Poverty is not made up of a cut-and-dry set of circumstances. Rural poverty and urban poverty differ on many levels, with distinctive, environment-based issues that characterize quality of life.
There are similarities, of course, that span both rural and urban poverty. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) states that poverty usually entails deprivation, vulnerability and powerlessness. However, these issues are sometimes inflicted on certain individuals or groups more than others. For example, women and children are more likely to experience poverty more intensely than men and minorities tend to suffer more greatly than other groups.
The IMF reports that 63 percent of the world’s impoverished live in rural areas. Education, health care and sanitation are all lacking in rural environments. This causes many of the rural poor to move to cities, which often leads to a rise in urban poverty.
Compare and Contrast: Rural Poverty and Urban Poverty
The rural poor are divided into further subsets based on profession: typically, cultivators who own land and noncultivators who do not. Cultivators are slightly better off, as they are able to make some money operating farms and charging tenants for using their land. Noncultivators, however, are extremely poor, working as seasonal laborers on farms. Their pay is both low and erratic, as it is based on the schedules of farm owners and the other few employers available. The rural poor often suffer more than the urban poor because public services and charities are not available to them.
Several factors tend to perpetuate rural poverty. For example, political instability and corruption, customs of discrimination, unregulated landlord/tenant arrangements and outdated economic policies often make it impossible for the rural poor to rise above poverty lines.
While generally considered less severe, urban poverty provides the poor with a host of separate issues. The World Bank found that urban populations in developing countries are growing rapidly, at a rate of 70 million new city-dwellers per year. Former residents of rural areas are typically drawn to the city for the perceived wealth of economic opportunities, but often, those dreams fall short.
Compared to rural villages, there are indeed more job opportunities in urban areas. However, many migrants lack the skillset to take on many jobs, and positions for unskilled laborers fill up quickly. This shortage of jobs leaves new residents without a steady income, which creates a series of new problems in the city.
Without an income, the urban poor often find themselves in inadequate housing with poor safety and sanitation. Additionally, health and education packages are limited. Crime and violence are also much more rampant in urban settings than in rural ones, threatening the authority of law enforcement and the peace of mind of city dwellers.
Health is quite variable throughout rural and urban settings. While the rural poor lack access to urban health care programs, they sometimes benefit from the distance between the country and the city. In the close quarters that characterize city living, it is easy for disease to spread.
Additionally, communal resources in cities can actually lead to health problems. According to The Guardian, families usually have their own personal latrine, so if a health problem starts among the family, the latrine can be closed off and the health risk minimized. However, in cities where many people on a daily basis use public restrooms, disease can spread rapidly and tracking down the source can be nearly impossible.
Though rural poverty is currently higher than urban poverty, research shows that soon, urban areas will become home to the majority of impoverished people. The perception of greater opportunity leads the rural poor away from the countryside and into the cities, where they often end up in even further poverty. An overhaul of urban development programs is necessary to combat the issues with sanitation, safety and hunger that propagate urban poverty.
– Bridget Tobin
Sources: World Bank, The Guardian, International Monetary Fund
Photo: Brommel
Three Simple Ways We Can Help End Starvation
Nearly 25,000 people die every day from starvation. While in richer countries nutrition isn’t always a paramount problem, there are still 947 million people living in developing nations who are undernourished; we have the ability to help lower this number. Below are a list of ways you can help easily end starvation.
1. Raise Money
During the 2011 East African famine, relief organizations such as Save The Children and UNICEF launched campaigns to raise money for feeding starving children. By using clear and simple incentives (“just $10 can feed a child for seven days!”), smart organizations allowed even those halfway across the world to help those in need. Donating money is simple, easy and can usually be done online with just a click of a button.
2. Urge your Congressional Leaders to Support Crucial Legislation
Calling or emailing your congressional leaders is a simple and a sure way to increase their chances of supporting a bill which could save millions of lives. One such bill still waiting to be passed in the House of Representatives is the Global Food Security Act of 2013, which would improve nutrition and strengthen agriculture development in developing countries. Other similar legislation that could use your support includes the Food Aid Reform Act and Water for the World Act.
3. Limit Your Daily Intake
Over the past three decades, the average intake of dietary fats has dramatically increased in almost every country except Africa. With a recommended range from between 15 to 35 percent, we are seeing a stark contrast in dietary intake. In fact, many countries in North America and Western Europe exceeded this recommended daily intake, while countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia fell dramatically below.
