About this podcast
The Guacamaya is a podcast about Venezuela—its history, politics, and the forces that shaped the country we know today. From dictators and coups to oil, democracy, and the rise of Hugo Chávez, each episode goes beyond the headlines to explain how Venezuela got here... and where it may be going next.
Episodes
- María Corina Machado · 24 min · Episode 30Episode 28 | Who is María Corina Machado? Hugo Chávez once dismissed her as a fly beneath an eagle. Twelve years later, María Corina united a country that had almost lost hope…
- One Country, Two Presidents · 23 min · Episode 29Episode 27 | How did Venezuela end up with two presidents in 2019? In this episode we look at the strategy led by Juan Guaidó, the attempt to bring humanitarian aid into the…
- The Maduro Diet · 23 min · Episode 28Episode 26 | As Venezuelans searched for food in the garbage, Nicolás Maduro enjoyed a luxury steak dinner abroad. After crushing the protests of 2017, his regime tightened its…
- Why Maduro Survived · 17 min · Episode 27Episode 25 | Why did Nicolás Maduro survive Venezuela’s economic collapse and the mass protests of 2017? In this episode, we examine the two strategies that kept him in power…
- Killing Venezuelans · 19 min · Episode 26Episode 24 | How far would Nicolás Maduro go to stay in power? In 2017, Venezuelans filled the streets demanding democracy, food, medicine, and a future in their own country. For…
- Losing the National Assembly · 20 min · Episode 25Episode 23 | What happens when a dictatorship loses an election? In December 2015, Venezuela’s opposition won a sweeping majority in the National Assembly. Millions celebrated…
- No Exit · 23 min · Episode 24Episode 22 | Why did Venezuela’s 2014 protests fail to force Nicolás Maduro from power? As students filled the streets and opposition leaders rallied behind La Salida, the…
- Things Fall Apart · 23 min · Episode 23Episode 21 | When Nicolás Maduro inherited Venezuela, the country was already dangerously fragile. Then came empty shelves, blackouts, spiraling inflation, rampant violent crime…
- Nicolás Maduro · 21 min · Episode 22Episode 20 | Nicolás Maduro was easy to underestimate. He was mocked as a bus driver, an idiot, and dismissed as a weak successor to Hugo Chávez. But behind the jokes was a far…
- Chavismo without Chávez · 20 min · Episode 21Episode 19 | In March 2013, Venezuela faced a question it had never confronted before: could chavismo survive without Hugo Chávez? In this episode we follow Chávez’s massive…
- Where is the President of Venezuela? · 16 min · Episode 20Episode 18 | For nearly three months, Venezuela's president had disappeared. After Hugo Chávez left for Cuba in December 2012, he missed his own inauguration and left the country…
- The Tragedy of Hugo Chávez · 20 min · Episode 19Episode 17 | In the final episode on Hugo Chávez, The Guacamaya explores the mysticism, charisma and improbable fortune that carried him from a failed coup to the presidency—and…
- Chávez's "Simón Bolívar" · 18 min · Episode 18Episode 16 | What was actually “Bolivarian” about Hugo Chávez’s revolution? This episode examines the Liberator Chávez worshipped, the historical Bolívar hidden beneath…
- The Democratic Dictator · 22 min · Episode 17Episode 15 | How did elections become one of Hugo Chávez's most powerful weapons? This episode traces how Chávez manipulated Venezuela’s electoral system from 1999 to…
- Millionaires of the Revolution · 21 min · Episode 16Episode 14 | How did Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution create a new class of millionaires? This episode explains how CADIVI, Fonden, and Venezuela’s historic oil boom became…
- Special Report: This Tragedy Is Political · 17 min · Episode 15Special Report | More than ten days after back-to-back earthquakes devastated the country, the Venezuelan regime has blocked rescuers, controlled aid, monitored journalists, and…
- Special Report: Earthquakes in Venezuela · 17 min · Episode 14Special Report | On June 24, two massive earthquakes—magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5—struck Venezuela just seconds apart, destroying hundreds of buildings and leaving tens of thousands of…
- ¡Exprópiese! · 24 min · Episode 13Episode 13 | How did Chávez’s expropriations destroy Venezuela’s economy? In this episode, we examine the mass expropriations at the heart of Chávez’s socialist project—from…
- Socialism of the 21st Century · 26 min · Episode 12Episode 12 | What was "Socialism of the 21st Century"? After winning reelection in 2006, Hugo Chávez claimed Venezuela had voted for "socialism." But what did that actually mean?…
- American Empire · 25 min · Episode 11Episode 11 | How did the United States become Hugo Chávez's enemy? After the failed coup of 2002, Chávez transformed a Venezuelan political crisis into something much bigger: a…
- Names on a List · 25 min · Episode 10Episode 10 | What was the Tascón List? In 2004, Hugo Chávez faced a recall referendum that threatened to remove him from power. But as millions of Venezuelans signed to demand a…
- The Final Battle · 28 min · Episode 9Episode 9 | How did Chávez take over Venezuela’s oil industry? After the failed coup of April 2002, Venezuela entered a new phase of confrontation. Chávez purged the military…
- The Coup: From the Ashes · 27 min · Episode 8Episode 8 | How did Hugo Chávez return to power after the 2002 coup? In this episode, we follow the chaotic hours after Chávez was removed from power, the rise of Pedro Carmona’s…
- The Coup: Chávez Falls · 33 min · Episode 7Episode 7 | How was Hugo Chávez removed from power in 2002? On April 11, 2002, more than half a million Venezuelans marched through Caracas toward Miraflores Palace. By…
- Revolution? What Revolution? · 21 min · Episode 6Episode 6 | Was Hugo Chávez always a socialist? Not exactly. When Chávez first came to power, he rejected socialism and communism—but embraced another label: revolutionary. In…
- Supreme Court Suicide · 22 min · Episode 5Episode 5 | Why didn’t the Supreme Court stop Hugo Chávez? In this episode, we trace the moment when Venezuela’s democracy began to unravel—not through tanks or coups, but…
- Dancing with the Devils · 23 min · Episode 4Episode 4 | In 1998, Hugo Chávez was a former coup leader fresh out of prison, polling at just five percent and dismissed by nearly everyone in Venezuela. But within a year, he…
- The Rotten Democracy · 29 min · Episode 3Episode 3 | In this episode, we trace the collapse of the political system that ruled Venezuela after 1958—and how it gave rise to Hugo Chávez. For decades, Venezuela seemed to…
- From Soldiers to Politicians · 24 min · Episode 2Episode 2 | Who built modern Venezuela? In this episode, we go back to the collapse of nineteenth-century Venezuela and the rise of the generals who built the modern state. From…
- What is The Guacamaya? · 6 minEpisode 0 | What happens when a country with the largest oil reserves in the world collapses into dictatorship? Welcome to The Guacamaya—the podcast about Venezuela, power, and…
- The Day Chávez Failed… (For Now) · 19 min · Episode 1Episode 1 | On February 4, 1992, a little-known army officer named Hugo Chávez launched a military coup against the Venezuelan government. By dawn, the coup had failed. But then…
