January 6, 2026 • 19 mins
In this episode of Wellness Unmasked, Dr. Nicole Saphier examines the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding in Venezuela through a medical and public health lens. She breaks down how political collapse has led to widespread shortages of medicine, food, and basic healthcare, putting millions of lives at risk. Dr. Saphier also discusses the health consequences of mass migration, the strain on regional healthcare systems, and why the United States and the international community play a critical role in Venezuela’s recovery. From rebuilding health infrastructure to restoring access to essential care, this episode explores what meaningful humanitarian leadership should look like—and why it matters.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to wellness on mass It's twenty twenty six, it's
a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Maybe it's a new you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I mean, it certainly has been quite a news cycle.
I don't know if you've been following it or if
you're living under a rock somewhere. I mean, I've said
for everybody to put your phone away, try to stay
off social media, but I assume you haven't actually done
that and you have seen all of the headlines. I
actually had one of the opportunities of a lifetime. I
was guest hosting Fox and Friends on Fox News over
(00:30):
the weekend the exact morning that President Trump initiated the
military action to remove President Maduro from Venezuela and bring
him to the United States to be charged with federal
crimes of narco terrorism and others. Now, I was quite
astounding being able to cover this live. And not only
(00:53):
were we reporting on the facts as they were quickly
coming in, but President Trump called in to Fox and
Friends and allowed us a live interview. We just spoke
with in real time for about forty minutes. It was
I mean to say it was incredible as an understatement,
but because it's such a crucial news cycle and part
of what's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I thought on wellness and mass that we would talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Now I don't really want to talk about the political
side of it. And one of the big reasons for
the one the main leasings I should say that President
Trump indicted Maduro back in twenty twenty is because of
his role in narco terrorism and facilitating the flood of
drugs onto US soil. As we know, over a million
(01:41):
US citizens have died from these drug overdose deaths. Whether
it's fentanel, other opioids, even cocaine and others. All of
these areas have played a role in the deaths of
US citizens, and President Trump and his America First agenda
decided to do something about it. But let's go to Venezuela.
We're going to talk beyond our normal conversations, normal wellness conversation,
(02:06):
but I want to talk about how a nation's collapse
now not for more but from a failed governance and
systemic breakdown, can become a massive health crisis. In Venezuela,
people are suffering, millions have fled, and what will happen
now that looks like the regime is going to change
(02:27):
now we are not going to do political rhetoric here today,
We're going to talk about human health, human dignity, and
I guess what the world owes to the innocent people
who can't even get the basics they need to survive
right now. Over the last decade, Venezuela, once one of
South America's richest countries thanks to oil, has endured economic collapse,
(02:49):
skyrocketing inflation, and destruction of the very systems that are
meant to protect their health like hospitals, pharmacies, food distribution centers,
clean water electricity. Essentially went from one of the richest
countries to one of the poorest countries. According to the
United Nations, nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled their country
(03:14):
since the crisis began. Now, if you don't remember, really,
the rise of socialism in Venezuela started about twenty five
years ago under Hugo Chavez. He then appointed Maduro to
be his successor. And even though the people of Venezuela
have tried to hold elections they even voted out Maduro,
(03:34):
Maduro essentially stayed as a political swater and said nope, bumstaining,
and under him the country has suffered so millions of people,
of course, still reside within Venezuela. They have limited access
to food, limited access to medicine, maternal care, vaccines, and
just basic clean water. Now, with the recent capture of
(03:56):
Nicholas Maduro, the headlines are full of questions like what's
happening next? Is there going to be a regime change,
will it be Meduro's vice president that stays, will there
be a political fallout, tension with other nations, But most importantly,
what does this mean for the Venezuelan people. This shift
gives us kind of a moment to ask what happens
(04:18):
to people, their health, their wellness in times of political upheaval,
and what does stability really require? And to be honest,
help begins with the basics. When people can't access food,
they become more susceptible to infection, chronic disease. Children's development
can become stunted. Pregnant women suffer complications if they even
(04:42):
have the babies at all. I was looking at some
data from various humanitarian agencies that have shown about twenty
three percent of Venezuelan's population has fled and roughly two
thousand people continue to leave every day in search of basics, food,
and safety.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Almost a quarter of the nation's population needed to leave,
not because they're going and retiring someplace better, but because
they didn't have access to food and water and they're suffering.
