Some interesting contextualising information from Daniel Di Martino, who is a Venezuelan‑born economist, writer, and activist:
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A useful perspective, apparently recorded before Mr Maduro encounter with US Federal law enforcement, aided by the military power of the United States.
However, Mr Maduro has a couple of rays of hope, his nephews were pardoned by the Biden Administration and released, and he can always hope for a New York jury to be, well, a New York jury.
So to keep his spirits up, I am working on a carol for Mr Maduro, it doesn’t scan quite yet, so far I’ve got: ‘On the Tenth Day of Christmas, the Trumpster gave to me, A trip to a Federal Penitentiary.‘.
Yes Mr Ed – I believe the sheer perversity of Big City juries (not just New York – and not just in the United States) is not yet fully grasped, the “education” (indoctrination) system, and the “mainstream” media (including the entertainment media) has horribly corrupted a vast number of people.
As for the socialist regime in Venezuela – it is not its corruption that was the problem (although corrupt it was and is), after all “Boss Tweed” and others of Tammany Hall were very corrupt, but New York City prospered. The problem with socialist regimes is – their socialism.
Someone could be a saint, and if they practiced socialism, price control and so on, the society would still decline and decline – till it collapsed into horror.
That millions of people, MILLIONS, of people were driven from Venezuela is ignored by the left – and also, tragically, by some of our libertarian brothers and sisters.
I am old enough to remember when Venezuela was famous for prosperity, not food shortages, for television contest beauty queens, not refugee prostitutes.
Me too: In the early 1980s, in Portugal at a bureau de change I saw quoted the Venezuelan Bolivar (of that time), it was the third currency from the Americas quoted (after USD and Canadian dollar), because so many Portuguese went to Venezuela (before Portugal was in the EEC) to work as guest workers. Even in the late 1990s, I met Portuguese who had learned Spanish in Venezuela, despite living 20 miles from the Spanish border.
I believe that Triggernometry host Francis Foster has a Venezuelan mother, spent a significant part of his childhood in Venezuela, and speaks fluent Spanish. This may be why the Triggernometry podcast has had consistently-good coverage of the true situation in Venezuela, dating to well-before the current sutuation.
llater,
llamas
Paul,
You make an excellent point which bears repeating. If the government is corrupt but leaves the people alone, both may prosper.
Remember kids, collectivism kills!
Mr Ed – yes indeed I remember you saying this.
Roue le Jour – yes if politicians are corrupt and steal money for themselves this is bad, but if they steal money for other people (“Social Justice”) it is vastly worse – as they will, by necessity, have to steal far more money to give to “the masses” than they would have to steal to just have a luxury life style for themselves and their family.
A society can bear a few corrupt people – but not a vast number of people (“the masses”) living by plunder – benefits and public services.
The largest Latin America nation, Brazil, has become such a society – and this will end badly.
And already this morning, the analysis is that the overall effect of tossing Maduro into a NYC jail cell will be to depress world oil prices by as much as $10-$15 a barrel.
Taking that much out of Putin’s pocket, on top of the discount he already has to absorb to sell Russian oil into world markets. So the effect is/will/should be to further compromise his ability to continue the war in Ukraine.
Add to that the serious setback that this apparently imposes on the already-very-fragile regime in Iran . . . .
Could it be that President Trump and his team have actually played a masterful game of 3D chess – three birds with one stone?
Meanwhile, all the usual talking heads are blathering on about how all of this is just so he can get his hands on Venezuelan oil. How it could be that increasing the world’s oil supplies favours a nation (the US) that is a net exporter of oil, is never made quite clear . . . . surely, the way to increase profits is to increase the price, not decrease it?
I haven’t even begun to consider what the effects might be on China . . .
llater,
llamas
Let me tell you how things work in South America, and probably in most of the other countries.
Bribes (corruption) is not an anomaly. It is deeply rooted, it is an universal fact and way of life.
Everybody take bribes, not only the president and his ministers. Every government employee. That includes the police and the army, the local functionaries (province governors, mayors). Everybody. Every business pays bribes.