Despite our growing intake, we are quickly running out of natural resources. In an overpopulated world, it is up to each of us to individually be cognizant of our daily intake. By limiting our intake in richer countries, we are ensuring that our world is capable of growing enough food in the first place for all of our global citizens.
By helping others who suffer from malnutrition, we are also helping ourselves in return. The most common causes of death around the world—including heart disease, obesity, cancer and chronic illness—can be a result of unhealthy eating habits.
By remaining aware that we have a much larger role in helping to end global hunger and poverty than we may believe, we can help put an end to millions of those going to sleep hungry at night.
– Nick Magnanti
Sources: CNN, Borgen Project, McCollum House, Food for the Poor, Green Facts, Green Facts 2
Photo: Action ContrelAfaim
Trade Facilitation Agreement and India’s Poor
Due to lack of progress on food security to help India’s poor, India has refused to accept the World Trade Organization’s, or WTO, trade facilitation agreement. This deal was achieved in Bali in December 2013 and India’s refusal prevents the adoption of the Bali agreement.
India’s refusal has been criticized by trade officials around the world. Diplomats have noted that it may hamper the WTO’s Doha Round of trade negotiations.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party won a decisive victory in the spring election where they promised to develop the economy and tell the world that India is welcoming to business.
However, the new government is sticking by its previous position that the WTO is limiting their agricultural support programs.
Food security is important concern for India’s poor because 450 million people in India survive on less than $1.25 per day. The government has been arguing that the value of subsidies for food stockpiles has to be changed to more than 10 percent of a country’s total food production.
Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the issue of food security is critical for the country’s small farmers. India’s position on the trade facilitation agreement is probably due to political pressure from India’s poor.
India’s government argues that wheat and rice are more expensive than market prices. Their agricultural programs protect farmers’ livelihoods and provide reasonably priced nutrition to India’s poor and vulnerable. However, WTO rules only allow governments to stockpile food if they acquire those stocks at market prices.
The Bali agreement will only take effect if it is approved by all 160 member governments. Unless the World Trade Organization relaxes restrictions on a countries’ ability to subsidize farmers, the agreement will not come into effect.
“India has a decision to make about where it fits in the global trading system,” John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, said. “India’s willingness to support a rules-based trading order and fulfill its obligations will help to welcome greater investment from the United States and from elsewhere around the world.”
– Colleen Moore
Sources: Gulf Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal
Photo: Washington Post
Rural Poverty and Urban Poverty
Poverty is not made up of a cut-and-dry set of circumstances. Rural poverty and urban poverty differ on many levels, with distinctive, environment-based issues that characterize quality of life.
There are similarities, of course, that span both rural and urban poverty. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) states that poverty usually entails deprivation, vulnerability and powerlessness. However, these issues are sometimes inflicted on certain individuals or groups more than others. For example, women and children are more likely to experience poverty more intensely than men and minorities tend to suffer more greatly than other groups.
The IMF reports that 63 percent of the world’s impoverished live in rural areas. Education, health care and sanitation are all lacking in rural environments. This causes many of the rural poor to move to cities, which often leads to a rise in urban poverty.
Compare and Contrast: Rural Poverty and Urban Poverty
The rural poor are divided into further subsets based on profession: typically, cultivators who own land and noncultivators who do not. Cultivators are slightly better off, as they are able to make some money operating farms and charging tenants for using their land. Noncultivators, however, are extremely poor, working as seasonal laborers on farms. Their pay is both low and erratic, as it is based on the schedules of farm owners and the other few employers available. The rural poor often suffer more than the urban poor because public services and charities are not available to them.
Several factors tend to perpetuate rural poverty. For example, political instability and corruption, customs of discrimination, unregulated landlord/tenant arrangements and outdated economic policies often make it impossible for the rural poor to rise above poverty lines.
While generally considered less severe, urban poverty provides the poor with a host of separate issues. The World Bank found that urban populations in developing countries are growing rapidly, at a rate of 70 million new city-dwellers per year. Former residents of rural areas are typically drawn to the city for the perceived wealth of economic opportunities, but often, those dreams fall short.