So inside the country, there have been reports that.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
There are severe shortages of.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Medications like insulin, antibiotics, prenatal vitamins, functioning hospitals and clinics,
and just electricity to keep the hospitals.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And medical clinics running.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
One Ango worker said, it's not that people don't want
to care for themselves or they don't want to seek care.
It's that care doesn't exist anymore in Venezuela. So there's
really nothing abstract about this. We're talking about real people
who over the last couple of decades, but increasingly worsen
over the last several years, they can't access care more
(05:52):
coming up on Wellness Unmasked with doctor Nicole Sapphire. While
a large number of venezuel zones have fled the country,
we're seeing it here in the United States. We obviously
saw a lot of people coming across the border over
the last several years. Some were claiming asylum, but some
obviously we're just illegal as well. But in the US alone,
(06:14):
there's estimates that roughly seven hundred and seventy thousand Venezuelan
immigrants have crossed the border and come into the United States. Now,
we ourselves are dealing with a little bit of our
own crisis of healthcare, rising health care costs. Some people
in rural America don't have access to adequate healthcare. We
already have a very strained health system. So when you
(06:37):
have these people who have been suffering in Venezuela, they're
coming to the United States hoping they can benefit from
our healthcare system and a lot of our other subsidy programs.
The reality is some of our programs are tapped out.
We don't even get me started about what we're hearing
about all the fraudulent claims of Medicare and Medicaid and
(06:57):
SNAP and other things. I mean, our system is fraught
with fraud. We're tapped out, the Affordable Care Acts, subsidies
have expired, and we don't actually have a health care plan.
So the United States cannot handle this influx of migrants
that we've received.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So what do you have to do.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You have to stabilize the country that they came from
so that people stop fleeing and hopefully people will be
able to go back home and live prosperous, safe lives.
That's what President Trump, in my opinion, has been trying
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
He is saying we cannot continue to take in the
migrants of the world. That doesn't say we're going to
close down our borders entirely and not take migrants. I mean,
the United States was built because of immigration. But by
starting at the route and trying to make some of
these countries better, that's exactly what needs to happen. Not
only will it benefit the countries themselves, but it overall
(07:50):
benefits the United States. But looking again back to Venezuela,
so sure Maduro is gone, the regime is going to.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Change, So what does that mean.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Because a change at the top doesn't instantly fix the
whole humanitarian catastrophe. People are saying that while Venezuelans may
feel hopeful, I mean, we've seen lots of video coverage
of them dancing in the street, and people have been
calling for Meduro to be taken down for a very
long time. This includes Democrats too. It's not just Republican
a Democrat. Everybody thought he was a bad guy. The
(08:22):
destabilization in Venezuela can continue for months or even years,
even if institutions are weak, and if essential services like healthcare, sanitation,
food distribution, and even jobs. I mean those can't be
restored overnight. Getting the Venezuelan people back to a place
of stability, this is going to take time and investment.
(08:44):
It's not just about having a different leader. It's going
to take a lot more. And with Venezuela's political system today,
interim leadership, I don't know. There's an intense disagreement over
who will be legitimacy authority, how it's going to even
how it's even going to stack up. President Trump has
said that the United States is going to help the
people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I believe that to be true. I hope that to
be true, because it's.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Going to take more than just a new leader to
really build the infrastructure that these people absolutely need. From
a health standpoint, While the regime change is a necessary step,
it's not enough. They're going to need functioning hospitals with
consistent electricity supplies, supply chains for medicines and vaccines, safe water, sanitation,
(09:31):
and economic stability so families can afford food and care.
