As a Venezuelan citizen still living in Venezuela, I can say that the only future that we can aspire is to get out of here at any cost, so much of people have fled this country due to the regime that stops us from aspiring for any good life. I wish everyone a good life because I'm not sure I can have one.
@@kinggamerz2838are you dumb? Which country put sanctions on them again? Which country continues to deny them freedom again? And I'm from America goofy read a book
@@kinggamerz2838 How do you propose civilians "fix" their country when the military fully supports the current regime and has no issue putting down any resistance? That'd be like asking North Koreans who've fled to South Korea to go back to their country and "fix" it. It's a lot easier said than done. Not every country is a paragon of democracy like the USA where anyone can get in regardless of how smart (or dumb) they are so long as they have the connections (or the money) to do so. Some countries out there have a system where you are either with the regime, already dead or about to die. In cases like those, the only choice you have as a citizen is to flee. Besides, a few runaway Venezuelans (in this case) isn't the issue with America. The vast majority of Amarica's problems are caused by Americans so perhaps we should start by fixing that issue before casting the blame on immigrants.
As a Venezuelan. This is one of the best analysis I've seen, very accurate and well informes. We don't know if this year election will bring a little change. But to paraphrase a common saying in spanish "Hope is the last thing that can be Lost"
@@SusCalvin just how The mention in the video, recently The opposition has found an agreement backing a presidential candidate. Edmundo González. Elections are in July 28. Our biggest chance is that Gonzalez wins for such a large margin that Maduro can't commit fraud again without putting his National and International position at risk. So far, It appears that Edmundo has overwhelming support from Venezuelans. What happens after July 28? That's anyone's guess
Animal Farm is very specifically a fable of the Soviet Union, including pig Trotsky figting the lazy farmer-tsar. Chavez is more like a charismatic populist who tried a coup, failed and used that to build his personal legend until he could take part in an election. There is no big Ostfront-scale threat to Venezuela that I can think of.
@@42069TV Well, I've read more books than just that, but I have read Animal Farm. It is an essential guide to the mechanics of dictatorship. The cartoon version isn't bad, either!
Living in Venezuela is always a surreal situation. Some people can pay for a $15 can of tuna, while that's others have that as their entire budget for a month. Everything is peaceful enough, yet you still know the cities are dangerous. You try to live a normal life with a looming sensation that at the end everything could collapse any second. Having hope feel worthless, yet people still smile and enjoy life. Only when you retell your stories to people outside the country you realize how strange everything is here. Strange indeed.
I would like to see a series that focuses on dictators, how they differ from each-other and maybe some lesser known autocrats could be included instead of the ones that everybody knows about.
Father Karras: I think it might be helpful if I gave you some background on the different personalities Regan has manifested. So far, I'd say there seem to be three. She's convinced... Father Merrin: There is only one.
As someone from the United States, this really makes me wish Gran Colombia never broke apart. Not only is the Venezuelan government so useless it can't even set aside enough funds to drill for its absurd supply of oil, but as far as Ecuador goes, well they just sort of pulled an Iran with Mexican Embassy (which while it wasn't as drastic still wasn't a good look) and burned so many bridges in doing so. But I guess Panama is doing, ok, so good for them.
@@travian821I heard around 2 million in Colombia alone, which is so destabilizing for any country. We really are a country outside a country, and wish for things to soon improve so our brothers can return home and have the opportunities they were forced to seek elsewhere.
It makes me very nervous when a charismatic populist starts talking about how nice semi-permanent state of emergency would be, and how great things will be if we only concentrate more power.
you know it must be bad when you hear about how many people in Venezuela have relied on the online game 'Runescape' to make money for years by selling the in game currency
@@WhiteIkiryo-yt2it The OPEC has a number of members around the world. Russia is the notable exception. There is a number of much smaller members in the organization too.
Its almost like when a select few are placed in charge of making an entire nations economic Decisions under the guise of the "collective" is not a recipe for a success but what do I know thats not real Socialism.
I don't know what you're doing but keep it up. Your reports have gotten much better lately. Much more in depth with much more context. Actually learn something.
infinite oil wealth has done nothing to fix modern Venezuela's cost of living problems, but i'm sure slightly more Guyanese oil wealth will fix the problem! Even after all the money and blood they will spend if they achieve some sort of "victory"!
Simon, please, set up a Patreon! Your videos are absolute masterpieces, and I (and I`m sure that a big chunk of your audience would agree) would love to be able to support you and your team through something like a Patreon.
We here in Trinidad have been forced to watch and endure this madness. Our porous borders have brought waves of (il)legal migrants. Our healthcare system is groaning under the weight and since Covid esp has seen a bloom of births. Our own overtaxed systems have felt the weight and we are at the mercy of anything that happens politically from there as well. Our crime rate has SOARED from the amount of criminals tha have come overseas and thrassive influx of cheap high powered weapons and drugs that come from this sort of feedback loop. And we cannot do much but kotow to his requirements in ways because we are surrounded on all sides, much less for him to go making friends with Russia now. As a citizen I hate to see this happen. My country is pressed down by the weight of his ineptitude and his people fleeing here alongside our own shortfalls and consequences but it has made things significantly worse.