Compared to rural villages, there are indeed more job opportunities in urban areas. However, many migrants lack the skillset to take on many jobs, and positions for unskilled laborers fill up quickly. This shortage of jobs leaves new residents without a steady income, which creates a series of new problems in the city.
Without an income, the urban poor often find themselves in inadequate housing with poor safety and sanitation. Additionally, health and education packages are limited. Crime and violence are also much more rampant in urban settings than in rural ones, threatening the authority of law enforcement and the peace of mind of city dwellers.
Health is quite variable throughout rural and urban settings. While the rural poor lack access to urban health care programs, they sometimes benefit from the distance between the country and the city. In the close quarters that characterize city living, it is easy for disease to spread.
Additionally, communal resources in cities can actually lead to health problems. According to The Guardian, families usually have their own personal latrine, so if a health problem starts among the family, the latrine can be closed off and the health risk minimized. However, in cities where many people on a daily basis use public restrooms, disease can spread rapidly and tracking down the source can be nearly impossible.
Though rural poverty is currently higher than urban poverty, research shows that soon, urban areas will become home to the majority of impoverished people. The perception of greater opportunity leads the rural poor away from the countryside and into the cities, where they often end up in even further poverty. An overhaul of urban development programs is necessary to combat the issues with sanitation, safety and hunger that propagate urban poverty.
– Bridget Tobin
Sources: World Bank, The Guardian, International Monetary Fund
Photo: Brommel
India’s Free Vaccines
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi stated India will now provide four new vaccines in order to reduce child mortality. With these added four free vaccines, the country now has 13 vaccines that are a part of India’s Universal Immunization Program (UIP), provided to 27 million children annually.
The four vaccines are for rotavirus, which causes dehydration and severe diarrhea, killing nearly 80,000 children in India each year, rubella, which causes severe congenital defects in newborns like blindness, deafness and heart defects, polio–although India was declared polio free in March, this is to create long lasting protection against it and Japanese encephalitis, which kills hundreds of children each year.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The introduction of four new life-saving vaccines will play a key role in reducing childhood and infant mortality and morbidity in the country. Many of these vaccines are already available through private practitioners to those who can afford them. The government will now ensure that the benefits of vaccination reach all sections of society, regardless of social and economic status.”
One of the most recent vaccines to be added to the UIP is the pentavalent vaccine, which protects against five different infections: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Hib.
UIP has become one of the largest vaccination programs in the world in terms of number of vaccines used, amount of beneficiaries, number of immunization session organized, geographical spread and diversity of areas covered.
In 1978, the national policy of immunization adopted the distribution of DPT, OPV and BCG to children in their first year of life. In 1985, UIP was phased in, adding a measles vaccine and later Vitamin A supplements.
The UIP has a vaccination schedule, in which a child can be given certain vaccines during the appropriate time frame of their life (birth, six weeks, 10 weeks, 9-12 months, etc.).
Since the UIP’s launch in 1985, the country has seen more and more preventative vaccines added to secure the health of their citizens.
So far, they have still had issues with 100 percent vaccinations, one of the reasons being citizens not knowing the need or not knowing where to go for the vaccines, showing the lack of awareness has become one of the greatest barriers to universal immunizations.
India has future plans to combat this. One of the methods is to find ways to bring the immunization programs further into living areas rather than just in hospitals or clinics that many citizens do not know about. Immunization booths are to be placed from the center of urban areas to the middle of any slum where access would seem impossible otherwise.
India also plans on monitoring the program, giving accountability and oversight to ensure the quantity and quality of care is assured. The impact and output are to be recorded throughout each vaccination mission.
The programs implemented so far have helped India immensely, and with the future plans to make the universal immunizations more universal, it will only be a matter of time until everyone has full access to proper coverage.
– Courtney Prentice
Sources: BBC, Hindustan Times, NHP, IAPCOI, Indian Pediatrics
Photo: BBC
Helping after the Earthquake in China
As of Aug. 6, the death toll of the earthquake that hit Yunnan, China has reached 589. The earthquake reached a magnitude of 6.1 in Ludin county, which is an area 225 miles north of Kunming, the capital, and even caused some damage in the surrounding areas of Guizhou and Sichuan.
The earthquake in China, however, was not the first in the region. In 1970, an earthquake reaching a magnitude of 7.7 killed approximately 15,000 people. In 2008, an earthquake took the lives of 90,000 in the Sichuan area, and an earthquake in 2012 left 81 people dead.
