguided government policies as well as low and high level corruption linked to currency controls implemented by the government.

Footnote: Last but not least, there is even a disturbing aspect about the bizarre culture of beauty prevalent in Venezuela, a country that seems to be churning out Miss Universes like no other country on this planet. Read the New York Times excellent expose about this subject Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy.