"If measured on the U.S. political spectrum, he’d be 'left of center.'"
July 29, 2015 12:12 PM Subscribe
"Handsome Kennedy School-Trained Neoliberal Wunderkind Inexplicably Still Unpopular in Latin American Country: A Foreign Policy Exclusive Investigation"
(to be fair it's generally a reasonable enough article, but the weight given to shocked, shocked handwringing at Venezuelan left-populism from wealthy technocrats, and the zero, count 'em, zero mentions of "neoliberalism" do grate a bit)
posted by RogerB at 2:26 PM on July 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
(to be fair it's generally a reasonable enough article, but the weight given to shocked, shocked handwringing at Venezuelan left-populism from wealthy technocrats, and the zero, count 'em, zero mentions of "neoliberalism" do grate a bit)
posted by RogerB at 2:26 PM on July 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
Also relevant (and timely!): Greg Grandin's Leopoldo López is Not Venezuela's Savior.
Venezuela is complicated enough that the only thing I know is to not believe any simple narrative of what's happening. They tend to reflect the politics of the US (if in English) or the economic aspirations of The Economist rather than being connected to in-country politics.
Also, remember when the NY Times kept calling Chávez a dictator and used that to legitimate an anti-democratic coup by white elites? Good times.
posted by migrantology at 5:56 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Venezuela is complicated enough that the only thing I know is to not believe any simple narrative of what's happening. They tend to reflect the politics of the US (if in English) or the economic aspirations of The Economist rather than being connected to in-country politics.
Also, remember when the NY Times kept calling Chávez a dictator and used that to legitimate an anti-democratic coup by white elites? Good times.
posted by migrantology at 5:56 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
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The Maduro government, to the best of my knowledge, is barely able to acknowledge the massive economic problems facing Venezuela, and, when it does, simply blames American imperialism.
The problem here is that "Blame AmeriKKKa" is not actually a strategy: even if the blame is accurate, it does nothing to alleviate the problem. Maduro is demanding the Venezuelan people endure massive hardship with no real plan to alleviate the hardship. It's a kind of "Cuban model" of Public Relations: Things will always be terrible, Comrade. Blame America. On the plus side, beet rations have been increased by 25%.
That can't last in a democracy.
posted by Avenger at 1:46 PM on July 29, 2015