A warning from Venezuela

I recently met with two Venezuelan opposition politicians who had travelled here to give us a first-hand account of how and why Venezuela has imploded. They gave us a clear and urgent warning not to head down the same dead-end road of populist, socialist policies that has led to Venezuela’s failure. Just a generation ago, Venezuela was the richest country in Latin America with GDP per capita similar to Norway’s. Today it is a failed state with over 80% of its population living in poverty, battling food and medicine shortages. Its healthcare system has collapsed, and infant mortality has skyrocketed with malnutrition given as the main reason for baby deaths. Annual inflation is at 1000000% and the economy has halved in size. More…