Bribe rates are very reasonable, according to the service rendered and the ability to pay (size of you business).
Maduro is not’ himself, a drug trafficker. He, of course, takes bribes from the traffickers. He has zero incentive to stop drugs. Drugs are a very important component of national income. Income for growers, processors, traffickers and all government employees, including police and the army. You try to stop it and you get a widespread revolt on your hands.
Nobody has any incentive to stop it. Nobody (in SA) cares about the US (or other countries) drug problems.
Neither can Maduro (or any president) do anything about it even he wanted to (which he most emphatically does not). If he tried to send the army or police to fight drugs – they, said army or police, won’t obey him, as they will not cut their income. And in the remote and hypothetical case that the president really tries to curb drugs, the drug lords will kill the president or or stage a coup to remove him.
Grabbing Maduro by the US will not change the way of life of South America. Nevertheless, it is an act to be celebrated.
Besides – drug trafficking the the least of Maduro’s sins.
Chavez and Maduro nationalized (grabbed) everything. Industry, Banks, Oil, land, everything. Foreign owned or native owned. And promptly destroyed everything. And paid no compensations.
Probably more.
It may be so llamas – and certainly RT (Mr Putin’s English language television station) is rather upset – oh dear, how sad, never mind.
Jacob – yes, and the regime in Venezuela also destroyed small business enterprises, by the simple means of Price Controls – that will destroy anything. As Ludwig Von Mises pointed out in the last section of his book “Socialism” – “Interventionism” (such as price controls – whilst, at the same time, the government produces inflation with its increase of the money supply) is really DESTRUCTIONISM.
Alisa – interesting, and I hope, as the story you point to indicates, that the People’s Republic of China regime is weaker than it seems, for it seems very strong indeed.
According to Mr Tucker Carlson there is something behind the action against Mr Maduro.
A plot by President Trump to impose Gay Marriage on Venezuela – which is supposedly “the most conservative nation in Latin America”.
This is the take on the situation by someone who has millions (millions) of followers.
That it is a plot to impose Gay Marriage – that is what millionaire commentator Mr Carlson proposes.
Well at least Mr Carlson is not blaming the Jews.
Although he most likely will tomorrow.
“Could it be that President Trump and his team have actually played a masterful game of 3D chess – three birds with one stone?”
No.
Had a couple of US helicopters been shot down and Delta Force members been paraded through the streets dead or alive, things would be very different right now.
But nothing quite succeeds like success.
Hey, now how about kidnapping the Kim family with a daring insertion into Pyongyang?
JJM – Pyongyang would be a tougher target. Due to both its defenses – and its geographical position. Geography matters.
And the New Deal loving President of SOUTH Korea is presently in the People’s Republic of China.
The present government in SOUTH Korea is, tragically, not a reliable ally. Although, YES, they are NOT Marxists – and given their geographical position, submission to the People’s Republic of China may, they may believe, be their only option.
The left gained control of most of the education system and media – and now control both the Presidency and Congress in South Korea.
The South Koreans are also, like so many nations, not having children – the fertility rate is well below replacement level.
The International Community continues to push “feminism” for the purpose of undermining traditional families and pushing the fertility rate lower and lower – in most Western countries. I count South Korea, Japan and so on as Western – as this is NOT a racial matter.
What is happening in South Korea is tragic – and it is similar to what the Democrats want to do in the United States – in terms of gaining control of all parts of civil society.
To those who say “this is a matter for the Venezuelan people” – fine, listen to what most Venezuelan people say, not what you want them to say.
And most Venezuelans support what President Trump has done.
A good point from the Wall Street Journal ($): https://www.wsj.com/opinion/international-law-venezuela-nicolas-maduro-united-nations-china-russia-c68f4427?mod=trending_now_opn_3
Liberal internationalism is a moral and political failure if it can’t distinguish between the aggression of Russia and China to swallow neighboring democracies and a U.S. military action to arrest a lawless dictator in league with the world’s worst actors.
