Washington Post: Venezuela’s public health is in ruins. It must open the gates to aid.
Editorial Board

“War and disaster often capture the headlines, but another kind of catastrophe, the invisible spread of disease, is as lethal and heartbreaking. As chaos envelops Venezuela, bringing hunger, food shortages, hyperinflation, and flight by millions of people, disease is following. Sicknesses that were once eliminated in Venezuela and are easily prevented by vaccine are breaking out routinely. … Venezuela has imploded under the ruinous hand of President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez, with help from Cuba. To their legacy of failed socialist policies, corruption, mismanagement, and political repression must now be added the destruction of public health in an oil-rich nation once among the continent’s most developed. Mr. Maduro’s regime has met the chaos by refusing humanitarian aid offers from abroad while broadcasting mindless propaganda at home, denying there is a crisis. He told the United Nations in September that Venezuela ‘is the victim of world media attacks designed to construct a supposed humanitarian crisis so as to justify a military intervention.’ Millions of his people know this is not true, that the humanitarian crisis is real and not ‘supposed.’ At the very least, he should open the gates to desperately needed food and medicine” (11/23).

Washington Post: Venezuela is a tragedy, not a terrorist threat
Amanda Erickson, foreign affairs reporter at the Washington Post

“Venezuela is a country in crisis. The economy is in shambles. … Public services and health care are nearly impossible to come by. … Diseases once largely eradicated, such as diphtheria and tuberculous, are soaring. … It’s obvious that Venezuela needs help. Instead, the Trump administration is now threatening to add it to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. … States on the list can face sanctions, bans on arms-related sales, prohibitions on economic assistance, and other punishments. But it’s a questionable tool, and there’s little evidence that it has helped keep the United States safer. … Ultimately, adding Venezuela to the list would make it harder for the United States to provide humanitarian aid and global leadership on the issue. And support from the United States is needed if the international community is going to tackle the crisis, which is spreading across South America. … What Venezuelans need now is help, in the form of food and medicine and aid…” (11/21).