In other words, you just don't cure a health system
by changing the president. Obviously, it's a big step because
with the prior president or self proclaimed president, we weren't
able to get in and actually help.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
The only thing we.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Were doing was taking the people who were fleeing. So
the regime change was necessary, but so much work needs
to go into it. You're listening to Wellness and Mass
We'll be right back with more.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
What I'm going to be looking forward to is hearing from.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Potentially the President, the White House, Congress what are they
going to do to help the people of Venezuela. And
now some people are going to say, listen, it's not
the United States responsibility to help the people of Venezuela.
But I tell you, as I've already laid out, it
benefits the United States of America and American citizens to
help Venezuela become a stable country once again.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Now, I don't want.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
People to have flashbacks to Iraq, where we went in
in the name of democracy and we stayed way too
long and lost far too many lives trying to instill democracy.
That's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking
about here is more of a humanitarian effort. What can
we do as a nation to help them rebuild? President
Trump has already mentioned the whole oil stuff. I am
(10:49):
not an oil expert. I'm not going to get involved
in there, but yes, under Maduro and Hugoshavs, they nationalize
their oil and that kind of led them into the ground.
A lot of those oil companies then left. Chevron stayed,
but they lost a lot of their revenue from oil.
So if whatever President Trump, the ultimate deal maker, is
going to do, perhaps you will see these oil companies
(11:12):
come back to Venezuela reinvest in the country by updating
their pipelines and whatever it does they need to do
to tap into the robust Venezuela oil supply. That investment
in the country will help. That will get money flowing again.
But it's going to be a little bit more than
that too. From the United States standpoint, and probably the UN.
(11:33):
The UN should be getting involved here, the whole international
community and geos, local leadership, health institutions. If everyone can
kind of coordinate early on, the rebuilding process can be successful.
Prioritizing food distribution, making sure that they have a steady
stream of food coming in, restoring childhood medical programs like
(11:55):
immunization programs. I know a lot of people don't want
to talk about that, but the reality is we have
a lot of circulating measles inside the United States right now.
And if you look around above and below us from
the north and the south, there are significantly high circulating
levels of not just measles, but other communical diseases. And
(12:18):
in these countries that have much lower vaccination rates than
the United States. These communical diseases, these viruses, some bacteria,
tend to widely circulate a lot, and when you have
people fleeing countries and they're coming into the United States
with them, potentially can come some of these communical diseases.
In the United States. We also have declining vaccination rates.
(12:40):
Now they're still much higher than these other countries, but
because we are seeing a decline and because we've seen
so much migration, we have the highest number of measles
cases and some others than we have seen in a
very long time. So if we want to keep people
healthy and safe in the United States, we need to
make sure that people are healthy in these countries that
(13:04):
can be directly linked to us through immigration or directly
linked through our borders. The childhood immunization programs of Venezuela
are essentially null right now. That's not a priority. They're
trying to get their kids food and water. Vaccinations are
not top of their lists, but it needs to go
back to the top of their lists. We have to
work on rebuilding health infrastructure, and on top of that,
(13:25):
we have to look at their water supply because with
a clean water supply, that is how you reduce communical diseases.
You have a lot of water borne illnesses that make
people very sick. They're very contagious, and again, when you
have a lot of movement, they can go from one place.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
To the other.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You know, a lot of people watch these stories and
right now it's all about celebration and we're not really
talking about the suffering of the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
The reality is.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
We don't see a lot of it because we haven't
really been able to cover it much in the media.
