Caracas Chronicles

So a lot has been happening in the strange and wonderful world of Jim Luers since we last checked in on him.

Our criollo Tyler Durden, who claims to be both a White House Spokesman and an FBI Agent, and gives every sign of being a dyed-in-the-wool chavista, has turned up on the evening news in France, the radio in Belgium and on sober news analysis shows on NPR, not to mention splashed more or less all over the internet, including this adorable profile in GlobalPost.

In a particular career highlight – or a dastardly act of psychoterror, as you prefer – his existence was officially denied by White House, through latino outreach director Katherine Vargas –  not that a little thing like that was ever likely to slow the guy down:

Poor Jim then had his Twitter account suspended, but porfiao that he is, he promptly set up a different one.

Spend some quality time on Jim Luers’s blog – and if you haven’t, you’re missing out – and it’s relatively clear what’s happening here: after having been made up by Quinto Dia, his identity has been taken over by some internet jokester who’s running it as the craziest gonzo satire on the Venezuelan interwebs these days.

The White House endorsing the GMO research that brought you bolivarian bush-born acetominophen? Dark warnings about a looming Golf War between Venezuela and Switzerland? The deep story behind the National Assembly’s vote on the Henrique Capriles-Tibisay meme? It’s all there, in a kind of zany chavistoid alternate reality voice that’s equal parts Hunter S. Thompson and El Chunior, with a sprinkling of George Ciccariello-Maher for good measure. Great fun.

But just when you thought the story’s silliness had plateaud, Jim finds a way to crank it up a notch.

Now, Quinto Día, the Venezuelan political gossip rag that first brought Jim Luers to life, has given Mr. Luers a weekly column! That Jim Luers is playing it straight – denying any implication that he ever claimed to be a White House spokesman (that, of course, would be silly) and doubling down on claims that there is no DEA investigation against Diosdado Cabello.

So for those of you keeping score at home, there are now not one but two separate Jim Luerses out there, both of them fake, both of them spewing great gushing spurts of nonsense onto the public sphere with enormous gusto. One of them, though, actually seems to expect to be taken seriously!

¡Que fucking enredo!