Five Ways Venezuelan Businesses Are Coping with Crisis
Businesses and entrepreneurs in Venezuela are responding to the country’s crippling economic crisis in all sorts of ways. Many are simply closing their doors – not surprising in a country whose GDP shrank by at least 10 percent last year. But others have reinvented themselves to survive in the country’s off-kilter economy, as new … Read more
Movidas en el poder: Cómo el presidente venezolano está afianzando sus defensas
Read in English Basta con sondear el ánimo de los venezolanos para entender cómo perciben al gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro: más anclado al poder que nunca. Y con razón. A pesar de Venezuela está viviendo una de las crisis políticas y económicas más profundas que haya vivido ningún país latinoamericano en la historia reciente—y … Read more
Power Moves: How Venezuela’s Maduro Is Shoring Up His Defenses
Leer en español If the mood on the streets of Caracas is a guide, Venezuelans are increasingly reconciling themselves to an uncomfortable idea: President Nicolás Maduro isn’t going anywhere. Despite Venezuela enduring one of the most profound economic and political crises of any Latin American country in recent memory – and amid yearlong calls for … Read more
Chávez on TV: What “El Comandante” Says About Rising Populism
Moisés Naím doesn’t shy away from new projects. But the Venezuelan economist and TV host’s latest creative endeavor has sparked more than the usual controversy. “El Comandante,” a telenovela about Venezuela’s late former President Hugo Chávez , takes liberties with the strongman’s biography even as it considers his legacy and sheds light on his rise … Read more
Enfrentando a Maduro: el nuevo plan de la oposición venezolana
Read in English ¿Puede un nuevo año y una nueva estrategia ayudar a la coalición opositora venezolana, MUD, a resolver diferencias internas? La oposición Venezolana ha tenido que auto-examinarse. A pesar de un año marcado por protestas masivas y rechazo internacional a las movidas antidemocráticas del presidente Nicolás Maduro, la Mesa de la Unidad Democrática … Read more
Fighting Maduro: The Venezuelan Opposition’s New Plan
Leer en español Venezuela’s opposition has had to do some soul-searching. Despite a year punctuated by massive street protests and international condemnation of President Nicolás Maduro’s anti-democratic turns, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), a coalition of opposition parties, ended 2016 with little to celebrate. Its effort to force a recall referendum on Maduro came to … Read more
Cómo un director de teatro venezolano conquistó Broadway
Read in English Una tarde de septiembre pasado, sentado en un taxi en los alrededores del centro de Manhattan, Moisés Kaufman recibió una llamada en la que le avisaban que había sido seleccionado para recibir la Medalla Nacional de las Artes, la máxima distinción artística de los Estados Unidos. “Lo primero que dije fue: ‘¿estás … Read more
How a Venezuelan Playwright Conquered Broadway
Leer en español One evening in September, while sitting in a cab in midtown Manhattan, Moisés Kaufman got a phone call telling him he’d been selected to receive the National Medal of Arts, the U.S.’ government’s highest artistic honor. “The first thing I said was ‘Are you sure you got the right number?’” Kaufman told AQ … Read more
Los Venezolanos y la pregunta del millón: ¿Qué va a pasar?
Read in English Incertidumbre, temor, esperanza. Betsimar, una caraqueña de 55 años, viene de manifestar contra el gobierno en la multitudinaria concentración que se celebró este miércoles en la ciudad, la llamada “Toma de Venezuela.” Mientras camina de vuelta a su casa recapitula: “Volvimos a las calles y allí vamos a seguir.” En menos de … Read more
Venezuela’s Million Dollar Question: What Now?
Leer en español At each new turn, Venezuela’s political crisis appears headed for climax. But amid political maneuvering and demonstrations by both the government of President Nicolás Maduro and his opposition, the mood on the ground in Caracas remains one of uncertainty – and determination. Betsimar, a 55-year-old woman from Caracas, was one of the … Read more
Venezuela’s Odd Transition to Dictatorship
Venezuela proved last week that it can still defy regional trends. By suspending the process to carry out a recall referendum on President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela became the only country in Latin America since the late 1970s to experience the transition to a full dictatorship. When I started studying Venezuela in the early 1990s, the … Read more
Latin America Could Cut Its Murder Rate By 50 Percent. Here’s How.
Many deaths are unavoidable. Natural disasters and incurable illnesses can claim lives suddenly, without warning. But there is one untimely death that can be avoided – homicide. It is time for Latin America and the Caribbean to set a bold goal to bring down the murder rate. The region is one of the world’s deadliest. It is home … Read more
Chávez Yes, Maduro No. The Growing Split in Venezuela.
You can call them Chávez acolytes, you can call them Bolivarians, just don’t call them pro-Maduro. As Venezuela’s economy and institutions continue to deteriorate, long-running rifts within the country’s socialist left are becoming more apparent. Nowhere is this more evident than among a growing group of supporters of late former President Hugo Chávez who accuse the current president, Nicolás … Read more
Why Mercosur Is Stuck with Venezuela
Venezuela’s September 1 demonstrations, in which as many as a million people took to the streets of Caracas to demand a change in government, were certainly impressive. But were they effective? If the goal was to fundamentally alter the country’s political direction, the answer is probably “no.” Despite the buzz generated by this month’s protests … Read more
How Sept. 1 Could Be the Beginning of the End for Venezuela’s Maduro
September 1 may mark a “before and after” moment in Venezuela’s political and economic crisis. Following further delays by the electoral authority on advancing a recall referendum against President Nicolás Maduro, opposition leaders have called on residents across the country to mobilize in the capital city this Thursday in what they have dubbed “The Grand … Read more
