Surviving The Adobecalypse
After the Adobe scare, the Venezuelan digital community keeps working under extremely hostile conditions, in unpredictable ground.
Living in Their Cars: Gasoline rationing in Mérida
After getting used to spending days and nights queuing up for fuel, Mérida citizens must now adapt to the classic socialist move of setting restrictions in every service station.
When a Failed State Punches You in the Face Every Day
Spending more than 12 hours a day without electric power, carrying tons of gallons of water, walking hundreds of miles due to the lack of transport, and standing in long lines for gas is the daily life of the people of Mérida. A city in the border that has been emptied.
Electronic Nomads: The Life of a Venezuelan Freelancer
After the blackouts on March 7 and 25, the life of the Venezuelan freelancer has become even more difficult. Many have lost the jobs that support entire families, because workers can’t deliver on time, while others have improvised homemade devices to get energy. Others prowl the city hunting for electricity and internet signal.
Six Nights in the Heart of Darkness
During six days of blackout, Merida, the most important city of the Venezuelan Andes, braced for the end of the world. Ordinary citizens geared up to defend streets and stores from looters, while the state disappeared. What can we do to survive if this happens again?
The First True Diasporic Demonstration in Our History
I've been in many demonstrations through these years of violence in Venezuela. But what I saw on February 23rd, at the border with Colombia, was different: an entire society fighting with the desperation of those who have nothing else to lose.
The Importance of Singing Together
As someone born and raised close to Colombia in many senses, the Venezuela Live Aid was the quintessential gathering of that nation of superposed identities and affections that lives around this border. The symbolism goes way beyond what Branson said.
Franklin Virgüez, Guaidó's Angry Translator
A veteran Venezuelan TV actor in Miami found a second career as the favorite YouTuber of the most vehement opposition to Maduro. But what he does, looks very similar to his enemies' techniques. It’s almost as funny as Keegan-Michael Key’s famous character.
The New Targets of Chavista Repression: Children
The answer chavismo has given to the recent national upheaval has been unrestricted violence; not only the FAES is loose and unaccountable, now the arrests are targeting children. The war on the poor, indeed, has never been this palpable before.
Lines Blur Between Venezuelan Dystopia and Caribbean Cyberpunk
Farmers mining bitcoin, pranes using digital traces to kidnap people, hackers in shantytowns at the service of the secret police, chieftains paying for bots, biopolitical control and a presidential assassination attempt using drones. My country is a bad sci-fi movie.
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