In response to this devastating natural disaster, rescue teams are working to recover as much of the area and as many lives as they possibly can.
The rescue teams have been working to dig bodies and survivors out from among the rubble and debris, but their progress is often halted by torrential rainstorms, landslides and the recurring tremors that constantly plague the region. Liu Jianhua, a senior local official, told the Guardian that “the blocked roads and the continuous downpours have made some disaster areas inaccessible for heavy relief vehicles.”
The state news agency Xinhua reported that although the government sent 2,000 tents, 3,000 quilts, 3,000 coats and 3,000 folding beds, the weather in the region is making it extremely difficult to provide the afflicted families with any relief. Thus far, 300 policemen and firefighters and 2,500 troops have been sent to help those hurt, homeless, and/or still trapped under the debris from the earthquake.
The rescue crews are also urgently trying to evacuate survivors whose residences are in what is being called the “quake lake,” which is an area where the water level is rising approximately one meter per hour. Twenty homes have already been destroyed by this rising water.
Although the rescue teams are doing their best, it doesn’t seem to be enough. A resident of the impacted area told The Guardian that “all the houses in the town have been damaged by the earthquake and at least two-thirds of them so badly that they could not be used anymore. Every few minutes there are people being carried away from the rubble.”
– Jordyn Horowitz
Sources: The Guardian, The Huffington Post
Photo: Mashable
Migrant Workers in Shanghai
Standing on a bustling street in Shanghai, it is hard to ignore the feeling of constant movement and intensity. The mantra seems to be: keep moving and keep progressing. And at both the individual and state level there is an insatiable desire to be the best.
But at what price? The pace of development in China is incredibly impressive and yet, despite the new and efficient subways, trains, and buildings, a contrast of wealth still exists.
As a whole, China has been on the forefront of poverty reduction in the last couple of decades, raising nearly 300 million people out of poverty. However, it is not hard to find the instances of impoverishment that still exist even in some of the most developed cities, like Shanghai.
The population of Shanghai in 2013 was 23.9 million, making it the largest and most populous city proper in the entire world. Furthermore, it has experienced double digit growth nearly every year since 1992, falling below double digits only temporarily during the 2008-2009 recession.
According to the 2010 census, more than 39 percent of Shanghai’s residents are migrant workers who have flocked to the city from the nearby provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Henan seeking better economic opportunities. These migrant workers in Shanghai, who have made up the largest percentage of the city’s growth in the past few years, often live in the poorest conditions.
As development has increased in China, upwards of 250 million people have left the countryside for the east coast in the hopes of finding more lucrative work. Migrant laborers often work in labor, construction, factories as well as the service sector. Their wages tend to be lower than those of Shanghai residents and their living conditions incredibly poor. Just down the street from the newest high apartments and office buildings, it is not unusual to see old neighborhoods crowded with huts full of migrant laborers.
It’s important to note that poverty for migrant laborers is relative. In China, poverty and inequality differ dramatically in different parts of the country. Many laborers, who migrate to Shanghai for work, come from even poorer rural villages. While their wages are low, the income is often still better than what could be made back home.
Despite this, without a Shanghai hukou, a registration card that is used to classify where individuals are from, migrants are unable to live in subsidized housing, access basic health care and unemployment benefits, or enroll their children in local schools.
Marginalized and discriminated against, the poorest of Shanghai struggle to find social acceptance as well as economic security in their new lives. Yet, these migrant workers are the drivers of China’s tremendous economic growth. If this growth continues, the people of Shanghai will have to find a way to better accommodate their ever-evolving workforce. One of the biggest obstacles Shanghai faces is housing. Real estate prices are extremely high, leaving many people with low wages unable to purchase or rent homes.
Addressing this issue, as well as reforming the hukou system to allow for migrant workers to access health, education and other public services, will help further reduce the poverty and inequality that persists in Shanghai and China as a whole. It is easy to let the gleaming towers and trendy streets distract from the reality that most of Shanghai’s current population is still very much struggling to move beyond impoverishment.
