I have a few good articles & videos that give you a nuanced perspective on what is going on in Venezuela that I have found useful. This is not at all an exhaustive list but it’s good if you want an general idea. All of these are various sources in order to avoid any accusations of “bias.”
Videos
Venezuela’s Economic Crisis P1
A panel of guests discuss Venezuela’s economic crisis including George Ciccariello-Maher, one of foremost scholars on the Bolivarian Revolution
Who is to blame for Venezuela’s economic crisis?
The former chief of staff to President Maduro & former Minister of Planning to the Venezuelan government in the early 90s discuss the Venuezuelan economy.
The Venezuelan Crisis Exposed
An economist for the Center of Policy & Economic Research discusses what is responsible for the current economic crisis.
Media Review - Venezuela
A reporter for TeleSUR English discusses how the Western media’s coverage of the Venezuelan crisis almost always demonizes the Venezuelan government & spreads right-wing propaganda from the opposition.
Articles
Chavez as Castro? It’s not that simple in Venezuela
How Severe Is Venezuela’s Crisis?
Rex Tillerson [Secretary of State] Already Talking Regime Change in Venezuela
Behind The Food Lines in Venezuela
As far as Venezuela, most of their problems are capitalist in nature, and socialism has very little to do with it as over 71% of their economy is privatized.
To some degree, Venezuela’s government contributed a factor to it’s crisis. There’s no denying this. They were too highly dependent on oil, they botched the currency crisis, and they failed to eliminate systematic corruption(generally because of protecting themselves from the opposition). Instead of ending or easing the crisis, it’s various actions and inaction worsened it. (Although the oil strike perpetrated in 2003 by the opposition led to the development of currency controls.) But the government hasn’t operated in a vacuum as dishonest neoliberals like to suggest. Opposition forces have been pushing for regime change and promoting hostile, internal climate and has openly refused to recognize Maduro’s legitimacy as the democratically elected President, accusing him of electoral fraud despite there being no evidence to back up those accusations.
http://cepr.net/documents/publications/venezuela-election-audit-05-2013.pdf
These opposition forces had held various violent and deadly uprising, assaulting state-ran health clinics leaving multiple people dead and have called for military intervention and been accused of conspiring under foreign direction (namely the US) and has had a damaging effect on the economy.
https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/8652
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Venezuela-Pro-Govt-Supporters-Being-Killed-in-Record-Numbers-20160530-0006.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36318553 These accusations have proven true as the United States have cheered on and funded opposition forces and placed sanctions on the country and discouraged investors and banks to not do business with it, preventing the country from getting much needed foreign aid.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/venezuela-protests-us-support-regime-change-mistake
https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10736
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/opinion/a-failing-relationship-with-venezuela.html An honest account of Venezuela’s crisis much include both these factors, otherwise it perpetrates all or nothing narratives that blame either socialism or foreign intervention. Hyperinflation, multiple years of negative economic growth, drops in imports and exports, scarcity and mismanagement of resources and commodities by the opposition, dependency on oil(putting all eggs in one basket), and years of systematic corruption both in the private and public sectors(Chavistas) with one incident resulting in massive leakage of public revenue in 2012 referred to as the Venezuelan currency scandal all contribute to the Venezuelan economic crisis and lost of billions in revenue. But the socialist red herring that neoliberals like to claim ignores a lot of factors. https://www.aporrea.org/medios/n285105.html
The perspective that blames socialism for the scarcities of basic commodities passes over the real concrete factors that are at play. Major causes include the plunge in international oil prices and the well-documented “economic war” consisting of politically induced disinvestment on the part of the private sector.
Venezuela was not a dictatorship, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) was confirmed in 12 out of the last 15 major elections since 1998. Although is has moved away from free-market capitalism, its economy is hardly socialist. The private sector owns and controls over 70% of the economy. Between 1999 and today, the private sector’s share of economic activity increased from 65% to 71%. If socialism is a system in which workers and communities (rather than bureaucrats, politicians, and well-connected entrepreneurs) exercise effective democratic control over economic and political decision-making, it would appear that Venezuela is suffering not from too much socialism, but from too little.
https://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/a165136.html
Another factor is a bit more complicated. It involves the disparity between government-regulated prices and black market prices for goods (including foreign currency). The system (DiPro/DiCom) of regulated prices is often an effective measure favoring popular sectors. But when black market prices/rates are higher than those of official prices for high-demand commodities, as has been the case in Venezuela since late 2012, corruption and contraband become commonplace. It has created immense incentives for corruption among companies and state/military officials who are provided dollars by the government at the lower official rate. These companies and officials often trade these dollars on the black market in order to make obscene profits. The diversion of dollars away from imports and into illegal black-market trading has contributed to severe scarcities as well as the marked drop in imports.The production by legitimate businesses has declined because of their lack of access to dollars and needed inputs. And all of this contributes to the inflationary-devaluation spiral occurring in Venezuela, in which inflation goes up and up, even as the effective value of the bolivar plummets. Since 2012 alone, companies defrauded the government of $20 billion USD by purchasing cheap dollars for phony or overpriced imports from the Central Bank. They were than able to reap huge profits by selling it as currency on the black market. (Although it was initially established to prevent capital flight in the wake of the economically devastating 2002-2003 oil lockout, and amid intense political polarization.) Part of the reason why Maduro hasn’t ended this corruption is because it keeps the military generals happy as opposition and foreign intervention have repeatedly called for a Coup against his administration, which is also why he hasn’t devalued the currency. (Bourgeoisie and foreign intervention attempting to seize and sabotage the government/economy are literally the biggest factors to the Venezuelan crisis. It’s like shooting up a neighborhood and then demonizing the people inside for barring up their windows, locking the doors, conspiring with their neighbors and defending themselves.)