@@SusCalvin They don't have to produce anything. Any time there's a dictator, unrest, high crime and desperation - drugs and weapons will appear and end up trafficked to and from. I shouldn't have to explain this.
@@evankimori That's what I'm curious about, what path illegal goods takes. The basic logistical hurdles if you like. It's not easy to answer because the actors involved do not publish shareholder reports. You can machine simple firearms in a garage but they don't seem to hold up to industrially manufactured ones. Mexico complained that it's a primary smuggled item from the north. In Europe, one source is war for example. I can't think of any war that did not end with piles of unwatched kit.
As a fellow Trinidadian I think we should be critical of this situation from a wider angle than simply the western lens.. the fundamental truth is the mass exodus of Venezuelans did not begin until the tightening of sanctions in 2015+… I’m not saying things were going well in Venezuela or that the government were righteous, but did the US consider us when they forced sanctions? Did they consider the migrant crisis, the negative effects on our economy ? Why is it that we now have to apply for a license from the USA to engage with our closest neighbor in trade. There’s more to this story than dictators and corruption.. If Maduro wanted to he could have aligned with the USA and been part of the richest ruling class in South America. Why hasn’t he don’t that ? Why are the poor in Venezuela so supportive of chavismo? Us small island nations shouldn’t rely on big empires to interpret the world, we need to see it for ourselves and act accordingly.
@@SusCalvin Due to our world being Globalized it isn't too complicated even for illicit goods to find their way in any country unless that country is an isolated authoritarian dictatorship with a complete iron grip over the country and its citizens
"How could you possibly ruin a leading OPEC country when the world economy depends on oil?" Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela: "You don't know many OPEC countries, do you?"
OPEC has a sort of junior members. Russia is not part, they are sometimes inofficially counted in OPEC+. They, like all nations producing one or two raw materials or cash crops are extremely vulnerable to swings. A small shift in world market prices can cause huge shifts. The Kingdom seems to understand this but has not managed to let go.
The british leading politicians are public school chums from the rhetoric club. If you were not part of the rhetoric club you need a special reason to be part. France has a tradition where leading politicians are all from the same civil service elite schools.
How does a leader having a lack of education and ignorance show that someone is a man of the people? Or is your comment just worded badly and I'm not understanding what you're trying to convey.
As a Colombian and currently under a government threatening us to go the way of Venezuela I deeply grateful that you cover this tragedy, specially for the people on USA and Europa who still think that socialism is grest, no, is not, and yes, Chávez, Maduro and Petro are real socialists.
People in the US clearly want to emulate Nordic countries, which aren’t even socialist. No one wants to emulate shithole basket cases like Venezuela or Colombia.
@Ceeeeee451 Social democracy is the democratic input to socialism that is not hostile to capitalism. Socialism in its most plain form is not democratic and does not work long term both economically and politically for anyone
Nope, they simply masked it with unecesary public spending and free stuff. Now recently they dolarized all into a crony state capitalist model insanely in order to survive but still without admiting their socialist policies failed. The older elites where nlw replaced by a new much worser one.
What do you actually mean by socialism? I ask because actual socialism is communism (nobody owns anything but everybody does). Not just a country with generous benefits. I want to know if you are talking about countries that have generous benefits because besides the US, generally the most successful countries have very good social benefits. The US has fallen behind in virtually every metric except economy and military and if that's the metric you want to use for success then communist China is second place. *China is actually a capitalist dictatorship but whatever*
@@retsaMinnavoiG Venezuela was centred around Hugo Chavez's "Socialism for the 21st Century", which was basically just socialism of every other century. In short, it's extensive government regulation and control, if not outright ownership of 'the means of production', with only small allowances for things like if you wanted to run a corner store. The government there nationalised almost all the industries and created a massive welfare state of redistribution, as well as extensive price controls. The result, as the video points out, is going from the wealthiest to the poorest country in Latin America. Venezuela sits on more crude oil than Saudi Arabia, btw.
I think raw material powers are all vulnerable. It makes me distrust charismatic populists in general, with fuzzy limits on using the army. There is a junior officer out there willing to be your charismatic leader.
@@tacitus6384Saudi Arabia depends on a USN carrier group to come back them up against neighbours. A boycott of the single raw material the Kingdom sells would eff them up. They have never really needed a diverse economy either.
@@SusCalvin Not so much. There is the 'Dutch Disease' in economics, but that can be learned from. People only embrace socialism if they're a) economically illiterate or b) desire power over others.
I'm generally weary of populist, charismatic leaders with fuzzy limits on using the army. The popularity of Chavez then and others of different political colour now. I think there will always be a junior officer ready to do what you want if you just let him enact new emergency measures.
I mean its not really communism, depends on who you ask, but communism is literally classless and stateless, you can hate the guy and his regime without misrepresenting shit.
@@rickstube5299In the late 90s and early 2000s every left winger praised Venezuela as a model for all nations and how Chavez was a fighter for the poor. Now those same leftists say "that's not real socialism".
@@Phyt5 it truly is and history is the proof, not theories or predictions laid by Marx. Anyone thinking that a non hierarchical system could work, be it any ideology is ultimately a fool and childish
I love how well-researched all your content is, but please for the love of god look up how to pronounce the names of the people/places you're talking about
Considering he’s talking about a different part of the world every couple days I think he can be forgiven for not being an expert at pronouncing every countries various linguistic terms exactly as they should be.
