 If bienvenidos to Hispanic Hawaii, I'm Richard Concepcion, your host. Today's program is about the country of Venezuela. Venezuela is located in South America, and used to be the richest country in Latin America. But today, Venezuela is falling apart due to the political, social, and economic crisis that is affecting the government and the people in Venezuela, the regions within the area of Venezuela, the United States, and the Venezuela residents here in Hawaii. To help us to understand what is happening in Venezuela, we have our guest, Tania Molina. Bienvenidos and welcome to Hispanic Hawaii. Thank you. Thank you very much for the invitation, Richard. I appreciate this opportunity to express what is happening in Venezuela at least for a few times. Well, let's start by telling me a little bit about yourself. How long you've been a resident here in Venezuela, and how the situation in Venezuela is affecting you and your family? Well, I have been here in Hawaii in the island since December last year. So I have around seven months already. And the situation is so terrible in Venezuela. And of course, my life is no normal anymore since the situation is starting in April. And so my family is in protest every day. And I have been trying to support them from here. And I'm worried all the time about what is happening there. I keep 24 hours just looking in the media, in the social media, and in Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, trying to find information. Because sometimes I know first what is happening in Venezuela here than my family. So I try to keep them informed and warning them what is happening there. Because the censorship of the media in Venezuela, the TV stations and the radio stations, they cannot tell what is happening in Venezuela. So I try my best for keeping informed and have or handle the major information that I can so I can keep warning them and my friends and family. So here in Hawaii is roughly about 122,000 Latinos. I know you have a Facebook page for Venezuela in Hawaii. Do you know roughly how many Venezuelans are part of the website or how many of those live in Hawaii? Well, in the website there are around 57 people. And for the next election, the consultant that we are going to do next 16 of July, I am meeting now like a census of the people that is living right now in Venezuela in Hawaii from Venezuela. And there are around 28, 30 people that they are going to express on the next Sunday and they are living right now here in Venezuela. It's around 30. Maybe there are more, but so far the information that I have is just 30, but it must be more Venezuelan. Okay, this is a small group. So how did Venezuela get to this point? They are the richest country in Latin America, they had the most oil reserve in the world, but they had the worst crisis, not only political, social and economic. And in order for us to understand what has really happened in Venezuela, we are going to show you a video so people can get an understanding of what is happening in Venezuela. Venezuela used to be the richest country in Latin America, but now it's falling apart. If you've turned on the news lately, you've probably seen stories about protests, food shortages and massive inflation. So how did Venezuela go from this to this? Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and oil exports make up over 95% of the country's income, meaning if it doesn't sell oil, there's no money to spend. On top of that, Venezuela hasn't been taking good care of its oil facilities and the state-run oil company hasn't paid its subsidiaries. So these companies started producing less oil, a lot less. The oil price has also plummeted, which leads us to the next problem, how Venezuela uses its money. Noticed this claim, Nicolas Madura and his predecessor Hugo Chavez ran the country to the ground. In 1998, Chavez launched a political revolution with a new constitution and socialist economic and social policies, all boosted by high oil prices. He started redistributing land and wealth. He nationalized oil, finance, agricultural and industrial companies. He fixed prices and devalued the exchange rate with the US dollar. These policies helped a lot of people, but with less money coming in, the system collapsed by the time Madura took over. Now the country is down to its last 10 billion dollars, of which 7.7 billion are in gold and can't be spent in a hurry. And it owes roughly 7.2 billion an outstanding debt this year. Because of all this, the country's currency, the Bolivar, has lost 99% of its value in the past five years. So for example, $100 of currency in 2012 would be worth just 20 cents in 2017. Inflation reached an all-time high with 800% in December 2016. And the IMF estimates it will go up all the way to 1,134%. Let me visualize that. That means that a liter of milk that may have cost $1 before could end up costing roughly $11 by the end of this year. In a country where 80% of people live in poverty, that's just not affordable. And it makes things especially hard if you're a country that gets most of its food from abroad. Food and supplies have become so scarce as a result of inflation and price controls that are being sold on the black market instead of in stores. With a large part of the country on the brink of starvation, food trafficking has become the biggest business in Venezuela. So Maduro put the military in charge of managing the country's food supply. But an AP investigation found that the military runs its own black market and takes bribes from food importers. To be fair, there were shortages under Chavez, too. But under Maduro, they became even greater. So great, in fact, that three quarters of Venezuela's adult population lost an average of 8.7 kilos in the past year. People also have trouble getting their hands on life-saving medical supplies. The country is lacking roughly 80% of basic medical supplies, leading to drastic consequences. Venezuela is in the middle of a vicious cycle of bad policies and worse luck. It's been at the top of the World Misery Index for three consecutive years. So then, why is Maduro still in power? Venezuela's poorest haven't taken to the streets so far. They're afraid to lose some of the benefits they gained under Chavez. And Maduro's support base goes beyond