The Book
In praise of Blogging the Revolution
“Caracas Chronicles has been an indispensable source of lucidity and perspective in these turbulent times in Venezuela. Toro and Nagel have been right on target, without pretending to be ludicrously impartial; they have been able to rise above polarization, trying hard to make sense of an often implausible reality. Blogging the Revolution shows them at their best. If you are not already a fan, you will become one.”
- Francisco J. Monaldi, RFK Visiting Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Director, Center on Energy at IESA in Caracas.Recent Comments
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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Does up mean down in legalese?
Once in a while, in the privacy of my own home, when no one is looking … I enjoy taking a peek at codes and statutes. I did it again today. See, one of the more recent controversies the opposition … Continue reading
Posted in Chavismo
26 Comments
Somebody’s watching … and recording
My new favorite blog is Monitoreo Ciudadano. The decent folks there are putting up a nice little stock of videos, documenting the use of government media – from good’ol VTV to the unwatchable ANTV – for partisan purposes. It’s good … Continue reading
Posted in The Media
20 Comments
Where does Fonden money go?
So now that we have those Fonden disclosure documents, it’s time to jump into the minutiae. Of course, we only have detailed 5-year disclosures for $40 billion out of the $69 billion Fonden has apparently assigned, but beggars can’t be … Continue reading
Fonden isn’t just “Big”, it’s this big.
Perhaps the most important aspect of The Fonden Papers doesn’t have to do with the $29 billion tabulation screw-up. Indeed, innocent explanations might account for that. Perhaps the big deal instead has to do with simply getting, for the first … Continue reading
How exactly do you misplace $29,342,391,393.66?
This isn’t a massive, government-shaking scandal. But it should be. That’s right, it’s the full, scanned version of the Fonden report we promised you two weeks ago: the one sent by Finance Minister Jorge Giordani, in response to a parliamentary … Continue reading
Procolonial Chronicles
The “procolonial forces.” That’s how Venezuela’s state news agency, AVN, now describes the Libyan rebels. Believe it! Ok, I admit it: I get this weird, dirty pleasure reading the government media’s treatment of the Libyan uprising. It’s just fascinating.
Posted in International
38 Comments
Illegal Mining Outlawed
MINCI’s propaganda pitch on the virtues of expropriating the Gold mining sector pushes the boundries of revolutionary non-sequitur. Consistently recasting mining practices that are – and always have been – illegal as “capitalist”, MINCI’s case comes down to saying the … Continue reading
Live-by-the-sword Chronicles
The Venezuelan Embassy Ambassador’s Residence in Tripoli is being ransacked and looted. Or, as Hugo Chávez would put it, it’s in the way of a “popular rebellion,” a “spark” that will ignite “the engines of a revolution.”
Posted in International
78 Comments
Sincerest Form of Flattery Chronicles
Chigüi, pana, ¿y mi hat-tip?!
Never! Never ever! Never in a million years! Never, you hear?!…NEVER! Ok, just this once.
Newsflash: Hugo Chávez vows never to recognize any government in Honduras Libya other than Zelaya’s Gaddafi’s. Oh…right… The pathos, the isolation, the sheer ranting lunacy is really reaching a very worrying level here. It fazes the guy not at all … Continue reading
Posted in International
11 Comments
“The market in physical gold is tiny, and largely comprised of nut cases.”
Turns out transporting 211,000 kg. of gold to Caracas isn’t exactly straightforward. The basic problem is insurance. Felix Salmon has the skinny: I have no idea how many insurers there are in the world who would be willing to take … Continue reading
Exponential
It used to be that when the government wanted to shut down a TV station, or a radio broadcaster, they’d at least go through the motions of couching the moves in neutral-sounding bureaucratese. RCTV went down not to a “shutdown“, … Continue reading
The Libyan uprising through rojo-rojito-tinted glasses
AVN: “Obama demands Gaddafi’s resignation as a condition to stopping the blood-bath in Libya.” TeleSUR: “Cameron affirms that aggression against the Libyan people was ‘necessary’” Aporrea: ”NATO using sonic bombs to terrorize [Libyan] women and children.” Correo del Orinoco: “NATO’s attacks … Continue reading
Stand By Your Man Chronicles
Showcasing once more his impecable sense of timing, Hugo Chávez picked Sunday evening for…a stirring denunciation of the Gaddafi Regime’s foes. And that, my friend, is how the mind of a guy who names his pet roosters after his best … Continue reading
