Good old Maria Corina Machado. Today she was not allowed to register her candidacy due to the government’s push to have her barred from public office. So, instead, she announced that her replacement candidate would be Sociologist Isabel Pereira. I didn’t know much about Pereira before today, but from the looks of it, she brings…
It’s undeniable that Venezuelan society is sexist. From the silly facts – the women can flutter their eyelashes at male waiters to get an extra basket of bread, while men are [supposedly] better than women at changing tires – to the very real but horrible fact that a more than capable woman might not get hired when…
In a recent meeting between political parties and the CNE, it was agreed that Tamara Adrián could run for Congress as part of the female cuota of the MUD. If this comes to pass, and I say If, considering it was not written down anywhere as far as I could see, this would be a huge…
On May 28th Venezuela celebrated the International Menstrual Hygiene Day. On that day, we embraced: …the opportunity to create awareness of the right of women and girls to hygienically manage their menstruation – in privacy, safety and with dignity – Because, good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) plays a key role in enabling women and girls to reach their…
Tibisay Lucena, the head of Venezuela’s National Elections Council, has been called many things before: a die-hard chavista; a machiavellian tool of the revolution; a sensible technician; a lover of fine London restaurants (ask me about that later). But one thing she had never been called before was “feminist icon.” After today, that may change. Today,…
Venezuela is known for its beautiful women –if we are allowed to say so ourselves. But our high beauty standards are expensive, and no stranger to scarcity. So a negative involuntary consequence –what us economist usually call a “negative externality”- of the current economic crisis is that we are becoming less and less tidy, stylish, and…
(Today at Plan Pais I was honored to have been asked to moderate a panel composed of Asdrubal Aguiar, Carlos Blanco, Miriam Kornblith, Juan Maragall, and Ricardo Villasmil. The topic was on the search for a new narrative for Venezuela. This is a translated version of my opening remarks – specially dedicated to Edanis, wherever…
Some of you know that I live in a house as the sole male surrounded by four wonderful ladies. Yet as a man happily subdued, I have been trained to see sexism everywhere I turn. Sometimes I see sexism even in places where nobody else sees it, which makes me extra cautious about making a comment. But this…
The role of women in Venezuelan society is a topic that is rarely discussed. Our media tends to portray women as either helpless victims, sex objects, or chavista firebrands. Sometimes we see in the choices of poor women the root causes of poverty – just yesterday, we highlighted a 31-year old single mother of five that appears in…
Esteemed Capitalist Pig, A socialist greeting to you! The following is to notify you that, even though the Central Government is now working on a new political framework to cope with violence against women – specially that inflicted by family members or partners – you, by virtue of being a dirty capitalist, imperialist and escuálida apátrida, do not qualify for said…
(This is a rare double post on the blog. A few weeks ago, Audrey brought up the idea that we should write about abortion. After much prodding, I reluctantly agreed. Initially, I thought the topic was too painful and incendiary for us to reach any common ground. Since it cuts to the very essence of what it is…
We’ve been meaning to write about the sad case of Massiel Pacheco for a while, but … así estarán las cosas … things are so bad that the case has gotten lost in the shuffle of news coming out of Venezuela. Massiel Pacheco is a working class food vendor in Caracas’ Parque del Este. A…
On Thursday, March 27th, in Costa Rica, the girls from the Vinotinto U-17 made history. The faced Canada, a formidable foe, in the World Cup U-17 in the quarter finals. They won and got a shot at the semifinals. They lost, and ended in fourth place overall. Coach Kenneth Zseremeta scouted Venezuela with a fine tooth…
A few days ago, Maduro was having a down in the dumps day, he needed a quick pick me up, something empowering, something to assert his manhood. So, he did what any self respecting male would do, he made a rape joke, gorillas included. Yes, a rape joke on Cadena Nacional. In our little machista…
Oh “La venganza de la Obrera” How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love the faces of the men aghast with the piropos that you say. I love those that stammer and look at you with a bright red face. I love the ones that smile meekly and then quicken the…
Caracas Chronicles 