This past month has been a doozy for international news, and like many I’m just trying to keep my head above water understanding it all.

As global diplomacy crumbles between Ukraine and Russia, American eyes are fixated on the far East for obvious reasons.

Last week, I wrote about the troubling comparisons between Russia’s Sochi Olympics and the 1936 Summer Olympics hosted by Nazi Germany. While I hesitated to jump to conclusions, this week’s decision by the Russian government to invade the Crimean region of Ukraine is downright scary.

East-West tensions are approaching Cold War levels, but there is another conflict happening much closer to home that deserves our equal attention.

The destabilization of Venezuela demands a much closer look from American citizens.

For more than a month, Venezuela has continued on a downward spiral as economic plights and unrelenting violence have combined into a nationally crippling crisis.

The collapsing Venezuelan economy has caused enormous protest as the wealth gap between classes divides the nation. What started with protest from university students has expanded to the middle class as more and more take to the streets to oppose President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Maybe you’ve heard a little bit about the grave situation happening in Venezuela, but no doubt the information provided is not nearly on the same level as the constant coverage we receive from the Ukraine.

So why is this? I would think that a country with these kinds of problems that also falls within the same time zone as the Eastern Seaboard would be heavily covered by American media, but it really hasn’t been.

One of the most troublesome reasons is the Venezuelan government’s attempt to restrict international media outlets from telling the actual story. Maduro’s government has retracted the credentials of foreign press such as CNN, so that Americans as well as the rest of the world won’t know what’s going on.

What is most worrisome is that it is actually working.

Within the last week we have been so fixated on the plight of the Ukrainian struggle for democracy and sovereignty that other international issues have fallen by the wayside. We all have heard how ousted-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych authorized the use of live ammunition during the riots in Kiev, killing close to 80 civilians. What you haven’t heard about is the 17 deaths and 261 injured protesters attacked by Venezuelan police and pro-government groups which have been given weapons.

We have video, photos and up-to-date graphics coming from Ukraine that compel American audiences. As world citizens, we should demand the same amount of information from Venezuela, regardless of the difficulty it takes to acquire it.

Journalists always have and will continue to sneak in and out of areas where they are not welcome. They put their lives on the line because there is a story to be told. It is the nature of the profession to provide the public with what it needs to know, but it is the public’s job to demand more information.

As university students, this issue should resonate strongly. Student protesters in Venezuela are standing up and dying for the principles that we all hold dear.

In the age of information, we cannot be satisfied with a “bare minimum” approach to news.

Instead of fixating on Eastern Europe in the coming weeks, demand the information you deserve from across the globe.

Alex Goering can be reached at goer8777@stthomas.edu.