This Has Been a Weird Week | Lemonade Stand🍋

The episode opens with the hosts joking about a custom t-shirt with a blurred QR code, but the conversation quickly turns to a devastating pair of earthquakes that struck Venezuela near La Guaira — a 7.2 and a 7.5 magnitude — killing at least 1,700 people, injuring over 5,000, and displacing more than 16,000. The hosts reached out to Venezuelan friends they interviewed earlier in the year, after Maduro was removed, to check on their safety and get an update on how the country has fared since the regime change.

Venezuela: Earthquake, Disappointment, and Oil

All three friends survived, but one lost his home — his building was so structurally damaged that everyone had to move out, and he is now sending his entire savings from the Dominican Republic to support his family. The other two families are safe and still housed. But the broader picture is grim. One friend said things have "arguably gotten worse" since Maduro's removal: water and electricity are less stable than the previous year, with power often available only five hours a day, healthcare remains poor, and wages are still bad. The only positives he could name were that some notably corrupt officials have been imprisoned and over 600 political prisoners have been freed. Despite all this, he said he still has faith in Trump's plans for Venezuela. The friend whose family