Venezuela

Thursday

Peter Jones

Tyrannical tips

Last week, in an effort to understand what that left-wing hero Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela, must be suffering, Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, explained to his court poet Simonides why the life of a tyrant was such a misery. Simonides here spells out how Hieron can turn the situation round. Simonides began by making a crucial distinction between activities that made one hated and those that garnered gratitude. This was the key to success: outsource the former and direct one’s attentions to the latter. So Hieron should give to others the responsibility for handing out punishments and penalties. Building on this sound principle, he should then concentrate solely on encouraging

Thursday

Stephen Gibbs

Caracas Notebook

A man stopped me in the street in Caracas and grabbed my hand. I was alarmed, but tried not to look scared. This city sometimes ranks as the most dangerous capital in the world. The practical advice we tend to be given by security consultants boils down to ‘Don’t panic’. ‘Gringos,’ said the man, ‘are good people. Thank you. May God bless you.’ And he was gone. This has been an emotional week for millions of Venezuelans. And there are plenty here who believe the US administration’s endorsement of a rival president means help is on the way; that somehow, someone outside will solve this. The episode reminded me of an equally

Sunday

Steerpike

Corbynistas intervene on Venezuela

Once upon a time Venezuela was talked up by British socialists – from John McDonnell to Richard Burgon – as an example of a better way. As Jeremy Corbyn put it back in 2013: ‘Chavez showed us that there is a different and better way of doing things. It’s called socialism, it’s called social justice and it’s something that Venezuela has made a big step towards.’ Only ever since there were mass food shortages and toilet paper rations – with 82pc of households living in poverty – the majority of Corbynistas have gone a little quiet on the subject. However, as Chavez’s successor President Nicolás Maduro faces a political crisis amid mass

Friday

Jason Mitchell

The flaw in Donald Trump's plan to oust Nicolás Maduro

Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan opposition leader, as the rightful head of state will have little impact unless the country’s top military brass turns against the socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro. Sadly, they show little sign of doing that. Guaidó – aged 35 and president of the country’s opposition-controlled National Assembly – had himself sworn in as head of state on Wednesday. Trump formally recognised him minutes later; this was followed in quick succession by Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, joined these calls, saying “the United Kingdom believes Juan Guaidó is the right person to take Venezuela forward.” The EU is calling

Thursday

Joanna Rossiter

Could Juan Guaidó finally end Venezuela’s nightmare?

The United States has stepped up its rhetoric against Venezuela’s Maduro regime  by declaring Juan Guaidó as interim president – a move which is also backed by Germany, Brazil and Canada. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Caracas to hail Guaidó as the country’s new leader. But is this really the end for Nicolás Maduro, the man who has led his country into economic ruin? Unlike the protests in the capital in 2017 which were brutally quashed before they could spread elsewhere, these demonstrations are gathering pace all across the country. There are now local reports of members of the national army starting to side with the people. Maduro has

Thursday

Colin Freeman

Pirates of the Caribbean

Brian Austin, a fisherman from the small village of Cedros in Trinidad, is struggling to describe the men who robbed him out at sea last year. ‘They had guns, they wore T-shirts and hoods.’ Then he brightens: ‘Have you ever seen Somali pirates? They looked just like that.’ I have indeed seen Somali pirates, as it happens, and rather closer up than I’d have liked. Ten years ago, a bunch of them kidnapped me for six weeks while I was out reporting. That was in Somalia, though, a failed state where anything goes. I never expected to be writing about a plague of pirates here in the Caribbean. The last

Monday

Steerpike

Chris Williamson on the joys of Venezuela

Venezuela is a country in crisis: inflation hit one million per cent last year and GDP has plummeted by half since 2013. Those who dare stand up to president Nicolás Maduro risk finding themselves locked up – or worse. Many have opted to leave: three million migrants and refugees have fled the country in the last few years. But ever the optimist about the joys of socialism, Labour MP Chris Williamson has managed to find some good news about Venezuela – the country’s social housing programme is ‘on track’: The Corbynista MP shared a link to a news story on a website called Venezuela analysis. But while the site promises

