Thousands of people are once again leaving Venezuela as neighboring countries like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru reopen their economies and lift restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The poorest are leaving on foot, and joining 5 million people who have already left Venezuela to escape hyperinflation, food shortages and the lowest wages in the Western Hemisphere.
The steep slope, appearing almost as a vertical line, is a stunning mark by the Trump administration on what was once a refugee program recognized around the world as a model to welcome the tyrannized and persecuted masses.
Church leaders sent a strong message of support to an unprecedented virtual assembly of more than 3,000 indigenous leaders, small farmers, environmental campaigners and women from the nine countries of the Amazon region seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 outbreak in the Brazilian Amazon led the Catholic Church to launch several initiatives of assistance. The episcopate has also denounced underlying structural problems within the region.
The State Department issued its annual country reports on human rights March 11, highlighting abuses in China, Myanmar, Vietnam and other nations during a press briefing that day.
While media focus on married priests and women deacons, "for us, that is a distraction, because the bottom line is life," says a Curripaco leader from Venezuela. "This synod for us is about the planet."
In a press conference, Cardinals Lorenzo Baldisseri and Claudio Hummes focused on the serious implications of Catholics currently living without frequent access to the sacraments and the call of people in the Amazon that the synod address the issue.