Opposition leaders are dishonest not to blame their allies for this type of fraudulent activity. Instead, they point the finger exclusively at the government and socialism. This discourse that equates socialism with corruption ignores a few important facts. The most blatant corruption scandals in Latin America over the last century occurred during the neoliberal governments of the 1990s: Fernando Collor de Mello (Brazil), Carlos Salinas (Mexico), Carlos Menem (Argentina), Alberto Fujimori (Peru), and Carlos Andrés Pérez (Venezuela). It’s no coincidence that corruption proliferated under the watch of neoliberals. Deregulation, free trade, and laissez-faire policies in general open the doors for unethical dealings. (the inherent failures of human nature and greed will never regulate itself) In the case of the Venezuelan Currency Scandal, the fraud was perpetrated by multinational corporations that had subsidies in the nation and would have happened had the US monitored shady operations in the states where the money was eventually deposited and invested. In this case, culprits from the right and left were responsible. These opposition forces have waged an economic war against the country and conspired with US intervention that draws parallels to the crisis that confronted Chile in the early 1970s due to Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s efforts to bring down socialist Salvador Allende. Private entities have deliberately manufactured scarcities as to draw up support against the government and have been engaging in such tactics since 2002, with the oil strike generally in months prior to elections and another such case in 2007.
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9090 Often time shortages on goods would happen before elections only to magically reappear afterwards.
https://youthandeldersja.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/venezuelas-economic-war-tons-of-food-found-buried-underground/
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Basic-Goods-Suspiciously-Begin-to-Appear-in-Venezuela-Stores–20151214-0018.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-idUSKCN0ID00A20141024 The sanctions placed on Venezuela by the United States after claiming it was a threat further contributed to the sabotage and economic war on the country. Ironically, the opposition party decried the use of the term ‘threat’ as such language discouraged investments which cut into their profits. The US Treasury urged banks and investors not to make loans to Venezuala under Maduro in a time when the country needed economic relief. Venezuela’s have been victimized by this deliberate and highly documented sabotage by US intervention and the economic and psychological toil waged by opposition leaders and the bourgeoisie of the country. It has costed the country millions of dollars and needlessly sacrificed innocent lives and it’s led to the authoritarian state Venezuela is currently in as a response to the deliberate sabotage and economic seize against the country. Although this doesn’t excuse the endless corruption that has existed in the government for decades, but that doesn’t excuse the corruption of neoliberalism as well either.
http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/330.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/venezuela-economic-crisis-explainer_us_57507abde4b0eb20fa0d2c54 And as I said previously, Venezuela’s crisis is largely due to it’s capitalist reliance on oil. The high price clouded the dangers of Venezuela’s extreme dependence on oil, which accounts for 96 percent of the country’s export earnings and more than half the government’s revenue. Between June 2014 and January 2016, the price fell by more than two-thirds, from over $100/barrel to under $30/barrel. The government’s significant economic mismanagement in recent years should not be misconstrued as evidence that the government mismanaged the economy throughout its seventeen and a half years in office. Under Chavez, economic growth averaged at 3.2%. Growth averaged 4.1 percent a year from 2004 on, after Chávez took control of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, in the wake of an opposition-led oil lockout that severely damaged the economy. So yeah, socialism had very little to do with Venezuela’s crisis.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/20/venezuelas-opposition-attacking-its-own-people/
That’s funny, cause every country with a capitalist leaning economy has grocery stores with fully stocked shelves.
Venezuela is full blown socialism, politically and economically. Their problem is that they don’t have access to any kinda free market, they literally are the animals they had for display and education out of starvation.
Socialism just doesn’t work, look at Greece.
China is now a world superpower because of a change towards capitalism.
When was the last time you heard about any economic problems in the most capitalist country there is?
If you think it’s the United States, don’t even respond.
Venezuela is full blown socialism, politically and economically.
As far as Venezuela, most of their problems are capitalist in nature, and socialism has very little to do with it as over 71% of their economy is privatized.
Reading comprehension, how does it work? “BUT DA FACTS IS NOT BE CONFORM TO MAH NARRATIVE!!!111!1!!”
Posting memes don’t help your argument, it just helps prove my point that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You cant blame the prosperity of other nations because a few nations are failing.
If socialism is so great and works just fine, it should be able to work in a world with or without capitalism.
You’re like a petty child blaming others for your own mistakes and misfortune.
If socialism can work, then there’s no excuse for it not working.
Trillions have died as a result of communism and socialism.
Capitalism puts food on the shelves and dinner tables, socialism steals from those who earn to provide for those that dont.
You cant justify stealing from people no matter what it is, the ends do not justify the means if even one innocent person has to be hurt or killed.
If your ideas require violence then you are shit and so are your ideas.
You cant top voluntary exchanges, you just can’t.
Sorry but this is GOLD. “You cant blame the prosperity of other nations because a few nations are failing.” This is akin to saying that one person’s affluence is not dependent on another’s poverty, which is something I promise this gem would spit out.
“If socialism is so great and works just fine, it should be able to work in a world with or without capitalism.“ If one ideology is incapable of toppling another through borders, then what the hell did the US fight communism so hard for?
“Trillions have died as a result of communism and socialism.” Well that’s just a lie, and fucking stupid.
“Capitalism puts food on the shelves and dinner tables, socialism steals from those who earn to provide for those that dont.“ This is the welfare queen myth at work.
“If your ideas require violence then you are shit and so are your ideas.“ This is my favorite. The shining beacon of capitalism, the US, is the greatest purveyor of violence in the name of economic ideology in the history of the world. The idea that someone can even make this statement shows they have zero concept of international politics, history or economics. Go read Shock Doctrine. It’s a good starting place for this.
