A matter of keeping your priorities straight
After tons of criticisms and complaints, CENCOEX – the replacement to currency distributor CADIVI – has finally received praise for doing things right on time. Was it for food supplies? For...
Economy
Adiós, Miami: a Caracas Chronicles film review
(This is a guest post by a longtime reader, who has fittingly chosen the pseudonym Old Parr) Adiós, Caracas A couple of days ago, as Juan Cristóbal Nagel...
Venezuela's ongoing collapse
Venezuela is mired in a deep crisis, but you already know that. Each new day brings with it another batch of bad economic news. When it isn’t high inflation that...
The Bank That Sells $10 Bills for $1
Over on the FT’s Beyond Brics blog, Francisco Rodríguez explains why saying that since Venezuela can’t keep goods markets supplied, it should default on foreign debt is like telling someone...
Inflation-gate
After a never-before-seen, jaw-dropping, soul-crushing three-month delay, the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV for its acronym in Spanish) published inflation rates for June, July, and August. But with the jumbled way in...
The Citgo fire sale
Reuters is reporting that PDVSA wants to sell Citgo for $10 billion dollars – the equivalent of 8 months’ worth of the cost of the gasoline subsidy. “Investment bank Lazard...
Spinning the revolution
I had to do a double-take upon learning that PDVSA had hired Bell Pottinger, the PR firm run by Margaret Thatcher’s former communications director to “clean its image.” Of course, no...
An Election Fraud as Big as the Ritz
Last week, the government announced that addressing the country’s deep-seated economic distortions…just wasn’t something they were going to worry about. A few days have passed since the economic non-announcements...
Dude, Your Strategic Fund Has Less than a Week's Worth of Imports In It
For years – literally years – we’ve been wondering exactly how much money the Venezuelan government had squirrelled away in its “parafiscal funds”: Fonden- and Fondo Chino-style unaudited,...
My kingdom for a passport
“You have to wait,” said the lady at the Embassy. “But I have been waiting, it’s been almost a month and my daughter’s passport expires in just a few...
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