• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Saturday, February 27, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Venezuelans ‘Dying Slowly’ in Rat- and Roach-Infested Homes

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
10/28/20
in World
A man holding a Venezuelan national flag during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro.

A man holding a Venezuelan national flag during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro. Photo: Federico Parra / AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Sunlight cannot penetrate, the air is fetid and fellow residents include rats and cockroaches — but that’s how 14 families are “dying slowly” in government accommodation in Venezuela’s capital Caracas.

They live on the ground floor of a ministry building a stone’s throw from the Miraflores presidential palace.

“Here, we’re dying slowly. It’s shameful that humans have to live this way,” resident Johan Medina told AFP, as his skinny arms rested on the wheelchair he’s used since an accident seven years ago damaged his spine.

There are hundreds of families living in state-supplied shelters in crisis-wracked Venezuela.

Many lost their homes to flood damage, although six years of economic meltdown under President Nicolas Maduro has also left millions in abject poverty, while basic services have been paralyzed.

They’re hoping for state aid from the socialist government that boasts of having delivered three million homes since launching a massive housing plan in 2011 under the late president Hugo Chavez — figures disputed by the opposition.

At the entrance to the building that houses the women’s ministry, amongst other state institutions, there are pictures of Chavez and his successor Maduro.

Signs on the walls read: “No more Trump,” and “Vote Chavez.”

With no services such as running water, residents like Medina are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic — but that’s the least of the 31-year-old’s worries.

“Why bother using a mask?” he said bitterly, pointing to filth and stagnant water around him.

It’s mandatory to wear face masks in the country of 30 million that has registered 86,000 cases and 736 deaths, according to official figures.

‘Marginalized’

The first residents were brought to the ministry building by a socialist organization called the Popular Organized Anti-Corruption Interpellation that has an agreement allowing it to use state facilities for free.

The group, which did not reply to AFP requests for comment, organizes assemblies and then puts up participants that have come from afar for the night on mats.

At some point, “people started living” there after being told they would be rehoused, said Norelis, a 40-year-old teacher living with her daughter.

Conditions worsened, and now “it’s like a sewer;” but Norelis, who declined to give her last name, still hopes to be moved to “a dignified site.”

Government officials come and go in the 11-storey building constructed in 1956.

“They pass in front of your face all day long,” said Medina, who arrived five years ago after a friend told him he could get help there.

He was run over by a motorcycle in April 2013 just hours after voting in Maduro’s first presidential election.

With no alternative housing options materializing, Medina and Norelis fear they will be turned out onto the streets. Their accommodation was never meant to be permanent.

“We feel marginalized,” said Norelis.

‘Like a Prison’

Lacking ventilation, the building can provoke respiratory problems amongst inhabitants.

“My daughter completely lost her sense of smell about a year ago,” Carla, who declined to give her full name, told AFP.

“We live in a room that was meant to be a bathroom. When the plumbing is flushed, imagine the smell,” added the agroecology expert, who currently works as a waitress.

She’s put up blinds and mosquito nets to try to keep out the cockroaches. She also has to deal with rats.

Carlos, who has lived in the shelter the longest, insists that everyone there is waiting to be rehoused as part of the “Housing Mission” launched almost a decade ago.

A strict curfew is imposed by authorities.

“At 7:00 pm they close it up with a padlock and if you’re outside, you stay outside. At 6:00 am, they reopen,” said Carlos, 49, who also withheld his last name.

“It’s like a day release prison.”

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales
World

Morales Says Will Return to Bolivia After Ally’s Election Victory

by Staff Writer
October 19, 2020
UK High Court Recognizes Juan Guaidó as Interim Venezuelan President
World

UK High Court Recognizes Juan Guaidó as Interim Venezuelan President

by Victoria Mulville
July 6, 2020
Latin America’s Slums Facing Losing Battle Against Virus Spread
World

Latin America’s Slums Facing Losing Battle Against Virus Spread

by Staff Writer
May 29, 2020
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves after offering a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 25, 2019
World

Venezuela Arrests Two Americans for Failed ‘Invasion’

by Staff Writer
May 5, 2020
For Venezuela’s Opposition, the US is an Increasingly Uncomfortable Ally
Featured

In Venezuela Shift, US Asks Guaido to Renounce Power Claim – For Now

by Staff Writer
April 1, 2020
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves after offering a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 25, 2019
Featured

Venezuela’s Maduro Denounces ‘Attempted Coup’ in Bolivia

by Staff Writer
October 25, 2019
Next Post
People gather on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Thursday to protest the federal government's policy of separating children from their parents trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

US Officials Involved in Policy of Family Separation Must Be Investigated

Migrant boat

At Least 140 Dead in Migrant Boat Sinking Off Senegal Last Week: IOM

Recommended

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

February 26, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Ethiopian refugees who fled the conflict in Tigray gather to receive aid at the Tenedba camp.

Eritrean Troops Killed ‘Hundreds’ in Ethiopia Massacre: Amnesty

February 26, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine

Syria Health Workers to Receive Covid Vaccine From Next Week

February 25, 2021
Moria migrant camp which was destroyed in a fire in 2020 on the Greek Aegean island of Lesbos.

Pregnant Migrant Sets Herself on Fire in Greek Camp

February 24, 2021
HRW released a statement on China's increasing prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

China Targets Uighurs With More Prosecutions, Longer Prison Terms: HRW

February 24, 2021

Opinion

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

February 26, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Stolpersteine in Greifswald, Germany.

I Can’t Mark Where My Grandfather Is Buried, but I Want to Mark Where He Lived

February 26, 2021
Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley

Trump’s Acquittal and Republican Senators: Not Setting the Bar Low Enough

February 22, 2021
Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

February 19, 2021
Refugee child holding up a sign reading 'we are human like you'

US Asylum Laws Must Catch up With the Reality of Today’s Refugees

February 18, 2021
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post