God in your mercy, Venezuela

God in your mercy, Venezuela,
for there is Good Friday
this year —
where the sick are not healed,
for lack of medicine,
where the hungry search and search
but find no food,
where violence walks the streets
in uniform,
where people flee — alone
or with their families — refugees
to Colombia, Curaçao, Brazil.

God in your mercy,
witness Venezuela forsaken,
where prison guards burn mattresses
killing sixty-eight inmates,
most detained for trial,
and then attack the mothers
sisters and brothers
waiting to learn if those they love
have died.

Now, as long ago,
is the veil in the temple torn.
Amen.