Norway is the only functional democracy I can think of with that sort of raw materials export fund. The Norwegian government is limited in how they can tap it. Norway still went from a collection of fishing industries to the wealthiest scand nation.
@@baneofbanes Lots of places has raw materials, a raw material dictatorship typically relies on a single one or a couple with little other development. China is a dictatorship with a bit more diverse manufacturing. Alaska felt more like that region in a country where everyone depends on the mine.
All raw material dictatorships have this weakness. Even a small raw material price shift messes them up and they are pretty easy to embargo. If you put an embargo on Saudi Arabia they would crump as fast. They have all the reasons not to allow a diverse economy.
The defining feature of a raw material dictatorship is a state that relies more or less directly on raw material sales. A lot of them barely rely on taxes.
1 small correction of Dutch Disease, it isn't just that a country becomes almost entirely dependand on a single product, but rather that the product it depends on increases the value of that country's currency to such an extend that its export market becomes uncompetitive and effectively destroying it. While it is great for import, this makes diversifying an economy very difficult as it becomes increasingly difficult to compete with foreign countries who have a weaker currency, making their products cheaper. If you produce high quality goods, you can somewhat get around the consequences of Dutch Disease, but if you don't have a strong, stable and diverse economy before Dutch Disease hits, like the Dutch economy at that time, it will destroy your economy in the long term. What also did not help Venezuela in diversifying their economy and should have been mentioned is that they were crippled by sanction from the USA. The combination of those sanctions with Dutch Disease would have made it nigh impossible for them to build up a competitive export market regardless if they tried or not.
Venezuela before Chavez election: 1. Centralist. 2. Rent seeking elites. 3. Political clientelism. 4. Corrupt and poorly governed. 5. Nationalized oil industry (1970s). 6. Presidentialist. Hugo Chavez had his work cut out for him, it only needed to take the capture of the judicial branch, the Central Bank, the military and the state owned oil industry and all the instruments of power were put under his boot. Venezuela had a very poor constitutional design to begin with and the new constitution was design to depeened centralist presidentialism.
Guyana oil is offshore and run by ExxonMobile and Venezuela barely has a navy. So even if Venezuela conquered the entire country whats the plan for getting the oil if the US just parks a cruiser off the coast?
@@RK-cj4oc You can have a benevolent relation with your sphere of influence, suppress smaller conflicts in it and guarantee your allies and clients. I don't think the people of either country would have a good time if Maduro escalates. I haven't looked up what his stated demands and goals are yet.
I find sanctions a curious argument for tankies to fall back on - they imply that being cut out of global capitalism makes a country poorer, which is true but goes against the whole logic of the communist worldview they're meant to believe in.
Not to froget he made sure to disarm his citizen even further than already harsh limits on it. They say for crime but it was to prevent rebellion and protests. Sound familiar?
Don't misrepresent the reality to fit your narrative. There never was a big amount of armed civilians in the country to begin with, unless you're a part of the military or any other police force. Or, you know, a gang member. Historically, even before both men came to power, regular people didn't have guns.
@@just_a_head-u5s If that's the reality then why would they be worried about it? If the population only had a few hunting shotguns and machetes, then why stress laws otherwise? Unless he wanted to keep power out of the ands of the people.
@@XxLIVRAxX Muh guns are an important part of freedom and liberty to a society. Just like Muh Lazers and Muh muskets will and were. It's complex sure but in the of the day a government should fear a armed population. When we have leaders talking and joking about bombing their citizens to maintain power, why is it so easy to discredit those who worry that historical examples might repeat?
I am a PROUD AMERICAN 🇺🇲💪. But I'm not blind to the fact that the only reason why Venezuela isn't the Dubai of the Americas is that they don't want to bow to the USA.😢😢
I accept this video as a sort of apology/re-assessment of your way-old video on Biographics that was, in my assessment, far too generous and lenient towards Hugo Chavez, once and future slapnuts. What a difference a few years makes. Carry on.
No sure how else to suggest a video subject… so I’ll ask here. Would you (more likely one of your authors) be interested in writing about the Māori Wars in New Zealand?
@@g-ratstickler3107 saying he wants a holocaust against drug dealers and giving out free guns for people to kill drug dealers seems pretty dictatorial to me dawg
It’s incredible to me that Latin American countries continue to choose this path over and over again despite so many lessons. I understand when you have poverty that it’s hard to not ask more from the government. And I understand a Venezuelans didn’t fully get a say. But in democratic countries like Brazil and Argentina, voters are voluntarily choosing to make this mistake repeatedly. I can only assume they’ve failed to notice a pattern - and are blaming issues on individual leaders rather than socialist policies. And you can totally have some more socialist policies work - but they have to be within reason, and they only work once you’re wealthy enough to support it. if they had had any economic stability for the last 30 years - they would easily have GDP per capita that is 2-3x their current figures. They’re not poor or failing countries like VZ. But they are squandering the chance to be rich and extremely successful countries… democratically…repeatedly.
Please say API Gravity. Us folks with ties to the oil industry never say API with the "Gravity". API by itself is the American Petroleum Institute, known for both its technical and political efforts.
Very great analysis. Something many people don’t know or talk about why Venezuela is constantly messing with the Guyana is because that border is MASSIVE for human trafficking.
It reminds me of everything I hate in raw material dictatorships, and how much we all should distrust the next populist with fuzzy boundaries to the armed forces.
This is what happens when dictators are in power, my country was this before I left, it was horrific and absolutely terrible for my family, none of us live there anymore and we'll never go back though now the country is doing great
Venezuela , you do realize you outnumber 1 man and his henchman. Make the sacrifice and get together as a nation and DO WHAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE TO DO.
To all those blaming socialism: South Vietnam was capitalist, and so were the horribly ran and failing regimes of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador etc. Corruption and authoritarianism are the problem.
South Vietnam was run by a paternal autocrat who for some reason decided to ban buddhism. And then by a succession of military leaders. Vietnam today has turned into a state capitalist state closer to South Korea, Japan and China. The USA pretended these state capitalist places followed their ideal of capitalism.
Socialism is at fault tho of course it isn't the full story and other parts are at play of Venezuelas downfall. Socialism is more authoritarian ideology compared to Social Democracy and its destined to transfer more power away from people to the state thus the ruling political elite in the hierarchy to limit free market. Chaves exactly did this be it he in the short term eased living conditions while the oil prices luckily were kind to him and venezuela.
South Korea democratized in the 80's, it was a centrally managed military rule. South Vietnam had an autocrat for president, who was couped out by the USA and replaced by a succession of military leaders. The president was an old french-catholic dynasty bloke who thought it would be good to ban buddhism. Leading to burning monks and stuff. The more I looked, the more places I found in that area who use the same centralized, managed state capitalism. Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, Singapore. Places that might be democratic (China and Vietnam are not, currently) but effectively run like single-party governments. Companies that form a keiretsu. Venezuela sounds more and more like a typical raw material dictatorship to me. The state income depends not on taxation or a developing economy but one or two valuable raw materials. When the world market price dips or enough outside nations put in an embargo, state revenue hurts. Saudi Arabia also runs a raw material dictatorship that does not need its own population.
It seems like Venezuela's political circumstances is just truly mind-boggling. Each successive govt in Venezuela seemed to be ruling like thugs instead of wise-thinking statesmen.
Closest thing to A "Communist" and a "Right Winger" i could interpit would be A national socialist. And i do not mean Neo-nazi as that only consists of white supremacy and racism, not so much of the "socialist" aspect
You should talk about the current Naval situation involving Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Gitmo. 'Drills'. Unless your bosses don't want you to talk about it.
What most analysts miss, it is not that Venezuela started plummeting in 2013 with Maduro, he just kept doing the same as Chavez, but with mith most of the government officials already having full pocketa and nothing to plunder.
"Let's dig deep to build the kind of police force that our fatherland really deserves. We need a revolution of the police force here in Venezuela, and I will carry it out without delay, without excuses." -- Nicolas Maduro
You have no idea how I have been waiting for this to release all day.😂 I have practically been pulling my hair out. Because there's no good content to watch, please. Dear lord and savior simon, give us the good stuff😅
What happened in Venezuela 🇻🇪 as an oil exporter country.. during Cold War years and aftermath , similar economic devastating occurred in the majority of exporter countries in 3rd world countries. those countries remained loyal to US political agendas ....rather than theirs internal difficulties of their people and the absence of democracy....the USA 🇺🇸 was not alleviated a criticized finger towards those countries ?
There’s no reason to think anything would change at the next election when he already lost the previous one. Look how much election results mattered in Belarus. The autocrats are all teaming up lately to support one another.
As a Venezuelan citizen still living in Venezuela, I can say that the only future that we can aspire is to get out of here at any cost, so much of people have fled this country due to the regime that stops us from aspiring for any good life. I wish everyone a good life because I'm not sure I can have one.
Hopefully madura dosent see this 😂
@@kinggamerz2838are you dumb? Which country put sanctions on them again? Which country continues to deny them freedom again? And I'm from America goofy read a book
Why haven't you left too?
@@kinggamerz2838 How do you propose civilians "fix" their country when the military fully supports the current regime and has no issue putting down any resistance? That'd be like asking North Koreans who've fled to South Korea to go back to their country and "fix" it. It's a lot easier said than done. Not every country is a paragon of democracy like the USA where anyone can get in regardless of how smart (or dumb) they are so long as they have the connections (or the money) to do so. Some countries out there have a system where you are either with the regime, already dead or about to die. In cases like those, the only choice you have as a citizen is to flee. Besides, a few runaway Venezuelans (in this case) isn't the issue with America. The vast majority of Amarica's problems are caused by Americans so perhaps we should start by fixing that issue before casting the blame on immigrants.
@@MORE_BEANS_PLZ I hope so
As a Venezuelan. This is one of the best analysis I've seen, very accurate and well informes. We don't know if this year election will bring a little change. But to paraphrase a common saying in spanish "Hope is the last thing that can be Lost"
I pray for your country and its people. You do not deserve these thugs.
What are the alternatives to Maduro at the moment? And how accepted would they be in-country?
There's a similsar saying in Latin:
" _Spes ultima Dea_ "; Hope is the last Goddess.
@@SusCalvin just how The mention in the video, recently The opposition has found an agreement backing a presidential candidate. Edmundo González. Elections are in July 28. Our biggest chance is that Gonzalez wins for such a large margin that Maduro can't commit fraud again without putting his National and International position at risk. So far, It appears that Edmundo has overwhelming support from Venezuelans. What happens after July 28? That's anyone's guess
Mano...
The modern history of Venezuela under Chavez and now Maduro really is like reading Animal Farm chapter by chapter.
Animal Farm is very specifically a fable of the Soviet Union, including pig Trotsky figting the lazy farmer-tsar.
Chavez is more like a charismatic populist who tried a coup, failed and used that to build his personal legend until he could take part in an election. There is no big Ostfront-scale threat to Venezuela that I can think of.
Considering this is the only book you'll ever even read, LMAO
@@42069TV Why would it be the only book I would read?
@@MM22966 heh, bc the only kind of "history books" liberals ever read are by George Orwell LMAO
@@42069TV Well, I've read more books than just that, but I have read Animal Farm. It is an essential guide to the mechanics of dictatorship. The cartoon version isn't bad, either!
I'm Venezuelan, and I must say that this is a very complete video to explain our current situation.
Living in Venezuela is always a surreal situation. Some people can pay for a $15 can of tuna, while that's others have that as their entire budget for a month. Everything is peaceful enough, yet you still know the cities are dangerous. You try to live a normal life with a looming sensation that at the end everything could collapse any second. Having hope feel worthless, yet people still smile and enjoy life. Only when you retell your stories to people outside the country you realize how strange everything is here. Strange indeed.
I'm from Caracas and You?
Hello how much does a notebook cost in caracas?@@miguelangelarango
"Academically mediocre but politically expedient" sounds a lot like the vast majority of folks in politics and/or running businesses.
Maybe politician, but to run a business you need to be really good at math.
@@gracequach6769 Or hire people who actually are and can do that work for you.
@@TheForeignGamer Ngl that still requires good management skills
@@TheForeignGamer You've gotta be pretty good at managing your own finances for a while before you can afford to hire an accountant
@@gracequach6769 You just need a bit of charm and management skills to run a business then you can hire people good at math
I would like to see a series that focuses on dictators, how they differ from each-other and maybe some lesser known autocrats could be included instead of the ones that everybody knows about.
Hopefully the first spotlighted is the position of president of the US. Aka, dictator of the world.
Same
Georgraphics did a video on Equitorial Guinea and its many dictators.
The real dictators podcast does deep dives into a bunch of dictators and autocrats great audio too
Father Karras: I think it might be helpful if I gave you some background on the different personalities Regan has manifested. So far, I'd say there seem to be three. She's convinced...
Father Merrin: There is only one.
1:10 - Chapter 1 - Nicolas Maduro
4:05 - Chapter 2 - Venezuela's problems
8:10 - Chapter 3 - The rise of the chavismo
10:40 - Chapter 4 - 2013, Economic meltdown
13:30 - Chapter 5 - Maduro & the shadow of "Hugo Boss"
19:00 - Chapter 6 - Current situation, what's next for venezuela ?
Diversication is key. Norway also thrived in oil. But they invested the profits wisely. That's a big difference.
Norwegians didn't steal and pillage the state industry to the point of decimation.
Exactly. This isn't simply a dictatorship, it's a NARCO-dictatorship and it works more like a drug cartel than a traditional political party.
I hope Venezuela becomes stable and free with good finances for everyone.
Gracias ❤
As a Colombian i thank You guys for covering this
As someone from the United States, this really makes me wish Gran Colombia never broke apart. Not only is the Venezuelan government so useless it can't even set aside enough funds to drill for its absurd supply of oil, but as far as Ecuador goes, well they just sort of pulled an Iran with Mexican Embassy (which while it wasn't as drastic still wasn't a good look) and burned so many bridges in doing so. But I guess Panama is doing, ok, so good for them.
@@SoldierofGod123 I think OP means "Thank you for informing others about the situation"
@@BurneraccountXD69 you are from the US as you stated, lol. You are truly ignorant. You are not from Venezuela..
@@SoldierofGod123colombia got a big piece of those 8 million migrants
@@travian821I heard around 2 million in Colombia alone, which is so destabilizing for any country. We really are a country outside a country, and wish for things to soon improve so our brothers can return home and have the opportunities they were forced to seek elsewhere.
I really appreciate Profiles like this. I miss Biographics so much! 😢
I am very surprised this episode didn't cover Maduro's efforts to remove the legislature of the country
Usually that's implied with Dictators
It makes me very nervous when a charismatic populist starts talking about how nice semi-permanent state of emergency would be, and how great things will be if we only concentrate more power.
you know it must be bad when you hear about how many people in Venezuela have relied on the online game 'Runescape' to make money for years by selling the in game currency
last time I was this early, venezuela was rich
Such an adult joke ☺️
Venezuela is an OPEC nation. It has been for a while.
@SusCalvin Did you even pay attention to the video?!
@@WhiteIkiryo-yt2it The OPEC has a number of members around the world. Russia is the notable exception. There is a number of much smaller members in the organization too.
A mix of corruption, socialism, and crime: Venezuela’s story isn’t that unique for Latin America.
Its almost like when a select few are placed in charge of making an entire nations economic Decisions under the guise of the "collective" is not a recipe for a success but what do I know thats not real Socialism.
Socialism has nothing to do with it. The USA makes sure things fail whenever their profits are threatened. Maduro is just corrupt and a pos.
A culture of lawlessness is deadly.
The US sanctions always seem to be left out
Claiming you want socialism is just another way of saying "I want MY group of people to be the corrupt ones now!".
Interesting timing sir
Great video Simon 🎉🎉
Have now found channel number 6 of Simon’s….down the rabbit hole we go 😂
This is genuinely the best done channel he hosts
@@Ayem427 I don’t know, have you seen his “The Casual Criminalist” it’s longer Contant, but certainly a great channel
@@shannonsloan7246 agreed casual criminalist & decoding the unknown are his best channels.
I don't know what you're doing but keep it up. Your reports have gotten much better lately. Much more in depth with much more context. Actually learn something.
The magic of AI
The longer you do something, the better you get at it.
infinite oil wealth has done nothing to fix modern Venezuela's cost of living problems, but i'm sure slightly more Guyanese oil wealth will fix the problem! Even after all the money and blood they will spend if they achieve some sort of "victory"!
Simon, please, set up a Patreon! Your videos are absolute masterpieces, and I (and I`m sure that a big chunk of your audience would agree) would love to be able to support you and your team through something like a Patreon.
Maduro - imagine doing such a bad job that the population declines by 8 million in 10 years ?
Putin - hold my beer 😂
He declines other populations by millions.
You mean hold my vodka
Lol Mao does 10 time that number in the great leap forward alone. 8 millions is a small number if you are comparing it another socialist
@@khanhnguyen-tt3ff for real these are rookie numbers compared to mao
@@khanhnguyen-tt3ff you cant compare Venezuela and Russia, Venezuela has a massively lower population so that statistic is proportionally quite high.
As if Maduro could be "losing" the next election 😅.
Its been determined beforehand that he shall win, by himself and so he will 🙈
Yeah, he can tight elections too😂
@@Max-kw2hp Allright, that was slightly embarassing 🙈...
But its fixed now 😅
We here in Trinidad have been forced to watch and endure this madness. Our porous borders have brought waves of (il)legal migrants. Our healthcare system is groaning under the weight and since Covid esp has seen a bloom of births. Our own overtaxed systems have felt the weight and we are at the mercy of anything that happens politically from there as well. Our crime rate has SOARED from the amount of criminals tha have come overseas and thrassive influx of cheap high powered weapons and drugs that come from this sort of feedback loop.
And we cannot do much but kotow to his requirements in ways because we are surrounded on all sides, much less for him to go making friends with Russia now.
As a citizen I hate to see this happen. My country is pressed down by the weight of his ineptitude and his people fleeing here alongside our own shortfalls and consequences but it has made things significantly worse.
From what I understood, South America itself does not produce a lot of weapons.
@@SusCalvin They don't have to produce anything. Any time there's a dictator, unrest, high crime and desperation - drugs and weapons will appear and end up trafficked to and from. I shouldn't have to explain this.
@@evankimori That's what I'm curious about, what path illegal goods takes. The basic logistical hurdles if you like. It's not easy to answer because the actors involved do not publish shareholder reports.
You can machine simple firearms in a garage but they don't seem to hold up to industrially manufactured ones. Mexico complained that it's a primary smuggled item from the north.
In Europe, one source is war for example. I can't think of any war that did not end with piles of unwatched kit.
As a fellow Trinidadian I think we should be critical of this situation from a wider angle than simply the western lens.. the fundamental truth is the mass exodus of Venezuelans did not begin until the tightening of sanctions in 2015+… I’m not saying things were going well in Venezuela or that the government were righteous, but did the US consider us when they forced sanctions? Did they consider the migrant crisis, the negative effects on our economy ? Why is it that we now have to apply for a license from the USA to engage with our closest neighbor in trade. There’s more to this story than dictators and corruption.. If Maduro wanted to he could have aligned with the USA and been part of the richest ruling class in South America. Why hasn’t he don’t that ? Why are the poor in Venezuela so supportive of chavismo? Us small island nations shouldn’t rely on big empires to interpret the world, we need to see it for ourselves and act accordingly.
@@SusCalvin Due to our world being Globalized it isn't too complicated even for illicit goods to find their way in any country unless that country is an isolated authoritarian dictatorship with a complete iron grip over the country and its citizens
Simon, your getting very polished, in your own way 👊👊
Love the brain blaze format too!! Keep up the good work ya legend!!!😘
"How could you possibly ruin a leading OPEC country when the world economy depends on oil?"
Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela: "You don't know many OPEC countries, do you?"
You forgot Libya.
OPEC has a sort of junior members. Russia is not part, they are sometimes inofficially counted in OPEC+.
They, like all nations producing one or two raw materials or cash crops are extremely vulnerable to swings. A small shift in world market prices can cause huge shifts. The Kingdom seems to understand this but has not managed to let go.
@@richdobbs6595 Everybody tries to forget Libya. (Except the Italians)
@@bobstar7299 Yes, it is totally not the people actually doing these things.
