Venezuela’s Humanitarian Crisis Photo Essay

Leidy Cordova, 37, with four of her five children at their home in Cumana, Venezuela, June 16, 2016. Their broken refrigerator held the only food in the house: a bag of corn flour and a bottle of vinegar.
Leidy Cordova, 37, with four of her five children at their home in Cumana, Venezuela, June 16, 2016. Their broken refrigerator held the only food in the house: a bag of corn flour and a bottle of vinegar.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Large groups of people line up to purchase difficult to find items, such as sugar, cooking oil, milk, rice, toilet paper, and baby diapers at price-controlled prices during a government event in Caracas, January 24, 2015.
Large groups of people line up to purchase difficult to find items, such as sugar, cooking oil, milk, rice, toilet paper, and baby diapers at price-controlled  prices during a government event in Caracas, January 24, 2015.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
The crowded emergency room at the University Hospital Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016.
The crowded emergency room at the University Hospital Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016. Doctors said that they lack most of the medicines, equipment, and supplies needed to give patients appropriate medical attention, and that the hospital suffers from weekly shortages of running water and electricity. © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Nurses at a hospital in Barquisimeto discuss which patients will receive medicines and which will have to wait due to severe shortages of medicines at the hospital, August 24, 2016.
Nurses at a hospital in Barquisimeto discuss which patients will receive medicines and which will have to wait due to severe shortages of medicines at the hospital, August 24, 2016.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
A bakery worker passes out numbers to scores of shoppers, many of whom had been waiting in line for five hours, entitling them to buy a half-kilo ration of bread in Cumaná, June 16, 2016.
A bakery worker passes out numbers to scores of shoppers, many of whom had been waiting in line for five hours, entitling them to buy a half-kilo ration of bread in Cumaná, June 16, 2016. © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Devices pieced together by doctors, using recycled soda bottles and water jugs as weights, to treat patients with broken legs at the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 15, 2016.
Devices pieced together by doctors, using recycled soda bottles and water jugs as weights, to treat patients with broken legs at the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 15, 2016.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Sign on an incubator ("Don't Use - Doesn't Work") in a room full of broken incubators in the maternity ward of the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016.
 Sign on an incubator ("Don't Use - Doesn't Work") in a room full of broken incubators in the maternity ward of the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016. © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Jailimar Laverde, 17, (left) and Yanny Trejo, 19, (right) wait in a queue of hundreds of people outside a supermarket in Caracas rumored to have received a shipment of corn flour and butter, March 19, 2016.
Jailimar Laverde, 17, (left) and Yanny Trejo, 19, (right) wait in a queue of hundreds of people outside a supermarket in Caracas rumored to have received a shipment of corn flour and butter, March 19, 2016. Both teenagers said they got pregnant because they could no longer find birth control pills in Venezuela.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
A man searches for anything he can salvage from a grocery store that was destroyed by hundreds of looters in Cumaná, Venezuela, June 16, 2016.
A man searches for anything he can salvage from a grocery store that was destroyed by hundreds of looters in Cumaná, Venezuela, June 16, 2016. People took water, flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, potatoes, and cereal, leaving behind only a broken freezer and overturned shelves.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Doctors protest in front of the state-run University City Hospital in Caracas carrying signs describing patients they have not been able to help because they lack necessary supplies, January 15, 2015.
Doctors protest in front of the state-run University City Hospital in Caracas carrying signs describing patients they have not been able to help because they lack necessary supplies, January 15, 2015. © 2016 Meridith Kohut
A black market vendor shows the money she earned illegally re-selling price-controlled products at substantial mark-ups in the Petare slum on the outskirts of Caracas, January 14, 2016.
A black market vendor shows the money she earned illegally re-selling price-controlled products at substantial mark-ups in the Petare slum on the outskirts of Caracas, January 14, 2016. Black market vendors are able to make significant profits because of high demand for hard-to-find products such as soap, shampoo, corn flour, rice, coffee, cooking oil, and diapers.   © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Two ER patients, one with head trauma from a car accident, and another who had been stabbed, in the emergency operating room of the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016.
Two ER patients, one with head trauma from a car accident, and another who had been stabbed, in the emergency operating room of the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 16, 2016. Both were bandaged up but not otherwise treated because doctors lacked the equipment to take the scans necessary to determine appropriate treatment.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Nicolas Espinoza's young daughter sleeps in the children's cancer ward at the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 15, 2016.
Nicolas Espinoza's young daughter sleeps in the children's cancer ward at the University Hospital Dr. Luis Razetti in Barcelona, April 15, 2016. Mr. Espinoza said he had not been able to obtain the chemotherapy drugs and antibiotics doctors prescribed to treat her illness.  © 2016 Meridith Kohut
Soraya Rodríguez gets her ear pricked during a blood test for malaria at a clinic in Tumerero, May 25, 2016. More than 100,000 Venezuelans contracted malaria in 2015.
