Révisions de management

                                            TELUQ

                                               FINAL EXAM

   Effective Written Communication

       Violation of the right to food

    Venezuela

  Presented to Brigitte Chagot

    by Claudia Mariana Petre

             15 june 2020        

Venezuela in a big food crisis

First of all it is essential to understand the current food crisis situation in this country.

Venezuelans have faced serious shortages of drugs, medical supplies and food, which have seriously affected their rights to health and food since 2013.

With regard to food, products are rationed. There is a maximum number of products a person can purchase. To do so, they must show an identity card to prove that they did not exceed this ratio by appearing several times in the same week^[1]. Supermarkets counters are almost empty: only one or two products are available per week. For example, for a week, the products available would be rice flour, mayonnaise and body soaps^[2], which do not meet the needs of the population. A large part of the population can only buy products subject to state price control such as rice, pasta, flour and even these are available in small quantities. Products like sugar and toilet paper even disappeared from the supermarkets for months^[3]. With regard to local production, there has been a drop in national production since 2002. As a result, there are price control policies, land expropriations and expropriations of local businesses^[4]. There is therefore not only a shortage in market products, but also problems with agriculture, which however constitutes an alternative way of food for the inhabitants of the country. Venezuela has seen a record increase in the number of hungry people, with 600,000 more between 2014 and 2017. The number of Venezuelans who are undernourished is estimated to be 3.7 million^[5]. The State of Venezuela has recognized that the inhabitants are living in a very serious economic situation and it attributes this to the reduction in the sale of petroleum products and to certain actions aimed at disturbing its economy, including an embargo by Washington and other sanctions issued by several countries^[6]. Yet food production has decreased and costs have increased and there are limitations to accessing it^[7].

The categories of people most affected by the food crisis are the elderly, children, adolescents and women. A study carried out in more than 40 hostels for seniors in 2016 found a weight loss of 5 pounds per month^[8]. Regarding children and adolescents, there is a school feeding program set up by the Ministry of People's Power for Education, but food is not enough and there is a lot of food shortage at nutritional level^[9]. Women are the most affected by this situation because they have to spend days in the line to have access to basic food to be able to feed their children, and thus face violence and insecurity^[10]. Malnutrition endangers their lives and the lives of their fetuses during pregnancy^[11].

With all these statistics, one can understand the assertion of the FAO experts, saying that Venezuela should make its entry in 2019 in the list of countries in "acute food crisis"^[12].

The political context

The food crisis situation is strongly linked to the current political context in Venezuela. In May 2018, President Nicolas Maduro won the presidential elections against an opposition greatly weakened by years of government repression. Maduro first became interim president in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chavez. It was that year that the crisis in the country began. The day after the election, the Lima group (made up of 14 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada and others) signed a joint declaration which does not recognize the legitimacy of the process that took place, because international standards to ensure a “democratic, free, fair and transparent” process have not been respected^[13]. As a result of the disrespect of democracy in the eyes of other countries, the United States and Canada have decided to impose sanctions to Venezuela, which has repercussions on their economy and affects the population even more. Despite all these objections, President Maduro wishes to remain in office and does not care about the impact of his actions for the population.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has also reported that as of November, more than 3 million Venezuelans, out of an estimated total population of 32 million, had fled their country since 2014. Many others, not registered by the authorities, also left due to the crisis situation^[14]. It is their only option to improve their living conditions, which was not possible under the government of Maduro.

In addition, another essential aspect for the President is that the President of the country is in denial in the face of the situation of the people. The President continues to deny the existence of a humanitarian crisis in the country despite all that is happening there, providing the justification that about 6 million poor families can buy a carton of food monthly at subsidized prices^[15]. However, the situation is much worse than that, and these boxes are neither affordable nor even less than adequate food. The president also refuses international humanitarian aid, in particular that of the United States which volunteered to help the country (for fear of forced military intervention on their part). Indeed, several tons of food, basic necessities and medicines were stored on February 7, 2019 as international aid. However, the Venezuelan military blocked the borders and therefore this cargo too^[16]. The border closure for this shipment were ordered by President Maduro, particularly since he believed the White House wanted to take away his powers with the help of Colombia and Brazil^[17]. This choice of the president, despite the current state of its population, demonstrates his neglect. We will see later that this decision is also in contradiction with its obligations, as a State.

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