Three weeks it was bought by a sensor from republican cassy opposed big budget deficit. The i think ceremony for the Winter Olympics in pyongyang is now underway showpiece event comes on the back of a togetherness between north and south korea the sister of north koreas leader has become the first member of her family to step foot in south korea since the two countries went to war in one nine hundred fifty jong is part of the north korean delegation thats arrived for the games. Egyptian army has launched what its called a comprehensive operation against terrorists and criminal groups in the Sinai Peninsula website announced the start of the offensive local media is reporting what it calls an unusual increase in the number of military vehicles in north sinai hospitals have been put on higher in order to provide extra beds and nursing staff to deal with emergencies and medical evacuation. By the. Call what the impreza call the smore ning Law Enforcement forces began implementing the plan a comprehensive confrontation against the terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in north and central sinai and other areas in the delta of egypt and the desert back in the west of the nile valley this comes in addition to training and other operations on all Strategic Directions in order to tighten control of the ports of the egyptian state. For a fifth consecutive day bombs have been targeting rebel held on the edge of the capital damascus aid agencies say government and russian as strikes of killed at least two hundred thirty people Rights Groups say hospitals have been told another targets of strikes including the bombing of a Red Crescent Center on a five year government sees the enclave as running desperately low on food medicine and medical equipment. Was the number of those being killed in eastern guta rises by the hour the war is taking its toll on the survivors. And they. Say. Thank you. But really. It is shelling and destruction every time it turns out there are twenty five explosions not here demolishing the entire country people going to leave the shelters can leave given to us theres nothing in the shelters the people who believe in peace talks in geneva dont see whats happening here on the ground. Syrias accusing the u. S. Of committing a war crime by bombing fighters loyal to president Bashar Al Assad and province the u. S. Led Coalition Says one hundred fighters loyal to the Syrian Government died in the airstrikes as they were in response to what it called an unprovoked attack on the headquarters of its allies the Syrian Democratic forces but russia which backs assad says the strikes are part of an effort by washington to control key economic assets in the region. Supporters of former bangladeshi Prime Minister have continued protests after a court ruling against their leader she was jailed for five years on wednesday for embezzling around two hundred fifty thousand dollars in donations meant for an orphanage trust eldest son and four aides were given ten years sentences says supporters say the ruling is politically motivated as venal acts of its has been detained in saudi arabia for seventeen days and what Rights Groups are calling a quiet government crackdown on human rights Campaigners Police entire book accused. Of advocating womens rights on social media she faces five years in prison if found guilty rescue operations are starting to wind down in taiwan after a devastating six point four magnitude earthquake aftershocks have been hampering the search for survivors with five people still missing in the port city of tuesdays quake killed at least twelve people and injured hundreds of others. Those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after the big picture stay with us. Venezuela is gripped by crisis. Ravaged by economic collapse and mobbed by political to k. The government of Nicolas Maduro faces an existential threat. Mother who has been a bully in the middle of a big storm. Latin americas once model democracy struggles to maintain order and feed a divided people. Have never seemed a detour racial of Living Standards of this moment almost unworkable or a nation boasting the Worlds Largest oil reserves fight the economic survival as its called further apart. Polarization is the racial it is there regionally is there by class its there in malta paul multiple ways. But the seeds of its current demise was sown a century ago. When the events of its formative years in shared that the fate of venezuela would be written in oil. This country that was once that the wealthiest in the region what went wrong how did we get to this point in venezuela. The country starts among the Association Process that is shaped by all of this puts a state becomes more and more powerful and they shape their country through the state charges and then my goodness of being tried to create. List revolution and that led this people to destroy the whole business of herat those of the country. That unemployment did go down equality increased per capita g. D. P. Increased of course you could say that because of the oil wealth are at the same time or are that only wealth could have been distributed completely different there and i would say it was distributed much more equitably. And it was a very backward country before birth of one of the poorest of latin america. Life expectancy was in your early thirties and about three quarters of the country was a mature. Its very difficult to speak of a National Policy much less of a national culture. Then we have an extraordinary developments in nine hundred fourteen when venezuela sings its those wells begins pumping oil for the first time. In this way that enters the era of commercial heavy Oil Production and not only is the british and the dutch involved but now the us also comes to venezuela to partake in