As the real-life tragedy of Venezuela unfolds and the country deteriorates into one of the most hellish places on Earth, the silence of some of former Socialist president Hugo Chavez’s Hollywood supporters is deafening. Amid civil unrest and violence, citizens protest triple-digit inflation, rising crime, and food shortages, even General Motors has announced it is closing its operations in the country, a decision that came after its factory in Valencia, a city of almost one million people, was seized by government authorities. Once heralded as the vanguard of a new South America, Venezuela has become a failed state and rarely has an industrialized country fallen so far, so fast.

Inflation, bribery, and corruption are rampant as the country experiences shortages of foodstuffs, electricity, and basic medicines. Fresh water must be rationed, while infants and mothers die routinely in Venezuelan hospitals. The murder rate in the capital, Caracas, is 120/100,000 people, six times greater than the murder rate in Chicago.