Gabriel García Márquez, one of Latin America’s most widely read and beloved authors, has died today. El Gabo, as he was known to everyone, had strong links to Venezuela. Born and raised in the Colombian coastal region that shares so much cultural affinity with our own country, García Márquez actually lived in Caracas for a while, and…
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 haven’t had tenderloin in two years.” I’m having lunch with Leticia and her husband Gonzalo in an upscale Santiago beef restaurant. I don’t know them very well, but they are friends of a good friend, so I invited them out to show them the city. They live in Caracas, passing through Santiago because Gonzalo, a mid-level manager…
Reading the Venezuelan press, it’s easy to forget this is a petro-state, and that the barrel of oil is selling at prices close to its historic high. Just today, we found out that airlines can say goodbye to repatriating their profits at the agreed-upon rate, as expected; scarcity of basic staples has shot up to 60%, as…
Hit it, Yoani: “Last Thursday, spellbound Cuban TV viewers were able to watch a debate between a portion of the opposition in Venezuela and representatives of the government. The controversial encounter was broadcast by TeleSur, which has always supported chavismo. This time around, the channel was forced to broadcast the other side’s concerns and points. The…
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…
(With my apologies to those who think “dialogue” is a bad word) A few days have passed since the session where two different countries collided in Miraflores. Most of us left convinced of what we believed going in – that chavistas and the opposition simply do not have anything in common because, well, chavistas are crazy.…
