Caracas Chronicles

A few decades ago we were the rich, politically stable, democratic kids on the block in our neighborhood. Tables have turned and Venezuela is perceived, and portrayed, painfully accurately all over the media.

It’s easier to win if you build your new enemies from the ashes of the leaders you burned, jailed after shady legal proceedings, barred from running for office or forced into exile. It’s exactly what the dictatorship’s doctors prescribed.

With their presidential election, Colombians thought this long campaign was finally over. But the results of the first round suggest it’s all just getting started.

The OAS passed a major resolution on Venezuela this Tuesday with 19 votes in favor, including one from the Dominican Republic that took us all by surprise. Is it possible they finally know what we’re dealing with?

Jesús and Mario aren’t related, they are joined together by their hateful, #fakenews style. If only the illegitimate Hate Law applied to chavista journalists.

After shortages, oppression and shortcomings, Venezuelan migrants stay illegally in the U.S., because they don’t understand how risky it is to mess with American immigration laws.

There’s plenty of studies about how to transition back into democracy after dictatorships fall. Venezuela managed to do it the other way around.

The growing diaspora is undoubtedly affecting critical sectors of the country, like healthcare, education and electrical infrastructure.

Willy Casanova, Maracaibo mayor, decides to do nothing and govern via press release. Notoriety in his case, would be counterproductive, so he takes advantage of a misinformed city.

The Libertador trusted and admired Sucre. So Bolívar’s enemies got rid of the man who could become his successor.

‘Totalitarianism’ isn’t just another word for ‘dictatorship’. It’s different, and much worse: a system that destroys all human bonds in a society. It’s something we hadn’t really seen in Venezuela...until now.

The steady decline of freedom of speech in Venezuela started when the government conveniently removed RCTV from the airwaves. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last.

A 400-page report commissioned by the OAS’ Secretary General sums up the horrors endured by arbitrarily detained Venezuelans. The one to blame: the Maduro government. What happens next? Will there be justice?

Magnus Boding pens a piece for El País on the country’s young adults that will make you yearn for beach parties and friends you won’t see again.

For fifty cents, you too can cause a yellow fever epidemic and an international health crisis out of sheer desperation or plain journalistic curiosity.

A young mother living in a State’s Housing Program building had to suck it up on election day, afraid of Big Brother’s reprisal for not voting... or was it opportunism?

A long-awaited report by a panel of independent experts appointed by the OAS just came out: there’s sufficient evidence of crimes against humanity in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s most important private food company makes a surprising move into our media landscape by making sure the entire country can enjoy the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

After the math doesn’t check out at the end of each quincena, resourceful Venezuelans turn to making extra income online on a platform called Steemit to save the month and beat hyperinflation and the crisis.

The May 20 election revealed an obvious fact: When the chavista apparatus runs out of money or resources, they run out of votes, support and ways to incentivize or, let’s be frank, intimidate people into voting for them.

The Venezuelan Health Ministry lies in a WHO summit in Geneva. Vice-Minister Parada’s statement was as disgusting as you might expect.

You thought you knew who authored the lyrics and composed the music to our Gloria al Bravo Pueblo because you learned it in school, but they taught us wrong.

Many multinational companies found in office buildings and construction sites in Caracas a nice place to park their bolivars and construction companies borrowed to meet that demand. Now the music stopped, banks are not giving money away anymore and those companies now own empty, useless office space.

These are the reasons why I have a problem with Mr. Toro’s assessment of the non-election election.