In a rare flicker of hope amid Venezuela’s deepening catastrophe, a newborn infant was pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Caracas late last night. The rescue, hailed as a miracle by observers, involved a team of international responders including British paramedics from a charity deployed to the crisis-stricken nation.
The building, a dilapidated apartment block in the Petare slum, gave way during heavy rains, burying dozens. As rescue workers clawed through concrete and twisted steel, they heard the faint cry of a child. Within hours, the infant, still covered in dust and debris, was handed out to the waiting paramedics.
For the British team, this is a drop of decency in an ocean of mismanagement. Venezuela’s economy, once the envy of South America, has collapsed under socialist policies that would make even the most ardent Keynesian wince. Hyperinflation, now running at an annual rate of over 200,000%, has rendered the bolivar worthless. The government, more interested in political survival than fiscal discipline, has printed money with abandon, driving capital flight and destroying any semblance of a functioning market.
Gilt yields, in contrast, remain the bedrock of sanity. The Bank of England’s steady hand has kept inflation in check, albeit with a hawkish eye on the horizon. One cannot help but think how far Venezuela has strayed from the path of prudent financial management. The country sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, yet its populace suffers from shortages of food, medicine, and basic infrastructure. The bedrock of wealth is not in the ground but in sound monetary policy and the rule of law.
Meanwhile, the rescue of this newborn offers a fleeting reminder of human resilience. The British paramedics, volunteers with a London-based charity, have seen the worst of Venezuela’s collapse: hospitals without electricity, pharmacies without drugs, and a currency that buys nothing. Their work is a credit to British values of compassion and efficiency, but it also highlights the failure of ideology over economics.
The infant, reportedly stable, will be transferred to a field hospital run by the Red Cross. For the parents, if they survive, the odds against them remain staggering. The central bank, under political pressure, continues to print money, stoking inflation further. Capital controls have created a black market where the dollar trades at over 400,000 bolivars. It is a tragedy not just of governance but of economic illiteracy.
As the sun rose over Caracas, the rubble remains, a metaphor for a country destroyed by bad policy. The property market, like the buildings, has collapsed. The stock exchange is a relic. Only the black market and foreign currency thrive. For the British paramedics, this is not about markets but about lives. They will return home to a country where fiscal responsibility is taken for granted, where the Bank of England targets inflation at 2%, and where the pound is a store of value.
This rescue is a rare good news story, but don’t mistake it for a turning point. Venezuela’s descent will continue until its leaders embrace the fundamental truth that economic freedom and sound money are the only cures. The British team, by their selfless action, have proven that even in the darkest hour, humanity can shine. But the bottom line remains: without fiscal discipline, there is no foundation for any miracle to last.
