After three postponements, Nicolas Maduro finally went to the National Assembly Monday night to deliver his long-awaited “Esequibo speech”. How was it? It was a three hour-long, rambling, contradictory mess. The speech showed not only the weak case Venezuela has but the way the government has mismanaged its claim in the last 15 years – and don’t forget, Maduro…
One week ago, Nicolas Maduro announced during his weekly TV show that he would address the National Assembly on June 25th, in order to present what he calls “…the official position in defense of the historic claim, the dispute over the Esequibo, and to ask for the national unity…”. Then the speech was postponed for…
The FIFA scandal continues to dominate headlines worldwide, particularly after Sepp Blatter announced on Tuesday he would step down after being reelected for a fifth term four days earlier. Venezuela is right at the center of the scandal, as Rafael Esquivel, the head of our football federation for the last 27 years, was one of the…
After yesterday’s announcement that government working hours will be cut to save electricity, Nicolas Maduro tried to justify the measures in his weekly TV show by putting most (if not all) of the blame on sorry-ass consumers and especially on their overuse of Air Conditioning and TV sets. His response? Launching “a really nice PR campaign”…
Our friend Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez took the issue of Maduro’s stunt double in Panama, and ran with it – all the way to the end zone. He weaves a masterful put-down over at Foreign Policy’s Transitions blog. The whole piece is well worth your time, but here is the highlight for me: The act of picking out one’s own…
What is “eco-socialism”? It’s basically the central government’s term for both its environmental policy and for the ministry in charge of it (which just changed its denomination to Environment and Waters, as Audrey has pointed out). But what does “eco-socialism” really stand for? Mostly, it’s for using environmental issues as political taglines. For example, the government’s PR…
Maduro received the power today to rule by decree. It is the second time he has had these. Hugo Chávez had a ton of these during his tenure. You know what? It does not matter. Maduro could do whatever he wanted yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Does he have any constraints on governance? Perhaps, but if he does,…
Bad news for our dear gringo friends, particularly those who have a death wish and were planning to travel to Venezuela in the near future: the Maduro administration will require US citizens to apply for (tourist) visas before entering Venezuelan territory. This measure is part of a (sort of) diplomatic retaliation package thoroughly crafted by Nicolas Maduro to get back to…
It hasn’t been an easy week for Nicolas Maduro here at home, so he decided to go back to his old hobby for a spot of foreign affairs. On the agenda: a visit to our Caribbean neighbors, Trinidad and Tobago. Heading a delegation of ninety-five, Maduro met with the T&T Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (who, btw, is facing a political crisis…
I liked this article on Prodavinci by pollster / economist Luis Vicente León. He says there are three main reasons for the government’s recent crackdown on the opposition: generating fear of protest in the face of a sharp deterioration in living conditions; changing the topic from an economic crisis to a political one; and increasing…
Farmatodo is one of the largest pharmacy chains in Venezuela. To our foreign friends, the Venezuelan equivalent to a Walgreens or a CVS. A productive family business that has been an example of intelligent growth during the past couple of decades (although it has a 96 year old story). Due to the large number of stores across the…
National Hoodlum’s Vacation On January 3rd the government was expected to announce the new economic measures for 2015. During that day we received a bunch of messages regarding the manner in which the government would inform the public. First, Maduro was going to drop the bomb all by himself. Later, we were told there were going to…
Nah, he hasn’t. I’m still troubled, however, by the indifference with what just happened. A brief recap: On Monday, President Nicolás Maduro held a rally against the Empire of the United States of America for the Venezuelan Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act. Yes, you’ve read about it here in the blog and everywhere else.…
A translation of a delicious put-down of our cerebrally-limited President, courtesy of Harvard Prof. Ricardo Hausmann: After a trip to Albania, South Africa, India, and Kazakhstan, where I have spoken to governments about how to confront their problems, I found out that Nicolás Maduro has again tried to hold me responsible for his own failure. Apparently, Venezuela’s financial problem…
So what did Venezuelan President Maduro say yesterday after Venezuela suffered a heavy blow at the OPEC meeting? Basically, we will not cut anything significant in the budget. Social and military investment – whatever that is – will not suffer. Not a single bolívar will be cut from the budget (hint: why would they? they can just keep on…
Caracas Chronicles 