How people in the Socialist ‘utopia’ of Venezuela live in poverty without water and power cuts — but Jeremy Corbyn backs ‘insane nationalisation’ projects
In Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, mum-of-two Maribel Gonzales has to queue for an hour for a water pipe, after the state-owned water system broke down for the third time in a fortnight
DESPERATE Maribel Gonzales struggles to extract trickling water from a standpipe as her children cry from thirst.
The gaunt mum-of-two has had to queue for an hour for drinking water at the pipe, put in place to save residents from dehydration after the state-owned water system failed for the third time in a fortnight.
Last year he pledged his “support” for the Venezuelan government’s attempts at “reducing inequality”.
When its former leader died in 2013, Corbyn tweeted: “Thanks Hugo Chavez for showing that the poor matter and wealth can be shared.”
And as Maribel battled to keep her children alive this week, Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Chancellor John McDonnell called for Britain’s water companies to be nationalised . . . just like Venezuela.
Housewife Maribel, 35, who lives in the San Jose neighbourhood, said: “This is what you get when you nationalise everything.
“Too many things for the government to pay for and oversee and everything fails.
“We have not had any running water in my area for a month.
“We cannot shower, wash dishes, or drink. If it was not for this pipe in the street I would die.”
One report states that “institutional incompetence” has resulted in only 27 per cent of
families having regular access to safe water.
Those that can afford it buy water on the black market instead.
The Sun on Sunday went behind the curtain of the failed left-wing state to witness horrors that could be unleashed by the renationalising policies Corbyn spoke so passionately about at Labour conference.
Delegates in Liverpool this week cheered as leaders unveiled plans to make great swathes of our industry state-run — including railways, utility firms and the postal service.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he will force companies with more than 250 employees to hand over a ten per cent share of their firm to workers and the state.
The idealistic aims are familiar to Venezuelans, who saw former leader Hugo Chavez do exactly the same after he was re-elected in 2006.
He nationalised Electricidad de Caracas, the country’s biggest power producer, 11 years ago.
Scheme is a nightmare
CRITICS of nationalisation say that it leads to poorly run services.
State industries which face no competition end up overmanned, corrupt and lacking in innovation.
In Venezuela, former leader Chavez nationalised the oil, telecom and banking sectors.
Oil profits subsidised his welfare spending but corruption grew.
Subsequent losses have been subsidised by government borrowing, and then hyperinflation resulted as they printed money to repay loans at home and abroad.
There is now limited scope to raise cash for maintaining essentials . . . like water pipes.
In the UK, organisations that were nationalised between 1945 and 1951 – including rail, coal, iron and steel industries – soon ran into difficulties.
Speaking under the threat of arrest, Dr Del Valle says blackouts now blight Caracas’ Vargas Hospital.
She said: “I have seen your Jeremy Corbyn talking on television about how much he admires our leaders.
“He should come here and see what it is like for himself.
“We had a power cut last week and had to spend all night using hand pumps to keep patients in intensive care alive as the ventilators had failed.
“We lost one person. The next time it might be more.
“This hospital has no medicine, no cleaning products, no working ambulances and the water out of our taps is brown and dirty.
We have to ask the patients to bring in their own drinking water.
“We do not have bin bags and the wards are filthy. We have not received any government funding since October.
“I used to think our directors were stealing the money.
"Now I realise they do not have any to give us.”
Dogs and cats are allowed to roam among sick and dying patients as the animals get rid of the rats that previously infested the hospital.
We saw bloated, naked corpses on steel slabs turning yellow in the heat and malnourished children surviving on a portion of rice a day.
Baby Isaias was one of many starving little ones. His mum Fanny, 40, said: “He has been sick for two months. He has diarrhoea and malnutrition. The hospital has nothing.”
Railways, which Corbyn wants to renartionalise in Britain, are chaotic here in Caracas.
Standing at the crowded station office worker Jesus Romero says he often queues for 40 minutes just to buy a ticket.
But he feels lucky to get one — in May the state-owned firm that operates the trains ran out of money to print them.
Jesus, 52, said: “The most critical issue is security.
"People are so hungry they will do anything to get food.
“I have seen people getting robbed in the station and on the train.
“Another problem is that often there is no air conditioning — I have seen people fainting in the heat.”
Corruption haunts every aspect of life including the police force, which people view as less trustworthy than the criminals in a country where there are 60 murders a day.
The situation has only got worse since steak-loving socialist Maduro took over on Chavez’s death in 2013.
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Maduro provoked the wrath of his starving people this month when he was filmed enjoying a lavish serving of his favourite food prepared by a celebrity chef in Turkey.
Corbyn failed to mention Venezuela once in his conference speech.
Maybe because, as Dr Del Valle told us: “If Jeremy Corbyn thinks this is a good way to run a country he must be completely insane.”
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