oils production. Foreign oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and the American Standard oil company were granted concessions by the military dictatorship of one percent taken as allowing them to drill for oil and allowing us to get rich. Rival of the Oil Companies the development of the industry parallels the rise of one be sent the gold mist and the rise of the venezuelan state even though venezuela really begins to develop its all economy the venezuelan state doesnt benefit hugely because in essence its only charging rent for the land. By the mid one nine hundred thirty s. The once lease collective of largely coffee exporting regions had become a consolidated nation state formed and transformed by oil. We have the beginnings of a mass process of urbanization so people coming out of the rule country signs in city the big cities because the major london is the selling off the Oil Companies the very idea of oil became imbued with the notion of modernity that the oil camps with the north american presence the british presence with electricity water sewage would then become social laboratories that other venezuelans should emulate on the one hand there were people who were living in the oil camps who received all the benefits of working for all companies and then on the outside of these comes you have the majority of Venezuelan Society who didnt have access to all of the health care and benefits and education benefits. One percent take on as died in one thousand nine hundred eighty five but he laid the blueprint for other dictators to follow developing infrastructure suppressing to sand and getting rich off oil deals. The first half of the Twentieth Century would see venezuela ruled by oppressive military regimes for all but three years on a popular push for democracy in one nine hundred forty five briefly on seated dictatorship. But the Political Party cemented in that democratic interlude axion democratic eighty and capacity question democrats remained a persistent opposition to authoritarian rule. By the mid one nine hundred fifty s. The rule of another dictator general marcos paris and then as it creates a vastly expanded and increasingly unequal state we enter what some of called the bulldozer years in venezuela the state will now use the funds the profits of oil to engage in broad scale developmental is projects those are all great opportunities for development but also for corruption because in the process of developing those projects the military and their associates were all benefiting from industry the big problem is that the only way president is commencing himself in power is through brutal repression. What we see is a real climbdown brutal climb down position. You start to seeing also the very clear parameters of two venezuelas venezuela benefits from oil and the venezuela that actually still remains in the shadow of the oil industry. And that venezuela is rural that venezuela is poor that venezuela is illiterate that venezuela isnt seeing and looking at the evolution of the other but is not benefiting from it. As venezuelas elite rich and its poor are getting left behind the forces for democracy once again dad to take on a dictator. You begin to see rumblings in the military you begin to see younger officers protest in much the same way they had protested before theres also an active social movement being led by dissidents in the communist party in our own democratic even the social democrats and others theyre actually cooperating to undermine the menace. Said perez humanise who is the effectively have thrown through another coup which then brings us to moccasin venezuela in one nine hundred fifty eight. Democracy had fallen to dictatorship a decade earlier right now to survive unity was a must. There is an attempt to form a pact so eydie comes to the table with its union impossible its who framework copay comes to the table the christian democrat right so what you have around the table is essentially all of the key financial and political interests in the country the Roman Catholic church is also essentially politics in these negotiations as is the military these parties signed. And began was being called in venezuela. Meaning there was an agreement which the parties. I agreed not to go in conflicts that good risk with mr allen democracy. Venezuela was moving inexorably toward the socalled first world with growing confidence. It had broken the cycle of military coups and now the printer fiar pact ensured progress would be underwritten by democratic process. In a certain length is a kind of golden age because it has more than inflation going on now for two decades and it also has now a democracy that means to be an example for the rest of latin america. In one nine hundred sixty venezuela helped establish the organization of Petroleum Exporting countries back and in one nine hundred seventy three following the hike in oil prices after war in the middle east it was awash with patronage dollars. Venezuela was asserting itself as a global player. And in colors andrus perez it would have a president ready to take the next big step and take back its well. That was the dream of democracy and so colors and this is ive got the money why not lets do it. So we nationalize the oil industry in one nine hundred seventy five its called with it. What it essentially is it nationalized the bureaucracy of Oil Exploration its nationalization to create a Company Rather than nationalization all Venezuelas Oil sector to say many of the world workers maintain their privileged status in the oil camps and this is the period in venezuela that many refer to as loving as well as the image of saudi venezuela in which the notion is that one of the terms in venezuela is. Its cheap to me to venezuela have that kind of wealth. The dream of a state oil