David Smilde, curator of the blog, is a WOLA Senior Fellow and the Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations at Tulane University. He has lived in or worked on Venezuela since 1992. Professor Smilde has researched Venezuela for the past twenty years. He has taught at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the Universidad Católica Ándres Bello. From 2010-2012 he was the Chair of the Venezuelan Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association. He is currently working on a book manuscript called Venezuela’s Transition to Socialism: Politics and Human Rights under Chávez, 2008-2012. He is co-editor of Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics and Culture under Chávez (Duke 2011).
The Latin American Advisor has a Q&A on the new negotiation effort happening between the Maduro government and a minority segment of the opposition. Comments are provided by Gustavo Roosen, Beatriz Rangel, Steve Ellner, Peter DeShazo and myself. The question …
In the span of twenty-four hours, Venezuela’s political conflict went from a configuration in which the opposition was dedicated to a negotiation that the Maduro government rejected, to one in which the Maduro government was dedicated to a negotiation that …
We had an excellent discussion last week, co-organized by WOLA and the Wilson Center, with leading members of Venezuelan civil society. Luz Mely Reyes of Efecto Cocuyo, recipient of WOLA’s 2019 Human Rights Award was joined by Feliciano Reyna of …
It was a week of setbacks and recovery for those who see a credible threat of a military force as the key to pushing for a transition in Venezuela.
On the one hand, the departure of U.S. National Security Advisor …
The situation is significant insofar as the leading argument marshaled by those pushing for military intervention to dislodge Maduro is that his government is a threat to regional security.
Forty regional human rights groups, members of the “Working Group on Venezuelan Human Mobility,” published a statement criticizing Ecuador’s measure suggesting it does not take into account the difficulties Venezuelans face in obtaining official documents. The statement suggests Ecuador’s new law points to a regional problem.
Closed door conversations in multiple spaces and with multiple logics—sometimes mutually-reinforcing, sometimes at cross-purposes—are taking place among the main actors in the Venezuela conflict, national and international.
The Norwegian government sent diplomats to Caracas last week, in order to get …
The United States’ significant ramping up of sanctions last week had the predictable effect of undermining the negotiations taking place in Barbados and mediated by Norway. Nicolás Maduro suspended his government’s participation, saying they could not negotiate in the face …
The new sanctions and the theatrics surrounding their announcement amount to a reassertion of the U.S. role in the Venezuelan conflict.
DS: In your several pieces on U.S. sanctions including one published on this blog ten months ago you outline how the August 2017 sanctions affected oil production. Could you briefly summarize the mechanism through which they reduced oil production?
FR: …
