Have you ever wondered where it all started? Bachaqueo, I mean – standing in line waiting to purchase price-controlled products in order to resell them in the black market. As I learned on my recent trip to Maracaibo, local lore has it that after gasoline smuggling had become a common reality in this border state, bachaqueo was born in a…
Many would say there is clash between Caraqueños – Venezuelans born in Caracas – and Maracuchos or Marabinos –Venezuelans born in Maracaibo; e.g. Pablo Pérez and Juan Cristóbal Nagel. But I could only speak from the Caraqueño side of the quarrel. Until now that is. I spent a weekend in Maracaibo and this was my first contact…
For a change of pace, I’ve decided to use my column at Foreign Policy’s Transitions blog to focus on the people, on the Venezuelans that are making a difference, surviving, and suffering. My goal is to focus on a different character in each column. This is not easy for somebody used to writing about politics and economics,…
Over the last few years, Father Alejandro Moreno has established himself as an authority on the topic of Venezuela’s crime epidemic. For years, he has toiled in Venezuela’s toughest neighborhoods. This has given him an insider’s look at what makes these criminals tick. This interview of the father by the Venezuelan news outlet Contrapunto is astonishing.…
“Venezuela is the only country in the world where street vendors sell you both a copy of the Transit Law … and a nice, cold beer.” Laureano Márquez’s riff began what was a major theme in the discussions we held in Austin about our country – about Venezuela being a land of confusion, a country…
Venezuela has fifteen official holidays, not counting the rest of Holy Week (only Thursday and Friday are official holidays). On top of this, Venezuelans spend countless hours outside of work – either in traffic, or standing in line waiting to buy stuff. This is just too much. One of the things any sensible government will need…
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…
On the second anniversary of his, erm, sowing, I couldn’t help but reflect back on this story. About a year ago, I had to represent a client —a Canadian company— before a public institution. “Represent” is not quite the word though, it was more like interpreting, decoding, and tearing apart a business deal. A representative from…
My stay in Doral has been a strange one. I have enjoyed the familiar sights and sounds of the city, the one with the highest proportion of Venezuelans living in it. The bakeries, the sounds of people chattering, even the way people drive – they all remind me of home. But there is something else…
If you follow football closely, you might know that every January is winter-transfer market time. In Venezuela, it wasn’t so different. Yeah, the players involved are not as exciting as those in the Premier League, the Bundesliga or even the MLS, but that’s the deal we’re stuck with. But days after the market closed, the…
Yesterday, Venezuela lost one of its greatest artists. I dare say Pedro León Zapata was THE greatest artist of the last era of our history. Why is this controversial? Zapata was a cartoonist. Doesn’t sound like high art, right? Large crises are usually fodder for artists. Picasso’s greatest painting was inspired by the carnage of Guernica. Steinbeck would not…
The economic armaggedon Venezuela is undergoing gives the opposition a golden opportunity to break myths and lay the groundwork for the Venezuela of the future. Sadly, and barring a few exceptions, I don’t see the opposition establishing a succesful narrative yet. Here are two examples. Yesterday, opposition legislator Julio Borges posed 10 questions for Maduro, along…
The Venezuelan government headed East last week to beg for funds from the Chinese in order to save their Revolutionary State. Yet chavismo’s global treasure hunt, regardless of the outcome, is not the only race in town. All over the world politicians, scholars, businessmen and ordinary citizens are pondering a new purpose for the state, and what it is good for in…
December 2nd, 2014. 8:06 am. I am walking north from the Plaza Venezuela subway station toward La Florida. I cross Libertador Avenue. The blind man is there, as always. A couple of weeks before, I witnessed how a National Guard unit blocked traffic in this same intersection to allow two black luxury SUVs with tinted glass…
Some people believe that the crisis we are suffering is just a manifestation of something deeper, part of a set of unresolved cultural tensions. Key among these is the tension between modernity and rural life. We just can’t shake it off. Rural life is still present in our cities, in our families, and in ourselves. The late Venezuelan…
Caracas Chronicles 