Venezuela is in an underreported hunger crisis that is getting worse by the day, and the Trump administration’s de facto alliance with the unelected and unpopular Chavismo government is only adding to the risks of a disaster. Francisco Rodríguez, the respected Venezuelan economist who has sounded the alarm, warns: “Food stocks are running dangerously low. You need an emergency plan for Venezuela. You need to get the World Food Program and other humanitarian organizations in there right away.”

Firsthand details were provided by a prominent figure in the Venezuelan medical community. That source declined to be quoted by name, fearing reprisals from the regime. But they told The New Republic from Caracas that, in technical terms, the country is already in a “public health crisis” and skidding toward a “food emergency.” The source said: “Since 2023, our country has been in uncontrollable inflation. Our population increasingly does not have the economic wherewithal to obtain sufficient food. Indications are rising of infant malnutrition and of hunger among the elderly.”

Jesús “Chúo” Torrealba, a longtime major opposition figure inside the country—he has one million followers on X—explained that hunger in Venezuela does not always follow classic patterns. “The inflation is terrible,” he said. “And hunger here breaks some of the usual stereotypes. We do have hungry children in poor neighborhoods. But we also have retired university professors, whose pensions have evaporated, who can now only eat because their former students take up collections for them.”

Phil Gunson, a Venezuela-based analyst at the respected International Crisis Group, adds:........

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