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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Category Archives: Politics
THIS is why chavismo can’t work without Chávez
Ever since July 2011, when Chávez first announced his cancer diagnosis, it was clear to me that the revolution’s formal institutionality was so shallowly grounded and devoid of any source of authority independent from his, that chavismo’s dispute settlement system … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
25 Comments
Best Bit Translated
MARIO SILVA: On [April] 12th [Nicolas Maduro] tells me: Call me when you can, without saying it live on air. I call him. You know what he tells me? Hold on, this is what he told me, and he sends … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
9 Comments
The best bit from the Mario Tape
It’s hard to pick just one, there’s so much crazy stuff in there. I’m tempted to go with “the opposition had a plan to commit election fraud on April 14th”. But no. The best bit is: MARIO SILVA: El día … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
49 Comments
Capriles announces high drama (Updated)
A cryptic Henrique Capriles took to social media last night to tell us of a dramatic announcement, which should be coming today at 11:30 AM Venezuela time. I have no idea what it could be, but according to well-placed sources … Continue reading
Posted in Chavismo, Corruption, Opposition
103 Comments
AVN foils Google’s evil plan (Updated)
Venezuelan State news agency AVN is apparently angry. But why? Is it because of the toilet paper shortage? Or perhaps because of recent events of violence in Cojedes State? No, and no. According to this report, the evil search engine … Continue reading
Posted in In Other News, Nicolas Maduro, The Media
27 Comments
How do you eat a barrel of oil?
I ask ’cause if the dire predictions come true, that’s what we’re gonna have to do. In the Transitions blog, I wonder if we’re on the road to becoming a failed state. My money quote: Venezuela has so far avoided … Continue reading
Posted in Chavismo, Drugs, Society
16 Comments
The victim of my rant of the day: the Associated Press
Clever use of puns aside (“Venezuela hopes to wipe out toilet paper shortage by importing 50m rolls,” chuckle chuckle), I have a small beef to raise about this AP story, reprinted by The Guardian and, most likely, hundreds of other … Continue reading
Posted in The Economy, The Media
40 Comments
Remember SICAD? Remember THIS guy?
You don’t? Don’t feel bad: nobody does. After a single dollar auction back on March 24th, the new parallel-to-CADIVI system for distributing dollars whimpered off into the oblivion where it should always have dwelled. No pragmatic decision-making of any kind … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
24 Comments
My literal take on “Escasez”
I’ve been experiencing my own personal shortage of words to write as of late, so what better way to make lemonade out of lemons (or arepas out of soy flour? ) than to make a video instead? Consider this my … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
31 Comments
The PSUV outsources to China
The recently named Vice-President of China Li Yuanchao visited Venezuela and met with Nicolás Maduro in Miraflores Palace to sign a new batch of deals between both governments. Instead of focusing only on the economic front, it looks like our … Continue reading
Posted in Chavismo, International, Politics
18 Comments
Gas prices and car ownership
An interesting post about Venezuelan gasoline consumption from UC Berkeley Professor of Economics Lucas Davis. He says that Venezuelans don’t own more cars per capita than comparable countries in the region, so the large consumption must be because they own … Continue reading
Posted in Oil, Politics, The Economy, Venezuelan Culture
21 Comments
Lorenzo Mendoza, prophet of privatization
Lorenzo Mendoza, CEO of Venezuela’s largest private company (Polar), gave a searing press conference yesterday. In it, Mendoza thoroughly debunked the myth that people can’t find corn flour because Polar is hoarding it. Interestingly enough, in the process of defending … Continue reading
Posted in Lorenzo Mendoza, Nicolas Maduro, The Economy
85 Comments
Luisa Estela is down, but not out
The Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) selects its leadership at the beginning of the judicial year, every January. This time, it took them until May to finally reach a consensus on its leadership. Even if incumbent TSJ President Luisa Estela Morales … Continue reading
Posted in Chavismo, In Other News, Justice System, Society
17 Comments
Six years on, they still don’t get it.
I first ran the post below all the way back in 2007. It’s both shocking and totally unsurprising that six years on, they still don’t get it. Six slides is all it takes There’s something vaguely embarrassing about the whole … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
63 Comments
