It was the closest the Venezuelan government has come to admitting a crisis. Since the summer, social media had been abuzz with news of patients in the southern department of Bolivar presenting with diphtheria, a disease eradicated in the country 24 years ago.
After months of ignoring the outbreak, Socialist Party Vice President Diosdado Cabello took to the airwaves. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, he told viewers, was orchestrating “biological war” in Latin America. “They are coming with diphtheria to terrorize the Venezuelan people.”
There is no conspiracy, of course; there is simply a crisis. Amid the worst economic downturn in its modern history, Venezuela’s health system, food supply, and basic services have collapsed. Grocery store shelves are empty; pharmacies have nothing in stock; hospitals lack resources or personnel to treat patients; and gang violence is spiraling. Diseases eradicated decades ago are resurgent epidemics. One international organization with operations in Venezuela told Devex that about half of all patients who enter public hospitals will die there.
About the author
Elizabeth Dickinson@dickinsonbeth
Elizabeth Dickinson is a former associate editor at Devex. Based in the Middle East, she has previously served as Gulf correspondent for The National, assistant managing editor at Foreign Policy, and Nigeria correspondent at The Economist. Her writing also appeared in The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico Magazine, and Newsweek, among others.
