At this point in the Venezuelan crisis, many of the men have already gone ahead in search of work. Their families now follow. Children drag luggage behind them. Mothers carry babies or cranky toddlers. Their clothing is generally unsuited to a trek in which temperatures start in the high-90s but dip into the low-40s in the mountains. Many make the long walk in flip-flops or Crocs.

Along the route are a string of way stations, run and supported by organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Oxfam, Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision (my host). A station called El Diamante, sponsored by a local Catholic church, is helping 300 to 400 walkers a day, providing hot food, bathroom facilities, and temporary shelter.

“There is no work and no food [back in Venezuela],” one woman resting at El Diamante told me. “I can’t buy diapers or milk.” Another added, “I came here because I suffer from diabetes and can’t find any medicine there.” A man holding his child explained to me, “My son didn’t have anything to eat. I need to fight for him.”

The president of World Vision U.S., Edgar Sandoval, lived in Venezuela as a teenager. “People all over the world came to Venezuela looking for a better life,” he told me. “I still keep in touch with some people in the country. Access to water is an issue. Some make several trips a day with a wheelbarrow to get water for their needs. Malnutrition among children is a significant issue. I know of kids who are 2 years old and not walking or talking. That’s when desperation sets in.”

Venezuela is now a world leader in the production of desperation. In the early 2000s, socialist strongman Hugo Chavez created a system, funded by oil revenues, in which food, education, and health care were all essentially free. Salaries were small but were mainly used for extras, not essentials. When the price of oil crashed, so did the system of subsidies. Poor and middle-class Venezuelans were left only with their salaries, paid in a local currency that hyperinflation rendered essentially worthless. Some products are still available, but only when purchased in U.S. dollars.

So: The minimum wage in Venezuela is now worth about $6 a month, while one kilo of cornmeal (around two pounds) costs about a quarter of that amount. Add to this the rolling blackouts, and hospitals without gauze or painkillers, and no propane for cooking, and chronic shortages of toilet paper and hygiene products. And add to this a regime that stays in power through brutal oppression, enforced by the national guard and deputized street gangs called “colectivos.” The result is a country that more than 4 million refugees have chosen to flee.

The recently reopened Simon Bolivar International Bridge in Cúcuta is where most refugees walk out of Venezuela. Those fortunate enough to get remittances from relatives abroad can pick up dollars at the Western Union on the Colombia side and pay for a bus trip to their destination. But the very poor are left to walk through the mountains or subsist by begging or petty smuggling across the border.

At the Colegio La Frontera, a public school in Colombia that mainly serves Venezuelan students, I met a refugee named Jheyde, a bright, confident, outspoken girl of 13. With support from World Vision, she now doesn’t miss a day of school. But she spent years working at odd jobs along with her mother. Jheyde once sold cuttings of her hair for use in wigs. She recalled smuggling pineapples and being forced to pay bribes if caught by the police or the colectivos.

This is what the Venezuelan experiment in Chavism has become: the employment of armed thugs to extort impoverished little girls. A better future will require an end to the Venezuelan regime’s cruelty, corruption, and incompetence. But in the meantime, the humanitarian emergency is acute and expanding. Aid organizations are operating at the limit of their resources. And the walkers continue their difficult journey.

Michael Gerson’s email address is michaelgerson@washpost.com.

Source: https://www.hutchnews.com/news/20190619/venezuela-is-world-leader-in-production-of-desperation

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• Iran has pressed on with its ballistic missile programme after reining in much of its nuclear programme under a 2015 deal with major powers
• Iran has developed several types of ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3,000 kilometres

JEDDAH: Two launch units for anti-tank guided missiles recovered by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen were manufactured in Iran, according to a confidential report to be discussed by the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

“The Secretariat found that they had characteristics of Iranian manufacture and that their markings indicated production dates in 2016 and 2017,” UN Secretary-General Antonio said in his biannual report to the Security Council on the implementation of sanctions on Iran.

“The Secretariat also examined a partly disassembled surface-to-air missile seized by the Saudi-led coalition and observed that its features appeared to be consistent with those of an Iranian missile,” Guterres said.

A UN resolution that took effect in January 2016 prevents Iran from importing or exporting arms or related military material without explicit approval from the Security Council.

Guterres also said the UN had examined the debris of three ballistic missiles fired at Saudi Arabia on March 25 and April 11, 2018, and found “specific key design features consistent with those of the Iranian Qiam-1 short-range ballistic missile.”

He said the UN was “still working on establishing the production date range of guidance subcomponents with the assistance of the foreign manufacturers.”

In his June report, Guterres said debris from five missiles fired at Saudi Arabia by the Houthis since July 2017 “share key design features with a known type of missile” manufactured by Iran and some components were manufactured in Iran.

Saudi Arabia has consistently argued that, despite denials from Tehran, Iran supplies arms and ammunition to the Houthi militias in Yemen, including parts for ballistic missiles that target Saudi cities. The UN report is further evidence to support the Saudi argument.

The US has unsuccessfully tried to persuade the UN to hold Iran accountable for meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. In February Russia vetoed a Western attempt to have the Security Council criticize Tehran in a resolution on Yemen.

Iranian weapons are smuggled into Yemen through the port of Hodeidah, a key sticking point in UN-brokered talks on Yemen taking place for the past week in Sweden.

The UN proposed on Tuesday that both sides in the conflict withdraw from Hodeidah and place it under the control of an interim entity.

The two sides also exchanged lists of about 15,000 prisoners for a swap. The exchange will take place via Houthi-held Sanaa airport in the north and government-held Sayun airport in the south, overseen by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1419021/middle-east

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Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA). Reuters

The United Nations has warned of death due to famine in war-torn Syria.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock announced Wednesday that if a ceasefire was not implemented in Syria, “we will soon see even more people dying from starvation and disease than from the bombing and shelling.”

In his report before the UN Security Council in New York, Lowcock said that Syria has not witnessed any actual improvement in the humanitarian situation since it demanded a cessation of hostilities, without delay, for at least 30 consecutive days throughout Syria.

He reiterated the International Committee of the Red Cross’ assessment that it is impossible to deliver humanitarian aid in five hours, noting that it often takes convoys with all the required clearances a day just to get through checkpoints.

On the other hand, civilians in eastern Ghouta refused, on the second day of the short Russian cease-fire, to leave through the “humanitarian corridor,” which was established by Moscow in light of the exchange of accusations between the regime and Russia on the one hand and the opposition on the other hand about the reasons behind the never ending humanitarian crisis.

Although the UN Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution demanding a comprehensive cease-fire in Syria, “without delay,” Russia announced on Tuesday a daily “humanitarian” truce in Eastern Ghouta, which lasts only for five hours.

According to AFP, the air strikes and clashes that killed 600 civilians in 10 days have dwindled since the Kremlin announced the five-hour halt in bombardment.

“The humanitarian corridor is open to all those who wish to return to the fold of the homeland, but so far nobody came and this is the second day,” said a military officer at a checkpoint.

“The terrorists are impeding those who want to cross, either by putting pressure on them or by firing on the humanitarian corridors,” the military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The truce was meant to last three days. It could be extended, but why go on if there are no results,” he said.

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Source: https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1190721/un-warns-more-people-would-die-starvation-syria

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