
The book is available now !!!
Click HERE to buy.
This is the story of a Canadian correspondent's escape from Venezuela through the dangerous drug-war-torn Colombian border after having been kidnapped and tortured and almost chopped up with machetes and fed to the pigs --- as was done to Carlos Lanz --- for having inadvertently stumbled upon one of the Venezuelan government's international drug trafficking operations.
A portion of the proceeds from the book sales go toward helping some of the hardest-hit Venezuelans survive their ever-worsening human condition; a condition of mass government-imposed slavery, poverty and misery that has been destroying the lives of at least 90% of the Venezuelan population since 2013 and is becoming more critical every passing day.
Help spread the word!
Oscar Heck's investigative reporting and opinion articles about Venezuela have been published in Aporrea.org since 2004.
www.aporrea.org/autores/oscarheck
Most people outside of Venezuela are completely unaware of the fact that at least 90% of the Venezuelan population has been living in poverty, extreme poverty, and mass malnutrition since 2013. They have been de facto enslaved by the Venezuelan government who has essentially abolished salaries and pensions and replaced them with government bonuses and food allowances ranging today from less than $70 monthly for pensioners, to $240 monthly for some government employees, which is nowhere close to the amount of revenue required to survive even on a most basic level, especially since the cost of consumer goods in Venezuela, including food and medication, is generally higher than in the USA, Canada, or Europe. So, you can imagine what most Venezuelans are going through.
This is the real Venezuelan reality that most people outside of Venezuela have no clue about, a reality that the Venezuelan government is trying to hide.
So, I've written the book called Escape From Venezuela with the intention of informing people around the world about the true nature of Venezuela reality, or at least a part of it. A significant portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book goes directly (without intermediaries) toward helping some of the poorest and most desperate of Venezuelans survive their day-to-day lives in their own country until they're able to gather enough funds and resources to leave Venezuela in search of a better life abroad, as have already done an estimated 9 million Venezuelans (about 25% of the population).
It is important to note that even if the Venezuelan government publicly proclaims that things are getting better in Venezuela, the "getting better" part only applies to the small minority (about 10% of the population) that is actively connected directly or indirectly to government and state corruption, which is massive and probably one of the worst cases in all of human history.
Help us help them!
Oscar Heck
Since 2013 when the present Venezuelan government first came into power, an estimated 9,000,000 Venezuelan citizens (about 25% of the population) have left the country, and, not seeing any future in Venezuela in the short or medium term, thousands more continue to leave every day; and they do so even if the Venezuelan government proclaims otherwise.
Do not trust anything the Venezuelan government or their associates say as it is generally manipulated and contorted to suit their own political and personal agendas at the exclusion of true Venezuelan reality, and particularly at the exclusion of the wellbeing of at least 90% of the Venezuelan population; the defenseless victims of one of the most corrupt and criminal governments that has ever existed in all of human history.
The fact is that a large part of the Venezuelan population (and estimated 22,000,000), particularly those who are unwilling to become involved in the gigantic Venezuelan government and state corruption machine to survive, lack the money and resources to leave the country in search of a decent life abroad and are therefore unfortunately stuck there in their own country trying to survive on slave wages and pensions.
These are the people we are helping.
Oscar Heck
To put the Venezuelan situation into perspective, since 2013, Venezuela has been increasingly plagued by (amongst other things):
1) mass government and state corruption,
2) mass government and state enslavement (salaries and pensions way below any sort of decent living conditions and decreasing in purchasing power every passing day as government-induced inflation rips apart the country),
3) mass government and state repression and extrajudicial kidnappings, torture, and murder,
4) mass chronic malnutrition in at least 90% of the population,
5) massive and continuos power, internet, and telecommunications failures which have not only destroyed thousands of businesses, but also the lives of entire families and communities,
6) constant water, fuel, and cooking gas shortages,
7) and the almost total destruction of the nation's entire public healthcare and educational systems, its electoral and judicial systems, and most of the country's infrastructure.
Even though the United States Government is now supervising Venezuela's transition into what may eventually become a decent place to live, the destruction of the country after 13 years of massive government and state mismanagement and rampant corruption, has been so severe that some people (including myself) estimate it will take at least 2 to 3 generations before Venezuela becomes once again a decent place to live, at least for the majority honest and hard-wroking people; for those who refuse to participate in corruption to survive (as are all the people we help). Like most people on this planet, all they want is to be able to make a decent honest living in their own country.
But they can't.
So, we are doing our best to try to help them survive as best they can while the country continues to crumble into the abyss with little to no hope in the short and mid term.
Oscar Heck
I've known Venezuela since the 1970's when I first went to work there as a missionary and since then I've covered much of Venezuela's territory, both as a correspondent and adventurer, having lived there a total of about 22 years over a span of 50.
I've written over 2500 articles about Venezuela published over a 24 year period both in English and Spanish.
Escape From Venezuela is the first in a series of books that recount some of my most fascinating, hair-raising, and dangerous experiences, not only in Venezuela, but also in some of the other 30+ countries I've live in and/or worked in throughout the years.
I hope you enjoy the books!
Oscar Heck
For book presentations, interviews, orders, comments, and queries please contact the author at: