On the afternoon of May 6, we learned that Maria Corina Machado’s team, as well as her mother, had left Venezuela. Chavismo, Machado and the Trump administration compete with contrasting versions
A thorough report reconstructs the crimes committed by the Maduro regime and chavista colectivos right after the July 28 election, including the murder of nine protesters and bystanders #NowWhatVenezuela
When the chavista regime stole the presidential election victory in 2024, I made memes and visuals to control my emotions—without thinking that many of them would go viral
As secondary sanctions on PDVSA oil enter their second month, Maduro & Co. are predictably turning to opaque intermediaries to keep Venezuelan crude flowing to Asia.
Bloomberg energy reporters Weilun Soon and Julian Lee tracked four “zombie vessels” that departed Venezuela since late March, likely carrying PDVSA crude to Indian and/or Chinese refineries. These aren’t ordinary shadow fleet tankers—they’re imposters, stealing the identity of defunct ships to dodge Western sanctions like the secondary tariffs on Venezuelan oil that kicked in on April 2nd.
Zombie vessels are part of the murky logistics ecosystem that keeps sanctioned oil moving. Shadow vessles are typically old, poorly maintained, and flagged in ill-regulated states (e.g. Gabon, Cameroon, or Antigua & Barbuda). They often obscure their ownership, change their flags and switch operators. Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela remain their main customers.
But zombie vessels assume the name of legitimate ships to appear legit to foreign states and international watchdogs. One example flagged by Bloomberg: a 32-year-old Comoros-flagged tanker that left Venezuela’s José terminal and reached Malaysian waters in April—posing as a ship demolished back in 2017.
Tareck El Aissaimi, one of the historic figures of ruling chavismo, seems to fall from grace, as a bunch of people—including a mayor, a construction magnate and several high ranking officials—have been arrested on charges of massive corruption
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At a moment of dynastic consolidation, Maduro resorts to a power move against former oil chief Pedro Tellechea. Others before him fell from grace in different circumstances
The same old class prejudices and phobias that predated chavismo are now being politically exploited by Venezuelans in the U.S. to create a narrative of good and bad fellow immigrants
While an opposition faction seeks to expand systemic pockets of power and another views abstention as a moral imperative, the May mega-vote is all about their inability to sustain unity
Jorge Bergoglio’s careful approach toward the Venezuela crisis has left some wondering whether his papacy was a lost chance to push for democracy in the country
The Interior Minister is sending several mayors to prison on drug trafficking allegations, while building unprecedented influence in the Colombo-Venezuelan border
Five months after the Maduro regime seized Grupo Lamar—Venezuela’s largest shrimp exporter, accused by Diosdado Cabello of plotting a coup—one of its main plants goes up in flames #NowWhatVenezuela
