We’ve been meaning to write about the sad case of Massiel Pacheco for a while, but … así estarán las cosas … things are so bad that the case has gotten lost in the shuffle of news coming out of Venezuela. Massiel Pacheco is a working class food vendor in Caracas’ Parque del Este. A…
As I argued in my previous post, the political and economic crisis that Venezuela is facing gives ample room for outsiders to appeal to the people who are not convinced by chavismo, the MUD block, or both. Take a look at the following video from Julio Jimenez (aka, @juliococo), and tell me if he’s not grasping…
A few days ago Miguel Rodríguez, the Environment Minister, leading a march toward Miraflores, said this: “Let’s put on a great national demonstration to show the indignation that is felt at this moment in the Venezuelan environmental movement because of what is happening (…) A demonstration of what we are going to do for our nature,…
I’m late discovering Marcel Ventura’s work (here is his stuff for Prodavinci) but … what a stylish writer. His latest for The Daily Beast – on the military, drugs, and how it all gels together in a government he somehow stops short of calling a narco-state - is a keeper. The money quote: “According to every reliable poll, Maduro…
On April 6th, Venezuelan journalist Nairobi Pinto, who works as head of correspondents for the TV news channel Globovision, was kidnapped by masked individuals outside of her home in Caracas. Eight days later, she was found alive and well in the town of Cúa (Miranda State). Her kidnapping was a source of concern not only for…
Since Venezuela’s political arena moves with the price of oil, politics in our country is extremely volatile. Sometimes it can lead to one outcome, and in a matter of days it can shift to the opposite direction. A political leader can be here today, gone tomorrow, and only a lucky few remain relevant for a span…
One year ago today, Nicolás Maduro was elected President of Venezuela. One year ago, Henrique Capriles was elected President of Venezuela, and Nicolás Maduro stole the election. It’s safe to say that each and every Venezuelan believes one of those two things. Venezuela’s drama is that each one of the camps of believers is extremely large. With…
First, a confession: I did not watch last night’s misnamed “dialogue”. I didn’t need to. Nor did anyone else. There was no point. We all knew exactly how it would go. Reading the accounts this morning, that’s exactly how it went. Last night’s parallel-monologue (which is way different than a dialogue) exercise was useless for reasons…
5:00: scheduled time to start 6:10 Not yet started… 8:11 Starting. Maduro introduces those present starting with MUD folks. 8:14 setting is a big table with Maduro at the end. We saw no hand shaking at the start. 8:15 Jorge Rodriguez seems so evil. Didalco Bolivar is part of the meeting? 8:21 Letter from the pope… Letter from Vatican Secretary…
Happy Dialogue Day, everyone! Time to put aside all your petty personal opinions and curb your oft-misguided emotions - today is a day for serious, rational discussion on the objective topic of the greater good. After two months of protests, dozens dead, hundreds wounded, three imprisoned opposition leaders (two of them acting mayors), one congress-woman stripped of…
On Thursday, March 27th, in Costa Rica, the girls from the Vinotinto U-17 made history. The faced Canada, a formidable foe, in the World Cup U-17 in the quarter finals. They won and got a shot at the semifinals. They lost, and ended in fourth place overall. Coach Kenneth Zseremeta scouted Venezuela with a fine tooth…
As more visible forms of pressure against the media are gaining in prominence, the newsprint shortage faced by most newspapers in Venezuela (which I coined Newsprint-geddon) is still on the march. On Sunday, El Universal announced that it would reduce its printed edition from Mondays to Saturdays, starting April 15th. Weeks ago, Barquisimeto’s El Impulso said that…
Right now, the current debate in the opposition seems to be on whether protests are convenient or not. I think we should focus more on the type of protest that we engage in. Democracy rests on a few basic principles, one of which is that people have a right to free assembly. Right now, free…
On the night of April 4th, press photographers who were covering protests in Caracas were attacked by armed security personnel from the building that houses the Prisons Ministry (seen in the picture). Apparently, they didn’t wear or have any form of visible ID at the time. They fired anti-riot shells at the press. In the incident, Colombian…
Two recent polls from opposing pollsters (one leans chavista, the other leans opposition) suggest patience with the protests is wearing thin. IVAD, a local pollster that has long leaned towards the government, says that roughly half of Venezuelans want the protests to stop, and this figure is slightly higher than those that agree with the protests. On the other…