– Andrea Blinkhorn
Sources: Poverties, China Perspectives, World Population Review, Nyuzai Shanghai, WSWS
Photo: The Globe and Mail
Garment Workers’ Hunger Strike Success
Bangladesh has become synonymous with low paid garment workers. Bangladesh boasts more than a $20 billion garment industry that employs four million workers in 4,500 factories. Most of the workers are women—who make up 80 percent of the garment workforce.
Garments produced in Bangladesh export to western clothing stores like Wal-mart and H & M.
Serious accidents within the factories, as well as strikes and protests, have brought the plight of garment workers to a more international level. Specifically the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in April 2013—in which 1,120 garment workers were killed—which caused national and international outrage.
This incident led the Bangladeshi government to increase the minimum wage by 77 percent, up to 5,300 taka ($68) a month. Workers are also now allowed to form unions without factory owner consent.
Even with this pay raise, Bangladeshi garment workers are some of the lowest paid in the world and many are calling for better regulation in terms of workers safety and physical health.
Change is slow though, as this past January, news reports showed that almost 40 percent of garment factories were not paying the promised wage increase of $68 a month.
Strikes, accidents and failure to increase monthly pay are apparently the norm when it comes to garment workers in Bangladesh.
However a small victory was won this weekend when an 11-day hunger strike successfully received the back pay and holiday bonus workers were demanding. The strikers represented 1500 workers from five different factories in the Dhaka’s Badda district that all belong to the Tuba Group.
The strike was not completely uneventful as last Thursday workers were forced out of the factory where they were staging the strike. Police used tear gas and batons to remove the 400 strikers.
But this past Sunday the workers finally received their back pay. The strike began on July 28 and luckily only had to last 11 days.
This is only a small victory within the larger fight of fair wages for garment workers. The garment industry is central to the Bangladeshi economy and the global supply chain forces large companies to demand competitive wages.
Bangladesh competes by offering extremely low wages that companies can pay their workers. So although the success of this strike is a step in the right direction, Bangladesh has a long way to go if it wants to begin treating its workers with fairness and dignity.
– Eleni Marino
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CBS News, The Express Tribune, Australia News Network, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian
Poverty in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina is a difficult place to be poor.
The government announced earlier in 2014 that poverty levels at the national level continue to decline. Between 2011 and 2012, the nation’s poverty levels dropped from 5.7 percent to 4.3 percent. However, the impoverished of Buenos Aires continue to experience hardships.
Despite a slight reduction in poverty in the first decade of the century, Buenos Aires’ residents considered to be either poor or extremely poor continue to heavily populate the city.
Rising food prices in recent years have contributed to the problem. Crime is also a common problem in and around Buenos Aires. According to a 2011 report, crime is considered to be “one of the biggest burdens facing residents.” Robberies, especially muggings at bus stops, as well as street violence and other shootings are not unordinary in part due to a lack of police presence in areas of the city and the metropolitan region’s poorer areas.
Not helping the level of poverty in Buenos Aires is the city’s inadequate housing. Much of the city’s substandard housing was built with second-hand materials. Some of the buildings were never even finished.
While the city’s water and sanitation levels are adequate, Buenos Aires’ general infrastructure is subpar. The metropolitan areas lack the necessary architectural support to withstand hazards and extreme weather events.
In addition to such shortcomings, notable discrepancies exist among the city’s wealthy and poor. Even though certain areas of Buenos Aires remain inadequate, the more wealthy parts of the city possess newer, stable infrastructure.
Like other regions in South America, Buenos Aires features an abundance of low-income housing on unstable land. This includes land with contamination, low-lying and flood-prone areas and land on or near landfills.
One of the government’s most notable criticisms is its indecision in implementing a national poverty line. Even though many developed and some developing nations maintain such a threshold, Argentina does not.
In recent years, the Argentinean government stated that six pesos, or roughly $1.30, are enough for a citizen to sustain an entire day’s worth of food. The statement drew outrage both domestically and internationally. Given the expenses of living in a city, the average Buenos Aires resident would face financial hardships subsisting on such an amount.
Recently, children inhabiting one of Buenos Aires’ most dangerous slums have utilized cricket and the competitive spirit of sport as a means to separate themselves from a life of poverty. The Caacupe cricket team has seen some of its players enter training sessions at private schools and even play internationally.
“You can really use it in life as well,” fourteen-year-old Alexis Gaona said in an Associated Press article from March. “From here you have a reference for the rest of your life.”
