Nicholas Kristof Reports On Venezuela's Northeastern Border With Colombia

Alan: How I remember Riohacha/Guajira from the early seventies.

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That photo above is a selfie I took the other day with Venezuelans sleeping in a public park in Riohacha, Colombia. They have suffered hunger, sickness and homelessness, yet they were remarkably hospitable, friendly and warm to me as I interviewed them about the plight of Venezuela today (and thanks to Mercy Corps, the aid group working in the area, for its guidance along the Colombia/Venezuela border). Some people are literally starving because of the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, and others are reduced to rooting through trash or eating rats. I begin my column today with the story of a 15-year-old girl I met who was pregnant (birth control is unaffordable), alone, hungry and desperate. It’s strange to see some American liberals reflexively side with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro simply because President Trump is so determined to topple him. The blunt truth is that Maduro’s regime is repressive, corrupt and incompetent. I don’t favor an invasion, but I do offer suggestions for policy to make a difference in my column. Another emergency in our hemisphere: The prospect that President Trump may separate more families at the U.S. border. I find family separation to be one of the saddest chapters in American immigration history since the internment of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s. There’s abundant evidence that separation from parents traumatizes children and results in excess cortisol on the brain, which can cause long-term damage to brain development. Some day we will look back on these actions with shame. In Israel, it looks as if Bibi Netanyahu did well enough in the elections that he may be able to form a government. I still support a two-state solution, but the reality is that it’s unlikely to happen, so I’m increasingly of the view that West Bank Palestinians should be given all civil rights — including voting rights — in Israel, as long as Israel controls the territory. I recognize that many don’t want to vote in Israeli elections but they should have the right to vote for the leader who controls their lives. I’ve written a good deal about sex trafficking both abroad and at home, and my view is that the best approach is to go after demand — say, after the men who buy underage girls. Historically, there has been almost complete impunity for johns, and police departments are still reluctant to go after them partly because they are often upstanding men in the community who cause problems when arrested. But as my colleague Tina Rosenberg writes, new technology is helping, by having A.I. bots converse with would-be buyers of sex — and then warn them that the police are on to them and that they could be arrested. That tends to shut down the libido pretty quickly. Domestic violence is rarely taken seriously enough either in the U.S. or abroad. We're reminded of that by the horrific story of a British woman, Shana Grice, who repeatedly sought help from the police because of an ex-boyfriend who was stalking her, even entering her home and bedroom with a spare key. The police response was to fine her for wasting their time. And then the ex-boyfriend allegedly murdered her, cutting her throat. Equal parts horrifying and infuriating.

Zoe Greenberg (left) and Gina Cherelus. My newsletter will be under new management! I write these newsletters, but my assistant is the one who actually makes sure that it fits, is coherent, and has photos that aren’t upside down. For the past three years, my assistant (and Charles Blow’s) has been Zoe Greenberg, left in the above photo, but she has just been hired away to be a general assignment reporter at The Boston Globe. Charles and I have hired Gina Cherelus from Reuters, right, to succeed Zoe, so farewell to Zoe and welcome to Gina! What I’m watching: I recommend books all the time, rarely television shows, because I’m not much of a TV watcher. But my wife and I just did watch the first two seasons of Medici on Netflix, and I recommend it if you like historical drama. It’s a vivid reminder of just how messed up the Middle Ages were, even in a center of enlightenment like Florence.