Category Archives: Venezuelan Culture

Mental health break: girls and their dads

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

Completely non-Venezuela related: what do you think of this? What is it like to raise a girl in Venezuela? I, for one, couldn’t agree more with the author.

Posted in In Other News, Venezuelan Culture | 37 Comments

Gas prices and car ownership

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

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

The mustache chronicles

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

A guest post from Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez: Nicolás Maduro is many things to many people: a tyrant, a hero, a president, a fake president, an awkward public speaker, and so the list goes. But while we may not agree on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuelan Culture | 23 Comments

Chavenomics inspires a nifty cartoon

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

Yeah, that pretty much rocked (in Spanish). Kudos to Daniel and Miguel Angel for this.

Posted in The Economy, Venezuelan Culture | 9 Comments

El Chigüire Gives Up

Posted on April 2, 2013 by

This feels historic, somehow. Venezuela’s premier source of satire bows to the evident: you just can’t parody a movement this good at parodying itself. 

Posted in Venezuelan Culture | 52 Comments

Piñata Ethics (Updated)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

So I got myself in a bit of trouble yesterday. My wife, who is very not-Venezuelan read Emiliana’s story about the Semana Santa operativos with evident alarm. But worse was to come when she got to the provocative exchange in the comments section about our pre-eminent childhood … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Venezuelan Culture, Violence | Tagged | 132 Comments

David Frum thinks our book is essential, so go buy it!

Posted on March 17, 2013 by

An exceedingly generous review of our book, by The Daily Beast’s David Frum. The money quote: If [the authors'] telling is correct, whatever else Chavismo is, it’s not sustainable beyond the lifespan of Chavez himself. Without Chavez’s demagogic gift for distracting … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Oil, Venezuelan Culture | 30 Comments

From “Cult of Personality” to straight-up Cult

Posted on March 17, 2013 by

Chávez biographer Alberto Barrera Tyszka really nails the strangeness of our current predicament in this OpEd in El Nacional today. The takeaway? We’re no longer really “the opposition”; at this point we’re the apostasy, El Gobierno, desde muy temprano, ha impuesto … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuelan Culture | Tagged , | 28 Comments

The bits of chavismo that will survive Chávez

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Over the last few months, I (along with everyone else in this business) have been fielding the same kind of requests: “can you write us 600 words on whether chavismo is likely to survive Chávez?” It’s started to annoy me, … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuelan Culture | 50 Comments

Horseracing comes to a halt

Posted on February 26, 2013 by

The national horseracing workers’ union has declared an indefinite strike in response to what they consider is the sad state of their working conditions. All activities in the three major Venezuelan racetracks (La Rinconada in Caracas, Santa Rita in Zulia … Continue reading →

Posted in In Other News, Venezuelan Culture | Leave a comment

You say inefficiency, I say “media conspiracy”

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

Valencia’s open-air museum (one of two still functioning in Venezuela) has been left unattended by local authorities. Even if the current management did some work there three years ago, the entire infrastructure now lacks maintenance, and it shows. Some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chavismo, In Other News, Politics, Society, Venezuelan Culture | 7 Comments

QUE!?

Posted on February 22, 2013 by

You need to be forewarned. Clicking on this will expose you to the single most infuriating thing you’ve seen this week, if not this year. As a philosopher put it on Facebook, Cada día pienso más que Venezuela se ha … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuelan Culture | 24 Comments

Habia una vez un circo…

Posted on February 9, 2013 by

Almost five years ago, the comandante presidente created the National Circus Company, as a part of his cultural policy. A year and a half later, the Company set its tent inside the historical Nuevo Circo, Caracas’s historical bullrink, and a spot … Continue reading →

Posted in Chavismo, Society, Venezuelan Culture | 8 Comments

The Savage Discourse Revisited

Posted on January 28, 2013 by

It’s been eight years since I translated the passages below from the classic (if too-little-read) book by Merideño philosopher/poet J.M. Briceño Guerrero, but I still sporadically go back to them for inspiration. The essays were written over 30 years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuelan Culture, Way Back (Older Posts) | 157 Comments

If bread is lacking, better bring some games

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

The Chavernment asked the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) for the right to organize the 18th Pan American Games in 2019. Those games would be held in Bolívar State (the host city is yet undecided) to celebrate the 200th anniversary … Continue reading →

Posted in In Other News, Society, Venezuelan Culture | 22 Comments