Caracas Chronicles

In a post where Quico flat out won the internets (and my eternal respect) by getting my favorite expletive in all the universe the word “¡mamagüebo!” (complete with diéresis, ghetto b, and upside-down-exclamation mark) into a prestigious U.S. publication, you wouldn’t expect any other aspect to catch my eye.

But it did, because the most insightful bit from his piece in The Atlantic yesterday is that Quico, apparently, loves cacerolazos:

The Cacerolazo’s genius is in how it lowers the cost of protest, breaking down the isolation that autocratic regimes like Maduro’s, and Hugo Chavez’s before him, rely on to break down their opponents. Amid a cacerolazo, you can actually hear the sound of those who feel the way you do. Things you would be too scared to voice openly, the cacerola can say on your behalf. In fact, the ruckus turns the tables on government supporters: Normally, they can enforce silence, but during a cacerolazo, they’re the isolated ones. And for the security forces, a cacerolazo presents an insurmountable problem: How do you repress a protest that’s both everywhere and nowhere in particular at once?

Ever since 1S, the opposition twittersphere has been awash with indignant slams of cacerolazos as timid and inefficient. Does Quico know something we don’t?

P.S.:

What’s your favorite Venezuelan curse word? Mine is mam…allright, I’ll stop.