Sunday

A.D. Baley

Socialism isn't to blame for all of Venezuela's woes

Contrary to the impression given by Jason Mitchell, Venezuela does not have a socialist economy (‘Maduro’s madness’). It has a ‘mixed’ economy (and therein lies some of its problems; such as food hoarding by private companies hostile to the regime). The private sector is large, and involved in numerous sectors within the economy; food distribution, pharmaceuticals and so on. The US sanctions against Venezuela have always been about regime change, and these sanctions amount to a blockade of the country. US and European banks have refused to handle Venezuelan payments for medical supplies, and pharmaceutical companies have refused to issue export certificates for cancer drugs — therefore stopping them being imported

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 30 August 2018

Venezuelan sanctions Sir: Contrary to the impression given by Jason Mitchell, Venezuela does not have a socialist economy (‘Maduro’s madness’, 25 August). It has a ‘mixed’ economy (and therein lies some of its problems; such as food hoarding by private companies hostile to the regime). The private sector is large, and involved in numerous sectors within the economy; food distribution, pharmaceuticals and so on. The US sanctions against Venezuela have always been about regime change, and these sanctions amount to a blockade of the country. US and European banks have refused to handle Venezuelan payments for medical supplies, and pharmaceutical companies have refused to issue export certificates for cancer drugs —

The Spectator

The facts about the Venezuelan economy

Contrary to the impression given by Jason Mitchell, Venezuela does not have a socialist economy (‘Maduro’s madness’, 25 August). It has a ‘mixed’ economy (and therein lies some of its problems; such as food hoarding by private companies hostile to the regime). The private sector is large, and involved in numerous sectors within the economy; food distribution, pharmaceuticals and so on. The US sanctions against Venezuela have always been about regime change, and these sanctions amount to a blockade of the country. US and European banks have refused to handle Venezuelan payments for medical supplies, and pharmaceutical companies have refused to issue export certificates for cancer drugs — therefore stopping

Tuesday

Ross Clark

Hugo Chavez is as much to blame for Venezuela's woes as Nicolas Maduro

Hugo Chavez’s apologists are at it again. Venezuela’s little local economic difficulties are nothing to do with him, you’ll understand. It’s his successor, Nicolas Maduro who’s to blame. Chavez was a good guy, who lifted people out of poverty and made a more equal country. Jeremy Corbyn is right to hold him up as a hero. Nowhere was this narrative spun more strongly than on yesterday’s Today programme. In an item which sounded as if it might have been edited by Corbyn central command, we were told that Hugo Chavez used his country’s oil wealth to ‘reduce inequality and improve the lives of the poorest citizens’. Chavez’s former oil minister

Thursday

Jason Mitchell

Maduro’s madness

Imagine if Theresa May suddenly announced that her government was going to devalue the pound by 96 per cent; increase the minimum wage by 6,000 per cent; pay the wage increases for millions of businesses for three months; tie the pound to a mythical cryptocurrency; prepared for petrol rationing; and impose a 0.7 per cent tax on big financial transactions. It would be seen either as an act of lunacy, of a collapsing country — or both. For the long-suffering people of Venezuela, it’s just the latest stage of their country’s grand socialist experiment. President Nicolás Maduro has just issued a new currency, called ‘sovereign bolivars’. The original idea was

Wednesday

Steerpike

Michael Gove takes a swipe at CCHQ Venezuela attack lines

Although the local elections saw the Conservatives do better than expected, there is a sense that the Tories are not out of the woods yet when it comes to defeating Jeremy Corbyn at the next election. In that vein, last night the Centre for Policy Studies’ ‘New Blue: Ideas for a New Generation’ launch, with Ben Bradley and Michael Gove. The Defra Secretary gave the keynote speech and used it to say it wasn’t enough for his party to bang on about Venezuela and then expect the problem of socialism to go away: ‘Simply to rely on a few tired arguments about what has happened in Venezuela, heart rending though the

