A Venezuelan in the research team of the most recent Nobel Prize in Medicine winner brought to mind the story of Baruj Benacerraf, the only Venezuelan who has received the price. Saying Benacerraf’s was a triumph for Venezuelan science is inaccurate, but it did help cement the somewhat successful process to make science a serious discipline in the country.
Under Chavismo, the Media Became the News
Chavismo has proven to be efficient in only one thing: taking over Venezuelan media, shaping the news to their convenience, turning the citizens against journalists and restricting or, well, anhilating freedom of information.
Chile’s Communist Party Opposes U.S. Intervention in Venezuela (Cuban Intervention is...
The Chilean Left created a petition to stop the Trump administration from intervening in Venezuela. We don’t think an online petition has that kind of power and Chile seems to forget who helped them out of their last dictatorship.
Reporting the Crisis Brings Persecution and Exile for Venezuelan Firemen
The Merida firefighters from the donkey mockery aren’t the only ones on trial. Firemen in Apure and Lara were also brought to justice for showing what their working conditions are like.
Albán: Contradictions of the Guilty
Primero Justicia councilman Fernando Albán was buried yesterday. Citizens know what happened, even if the government disguises it with smoke and mirrors. Just what really happened on that tenth floor?
Ghoul Nation Part I : Monsters of Eastern Venezuela
Venezuelan land and waters are haunted by spirits, monsters and ghosts. Each one has preferences about what kind of victims it attacks and each can be placated or vanquished with a specific method. The Oriental belief system is rich, alive and well.
The Petro Was Officially Launched… Again
You might have read this in February, as the petro was supposed to be launched in February. Maduro even hit a symbolical “on” switch pressing enter last week. And still… cue crickets.
Previous Posts
Public Servants Protest as You Read This: Some Wages Are More...
Workers in the public sector, are now showing their dissatisfaction with the government and how Maduro’s economic measures mean that there’s no fair salary escalation. They’re all equally poor.
The Fernando Albán We Knew
After his tragic death while under SEBIN custody, stories of Fernando Albán’s life and what he did for his coworkers in the Cabildo and even for people who disagreed politically with him, from someone who knew him.
Maduro Wins the Public Opinion Battle Against Reality Itself
Since they control most of the media and Venezuelans don’t have access to the news or different points of view, the regime can fabricate and spread a convenient narrative. This is how poorly informed citizens answered questions about the economic measures.
Tools for Change: How Far Will Elections Take Us Right Now?
As the crisis deepens and the possibility of an election to approve a new Constitution hovers over our heads, the old debate of voting or not in an election without fair conditions resurfaces stronger than ever before. What has changed?
Venezuelans Set Out to Cross the Continent on Foot
Crossing the border to Colombia, then to Ecuador or Peru is a long, painful journey even if all they carry is a backpack. Venezuelan migrants find some help in Colombian cities, but tiredness, cold and hunger are constant companions.
Death of Political Prisoner Under State Custody Shrouded in Mystery
Opposition councilman Fernando Albán died today. Two contradicting versions from the government and the fact that Venezuelans know that SEBIN officials torture political prisoners make us doubt that he killed himself, as they said happened.
The Business that Feeds the Mine
People all over Bolívar State have got gold fever. They travel to the mines and make ends meet by selling everything they can think of to miners. The problem is that, in addition to gold fever, they could get malaria or measles. As profitable as the business might be, is it worth the risk?
La Nona, Like Chavismo, Is a Parasite That Killed Its Host
La Nona is a play that symbolically talks about the Argentine dictatorship, about its ambition and its desire to destroy everything. Is chavismo La Nona?
The Heritage of Operación Cóndor
This article doesn’t seek to analyze the possibility of a U.S. intervention nor the geopolitics affecting that scenario. It tries to get a grasp of the effects that the Operación Cóndor is having on the politicians that want a change of government in Venezuela, but still refuse to support an intervention.
#OmiChronicles: Bringing Crypto To The Masses
This is how we fight back! We’re putting our crypto where our knowledge is. In this case, it’s in omipedia, the encyclopedia of all things crypto.
Economic Measures Cause Meat Shortage in All of Zulia State
After the government set the prices of beef, as part of Maduro’s economic measures, this protein disappeared in the Zulia region. Farmers are trying but can’t keep up, they have to sacrifice their revenue and deal with threats of expropriation.
Opacity Surrounds New Constitution by the Illegitimate ANC
Last year, as a direct response to protests, the ANC was decreed into existence by Maduro, violating Chávez’s precious 1999 Constitution. They’re supposed to be writing a new one but there’s just too much secrecy around it.
Caracas Chronicles Book Review: Memoria Ciudadana by Gustavo Coronel
Gustavo Coronel knows how to take on challenges. In his book Memoria ciudadana, he writes about what life before Chávez was like for men like him and how he knew what the chavista debacle was going to be like, from the start.
The Hegemony’s Tactics to Confuse, Divide and Rule the Media Work
As the crackdown on what’s left of independent media in Venezuela continues, a new study establishes how the government also shifts the public conversation to its advantage.
Maracaibo Market Intervention Or How People Just Don’t Get It
Maracaibo mayor Omar Prieto raided Las Pulgas market in Maracaibo last week. What will this do for people? What will it solve? Nothing. The government apparatus works like a smooth machine in at least one way: people blame, hate and root against the wrong culprit all the time.
Increasing Gas Prices: Chavismo’s Wrong Solution to Huge Problems
The price of what had been the cheapest gas on Earth was supposed to increase recently. A long-overdue measure that Maduro assures will improve the economy, but will only deepen the fierce control the State has over the average Venezuelan life.
The Burro Mockery Could Spark A Rebellion
Two firemen were imprisoned for comparing Nicolás Maduro to a donkey. Laughter is a traditional way to criticize power, but can it start a political movement? Yes, it can, if we build a discourse around it.
Photojournalist Disappears After Covering the Orinoco Mining Arc Ecocide
A special piece about the Orinoco Mining Arc recently won an important journalism award by the Online News Association, but the photojournalist involved in the project has been missing for more than six months.
Venezuelans Fleeing the Crisis Leave Ghost Cities Behind
Every time they get home, lonely parents or temporarily orphaned children are reminded everyday of chavismo’s worst cruelty. Because of emigration, crime or lack of medicine, we’ve all lost people we love. Time stood still in Venezuelan homes that saw their inhabitants walk away.
Complaint Filed Against Maduro Before The International Criminal Court
It’s meaningful and symbolically important that Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Paraguay formally asked the ICC to investigate Maduro for crimes against humanity. We clarify what the ICC is and what it’s not, how it works and what happens next.
Rómulo Betancourt Died in New York on September, 28, 1981
37 years ago, Rómulo Betancourt, founder of Acción Democrática and one of the most important Venezuelan politicians of the 20th century, passed away after an accident involving a trash can.
Lara State Parents Can’t Afford Supplies for the New School Year
This time, hyperinflation and the economic crisis strike Larense parents and students. It’s just too expensive to send properly attired and equipped children to school, so teachers found a way.
Frontera Chronicles II: Venezuelans in Colombia Fight for a Better Life
During Almagro’s visit to Cúcuta, a city in the Colombia-Venezuela border, we got to see the depth of Venezuelans’ struggle. We identified the challenges ahead and the possible solutions to make it easier for migrants, refugees and for the receiving countries.
Maduro at the UN: Monroe, Mandela, Trump and Not Much Else
In Maduro’s disappointing speech at the United Nations General Assembly his face and body language said more than his words.
