If there’s one thing that all sides agree on, it’s that Venezuela is in crisis – both political and humanitarian. The country has two recognised presidents, holding rallies on the same day in the capital Caracas. Inflation is due to hit ten million per cent this year, according the IMF. Despite access to the globe’s largest known crude reserves, oil production is at its lowest ebb since the forties. The human suffering is continuing. While international aid sits at the borders, a pawn in the power plays, hospitals lie full of patients and empty of medicine. Venezuelans fleeing starvation continue to embark on dangerous journeys to Colombia and further afield, in the world’s worst refugee crisis after Syria.

Bellicose noises emit from the White House, as President Trump appoints Elliot Abrams special envoy to Venezuela – a US foreign policy hawk involved in the Iran Contra scandal. Alongside the US, significant regional players including the governments of Colombia, Brazil and Argentina have recognised Juan Guaido’s legitimacy. In Europe, the mood is similar. Our own shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, refuses to ‘strike a pose’ and acknowledge Juan Guaido as president, denouncing ‘outside interference’ in Venezuelan affairs as unproductive for the Venezuelan people.

Join a panel of reporters, broadcasters and experts who’ve been covering the crisis for an in-depth look at the unfolding events. The challenges of reporting in a divided country that faces growing instability and turmoil – for Venezuelan and foreign journalists alike – are huge. Our panel will also be discussing the threats to press freedom and the media workers covering the news in Venezuela in the current crisis.

Photography courtesy of Alejandro Cegarra, as part of his essay - 'State of Decay'.