We know that people are suffering, it's been hidden from us,
just like you know a lot of other countries that
hide things from the media because they want to portray
a better picture than what's really going on. Listen, I
watch some of these stories and I know the turmoil,
and we hear the accounts of people saying all the
(14:15):
suffering that's happening in Venezuela, and you know a lot
of us want to help.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It's not realistic unless you know, for.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Some people who can actually go there and help rebuild
buildings brick by brick, or can hand out food or
whatever it is, that's wonderful. I think the majority of
people we can't actually do that because we have full
time jobs, or we have kids, or whatever reason it
may be. But you know, there are some things you
can do.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
If you go online.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
There are some programs to help donate to, like Red Cross,
certain humanitarian aid efforts.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I get very wary.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Of donating to people online because I think there are
a ton of scams out there. But I think one
of the best things that we can do on an
individual level is just to make sure that we are
educated about what's going on there. Right now, you see
a lot of people criticizing President Trump and the removal
of Maduro, and they're really doing that because they don't
(15:10):
like President Trump, and it doesn't matter what he does,
whether he comes up with a cure for cancer or
he removes this dictator from a regime who he just
completely destroyed an entire country. They're going to criticize him
because they don't like him. I applaud President Trump and
all of the Department of War for the mission that
(15:32):
they carried out, not because I care about the politic
not necessarily because I care about the politics of it all,
although I do think it's pretty messed up that we've had.
They've had a squatting president in Venezuela that's kind of
driven the country into the ground. But I care because
I'm a physician, because I'm a mother, because I'm a human,
and I have read for about a decade of the
(15:53):
suffering that is happening in Venezuela. And looking ahead, the
people of Venezuela they need more than headlines. They need
sustain humanitarian assistance, long term health system rebuilding, and just
stable governance that prioritizes human welfare. It would be wonderful
if there is a czar who's put in place who
can oversee what the United States is going to do
(16:15):
to help the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
By removing Maduro.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's a start, but we have to finish it. It
has to be more than that. We can't just walk
away and say, now, figure it out yourself. People are suffering,
and it truly benefits United States if we help Venezuela
rebuild their society. According to a recent United Nations planning documents,
nearly eight million Venezuelans still need help, whether it's their healthcare, nutrition,
(16:39):
clean water, child protection, and million more require supports for
just basic services. In twenty twenty six, UNSEF aims to
deliver primary healthcare, nutrition services, and water access to millions
of children and families, but funding shortfalls do threaten deeper
harm without timely investment. I think the industry needs to
(17:01):
get in there, needs to help with that investment, and
I think the United States and as I mentioned, the
entire international community should come forward and help the people
of Venezuela. I think the big mark of success will
be not when Maduro is convicted, which I anticipate he
will be, but when we start seeing the migrants in
the United States who fled Venezuela, when we see them
(17:21):
going back to Venezuela because they want to be back
there with their family and they know being back there
is a safe place for them, for their family and
whatever else. So for me, that is what I am
looking forward to seeing, and that is how I will
say this was absolutely a successful mission, because when people
realize being back in Venezuela is a great place to be,
(17:43):
that marks the success of this mission. Now, unfortunately, I
don't think that's going to happen in the next week
or month. It may not even happen in the next year.
But I'm really looking forward to seeing what President Trump,
the White House, and the entire administration, how they are
going to support the people of Venezuela because they need it.
And by the way, it's not just Venezuela. There's a
lot of surrounding areas Colombia and Cuba and other places
(18:04):
where people are suffering at the hands of these narco
terrorists that are disguised as politicians. It's incredible that over
the last couple of decades the international community has allowed
this to happen. We've seen it here in the United States.
We've seen lives taken, lives destroyed from all of the
(18:24):
drugs coming into our country, whether they're starting in China
and they're coming through South America, Central America, whether they
start in Central and South America and come.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Through directly through our borders.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
It's you know, it's a mixture of all of that,
but it's wonderful to see that action is being taken
to dismantle these narco terrorism enterprises and really truly actually
declare a war on drugs. We've heard it before, we've
heard the rhetoric before, but it actually looks.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Like is happening.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So stay tuned. This will not be over quickly. This
is something that we're going to keep nyon for a while.
