; and (C) 75 percent in 2016. (3) According to a Human Rights Watch 2016 report, it is increasingly difficult for many Venezuelans, particularly those in lower or middle-income families, to obtain adequate nutrition and there are reports of symptoms of malnutrition, particularly in children. (4) Despite massive shortages of basic foodstuffs and essential medicines, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has rejected repeated requests from the Venezuelan National Assembly and civil society organizations to bring humanitarian aid into the country. (5) The International Monetary Fund has estimated that in Venezuela in 2016 the country’s gross domestic product contracted by 12 percent and inflation rate reached 720 percent, and has stated that Venezuela had the worst growth and inflation performance in the world. (6) The International Monetary Fund has not convened an Article IV Executive Board consultation for Venezuela since September 13, 2004, which greatly limits the extent of information available to the international community about the severity of the Venezuelan economic crisis. (7) Venezuela’s political, economic, and humanitarian crisis is fueling social tensions that are resulting in growing incidents of public unrest, looting, violence among citizens, and an exodus of Venezuelans abroad. (8) These social distortions are taking place amidst an alarming climate of criminal violence. According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, Caracas, Venezuela had the highest per capita homicide rate of any capital city in the world in 2015 at 120 murders per 100,000 citizens. (9) In 2016, 18,155 Venezuelans submitted asylum requests in the United States, which was greatest number of requests by any nationality, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (10) International and domestic human rights groups, such as Foro Penal Venezolano, recognize more than 108 political prisoners in Venezuela, including opposition leader and former Chacao mayor Leopoldo López, Judge María Lourdes Afiuni, Caracas