Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to a bonus episode of Bleep with
Speaker 1: Annavarro this week. This episode is dedicated to Venezuela, Venezuela,
Speaker 1: which is in such suffering and pain right now as
Speaker 1: a result of the tragic earthquakes that affected that country
Speaker 1: in late June. So let's talk about what happened. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the politics, let's talk about the consequences, and
Speaker 1: let's talk about our role. I beg you to listen
Speaker 1: to this. I beg you to amplify the news about Venezuela.
Speaker 1: We owe it to our friends, to our neighbors in
Speaker 1: that country, a country that we in America intervened. We
Speaker 1: owe it to them to give a shit, and not
Speaker 1: only that, but to try to help. Let's get started
Speaker 1: on what actually happened. On June twenty fourth, Venezuela suffered
Speaker 1: not one, but two consecutive horror, massive, ginormous earthquakes. The
Speaker 1: first one was a seven point one in.
Speaker 2: The Ripti scale.
Speaker 1: The second one occurred thirty nine seconds later, and it
Speaker 1: was seven.
Speaker 2: Point five in the Ripter scale.
Speaker 1: As a result of that, there are now over seventeen
Speaker 1: hundred dead people and much more to come. There's something
Speaker 1: like fifty to sixty thousand people that have been reported missing.
Speaker 1: There are three thousand plus people injured, There are twelve
Speaker 1: thousand people displaced. The suffering it's just unspeakable. If you
Speaker 1: are in a position to help financially, please do. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna urge you to go. Look at Edgar Ramirez's Instagram
Speaker 1: and post. He is the Venezuelan actor, a great friend
Speaker 1: of mine, and he's done such great work identifying organizations
Speaker 1: in and outside of Venezuela that are providing help to
Speaker 1: the rescue efforts and that are providing help to the
Speaker 1: people that have been displaced and lost loved ones. Our friend,
Speaker 1: Chef Jose Andres is also on the ground in Venezuela
Speaker 1: with World Central Kitchen, helping feed people people who have
Speaker 1: lost everything, their homes, their loved ones, their families, their pets,
Speaker 1: and all of their belongings. So that's another great organization.
Speaker 1: Let me just say that I think this thing in
Speaker 1: Venezuela has brought out the worst in some people. We
Speaker 1: have seen the disaster that is the Venezuelan government, but
Speaker 1: it has also brought out the best of humanity. There
Speaker 1: are over twenty four countries that have sent aid along
Speaker 1: with search and rescue teams countries like Spain, like Qatar, China, Mexico,
Speaker 1: El Salvador, and the United States. We also have sent aid,
Speaker 1: not enough in my view, but we have sent aid
Speaker 1: and there have been search and rescue operations from places
Speaker 1: like La where they have such experience that have gone
Speaker 1: down to Venezuela. The local Venezuelan citizens, these folks are heroic.
Speaker 1: They have been showing up in little motorcycles, a little mopeds.
Speaker 1: They have been showing up in caravans to the most
Speaker 1: affected places. So this earthquake, these earthquakes unfortunately struck very
Speaker 1: close to Karakas, the capital of Venezuela, and the outlying areas,
Speaker 1: the beach town of Labuayda, which is also close to Karakas.
Speaker 1: These are densely populated areas of Venezuela where there's a
Speaker 1: lot of high rises, a lot of condo buildings that
Speaker 1: just came down to the ground, toppled down like a
Speaker 1: deck of cards, and it has created these mountains of
Speaker 1: rubble where there have been people that have been squished
Speaker 1: by the rubble, but many are still alive. And I
Speaker 1: have seen Venezuelans show up and be there day after day,
Speaker 1: night after night, with their bare hands, removing pieces of rubble,
Speaker 1: removing concrete, chipping at cart with knives and hammers and
Speaker 1: chisels and handmade tools, taking dogs to try to find
Speaker 1: and rescue people. It's been a lot of Venezuelan civilians
Speaker 1: who took action because the government was.
Speaker 2: Slow to act.
Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about the Venezuelan government and let's remember
Speaker 1: what happened there. Let's remember who the Venezuelan government is.
Speaker 1: The Venezuelan government right now is supposedly an interim government
Speaker 1: led by Delci Rodriguez. Delci Rodriguez was Nicholas Maduro's number two. So,
Speaker 1: as you will remember, in early January this year, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump and the United States intervened, went into Venezuela and
Speaker 1: extricated Nicholas Maduro out of Venezuela.
Speaker 2: He was under in Diamond.
Speaker 1: He is now sitting in a federal jail in New
Speaker 1: York awaiting trial. And as you know, between Ugo Chavis
Speaker 1: and Nicholas Maduro, it was twenty five years of suffering.
