After taking a few days off, I’ve decided to go on a more permanent hiatus. When I first started this blog in 2014, I had lots of free time to write the daily updates (sometimes up to 3-4 hours per day!). Since I’ve always written the updates by myself, free time is all I really needed. Free time is what I lack the most now. After I started my doctoral degree in 2015, I had less time for the website, but not a whole lot less time. Since my research was on Venezuela, I could justify spending lots of time  (sometimes 2-3 hours a day) combing through Venezuelan news and writing the daily upd ..read more

I’ll be taking a break from the blog over the next few days. I expect to be back at it before the end of the week. Questions/Comments? Email me: invenezuelablog@gmail.com ..read more

The Maduro government announced today that there were 431 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the country since yesterday, bringing the total number to 8,803 since the outbreak began there in March. El Aissami in Isolation with COVID-19 Minister of Oil Tareck El Aissami became the latest PSUV figure to announce that he had tested positive for COVID-19. El Aissami–who once served as vice president to Maduro–is one of the highest ranking members of the ruling party. He made the announcement on his Twitter account: Hoy inicio mi aislamiento con todos los protocolos médicos luego de resultar posi ..read more

PSUV vice president Diosdado Cabello announced this evening that he has tested positive for COVID-19, and that he is currently in isolation. Cabello made the announcement through his Twitter account: Queridos compañeros y compañeras cumplo con informar q luego de realizarme las pruebas correspondientes he resultado positivo en Covid 19, desde ya me encuentro aislado cumpliendo el tratamiento indicado, gracias por sus buenos deseos, con la moral en alto. Nosotros Venceremos!! — Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) July 9, 2020 Dear friends, I am letting you know that after taking the necessary ..read more

Maduro announced today that there were 317 new cases of COVID-19 in the country since yesterday and 4 more deaths, raising the total number of infections to 8,010. Cabello Out with “Strong Allergies” PSUV vice president Diosdado Cabello cancelled his weekly live television show, which was supposed to air tonight, and announced that he was suffering from “a strong allergy” and resting. Cabello hosts a weekly show called Con El Mazo Dando which he uses as a pulpit to attack the party’s political enemies. He announced the cancellation of tonight’s show on Twitter, saying: Queridos compañer ..read more

The Maduro government has struck at the heart of another opposition party, ordering the dissolution of its executive committee and granting itself the power to appoint new leadership at the Voluntad Popular (Popular Will,  VP). The move is the thread such measure in recent weeks from the Maduro government, which is gearing up to hold parliamentary elections in December. The Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (Supreme Tribunal of Justice, TSJ) ruled today that the party’s executive committee was dissolved, and appointed an ad hoc committee to oversee the leadership of th ..read more

A massive power outage is affecting much of the country tonight, according to reports on social media. El Nacional is reporting that at least 17 states are seeing disruptions to their electrical service tonight, including Zulia, Miranda and La Guaira. Netblocks, an organization that monitors internet and power outages, posted the following message tonight: Confirmed: A power outage has knocked out internet connectivity in multiple states of #Venezuela from 8:40 p.m. local time; incident ongoing #6Jul #Bajón #SinLuz pic.twitter.com/DCW2S9jWGQ — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) July 7, 2020 F ..read more

Maduro announced this evening that Venezuela had broken a troubling record after he confirmed that there had been 419 new cases of COVID-19 in the country since yesterday. The number is the highest official single-day increase in Venezuela since the outbreak was first detected in March, and brings the total number of cases in the country to 7,169. The number of deaths from the virus increased by two, and now sits at 64. In a rare move, Maduro conceded that the overwhelming majority of the new cases–332–were the result of community spread. In their daily updates, government officials have taken ..read more

The Maduro government announced today that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country had increased by 213 over the last day, and that three more people had died from the disease. The total number of confirmed cases now sits at 6,750, while the number of deaths has reached 62. El Tiempo: Saab Fears Assassination in Custody Colombia’s El Tiempo reported today that Alex Saab–a Maduro regime insider currently in custody in Cabo Verde over allegations of his involvement in a corruption scandal worth hundreds of millions of dollars–fears that he will be assassinated in custody. Citing a ..read more

The Maduro government has issued arrest warrants for several members of Juan Guaido’s cabinet, including three high-profile representatives abroad. Carlos Vecchio and Vanessa Neumann are included in the list, and they represent the opposition faction in the United States and the United Kingdom. Julio Borges, who plays akin to a Minister of Foreign Affairs for the opposition, also has an arrest warrant against him. All three individuals live outside of Venezuela. The opposition issued a statement through Borges’ office on the arrest warrants, part of which reads: These [arrest warrants] from t ..read more