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Comment by merciBien | Hacker News Reader

This is so painful to read, Venezuela sounds like a failed state, it can’t even provide running water to its people in Ordaz. The daily human toll must be ghastly.

How does a country ever get back on a positive trajectory after such a catastrophe?

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I don't have the numbers, but I suspect the brain-drain is near total, and irreversible for a few generations. The last time I did a round of interviews, about two years ago with half a dozen companies in Chile, at least half of the senior engineers, and many of the hiring managers, were Venezuelan. None of my Venezuelan friends plan on going back, although they do visit, and I think would like to go back if conditions were different- Venezuelan culture is quite a bit more "latin" than Chile, so there's a fair bit of culture shock for them. As it is, they are putting down roots, starting families, opening up businesses, etc, and I don't think they'll be leaving soon, if ever.

The brain drain is real, at least in the case of the petroleum engineers. Most of them left years ago to work for Petrobras or Pemex. I have heard mexican engineers complain about venezuelans coming in and undercutting the labor market. This was 10+ years ago, after Chavez fired 80% of the engineers.

Not only that, it will most likely change the political map for the next 20 years in those countries, at least at the community level. If most of the refugees get voting rights (at least in Spain or Colombia where most can get the nationality through ancestry), they will NOT vote for any left leaning party that helps or validates the regime

I visited Bogota on a visit hosted by the city's official business promotion council. The main lady running these tours was Venezuelan.

Cambodia went through the same hell and worse and only started the path back after Vietnam invaded it and ousted the Khmer Rouge. It might take an outside intervention to end the charade of the Venezuelan government.

Outside invasion - either by force or soft force (economic) are usually the quickest ways. Otherwise you need the rulers to decide to reform or the revolution to actually install a government that doesn’t just mimic the preceding.

They got a lot of advice from Cuba on staying in power. I fear Maduro may hang on in there till old age like Castro did.

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