Speaker 1: It was twenty five years of an oppressive dictatorship. But
Speaker 1: what did Donald Trump do? He left the regime in place,
Speaker 1: It's like when it's like when you get bit by
Speaker 1: a tick and you take the head of the tickout,
Speaker 1: but you leave the body of the tick inside infested
Speaker 1: in becoming, you know, a disgusting problem. That's exactly what's
Speaker 1: happened in Venezuela. Donald Trump took the head out, took
Speaker 1: the titular head of the regime, Maduro out, but left
Speaker 1: all of the rest of them intact, the people who
Speaker 1: executed and enforced his oppressive policies.
Speaker 2: It is an inept.
Speaker 1: Corrupt government led by his vice president, Delca Rodriguez, and
Speaker 1: full of his former cabinet members and ministers and members
Speaker 1: of the legislature. And they have been completely unresponsive and
Speaker 1: just terrible in responding to this tragedy. It's been nothing
Speaker 1: but bureaucracy, blocking planes full of aid from landing, blocking
Speaker 1: rescue teams through some other countries from showing up because
Speaker 1: they don't have the right paperwork, because of bureaucracy, blocking
Speaker 1: Venezuelan civilians from showing up and trying to help.
Speaker 2: You know what Delseas Rodriguez did, She.
Speaker 1: Tried to do some sort of gratitude act, like she
Speaker 1: took the rescue workers away from their jobs, trying to
Speaker 1: rescue people at a time when every minute is of
Speaker 1: the essence, at a time when saving lives is the priority.
Speaker 1: She took them from their jobs and she staged some
Speaker 1: sort of let me show you gratitude and be grateful
Speaker 1: on behalf of the Venezuelan people. She did a fucking ceremony.
Speaker 1: Instead of having these people work, she did a ceremony
Speaker 1: to thank them, and of course it was all shown
Speaker 1: on TV, and it's part of her pr campaign. Because
Speaker 1: the people of Venezuela are furious what they see as
Speaker 1: a lack of action from this government. There has been
Speaker 1: precious little machinery or presence from government forces. The military,
Speaker 1: the same military that has spent twenty five years oppressing
Speaker 1: the people of Venezuela, have been missing in action when
Speaker 1: it comes to saving the victims of these earthquakes.
Speaker 2: We have seen some miraculous rescues. It's been now.
Speaker 1: Over a week and people are still being rescued from
Speaker 1: under the rubble. Dogs and pets are still being rescued
Speaker 1: from under the rubble. People have resisted and survived through
Speaker 1: the most difficult of circumstances. And now I want to
Speaker 1: talk about what I think our role here in the
Speaker 1: United States is Remember when Donald Trump took out Maduro,
Speaker 1: he also basically took over and took hold.
Speaker 2: Not only the country of Venezuela, but it's oil.
Speaker 1: So we have now taken hold of millions of barrels
Speaker 1: of oil that are worth billions of dollars. They're being
Speaker 1: held god knows what the money that's been produced from
Speaker 1: that is being held God knows where. They really have
Speaker 1: not been transparent or given any accountability as to what
Speaker 1: has happened with that money and what.
Speaker 2: They plan to do. But Venezuela needs that money.
Speaker 1: So this is not a time for the Trump administration
Speaker 1: to be hoarding the money that they are getting out
Speaker 1: of Venezuelan and oil. This is a time for Trump
Speaker 1: and his administration to take leadership and rebuilding Venezuela.
Speaker 2: Venezuela is going.
Speaker 1: To need everybody to help it. One of the things
Speaker 1: that they need to do is to stop trying to
Speaker 1: eradicate TPS Temporary Protective Status for Venezuela's At a time
Speaker 1: when Venezuela is suffering so much, they are still trying
Speaker 1: to do away with Temporary Protective status and deport Venezuelans.
Speaker 1: In fact, a of deported Venezuelans from the United States
Speaker 1: had just landed and they had been put in some
Speaker 1: shitty hotel when the earthquake struck, and over one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty of them are now missing.
Speaker 2: The woman who.
Speaker 3: Won the Venezuelan elections, Maria Corina Machau, who the one
Speaker 3: that Trump took her Peace medal. She's not being allowed
Speaker 3: back in the country and Donald Trump is doing nothing
Speaker 3: to make sure that the government he did leave there,
Speaker 3: the Delas Rodriguez government, is allowing her in. So there
Speaker 3: is a hell of a lot more that this government
Speaker 3: has the responsibility to do, providing aid, providing structure, providing leadership,
Speaker 3: providing an ability for Venezuela's in the United States to
Speaker 3: work legally and help their countrymen and family and relatives
Speaker 3: in the country, and providing democracy and freedom and a
Speaker 3: transparent government in Venezuela that will not steal the aid
Speaker 3: that will come in.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. That's it for this bonus. A
Speaker 1: side of Bleep Bleep with Anna Navarro is a high
Speaker 1: finite media group production in partnership with Iheart'smikududa podcast network.
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