Estimado TSJ, Nos enteramos de que rechazaste la demanda que Transparencia Venezuela interpuso contra el presidente del BCV, Nelson Merentes, por no publicar indicadores macroeconómicos, por considerar que no presentaron “ninguna prueba” que demuestre que le solicitaron cumplir con su obligación de publicar “las principales estadísticas económicas del país”. Somos economistas, así que no nos movemos…
Carolina Acosta-Alzuru has a good riff about the need to wait until a country is ready to tell its stories. Venezuela isn’t ready to start telling its story yet, but one day, when the dust has settled and the country begins to find its voice, it’s going to be incredibly spoilt for choice: the one item where production has…
Last Friday saw the end of a nasty and self-destructive struggle for supremacy within the opposition coalition for the right to nominate the candidate for the safest opposition seat in the country: the Este-del-Este‘s Miranda Circuit #2. The outcome was…discomfiting: an AD-Voluntad Popular stitch up that sold Maria Corina Machado down the river in a nasty, vindictive slight…
RunRun.es has a blockbuster piece on Tocorón Prison in Aragua State, quickly becoming the epicenter of #PranNation. Run by a business savvy “Pran” (prison gang leader) with a growth vision, Tocorón has been on a building frenzy of late, blurring the lines between vacation resort and jail. Charmingly, the jail has become the one place…
It wouldn’t be an ordinary week in today’s Venezuela without the highest court in the land taking over a political party to appoint a pro-government clique to lead it. This week saw the turn of the National Integrity Movement, better known as MIN-UNIDAD. The Constitutional Chamber admitted a motion by Alix Ramon Medina, head of the MIN’s Barinas State branch, who…
Remember this? The headline ran on June 7th in Ultimas Noticias. Major General Carlos Osorio, Minister for Food, pledged solemnly that the food availability crisis would have ended by…today. We’ll be expecting your resignation by the end of the day, Felix. Right? RIGHT!?
These days, if you’re looking for reasons to be alarmed about Venezuela you’re spoilt for choice. But if I had to pick one, just one signal that’s freaking me the hell out right now, it has to be the government’s dogged refusal to issue larger denomination bank notes. Lots has been written about the insanity…
Milagros Socorro broke Twitter yesterday with her reporting of a guajiro upheaval in the border town of Sinamaica. The Zuliana journo summarized the story in 26 tweets and then filled in the blanks with an article at Konzapata. Turns out a pissed wayuu crowd raided -as vikings do- the town hall of the Bolivarian Municipality of La…
MUD has not exactly covered itself in glory these last few days, but they did get one thing right: the new, chavistified COPEI has been thrown right out of the Opposition Coalition. Hurray!
Dear Readers, As Juan said earlier, Caracas Chronicles is at a crossroads. For the past 13 years – count ’em, 13! – this blog has slugged through Venezuelan reality on an all-volunteer, zero-revenue basis. We’ve tried all kinds of formats and styles, built up a bit of a brand and nurtured an amazing reader community. Considering we did it all on…
Starting today, I will no longer be the main editor of Caracas Chronicles. For the past few weeks, several of us who write for the blog have concluded that Caracas Chronicles has become a brand that deserves a look and a content befitting its reputation. This calls for the blog to undergo some major, exciting changes. I…
Discontent inside Chavismo has been brewing in recent times. but as each day passes, more and more factions are openly challenging the PSUV. El Nacional’s Hernan Lugo-Galicia had the details a couple of days ago on four Chavista groups that have decided to forsake the Grand Patriotic Pole coalition and run alone for the upcoming legislative…
Daniel Pardo’s reporting on the “Zonas de Paz” in Barlovento for the Beeb is really amazing – even if you think you know this story, you’ll learn as you read. A taste, “En Venezuela el que está en la cárcel es porque es idiota”. Cuando arrestaron a uno de ellos hace unos meses, cuentan, sobornaron al juez…
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…
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