Soraya Rodríguez gets her ear pricked during a blood test for malaria at a clinic in Tumerero, May 25, 2016. More than 100,000 Venezuelans contracted malaria in 2015. © 2016 Meridith Kohut
A patient with appendicitis, June 2016. Because of shortages at the hospital, she was responsible for obtaining her own medicines and supplies for surgery. She was unable to obtain antibiotics, leaving her at risk of post-surgery infection.
A patient with appendicitis, June 2016. Because of shortages at the hospital, she was responsible for obtaining her own medicines and supplies for surgery. She was unable to obtain antibiotics, leaving her at risk of post-surgery infection.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
In a pediatric hospital in Lara State, a hand-lettered sign lists supplies needed at an “Operating Room in Crisis,” June 2016
In a pediatric hospital in Lara State, a hand-lettered sign lists supplies needed at an “Operating Room in Crisis,” June 2016. © 2016 Human Rights Watch
A nurse’s handwritten note lists medicines and supplies lacking at a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, June 2016.
A nurse’s handwritten note lists medicines and supplies lacking at a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
Doctors had locked up patients at a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, where the general absence of adequate health services, including lack of medicines, made it very difficult to address the needs of their patients, June 2016.
Doctors had locked up patients at a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, where the general absence of adequate health services, including lack of medicines, made it very difficult to address the needs of their patients, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
A patient lies on the floor in a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, June 2016. The facility lacked medications and such basic supplies as mattresses, bedding, clothing, and adequate food.
A patient lies on the floor in a psychiatric hospital in Trujillo State, June 2016. The facility lacked  medications and such basic supplies as mattresses, bedding, clothing, and adequate food.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
Patients in a hospital in Valencia, Carabobo State, share the last tank of oxygen; without oxygen supplies, doctors are unable to perform many surgeries, July 2016.
Patients in a hospital in Valencia, Carabobo State, share the last tank of oxygen; without oxygen supplies, doctors are unable to perform many surgeries, July 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
A doctor at Leopoldo Manrique Terrero Hospital in Coche, Caracas, shows vials of expired anti-venom used in the absence of fresh supplies, August 2016. Anti-venom is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines.
A doctor at Leopoldo Manrique Terrero Hospital in Coche, Caracas, shows vials of expired anti-venom used in the absence of fresh supplies, August 2016. Anti-venom is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines.  © 2016 Private
In the absence of supplies, doctors at the neonatology ward of the University Hospital Pedro E Carrillo in Valera, Trujillo State, are improvising humidifiers like this one, made of a plastic water bottle, July 2016.
In the absence of supplies, doctors at the neonatology ward of the University Hospital Pedro E Carrillo in Valera, Trujillo State, are improvising humidifiers like this one, made of a plastic water bottle, July 2016. © 2016 Private
A baby breathes through an improvised oxyhood at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of San Cristobal Central Hospital in Táchira State, where such basic supplies are lacking, August 2016.
A baby breathes through an improvised oxyhood at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of San Cristobal Central Hospital in Táchira State, where such basic supplies are lacking, August 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
A woman shows dwindling food supplies in her fridge in Zulia State, June 2016.
A woman shows dwindling food supplies in her fridge in Zulia State, June 2016. © 2016 Human Rights Watch
An 80-year-old woman shows her fridge, nearly empty, in Zulia State, June 2016.
An 80-year-old woman shows her fridge, nearly empty, in Zulia State, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
In Barquisimeto, Lara State, people line up for hours to purchase goods subject to government-set price controls, including food, June 2016.
In Barquisimeto, Lara State, people line up for hours to purchase goods subject to government-set price controls, including food, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
People in Carabobo State line up for hours to purchase goods subject to price controls set by the government, including food, June 2016.
People in Carabobo State line up for hours to purchase goods subject to price controls set by the government, including food, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
Fruits and vegetables attract few customers at a market in Trujillo State, where, for those with minimum-wage jobs, food not subject to government-set price controls has become prohibitively expensive, June 2016.
Fruits and vegetables attract few customers at a market in Trujillo State, where, for those with minimum-wage jobs, food not subject to government-set price controls has become prohibitively expensive, June 2016. © 2016 Human Rights Watch
For those with minimum-wage jobs, fish and meat at such markets as this one in Trujillo State, where products are not subject to price controls, have become prohibitively expensive, June 2016.
For those with minimum-wage jobs, fish and meat at such markets as this one in Trujillo State, where products are not subject to price controls, have become prohibitively expensive, June 2016.  © 2016 Human Rights Watch
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