just the poor. He has the military on his side because he's been keeping them happy by providing jobs, food, and basic supplies. Empowered by the support, he's been accusing the opposition of encouraging violence and training children for terrorist groups, which is what he likes to call the protesters. Now, he wants to create a popular assembly that can rewrite the Constitution. And he declared a state of emergency. The opposition is afraid the assembly will be entirely made up of pro-Maduro parties. So they're calling for new elections and Maduro's resignation. Since April 1st, 2017, 67 people have died in the protests. Hundreds have been injured and thousands arrested. Mediating the Stanoff will be a tough mission, even for the pub. All right, welcome back. Hopefully, you got a better understanding of what we're on in Venezuela. So, Tania, let me ask you. What was the main reason, in your opinion, the opposition started doing the protests in Venezuela? Well, I think what causes really the protesters just in the beginning of April, it was the first of all, the government, they made a strike to the constitutions and to all the laws because they just say to the Justice Department, the Justice people, that take the control of the National Assembly. So that causes the anger of the Venezuelans. And of course, Venezuelans are so tired already about all the misery they are living right now. They don't have food, they don't have medicines, and it's so desperate for them. So the people that is going out on the streets, they just are trying to don't lose the country and they want a better country. They are fighting for the dreams to have a better country. So I think the situation started for that, for the strike from the government that they did just violating all the laws and the Venezuelans that they are just tired about the situation, the general situation about the lack of everything. All the, and also the crime, the crime in Venezuela is so high, we have the statistics say that we have like around 20,000 death people, murder people per year in a country that only have 30 millions of people living there. It's amazing the crime there. So people is tired of the crime and tired of the lack of food and medicines. So people just want to have a normal life and the human rights provided from the government that is food, medicines and security. So what do you think Maduro, we accomplished by trying to change the constitution in Venezuela? Well, I think he wants to establish the dictator, the dictatorship and make it legal. That is all that I think, since he is going or proposing, eliminate the universal elections. That means that we cannot vote anymore. So we are fighting also for that. We cannot lose our freedom. We cannot lose the few democracy that we have right now. So Maduro is saying that the protesters, the opposition against his government, they are terrorists. What is your opinion about that? Well, my opinion is that, like I say, the Venezuelans that are right now down the street, they are just fighting for having the things that they lose since years ago because this situation in Venezuela is getting worse all the time. And the government is not doing anything. The government is just getting weapons and buying and getting weapons and bullets, tanks for fighting the Venezuelans that are protesters on the street. And they are not getting food or buying food because the government, like you said in the video, you show in the video, the government just killed all the internal productions inside Venezuela. So we were a rich country that we were producing almost everything inside the country. And now Venezuelans depend of the few amounts of food they are bringing from foreign countries. So it's a hard situation that the Venezuelans are just leaving right now. It's a nightmare. So by looking at the picture that we just showed, we see, like, it's just a regular people from kids all the way to grandpa, grandma in the street that disagree how the government is running. They don't see any terrorists. But it seems that it's getting to a point or escalation between riots and between students fighting back and forth with the government because they are tired of all the situations. Yes, but they are not terrorists at all. I think the only terrorist is the state. We have a terrorist state that they are just trying to scare people using the weapons, using the military forces just to keep the protesting people out of the street and show them or keep them afraid. But Venezuelans, they lost the afraid. And there are many Venezuelans that they prefer to die instead of still living in that way, in the miserable way that they are living right now. Well, we can see with the pictures that no terrorist is just people like you and me, but we are about to take a quick break and we'll be returned after this commercial. Welcome to Sister Power. I'm your host Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, where we motivate, educate and empower and inspire all women. We are live here every other Thursday at 4 p.m. And we welcome you to join us here at Sister Power. Aloha and thank you. Welcome back to Hispanic Hawaiian. We're here with Tania Molina talking about the situation that is happening in Venezuela. So talk to me about the food crisis and the lack of supply for medication. And I heard that Venezuela food trafficking is the biggest business in Venezuela. Tell me about that. Well, yes, right now the few food that the people can find is coming from the black market. So the prices are just so impossible to get. So that is why there are more than three millions of Venezuelans eating from the garbage because they just don't have enough money to handle that. And the situation in Venezuela with the lack of food is so bad right now. The country, the government is trying to control everything and they are trying to import some type of food that is called CLEP, some type of food and they put in a box and they are giving those food or selling that food to the people. But those is not enough for the quantity of people. So they make you buy what they want that you eat. So you cannot buy or you cannot get food in the time that you want to. If you want to go right now to get rice, you cannot get it. So it's impossible to live like that