This school year, 15% of schools may shut down: between 400 and 500 preschools, elementary schools and high schools won’t be able to open in September. The new economic measures put a noose around the neck of parents and representatives, teachers and students alike.
As the hegemony’s restrictions increase, local media in Venezuela face an existential threat thanks to the latest economic measures. And all over the country, some of them are closing shop for now… How do we know it’s not for good?
As if Maracuchos didn’t have enough already: constant blackouts, non-existent garbage collection service, extrajudicial executions and now, overflowing sewage, all under the not-so-watchful eye of chavista mayor Willy Casanova.
Cemetery El Cuadrado can no longer offer a final resting space. Graverobbers, lack of maintenance and government negligence are threatening what little is left of historic memories, art and peace for the deceased.
The decline of phone service providers in Zulia has affected immediacy based news outlets. Digital journalism is threatened by poor communications, as the citizens’ right to information crumbles under a generalized collapse.
Public transportation has new prices. Some services have increased by 1000%, others by 400% and others by 1.250.000%. Will this higher fare price help improve a broken industry? We don’t think so.
The Orinoco river reached and surpassed the biggest flood level in its history. Meanwhile, the government's negligence has left 11,000 people without a place to stay or food on their tables.
Everyone’s worried about the consequences that Maduro’s paquetazo will unleash upon the Venezuelan economy. People calling this plan, which will surely fail, neoliberal are either irresponsible or ignorant.
Turns out, it’s not only chavistas who remain in denial, who alter and distort reality or have trouble admitting and dealing with facts and existing, real life problems. Now, these problems extend to opposition leaders and citizens, too.
It’s not really true that the academic literature extensively documents the futility of electoral boycotts. Believing it does makes it dead easy for the government to divide the opposition.
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.
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