Caracas Chronicles

A topsy-turvy ride that began with a crony made president of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), ended in reputational damage to some of the biggest names in football journalism at home.

Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista, until Wednesday night Venezuela’s national team manager, refused to take questions right after La Vinotinto’s final outing in the race for a spot in the USA-Mexico-Canada 2026 World Cup. “I’m here out of respect for you (journalists), who have always been kind to me and with whom I’ve had a good relationship,” he said. “I’m here just for that. Sorry, but today I am not here for an exchange or questions. I’ll say it again: We tried, we made it until the end, we couldn’t achieve it (qualify to the 2026 World Cup). I wish you all a good night, my apologies, I wish you well.”

These were the words of the man who was leading the national team after the way the Vinotinto’s Conmebol campaign had just collapsed. What began as a glimmer of hope to make it to the Interconfederation Playoffs for one of the two last berths available, ended in a humiliating 3-6 defeat against Colombia in Maturín. Some consider this performance as the biggest step backwards La Vinotinto has taken in its development, ever.

Batista stood up and disappeared from the press conference and Venezuelan football. The camera editor in charge of La Vinotinto TV’s online broadcast, cut back to the field reporters. One, Antonella Gutiérrez, was outraged by the lack of explanations and courage to face a well-deserved scrutiny, while the other three remained silent or barely mumbled anything beyond Antonella’s discontent.

Venezuela would spend close to a year and a half without winning a single match and fully jeopardizing all the good work done prior.

Veneco social media was up in arms.

The sentiment was clear: Bocha Batista had to be sacked, the Federation’s directive gutted, and, in a visceral twist to the tale, the journalists held accountable for playing their part in the telling of a lie.

They who pay the music pick the tune

Since the current management took over the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), one of their main moves was to invest heavily in improving the brand, image and narrative around La Vinotinto. Along with top-dollar agencies and eye-catching productions, the founding of La Vinotinto TV took place on September, 2023.

For the first time ever, the FVF had its own media outlet, controlled the  narrative… and recruited several of the best-known journalists covering Venezuelan football to, on paper, offer never-before-seen access and top analysis of our beloved national team.

In a country with such a heavy political propaganda culture, it was no surprise that this project, tied to an administration with direct and strong links to the Nicolás Maduro regime, swiftly used their media reach as a tool to silence dissidence and sell a narrative of, finally, being the right time for Venezuela to play in a World Cup.

Along them, Televen, Venevisión, FM Center and Unión Radio pundits and opinadores also joined this narrative-building exercise.

Results accompanied the storytelling for the first year of the Qualifiers.

Venezuela sat fourth, ahead of five-time world champions Brazil, led by the last standing names of a golden generation and the new names who were meant for great things. Euphoria swept and “Mano, Tengo Fe” became the creed of a nation starved of success. A breath of fresh air for a country used to gut wrenching headlines and a gruesome reality.

As the second window of the Qualifiers rolled around, a sudden and acute drop in results came as well. Things would be so dire, Venezuela would spend close to a year and a half without winning a single match and fully jeopardizing all the good work done prior.

Basic kick-and-rush, spineless and forgiving fútbol with pelotazos as the single means to get the ball inside the net. That was Batista’s gameplan.

Bocha Batista, a remnant of Jorge Giménez’s Plan A to lead the Vinotinto, was beginning to feel heat… until La Vinotinto TV stepped in to cover his tracks.

How Bocha Batista came to be

Jorge Giménez was the winner of a highly irregular and disputed FVF election and brought along with him the support of Maduro cronies, mainly from the Delcy Rodríguez camp. The son of an oil ship cargo transporter, heavily in bed with chavista corruption, his presence meant resources, but also a murky way of doing things.

One of his first decisions was appointing José Néstor Pékerman as the national team head coach starting December, 2021. On paper, it was a sound decision: Pekerman led Argentina and Colombia to the World Cup quarter finals. However, sooner than ever anticipated the grim details of a shady deal emerged, payments went undone and the silver-haired Entrerriano was gone with most of his staff… except for one of the key names in this story: Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista.

A sort of lucky way out of the maelstrom, Bocha was approved as Pekerman’s successor in March, 2023, less than 18 months after his now former boss resigned. 

From having faith to desperately struggling

As the games went by and Venezuela kept losing opportunities to secure a spot among the teams qualifying directly to the World Cup, the word “Repechaje” (playoff match) began filling headlines, trending topics and, ultimately, the collective last resort for a glimpse of hope.

At the same time, Vinotinto TV journalists went more and more out of their way to call this all “part of a process”, “learning and development”, “a bad run with greater times (and an easier schedule) ahead”. Credibility began to wane but, given the enormous reach of many of these journalists-turned-influencers. The lesser known social media accounts and commentators were drowned and banned as nay-sayers and undesirables.

Of course, it didn’t help that those who openly criticized the Selección were barred from ever coming near it. Bocha remained unscathed, fed easy questions and exempt of all guilt for objectively repulsive negative football. “Please calm down because you’re gonna get us in trouble!!!” a pundit said on live TV in June, after Venezuela lost to Uruguay, in an unprompted attempt to deflect blame from Batista for recent results. The mere idea of publicly questioning the national team’s manager made them worried and upset.

Was all this done for money, access, networking, the chance of covering their beloved national team up close? Were they also cheated from their dream at the expense of their reputation?

Colombia’s coach and Bocha’s Argentinean paisano, Néstor Lorenzo, intellectual author of Venezuela’s largest footballing humiliation of the century, broke it down in three phrases: “Long balls to Rondón, folding back when out of possession: We knew exactly what Venezuela were going to do.”

Basic kick-and-rush, spineless and forgiving fútbol with pelotazos as the single means to get the ball inside the net. That was Batista’s gameplan.

The jig is up

The second people caught their breath from a collective vilification of Batista, the rage turned at the talking heads who had been feeding the audiences little more than elaborate lies and the utmost wrong takes surrounding a freshly vanquished World Cup dream.

The time was up for those who for so long openly lied about what to expect.

Now, a couple of days after this vaguada, the voices that so loudly washed Batista’s image are now loudly quiet. Having sold their voice to what amounted to be a propaganda machine, little credibility is left in their words.

But, in a country where free information is hardly available, and access to your beat and source as a journalist is limited, was there an alternative for many of those affiliated with La Vinotinto TV? 

Was all this done for money, access, networking, the chance of covering their beloved national team up close? Were they also cheated from their dream at the expense of their reputation?

Both truths can coexist. They are victims of doing their best to gain access to their source, as journalists, but also of deceiving the audience with smoke, mirrors, and piropos to coach Bocha.

Having Bocha Batista fully ignore them in his final appearance with the Vinotinto was a slap in the face for those who supported and lied in his name, but a well-deserved slap.

Ultimately, a scorpion will sting a frog for as much as the frog may swim it to safety. 

Les pasa por sapos.