Quico Toro: ‘Fear of Self-Expression Isn’t Very Venezuelan’

An article about Caracas Chronicles that's not on Caracas Chronicles.

Does anyone want to dive into the Caracas Chronicles lore? Because I have just the thing.

Our José González published a great piece at Viceversa Magazine where he interviews, guess who:

Francisco Toro. Caracas Chronicles’ creator.

The whole thing feels like having Quico over for a coffee. They talk about the beginning of CC, and how it grew to become what it is right now:

“I set it up in five minutes, without thinking too much, on a Saturday afternoon. I wrote something, forgot about it, weeks later I wrote something else, y así. I never meant it to be something serious. It was a hobby that consumed my life.”

So this was all an afterthought?

Does anyone want to dive into the Caracas Chronicles lore?

When I found about CC, it was already big; when I got in, they were looking for different voices from around the country (we still are, send pitches, people!), already with a team of editors and even a style guide of sorts.

I’d say it’s even bigger today. We’re stuck at this bloody dictatorship, we’re in a humanitarian disaster and international reporters can’t (or refuse to) come to Venezuela. We are blogging the shit out this.

Maxmordon, take it away:

“Venezuela suffers. And those Venezuelans working at keeping tabs on everything their country lives, suffer with her. It’s a constant and hard labor, sometimes ungrateful, but at the same time an act of solidarity in the face of pain, a responsibility with truth as driving force to improve the world.”

It’s a cool piece. I don’t say it just because I know José and Quico and write in the site they are talking about. Ok, maybe it’s a little bit of that, but it is a great article.

Carlos Hernández

Ciudad Guayana economist moonlighting as the keyboardist of a progressive power metal band. Carlos knows how to play Truco. 4 8 15 16 23 42