Thursday

Jason Mitchell

Inside out

‘I murder people!’ says Elanger matter-of-factly in response to my question about what he does for a living. From the comfort of my home in the UK, I have managed to get in touch, through contacts of contacts on Facebook, with someone serving 19 years in prison for double murder in Venezuela. The country has some of the most notorious jails in the world. Inside one of them, Elanger has got hold of a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo. Between 2010 and 2014, I lived in a student city called Mérida in the Venezuelan Andes. It is a beautiful old colonial town and was a fun place, full of bars and

Wednesday

Nick Cohen

'Fake news': the far left's favourite new excuse

Admirers of violence and lies must go carefully. As true cowards they must leave themselves an escape hatch in case they are forced to retreat. They never quite commit to the suppression of rights, the rigged elections, the secret policemen and the torture chambers. Instead they tell us we are not hearing the full story, and switch the argument. The real problem is not the oppressive state and its suffering citizens, they say. The problem is the fake media. Not media faked by government propagandists and controlled by censors, not countries where every TV station and mass circulation newspaper must follow the party line, but the free media in their

Tuesday

Steerpike

Chris Williamson blasts fellow Labour MPs over Venezuela

Venezuela’s crisis shows no sign of stopping: protesters have been gunned down, opposition leaders rounded up – and the country recently unveiled a plan to combat food shortages by telling people to eat their rabbits. The country’s situation ‘ain’t perfect’, admits Labour’s Chris Williamson. In an interview with the Morning Star – where else? – the Corbyn ally is still keen to look on the bright side though: ‘I accept that Venezuela has its problems still…But look at where they’ve come from and where they’ve got to’ Admittedly, Williamson is angry at the ongoing situation. But instead of directing his fury at the country’s leadership, he turns it elsewhere: towards

Steerpike

Corbynista MP: Media bias is the real story in Venezuela

Despite admitting in an interview in this morning’s edition of the Morning Star that he was ‘no bloody expert on Venezuela’, Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for Derby North, made it quite clear this afternoon who he believes is to blame for the socialist country’s problems – and it most certainly isn’t Maduro’s socialist government. Speaking at a Solidarity with Venezuela fringe event at Labour conference, Williamson described how the country – a place where women now exchange sex for nappies for their babies and where the capital city is the most murderous city on earth – was undoubtedly witnessing ‘difficult and tough times’ and that ‘mistakes had been made’.

Thursday

Toby Young

The mystery of socialism’s enduring appeal

One of the mysteries of our age is why socialism continues to appeal to so many people. Whether in the Soviet Union, China, Eastern Europe, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia or Venezuela, it has resulted in the suppression of free speech, the imprisonment of political dissidents and, more often than not, state-sanctioned mass murder. Socialist economics nearly always produce widespread starvation, something we were reminded of last week when the President of Venezuela urged people not to be squeamish about eating their rabbits. That perfectly captures the trajectory of nearly every socialist experiment: it begins with the dream of a more equal society and ends with people eating their pets.

Friday

Nick Cohen

What are Corbyn’s Venezuelan critics actually doing to help?

The victims of foreign dictatorships have become chips in our political games. In our corner of the rich world, for instance, the suffering of Venezuela matters only because Jeremy’s Corbyn’s enemies can use it to attack his support for the Chavist regime when it was unchallengeable, and his cowardly equivocation when the inevitable catastrophe followed. Saudi Arabia matters only because leftists can use it to damn the British establishment’s bootlicking support for the House of Saud and its suppression of democratic, women’s and minority rights. Yet the smallest concern of the Venezuelans is the praise the western far left lavished on their corrupt and massively incompetent dictators. I don’t mean

Sunday

The Spectator

Jeremy Corbyn still cannot bear to condemn his fallen idols in Venezuela

Jeremy Corbyn finally broke his silence on Venezuela this week, but in the manner of a man who has his head buried in a very large bucket of sand. He condemned violence ‘on both sides’, painting the country’s problems as a battle between factions rather than a case of a repressive government snuffing out popular protests. No one would know from the Labour leader’s words that President Maduro’s regime is engaged in what the UN Human Rights Office described this week as a ‘widespread and systematic use of excessive force’. More revealing still was Corbyn’s reply when prodded on the economic and social conditions which led to the protests. The