This is John Batchel, conversation with my good colleague Evan Ellis of the U.S. Army War College

about what can the people of Venezuela, a 20 million still in country, 7 to 9 million people have fled,

awaiting the return when and if the dictators are removed. What can they look to while they wait?

How patient are they?

What about the economy?

What about medical services?

Evan answers as best he can with the information we have now.

Evan Ellis, waiting for liberation, waiting for the elected president and the leader of the opposition to arrive at palace while the lieutenants of the bullies flee.

Well, John, there's likely to be some improvement before you had a bifurcated economy.

The Venet-Val Blavar was basically worthless, and so if you were getting paid in boulevars and you didn't have an external source of income from, you know, remittances from relatives living in the United States or Europe, you know, you basically, you know, couldn't eat those who had access to criminal income who were actually earning in dollars connected to the elites were doing okay.

And, of course, you did have rampant and continue to have rampant criminality in other things. The prospect now is that with the opening that

we're already seeing the easing of some sanctions, the taking of delivery on some oil,

you're already beginning to see things like, for example, American Airlines and some

others resuming flights into Caracas, although it'll be interesting to see, you know, how they

get paid given that, you know, they weren't previously, you know, able to deal with payments

before. But there is a certain initial economic opening and some initial oil flowing in that, you know, it's

certainly not going to solve the problems overnight or solve the enormous inflation,

the devaluation of the boulevard or the lack of food and services for those who don't have

dollars. But it will probably ease things to a certain degree and give the, at least

impression of progress in the near term.