And all I can say is I'm praying for the
people of Venezuela and I really hope people come together
to help them rebuild so that they can live a
much better and prosperous life. I'm doctor Nicole Saftfire. Thanks
for listening to Wellness un Mass. Be sure to listen
(19:16):
to Wellness un Mass with doctor Nicole Saffhire on iHeartRadio
or wherever you get your podcasts, and we will see
you next time.
Welcome to wellness on mass It's twenty twenty six, it's
a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Maybe it's a new you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I mean, it certainly has been quite a news cycle.
I don't know if you've been following it or if
you're living under a rock somewhere. I mean, I've said
for everybody to put your phone away, try to stay
off social media, but I assume you haven't actually done
that and you have seen all of the headlines. I
actually had one of the opportunities of a lifetime. I
was guest hosting Fox and Friends on Fox News over
(00:30):
the weekend the exact morning that President Trump initiated the
military action to remove President Maduro from Venezuela and bring
him to the United States to be charged with federal
crimes of narco terrorism and others. Now, I was quite
astounding being able to cover this live. And not only
(00:53):
were we reporting on the facts as they were quickly
coming in, but President Trump called in to Fox and
Friends and allowed us a live interview. We just spoke
with in real time for about forty minutes. It was
I mean to say it was incredible as an understatement,
but because it's such a crucial news cycle and part
of what's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I thought on wellness and mass that we would talk
about it.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Now I don't really want to talk about the political
side of it. And one of the big reasons for
the one the main leasings I should say that President
Trump indicted Maduro back in twenty twenty is because of
his role in narco terrorism and facilitating the flood of
drugs onto US soil. As we know, over a million
(01:41):
US citizens have died from these drug overdose deaths. Whether
it's fentanel, other opioids, even cocaine and others. All of
these areas have played a role in the deaths of
US citizens, and President Trump and his America First agenda
decided to do something about it. But let's go to Venezuela.
We're going to talk beyond our normal conversations, normal wellness conversation,
(02:06):
but I want to talk about how a nation's collapse
now not for more but from a failed governance and
systemic breakdown, can become a massive health crisis. In Venezuela,
people are suffering, millions have fled, and what will happen
now that looks like the regime is going to change
(02:27):
now we are not going to do political rhetoric here today,
We're going to talk about human health, human dignity, and
I guess what the world owes to the innocent people
who can't even get the basics they need to survive
right now. Over the last decade, Venezuela, once one of
South America's richest countries thanks to oil, has endured economic collapse,
(02:49):
skyrocketing inflation, and destruction of the very systems that are
meant to protect their health like hospitals, pharmacies, food distribution centers,
clean water electricity. Essentially went from one of the richest
countries to one of the poorest countries. According to the
United Nations, nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled their country
(03:14):
since the crisis began. Now, if you don't remember, really,
the rise of socialism in Venezuela started about twenty five
years ago under Hugo Chavez. He then appointed Maduro to
be his successor. And even though the people of Venezuela
have tried to hold elections they even voted out Maduro,
(03:34):
Maduro essentially stayed as a political swater and said nope, bumstaining,
and under him the country has suffered so millions of people,
of course, still reside within Venezuela. They have limited access
to food, limited access to medicine, maternal care, vaccines, and
just basic clean water. Now, with the recent capture of
(03:56):
Nicholas Maduro, the headlines are full of questions like what's
happening next? Is there going to be a regime change,
will it be Meduro's vice president that stays, will there
be a political fallout, tension with other nations, But most importantly,
what does this mean for the Venezuelan people. This shift
gives us kind of a moment to ask what happens
(04:18):
to people, their health, their wellness in times of political upheaval,
and what does stability really require? And to be honest,
help begins with the basics. When people can't access food,
they become more susceptible to infection, chronic disease. Children's development
can become stunted. Pregnant women suffer complications if they even
(04:42):
have the babies at all. I was looking at some
data from various humanitarian agencies that have shown about twenty
three percent of Venezuelan's population has fled and roughly two
thousand people continue to leave every day in search of basics, food,
and safety.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Almost a quarter of the nation's population needed to leave,
not because they're going and retiring someplace better, but because
they didn't have access to food and water and they're suffering.
So inside the country, there have been reports that.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
There are severe shortages of.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Medications like insulin, antibiotics, prenatal vitamins, functioning hospitals and clinics,
and just electricity to keep the hospitals.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And medical clinics running.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
One Ango worker said, it's not that people don't want
to care for themselves or they don't want to seek care.
It's that care doesn't exist anymore in Venezuela. So there's
really nothing abstract about this. We're talking about real people
who over the last couple of decades, but increasingly worsen
over the last several years, they can't access care more
(05:52):
coming up on Wellness Unmasked with doctor Nicole Sapphire. While
a large number of venezuel zones have fled the country,
we're seeing it here in the United States. We obviously
saw a lot of people coming across the border over
the last several years. Some were claiming asylum, but some
obviously we're just illegal as well. But in the US alone,
(06:14):
there's estimates that roughly seven hundred and seventy thousand Venezuelan
immigrants have crossed the border and come into the United States. Now,
we ourselves are dealing with a little bit of our
own crisis of healthcare, rising health care costs. Some people
in rural America don't have access to adequate healthcare. We
already have a very strained health system. So when you
(06:37):
have these people who have been suffering in Venezuela, they're
coming to the United States hoping they can benefit from
our healthcare system and a lot of our other subsidy programs.
The reality is some of our programs are tapped out.
We don't even get me started about what we're hearing
about all the fraudulent claims of Medicare and Medicaid and
(06:57):
SNAP and other things. I mean, our system is fraught
with fraud. We're tapped out, the Affordable Care Acts, subsidies
have expired, and we don't actually have a health care plan.
So the United States cannot handle this influx of migrants
that we've received.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So what do you have to do.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You have to stabilize the country that they came from
so that people stop fleeing and hopefully people will be
able to go back home and live prosperous, safe lives.
That's what President Trump, in my opinion, has been trying
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
He is saying we cannot continue to take in the
migrants of the world. That doesn't say we're going to
close down our borders entirely and not take migrants. I mean,
the United States was built because of immigration. But by
starting at the route and trying to make some of
these countries better, that's exactly what needs to happen. Not
only will it benefit the countries themselves, but it overall
(07:50):
benefits the United States. But looking again back to Venezuela,
so sure Maduro is gone, the regime is going to.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Change, So what does that mean.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Because a change at the top doesn't instantly fix the
whole humanitarian catastrophe. People are saying that while Venezuelans may
feel hopeful, I mean, we've seen lots of video coverage
of them dancing in the street, and people have been
calling for Meduro to be taken down for a very
long time. This includes Democrats too. It's not just Republican
a Democrat. Everybody thought he was a bad guy. The
(08:22):
destabilization in Venezuela can continue for months or even years,
even if institutions are weak, and if essential services like healthcare, sanitation,
food distribution, and even jobs. I mean those can't be
restored overnight. Getting the Venezuelan people back to a place
of stability, this is going to take time and investment.
(08:44):
It's not just about having a different leader. It's going
to take a lot more. And with Venezuela's political system today,
interim leadership, I don't know. There's an intense disagreement over
who will be legitimacy authority, how it's going to even
how it's even going to stack up. President Trump has
said that the United States is going to help the
people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I believe that to be true. I hope that to
be true, because it's.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Going to take more than just a new leader to
really build the infrastructure that these people absolutely need. From
a health standpoint, While the regime change is a necessary step,
it's not enough. They're going to need functioning hospitals with
consistent electricity supplies, supply chains for medicines and vaccines, safe water, sanitation,
(09:31):
and economic stability so families can afford food and care.
In other words, you just don't cure a health system
by changing the president. Obviously, it's a big step because
with the prior president or self proclaimed president, we weren't
able to get in and actually help.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
The only thing we.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Were doing was taking the people who were fleeing. So
the regime change was necessary, but so much work needs
to go into it. You're listening to Wellness and Mass
We'll be right back with more.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
What I'm going to be looking forward to is hearing from.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Potentially the President, the White House, Congress what are they
going to do to help the people of Venezuela. And
now some people are going to say, listen, it's not
the United States responsibility to help the people of Venezuela.
But I tell you, as I've already laid out, it
benefits the United States of America and American citizens to
help Venezuela become a stable country once again.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Now, I don't want.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
People to have flashbacks to Iraq, where we went in
in the name of democracy and we stayed way too
long and lost far too many lives trying to instill democracy.
That's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking
about here is more of a humanitarian effort. What can
we do as a nation to help them rebuild? President
Trump has already mentioned the whole oil stuff. I am
(10:49):
not an oil expert. I'm not going to get involved
in there, but yes, under Maduro and Hugoshavs, they nationalize
their oil and that kind of led them into the ground.
A lot of those oil companies then left. Chevron stayed,
but they lost a lot of their revenue from oil.
So if whatever President Trump, the ultimate deal maker, is
going to do, perhaps you will see these oil companies
(11:12):
come back to Venezuela reinvest in the country by updating
their pipelines and whatever it does they need to do
to tap into the robust Venezuela oil supply. That investment
in the country will help. That will get money flowing again.
But it's going to be a little bit more than
that too. From the United States standpoint, and probably the UN.
(11:33):
The UN should be getting involved here, the whole international
community and geos, local leadership, health institutions. If everyone can
kind of coordinate early on, the rebuilding process can be successful.
Prioritizing food distribution, making sure that they have a steady
stream of food coming in, restoring childhood medical programs like
(11:55):
immunization programs. I know a lot of people don't want
to talk about that, but the reality is we have
a lot of circulating measles inside the United States right now.
And if you look around above and below us from
the north and the south, there are significantly high circulating
levels of not just measles, but other communical diseases. And
(12:18):
in these countries that have much lower vaccination rates than
the United States. These communical diseases, these viruses, some bacteria,
tend to widely circulate a lot, and when you have
people fleeing countries and they're coming into the United States
with them, potentially can come some of these communical diseases.
In the United States. We also have declining vaccination rates.
(12:40):
Now they're still much higher than these other countries, but
because we are seeing a decline and because we've seen
so much migration, we have the highest number of measles
cases and some others than we have seen in a
very long time. So if we want to keep people
healthy and safe in the United States, we need to
make sure that people are healthy in these countries that
(13:04):
can be directly linked to us through immigration or directly
linked through our borders. The childhood immunization programs of Venezuela
are essentially null right now. That's not a priority. They're
trying to get their kids food and water. Vaccinations are
not top of their lists, but it needs to go
back to the top of their lists. We have to
work on rebuilding health infrastructure, and on top of that,
(13:25):
we have to look at their water supply because with
a clean water supply, that is how you reduce communical diseases.
You have a lot of water borne illnesses that make
people very sick. They're very contagious, and again, when you
have a lot of movement, they can go from one place.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
To the other.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You know, a lot of people watch these stories and
right now it's all about celebration and we're not really
talking about the suffering of the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
The reality is.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
We don't see a lot of it because we haven't
really been able to cover it much in the media.