just living from the misery that the government wants to give you. That is unacceptable. So what is the opposition fighting against the government and who else? Because looking through the research, I see that it's all the people supporting the material government. Do you know anything about that? Well, I think the government of Venezuela is supporting from Cuba, of course, is the first supporter of the government, the Cuban people. And it looks like, according with some witnesses that they have been going to the protests, they say that they listen how they speak and they sound like Cuban. And it looks like people from Bolivia to some people that the president of Bolivia is sending to Venezuela. And there are people that say also that they have been listening like kind of another language that is like. So everybody's supposed that it's like people from Iran that is forces from Iran that are just fighting inside Venezuela, trying to stop the protestants and trying to keep the people afraid for don't go out and express. So who is the collective, the support material that he paid in to be part of the government and create confusion within the protest? Those people is like a kind of guerrilla that the government is supporting. They pay civilians and they army them, they gave, the government gave them weapons and they supply them with bullets. So these people just create terrorists, terrorists inside the protestors in some areas, in some cities just to create like panic that people fell in panic and they don't go out and they cannot express something that is in the constitution that when you are free for protests. But these people is like, it's a guerrilla that the government just is supporting economically for sure. There are people, there are says that say that also that these people is also criminals, that they are in jails. So they sometimes put them out and give the weapons to just try to scare people and kill people. There are so many students and people protesting that they have been killing for this guerrilla that is army from the government. So that's the reality is the government, the collective and all the civilians supporting the government. So I want to show a video real quick and this video is going to show the reality that the people is facing in Venezuela fighting against the government. This video show you the reality that is happening in Venezuela every day and by it's never going to stop and we are afraid that might be coming to a civil war. So what are we doing in July 16 that is so important to the Venezuelan people in Venezuela and around the world? Well, Richard, the democratic people inside Venezuela, the National Assembly and all the people that is working for save the democracy. We are calling to a consultant, it's like a place beside, but it's a consultant to all Venezuelans inside and outside the country. There is just three questions about if we want the new constitution that is proposal for Maduro and the other question is about if we are agreed that the military forces support the constitution that is actually right now because they are out of the constitution. They are supporting and they are just taking care about the government and just fighting for the government, not for the people, for the Venezuelans. And the third question is related about if we Venezuelans, if we want a transitions government and if we want a new justice department and if we want a new electoral department too, because these people, they were named in a very suspicious way and they are not legals right now. So those are the three questions and it's very important because we want to show Venezuelan and we want to show the world that we are majority, that the Venezuelans, we want peace, we want to change. We need a change in the government to become a better country, to become the richest country that we are. So the call is for all the Venezuelans that are inside and outside just to go and just be part of this act that we are going to make next Sunday. Are you afraid that Maduro might stay empowered and win this election and allow to change the constitution? I'm not afraid because I am sure that our country is democratic. The majority of people, we are democrats and we want to keep the democracy. And there are so many surveys that say that there are more than 85-90% of the people Venezuelans that we don't want to change the constitution. That they don't want to change the constitution. Yes, so these are surveys that they have been handling inside the country but we want to show the world and the country and these people that is handling the government that there is not only a survey. That is great. What do the Venezuelans in Hawaii are doing here in Hawaii to help with this situation? Well, here in Hawaii the best way that we have been going to some area located in Waikiki Beach and we go just to show is kind of a protest but it's more like a give information to people. And there are so many receptive from foreign people and from local people that they are interested to know what is happening in Venezuela like we want to know what is happening and how we can help and that gives us a lot of you know a lot of faith and a lot of happiness to know that there are people that is interesting to know what is happening and trying to know how to help. So that gives us a lot of power and believe me every time that happens some murder in Venezuela, some kill these students they are just dreamers. They are people that they just want a future. Dream a life like you and want a better future. They want a better future so every time that I feel like oh my god I need to do something so that is my way for release. So what did you find a message to the Venezuelan people? My final message to my country is like a don't give up, don't give up the freedom is closer, the freedom is closer than ever and we are a great country and we are great people. We deserve better and we will have the better. Well I want to say thank you for coming to Hispanic Hawaii and help us to understand what is happening in Venezuela and the best thing that we can do is keep ourselves informed and inform others. So if you missed the show you can watch the show at Teen Tech Hawaii. You can send me email at richconception.gmail.com. Thank you. Gracias.