Thanks for a great show every time ❤my favorite viewing
This is a warning: don't elect leaders that are ignorant and uneducated, even if you feel that they are "men of the people" because of it.
The british leading politicians are public school chums from the rhetoric club. If you were not part of the rhetoric club you need a special reason to be part.
France has a tradition where leading politicians are all from the same civil service elite schools.
You just described the situation that America has been dealing with for the last 50 years or so
@@MsDragonbal776I think they meant Trump, but are trying to sound wise.
You mean leaders like Stalin?
How does a leader having a lack of education and ignorance show that someone is a man of the people? Or is your comment just worded badly and I'm not understanding what you're trying to convey.
They need to get rid of that guy. He’s an embarrassment to Venezuela.
As a Colombian and currently under a government threatening us to go the way of Venezuela I deeply grateful that you cover this tragedy, specially for the people on USA and Europa who still think that socialism is grest, no, is not, and yes, Chávez, Maduro and Petro are real socialists.
People in the US clearly want to emulate Nordic countries, which aren’t even socialist. No one wants to emulate shithole basket cases like Venezuela or Colombia.
@Ceeeeee451 Social democracy is the democratic input to socialism that is not hostile to capitalism. Socialism in its most plain form is not democratic and does not work long term both economically and politically for anyone
@@pickymapping6098 rubbish just look at China,
I would love a time machine and ask people's POV at each point of the rise and fall of Venezuela.
I’ve met many Venezuelans. The common consensus seems to be that Chavez was well liked but not the smartest, and then Maduro is just a total failure 😭
I mean, they reduced inequality….
Instead of consistently lifting the bottom, they stomped everyone flat, though, right?
@@4362mont yup, that was my point😅
Not really, ironically Venezuela currently is one of the most inequal countries in the region
Nope, they simply masked it with unecesary public spending and free stuff. Now recently they dolarized all into a crony state capitalist model insanely in order to survive but still without admiting their socialist policies failed. The older elites where nlw replaced by a new much worser one.
"Country was one of the most wealthy, but is now one of the poorest."
That's what socialism does.
What do you actually mean by socialism?
I ask because actual socialism is communism (nobody owns anything but everybody does).
Not just a country with generous benefits.
I want to know if you are talking about countries that have generous benefits because besides the US, generally the most successful countries have very good social benefits.
The US has fallen behind in virtually every metric except economy and military and if that's the metric you want to use for success then communist China is second place.
*China is actually a capitalist dictatorship but whatever*
@@retsaMinnavoiG Venezuela was centred around Hugo Chavez's "Socialism for the 21st Century", which was basically just socialism of every other century.
In short, it's extensive government regulation and control, if not outright ownership of 'the means of production', with only small allowances for things like if you wanted to run a corner store. The government there nationalised almost all the industries and created a massive welfare state of redistribution, as well as extensive price controls.
The result, as the video points out, is going from the wealthiest to the poorest country in Latin America. Venezuela sits on more crude oil than Saudi Arabia, btw.
I think raw material powers are all vulnerable.
It makes me distrust charismatic populists in general, with fuzzy limits on using the army. There is a junior officer out there willing to be your charismatic leader.
@@tacitus6384Saudi Arabia depends on a USN carrier group to come back them up against neighbours.
A boycott of the single raw material the Kingdom sells would eff them up. They have never really needed a diverse economy either.
@@SusCalvin Not so much. There is the 'Dutch Disease' in economics, but that can be learned from. People only embrace socialism if they're a) economically illiterate or b) desire power over others.
Here for the "That's not real communism!" nerds.
I'm generally weary of populist, charismatic leaders with fuzzy limits on using the army. The popularity of Chavez then and others of different political colour now. I think there will always be a junior officer ready to do what you want if you just let him enact new emergency measures.
I mean its not really communism, depends on who you ask, but communism is literally classless and stateless, you can hate the guy and his regime without misrepresenting shit.
@@rickstube5299Case in point
@@rickstube5299We got one, boys!
@@rickstube5299In the late 90s and early 2000s every left winger praised Venezuela as a model for all nations and how Chavez was a fighter for the poor. Now those same leftists say "that's not real socialism".
Venezuela is a successful socialist country, everyone is equally poor, except the ones at the top, who are more equal.
That’s not what socialism is
Dictatorships are run like clown shows. Looking at life in any dictatorship should discourage trust in your local populists.
@@Phyt5yes it is.
That's why the country is a shithole.. because of socialism
Left wing policies don't work as you are finding out the hard way
@@Phyt5 it truly is and history is the proof, not theories or predictions laid by Marx. Anyone thinking that a non hierarchical system could work, be it any ideology is ultimately a fool and childish
That isn’t really a successful socialist state then, the best ones were mid at least
I love how well-researched all your content is, but please for the love of god look up how to pronounce the names of the people/places you're talking about
No
yes please
Considering he’s talking about a different part of the world every couple days I think he can be forgiven for not being an expert at pronouncing every countries various linguistic terms exactly as they should be.
@@andrewyoung8550well said
8:16 why is 1992 censored?
thank you for sharing. i like to learn new things about other nations
Love to see more series on Dictators.