It is a silver lining in a city where being poor poses many challenges.
– Ethan Safran
Sources: Buenos Aires Herald, Yahoo News, International Institute for Environment and Development, Worldbulletin
Photo: Flickr
Sequencing the African Rice Genome
As the Earth’s population is predicted to increase to more than nine billion people by the year 2050, researchers have made a step forward in solving the “Nine Billion People Question.” The question poses the possibility of a lack of natural resources as a result of rising population growth. Through successfully sequencing the complete genome of Oryza glaberrima (African rice), scientists and agriculturalists will be better able to understand the crop’s growing patterns and this could allow for the development of modified rice varieties equipped to handle environmental hurdles.
Rice, which feeds half the world, is often deemed the most important food crop. In fact, scientists predict that — come the expected nine billion mark — “hardy, high-yield” crops such as African rice will become increasingly crucial for human survival in conditions of extreme climate change.
While the number of people needing to be fed continues to grow by at least two billion over four decades, crop production is nonetheless halting due to climate change, resulting in a scary combination. Rod A. Wing, who led the recent sequencing effort, also helped sequence the genome of Asian rice, which has since enabled the discovery of hundreds of “agriculturally important genes” which can allow for faster breeding cycles and even the ability for the plant to survive up to two weeks under water during flooding.
The genome for the wild tomato, Solanum pennellii, has also recently been published. Despite the fact that it is poisonous, the wild tomato can better tolerate dry conditions and can handle saltier soils. The genome will ensure that new varieties bred do not include any of its poisonous genes. The tomato, along with African rice, are two prominent examples of food modification that could save millions of human lives.
“The idea is to create a super-rice that will be higher yielding but will have less of an environmental impact,” said Wing, including varieties which could require less water, fertiliser and pesticides. African rice, which has already been crossed with Asian rice to produce new variations known as NERICA, independently selected many of the same genetic traits as its cousin. By developing types of rice which can hold Asian rice’s high yield and African rice’s high tolerance, scientists may have just found the answer to their original “9 billion” question.
– Nick Magnanti
Sources: International Business Times, Science 2.0, Voice of America
Photo: International Business Times
U.S. Sends Message as Venezuelan Poverty Rises
On July 30, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions on visas for officials in President Maduro’s Venezuelan government. The sanctions came as a response to human rights abuses sustained by peaceful opposition protestors objecting to a recent rise in Venezuelan poverty.
“Today’s announcement sends an unambiguous and direct message to President Maduro,” says Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Menendez has authored a bill called the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014. This bill would require heavier sanctions on individuals who have committed human rights abuses towards the demonstrators in Venezuela.
“Human Rights Watch has documented more than 40 deaths, 50 cases of torture, and over 2,000 unlawful detentions,” Menendez says in regard to the recent demonstrations.
Since February, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets in protest of President Maduro’s policies, which have sent the country into a political and economic crisis.
When Hugo Chavez took over the Venezuelan political system in 1998, he did so with the promise that the people would prosper under his government. From 2003 to 2007, the Chavista government seemed to working for the people, as Venezuelan poverty rates dropped. When Nicolas Maduro took over after Chavez’s death in 2013, he swore to stay true to Chavista policies.
However, recently the trend has reversed. A report released by Venezuela’s official statistics office admits that one in three Venezuelans are poor, a decline from a year ago when only one in four were poor.
The statistics for extreme Venezuelan poverty are worse. The office estimates that 10 percent of the population does not make enough money to afford basic food and drink.
“The sharp fall in the standard of living is what brought protestors to Venezuela’s streets,” reports Foreign Policy.
The protestors were peaceful, but the government’s reaction was not.
“The United States will never tolerate systemic human rights violations conducted by a merciless government against its own people,” says Menendez.
Congress had reportedly been considering a similar move against Venezuela since March of this year, but the State Department acted first. This is in spite of earlier claims by the Obama Administration that any sanctions against Venezuela would allow its government to rally support and use the U.S. as a scapegoat.
The sanctions deny a list of 24 high-ranking officials of President Maduro’s government from entering the U.S.
Elias Jaua is the Venezuelan Foreign Minister. He calls the sanctions, “desperate,” and warns against a possible backlash.
– Julianne O’Connor
Sources: Foreign Policy, BBC, The Globe and Mail, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Photo: BBC