Venezuela the last 5 months, it's better with Trump's help?
I haven't spoken about the problems in my country for over five months.
Many people think that after Trump came to oust Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, Venezuela has improved.
This couldn't be a bigger lie. Let me introduce you to Mrs. Carmen Teresa Navas, mother of political prisoner Victor Hugo Quero Navas. While we were celebrating Mother's Day in Venezuela on May 10th, Mrs. Carmen received the worst news anyone could possibly receive: her son Victor, whom she had been tirelessly searching for in every prison, hospital, and morgue in Venezuela for 16 months, was dead.
The dictatorial regime killed Victor approximately 10 months ago in the El Rodeo prison, where he was brutally beaten on the regime's orders by other inmates under threat. He was taken out in critical condition and transferred to the Caracas military hospital, where hooded paramilitary agents awaited him in a cold, white room to deliver the final beating that would end his suffering. Carmen, just one week after receiving the news she feared most, passed away yesterday, May 17, 2026.
It wasn't because she was 82 years old; she died as a result of torture.
They kidnapped her son, murdered him, and gave her hope for months of a reunion that never happened, telling her he had been transferred from one prison to another, and so on for months until this Mother's Day, when Carmen didn't receive flowers; she took them to her son's makeshift grave.
This is just one of the thousands of problems my country continues to suffer.
I just finished experiencing six hours without electricity. In these past five months, Venezuela has continued with constant currency devaluation and uninterrupted power outages of up to 72 hours in different parts of the country. A minimum monthly wage of $0.20 has remained unchanged for the last three years. The remaining $249.80 consists of bonuses provided by the state, and the vast majority of employers do not pay the full amount.
This means that upon resigning or being fired, your severance pay can be as little as $3 for a full year of work, including vacation time. This is equivalent to a basic food basket for a family of four, which costs $800 per month.
We have had protests, recent imprisonments, and repression for demanding the presidential elections stipulated by our constitution; however, Trump satirizes and silences this by posting images of my country, referring to it as the 51st state. While my country still suffers from the murder of its children, from living without electricity for long periods, from storing murky water in bottles and tanks because it is only delivered two or three times a week, from a salary that doesn't even allow you to eat with dignity, and while every human right continues to be violated, Trump is not helping Venezuela; he has become an ally of the terrorists who are holding it hostage.