company had been realized with head of the south president Carlos Andres paris now involved on a nationwide spending spree funding social programs housing projects and nationalizing industries with the price of crude oil at a record high such lavish spending could also be supplemented by borrowing. He wanted an industrialized country and he could be could be had a lot of. This also puts us in loans and more loans and more than that continues as long as the price of oil is good as the all price begins to fall back venezuela doesnt reduce its financial outlays. You have this huge bureaucracy which also merges in venezuela and huge amounts of corruption government high post implicitly have the benefit of helping yourself and helping others in your Social Circle and instead of addressing any of these problems the strategy of the government is instead to or a money there. Becomes more difficult to. Under that environment. Is the election one thousand nine hundred to go to war to have a market economy. Inflation begins to take off corruption becomes an even more profound problem and yet we have no effort made by any of the governments in the 1980s to actually address the overwhelming reliance on oil which is falling in. Successive governments of democratic and copay did little to check the economic decline social inequality and the corruption of the ruling class. In december one thousand nine hundred eighty eight. Paris was reelected to office promising to bring back the cash which glory is of his first. But rhetoric would be trumped by reality was he his sworn into power. To serve people. To the. Venezuela to go to an agreement with the International Monetary fund saying there was no choice no choice at the time because an assailant was in the business you had to go to some adjustment structure roach adjustment to launch. The growth again the problem is greg this i. M. F. Loan comes with some very difficult terms and conditions you have you have a segment of the population that hasnt benefited from the boom times Living Conditions have been deteriorating through the eightys and now comes this i. M. F. Loan where yet again theyre feeling the effects should parents have anticipated this. Sort of certainly on huh. Because it distracted again the poor who had been already suffering it affects them even more but i would say just one step back also in terms of an alternative i think we have to keep in mind on the one hundred at that time the new liberal kind of policy paradigm was absolutely had to monitor and around the world and so it certainly appeared that way i think that there was no alternative i would argue from todays perspective there probably were some alternatives one of them would have been perhaps to actually default on the debt which of course you know has all kinds of other consequence in part about trying to for example tax the wealthy more or some other way of raising revenues other than cutting back on. The parts that. Have an impact on the poor what do you say to that cost people are still suffering in terms of unemployment and wages yeah because the when you change when you have to the idea in the second sentence but as a government was that the country couldnt be resorting all your resources couldnt be at depending on the state resources they had to promote private an intrapreneur ship they have to promote the participation of a business we had to promote for a National Investment in oil and in other industries that where state owned how we change or raise. Pain and but who are less sending to lessen the pain for the majority there were some of the more advanced social programs of the time. That later on where. You know taken by brazilian man made mexico to. Have a feeling that i have a different perspective on that i mean if you want to change us from from one day to the other into a free market economy when we have been a state economy throughout all the Twentieth Century i mean you cant do that and i think the problem was not that the taint had to come and we have still we still havent been able to have a market economy in some way that will lead us to to feed the population the thirty million of and as soon as that we are but the problem was the way it was put out it was a political problem the political problem was gunderson that it said you know what we cant take this ng with change and were going to do a radical change would also how to play the major role in the moment were trying to cover some of those photos run on the platform that antonio loeb wrong when he ran for president and then made this big turnaround i mean thats why there was a hundred eighty degree turn after he came into Office Actually i think it was a major impact on what happened afterwards as well actually i think thats not accurate because he said in his Electoral Campaign that he was going to bring may use changes in in a Straight Line the economy and political round but what is true is that he represent. All the years that. We had in the senate and one nine hundred seventy s. He was perceived in one way and then does the opposite and that was exactly what was the adding insult to injury injury being the cut backs on. Subsidies for transportation or for food and at the same time this is not what we thought we were voting for i think there was a big this in chad doesnt consult his party because he thinks he is so popular he doesnt need to consult his party to do this radical change and so there is some out against this. Party says if i go to my party i lose too much time he he goes to the i. M. F. To do a Shock Therapy with that was that the way it was called that with a country that everything that depended on the state for everything you cant just jump into a free market economy without giving a transition to the people without convincing the people without