美国国家公共电台 NPR For The Venezuelan Opposition, Protests Are 'Like A War'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Venezuela's ongoing¹ political and economic crisis has taken a toll² on daily life there.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

CARLOS: I cannot find basic food - I mean no rice, no chicken. Fruits are very expensive. So what has really shocked me is that this past year, you can see in every street of the city, there is somebody in the garbage looking for food.

CORNISH: That's Carlos, a protester we reached in Caracas, speaking about the food shortages in the country. There are nearly daily demonstrations³ now against the rule of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. To learn why and what the U.S. is doing about it, we turn to Shannon O'Neil. She's a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. And she began by describing the Venezuelans who still support President Maduro.

SHANNON O'NEIL: We see somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of the population still supports him. Many of these people are from the lower socioeconomic classes, people who have been very poor, that were treated poorly before Chavez. And then Maduro, who's his successor, came in. And many of these people are also people who are getting things from the government. So they're getting baskets of food and the like to stave off the hunger facing so many people. So there is this base of support that we have seen it eroding⁴ as the crisis gets worse.

CORNISH: So even though there's a black market in food - right? - there're shortages - you're saying some people are still getting access.

O'NEIL: Well, the government actually has developed a whole program to deliver baskets of foods to families. And there are lots of allegations that they send these to their loyal supporters and not to those who are within the opposition⁵. There's a whole effort - it's run by Venezuela's military - to then provide food - so even more intervention⁶ in the economy by the state on this very basic level.

CORNISH: You've described Maduro's government as a long-running train wreck⁷ in part because of legacy⁸ problems inherited from the one before it. So can you just give us a sense of the ways, like, kind of the socialist⁹ policies of this government have led to the problems we see now?

O'NEIL: Venezuela's big problems come from the change in the economy. And we've seen over the last almost 20 years systematically¹⁰ undermining the use of the market. Venezuela has moved from a country that produced many things to one that today produces only oil. And it is now a highly indebted country. So when oil prices collapsed¹² a few years ago, that's how we got this economic crisis.

CORNISH: So we know the opposition wants humanitarian¹³ aid. And they want the reinstatement of the country's congress which Maduro invalidated right after his opponents won a majority there. But what's his response? What does he have in mind instead?

O'NEIL: Well, Nicolas Maduro has responded to this by spurning¹⁴ the dialogue with the opposition and also now pushing for a constituent¹⁵ assembly. And this would change the politics within Venezuela. It would bring in a new body made up of all types of Venezuelans but mostly his supporters. And it would annul¹⁶ the national assembly, the legislative¹⁷ body. So we would see the opposition pushed out of any of those bodies that actually govern Venezuela.

CORNISH: What, if anything, has the U.S. done about any of this? What's our policy towards Venezuela?

O'NEIL: The United States has condemned¹⁸ the things that are going on there. It has reached out to other countries in the region to try to bring together a coalition¹⁹ to push for change in Venezuela. And the United States has also put targeted sanctions on individuals in Venezuela that are accused of corruption²⁰, of human rights abuses.

But the United States, too, as we've seen in the past with Venezuela - if the United States goes it alone in pushing Venezuela, it often backfires and gives Maduro or, before him, Chavez a reason to say, look; the imperial bully²¹ is pushing us - and actually builds up their support.

CORNISH: We actually have an example of that. This is the response from Nicolas Maduro in a televised speech last month he directed at Donald Trump²².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).

CORNISH: So translation there - "go home Donald Trump, enough interventionism."

O'NEIL: Exactly. And if you can blame the problems of Venezuela today on the United States, it serves him well.

CORNISH: Is there concern that this government one way or another will collapse¹¹?

O'NEIL: There is a hope among some that this government will move on and transition out. But there is a concern that there will be a collapse and one that could lead to further economic hardship. But it also could lead to a refugee crisis within the hemisphere. And we've already seen tens of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing to neighboring countries. And there's a worry that you could see those levels increase dramatically if Venezuela and if the government collapsed.

CORNISH: Shannon O'Neil is senior fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Thank you for speaking with us.

O'NEIL: Thank you for having me.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

4 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

7 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

10 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

13 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

14 spurning   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There is no point in spurning sth. 鄙视某事物是毫无意义的。 来自互联网
• It does its job with subtlety, however, spurning the hammer intensity of something like cranberry juice. 然而，它与微妙做它的工作践踏象酸果蔓的果实果汁一样的一些东西的榔头紧张。 来自互联网

15 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

16 annul   

v.宣告…无效，取消，废止

参考例句：

• They have the power to alter or annul inappropriate decisions of their own standing committees.他们有权改变或者撤销本级人民代表大会常务委员会不适当的决定。
• The courts later found grounds to annul the results,after the king urged them to sort out the "mess".在国王敦促法庭收拾烂摊子后，法庭随后宣布废除选举结果。

17 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

18 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

19 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

20 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

21 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

22 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。