We know that people are suffering, it's been hidden from us,
just like you know a lot of other countries that
hide things from the media because they want to portray
a better picture than what's really going on. Listen, I
watch some of these stories and I know the turmoil,
and we hear the accounts of people saying all the
(14:15):
suffering that's happening in Venezuela, and you know a lot
of us want to help.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It's not realistic unless you know, for.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Some people who can actually go there and help rebuild
buildings brick by brick, or can hand out food or
whatever it is, that's wonderful. I think the majority of
people we can't actually do that because we have full
time jobs, or we have kids, or whatever reason it
may be. But you know, there are some things you
can do.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
If you go online.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
There are some programs to help donate to, like Red Cross,
certain humanitarian aid efforts.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I get very wary.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Of donating to people online because I think there are
a ton of scams out there. But I think one
of the best things that we can do on an
individual level is just to make sure that we are
educated about what's going on there. Right now, you see
a lot of people criticizing President Trump and the removal
of Maduro, and they're really doing that because they don't
(15:10):
like President Trump, and it doesn't matter what he does,
whether he comes up with a cure for cancer or
he removes this dictator from a regime who he just
completely destroyed an entire country. They're going to criticize him
because they don't like him. I applaud President Trump and
all of the Department of War for the mission that
(15:32):
they carried out, not because I care about the politic
not necessarily because I care about the politics of it all,
although I do think it's pretty messed up that we've had.
They've had a squatting president in Venezuela that's kind of
driven the country into the ground. But I care because
I'm a physician, because I'm a mother, because I'm a human,
and I have read for about a decade of the
(15:53):
suffering that is happening in Venezuela. And looking ahead, the
people of Venezuela they need more than headlines. They need
sustain humanitarian assistance, long term health system rebuilding, and just
stable governance that prioritizes human welfare. It would be wonderful
if there is a czar who's put in place who
can oversee what the United States is going to do
(16:15):
to help the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
By removing Maduro.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's a start, but we have to finish it. It
has to be more than that. We can't just walk
away and say, now, figure it out yourself. People are suffering,
and it truly benefits United States if we help Venezuela
rebuild their society. According to a recent United Nations planning documents,
nearly eight million Venezuelans still need help, whether it's their healthcare, nutrition,
(16:39):
clean water, child protection, and million more require supports for
just basic services. In twenty twenty six, UNSEF aims to
deliver primary healthcare, nutrition services, and water access to millions
of children and families, but funding shortfalls do threaten deeper
harm without timely investment. I think the industry needs to
(17:01):
get in there, needs to help with that investment, and
I think the United States and as I mentioned, the
entire international community should come forward and help the people
of Venezuela. I think the big mark of success will
be not when Maduro is convicted, which I anticipate he
will be, but when we start seeing the migrants in
the United States who fled Venezuela, when we see them
(17:21):
going back to Venezuela because they want to be back
there with their family and they know being back there
is a safe place for them, for their family and
whatever else. So for me, that is what I am
looking forward to seeing, and that is how I will
say this was absolutely a successful mission, because when people
realize being back in Venezuela is a great place to be,
(17:43):
that marks the success of this mission. Now, unfortunately, I
don't think that's going to happen in the next week
or month. It may not even happen in the next year.
But I'm really looking forward to seeing what President Trump,
the White House, and the entire administration, how they are
going to support the people of Venezuela because they need it.
And by the way, it's not just Venezuela. There's a
lot of surrounding areas Colombia and Cuba and other places
(18:04):
where people are suffering at the hands of these narco
terrorists that are disguised as politicians. It's incredible that over
the last couple of decades the international community has allowed
this to happen. We've seen it here in the United States.
We've seen lives taken, lives destroyed from all of the
(18:24):
drugs coming into our country, whether they're starting in China
and they're coming through South America, Central America, whether they
start in Central and South America and come.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Through directly through our borders.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
It's you know, it's a mixture of all of that,
but it's wonderful to see that action is being taken
to dismantle these narco terrorism enterprises and really truly actually
declare a war on drugs. We've heard it before, we've
heard the rhetoric before, but it actually looks.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Like is happening.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So stay tuned. This will not be over quickly. This
is something that we're going to keep nyon for a while.
And all I can say is I'm praying for the
people of Venezuela and I really hope people come together
to help them rebuild so that they can live a
much better and prosperous life. I'm doctor Nicole Saftfire. Thanks
for listening to Wellness un Mass. Be sure to listen
(19:16):
to Wellness un Mass with doctor Nicole Saffhire on iHeartRadio
or wherever you get your podcasts, and we will see
you next time.
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