Waste born of corruption, amplified by mismanagement and entrenched by lack of accountability and ideological rigidity.
Allegory of the Chavista Public Sector Management Approach
Over on FP.com, pivoting off of that Reuters’ report on Fonden, I try to explain the way your morning paper will lie to you about Venezuela this week.
More and more, I get the sense that the big unreported story of the Chávez era is about waste. Corruption is comparatively easy enough to explain: it has clear motives, clear bad guys, a built in moral narrative – and so, it gets a fair bit of ink.
What’s much harder to get across is sheer waste – resources that simply go up in smoke because nobody is competent enough to spend them semi-rationally. That’s where a huge proportion of the oil windfall has ended up. And not through venality, simply through cluelessness.
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported.
We’ve been able to hang on for 22 years in one of the craziest media landscapes in the world. We’ve seen different media outlets in Venezuela (and abroad) closing shop, something we’re looking to avoid at all costs. Your collaboration goes a long way in helping us weather the storm.
Donate