I agree, and of course there are precedents for what Trump has done, all the way back to the founding of the Republic. That said, given that this is more than a strictly policing action, I ask what is Congress for if it gets bypassed so routinely?
Sounds a lot like socialism to me:
Donald Trump said the US must ‘nurse’ Venezuela back to health with the help of oil companies and taxpayers might have to help foot the bill.
Trump said it will cost ‘a lot of money’ to rebuild the South American country’s energy infrastructure but thinks the US can do it ahead of that 18 month timeline.
However, he added that the American taxpayers may be on the hook for it, as the oil companies may receive assistance to do so.
Hey, Johnathon, and others- If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?
llamas “all the usual talking heads are blathering on about how all of this is just so he can get his hands on Venezuelan oil. How it could be that increasing the world’s oil supplies favours a nation (the US) that is a net exporter of oil, is never made quite clear ”
Rather than trying to understand the oil markets, I guess the ‘talking heads’ are just quoting what Trump himself said explicitly.
@Johnathan Pearce (London)
I agree, and of course there are precedents for what Trump has done, all the way back to the founding of the Republic. That said, given that this is more than a strictly policing action, I ask what is Congress for if it gets bypassed so routinely?
The US Congress is to all intents and purposes dead. It cannot function with the filibuster rule and an evenly balanced country with the two sides highly belligerent. Now the question we want to ask is: is this a good thing or a bad thing? One the negative side it means that the government can’t get anything done, but on the positive side it means the government can’t get anything done.
Were the filibuster rule to be stripped away the United States would go into a tailspin from which it would never recover the moment the radical left got into power. They would almost immediately pack the USSC, they’d admit PR and DC as states and they’d issue federal voting standards that would make it impossible for non lefties to ever win and ensure the senate stayed leftie for ever. It might feel good for a while, but so does shooting up heroin (or so I have heard.) In the longer term, It’d be a disaster.
The basic problem is that we need government to get things done, but the people in government are the worst people in the world, and only want to do bad things. So we have the choice between a bad, sclerotic, status quo and an even worse, dynamic situation. We can certainly imagine a congress on our side doing good things, but when exactly has that ever happened? Which leaves us with an imperial Presidency, which is also pretty bad, but perhaps slightly better than the alternative, perhaps with courts to retrain him.
Johnathan Pearce.
Congress can, by a two thirds majority of House and Senate, can overrule anything a President does – anything. Indeed, as I can understand it, they could lock him up (on vague charges) or even execute the President – if they got that two thirds in the Senate.
But that is indeed a tall order.
Fraser Orr – you are a mature and intelligent man.
Yet you write as if you do not know that the Democrats would get rid of the “filibuster” rule in a New-York-Minute if they gain the majority.
The filibuster rule is going to go Fraser Orr – you can not have a rule that says that 60 Senators have to agree to get just about anything done, or undone – that-is-insane.
How are you going to reform health care with a demand for 60 votes in the Senate? It is impossible.
And how are you going to get HONEST ELECTIONS with the 60 vote rule.
The Democrats are not going to vote for an end to electronic voting machines, or proof of citizenship before voting, or an end to mass-mail-in-ballots.
So either the filibuster rule goes NOW and real reform is done – or the filibuster rule goes when the Democrats get the majority, which they will if no real reforms are passed.
Health care needs to be reformed, government spending needs to be reduced, honest elections need to be ensured.
None of this can be done with the filibuster rule in place – it must go.
Who should be believe about Venezuela – the majority of the Venezuelan people, or a strange coalition of the “far right” and the “far left” in the United States?
The “hands of Venezuela” crowd are working for organisations such as “The People’s Forum” which is funded by an American Marxist multi millionaire (whose wife created “Code Pink”) and who is a servant of the People’s Republic of China.
My prediction? Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson (and the rest of the National Socialist “far right”) will soon be singing the praises of the People’s Republic of China.
Will will be told it is “the most conservative country in Asia”, just as (according to them) Venezuela is “the most conservative country in Latin America”.