Watching this as a Kenyan is insane
How many more examples of human suffering are we going to need before people finally look at communism the same way they look at fascism?
You can't fix stupid 😂
Sorry but the red scare was real, and its in your average college/university being taught to the ignorant young.
$100 billion was stolen over 25 years. That could have made for a nice sovereign wealth fund.
Norway is the only functional democracy I can think of with that sort of raw materials export fund. The Norwegian government is limited in how they can tap it. Norway still went from a collection of fishing industries to the wealthiest scand nation.
@@SusCalvinAlaska has one. But it’s a sun national entity so I guess you can say it really doesn’t count.
@@baneofbanes Lots of places has raw materials, a raw material dictatorship typically relies on a single one or a couple with little other development. China is a dictatorship with a bit more diverse manufacturing.
Alaska felt more like that region in a country where everyone depends on the mine.
This bus driver don't know how to stop. He will probably stop after crashing and taking everyone with him.
Crazy what the funny breadline government can do to a place.
All raw material dictatorships have this weakness. Even a small raw material price shift messes them up and they are pretty easy to embargo.
If you put an embargo on Saudi Arabia they would crump as fast. They have all the reasons not to allow a diverse economy.
We are going down the same path in Mexico 😞
Just a reminder, when Simon mentions Venezulan oil, the country of Venezula owns Citco.
The defining feature of a raw material dictatorship is a state that relies more or less directly on raw material sales. A lot of them barely rely on taxes.
1 small correction of Dutch Disease, it isn't just that a country becomes almost entirely dependand on a single product, but rather that the product it depends on increases the value of that country's currency to such an extend that its export market becomes uncompetitive and effectively destroying it. While it is great for import, this makes diversifying an economy very difficult as it becomes increasingly difficult to compete with foreign countries who have a weaker currency, making their products cheaper. If you produce high quality goods, you can somewhat get around the consequences of Dutch Disease, but if you don't have a strong, stable and diverse economy before Dutch Disease hits, like the Dutch economy at that time, it will destroy your economy in the long term. What also did not help Venezuela in diversifying their economy and should have been mentioned is that they were crippled by sanction from the USA. The combination of those sanctions with Dutch Disease would have made it nigh impossible for them to build up a competitive export market regardless if they tried or not.
I love this channel. (Not a bot).
Venezuela before Chavez election:
1. Centralist.
2. Rent seeking elites.
3. Political clientelism.
4. Corrupt and poorly governed.
5. Nationalized oil industry (1970s).
6. Presidentialist.
Hugo Chavez had his work cut out for him, it only needed to take the capture of the judicial branch, the Central Bank, the military and the state owned oil industry and all the instruments of power were put under his boot.
Venezuela had a very poor constitutional design to begin with and the new constitution was design to depeened centralist presidentialism.
Is The Dictators going to be a series like the Situation room? You've got a lot to work with.
Very interesting
Guyana oil is offshore and run by ExxonMobile and Venezuela barely has a navy. So even if Venezuela conquered the entire country whats the plan for getting the oil if the US just parks a cruiser off the coast?
It would tell the other Latin American nations that the US sphere of interest is still there.
What? Guyana is asking for US support themselves. How is that a sphere of influence.@@SusCalvin
@@RK-cj4oc You can have a benevolent relation with your sphere of influence, suppress smaller conflicts in it and guarantee your allies and clients. I don't think the people of either country would have a good time if Maduro escalates. I haven't looked up what his stated demands and goals are yet.
Comment section will pretend this is because of sanctions.
I find sanctions a curious argument for tankies to fall back on - they imply that being cut out of global capitalism makes a country poorer, which is true but goes against the whole logic of the communist worldview they're meant to believe in.
Artificially inducing failure is a staple of modern economics.
So sanctions do nothing? Then why put them in place? Do you think before you speak?
Nah. But I could see why you would think that. It's usually does go that way. Hilariously
@@trvst5938"artificially" only accurate of you mean what the VE goverment did
Not to froget he made sure to disarm his citizen even further than already harsh limits on it. They say for crime but it was to prevent rebellion and protests. Sound familiar?
Don't misrepresent the reality to fit your narrative. There never was a big amount of armed civilians in the country to begin with, unless you're a part of the military or any other police force. Or, you know, a gang member.
Historically, even before both men came to power, regular people didn't have guns.
Nahh...don't shoehorn "muh guns" BS on a subject thats very complex and nuanced, outlandish juxtapositions are not needed.
@@just_a_head-u5s If that's the reality then why would they be worried about it? If the population only had a few hunting shotguns and machetes, then why stress laws otherwise? Unless he wanted to keep power out of the ands of the people.
@@XxLIVRAxX Muh guns are an important part of freedom and liberty to a society. Just like Muh Lazers and Muh muskets will and were. It's complex sure but in the of the day a government should fear a armed population. When we have leaders talking and joking about bombing their citizens to maintain power, why is it so easy to discredit those who worry that historical examples might repeat?
Could you please feature Kenya.. There is an economic revolution almost coming
I am a PROUD AMERICAN 🇺🇲💪.
But I'm not blind to the fact that the only reason why Venezuela isn't the Dubai of the Americas is that they don't want to bow to the USA.😢😢
I only came here for the LOLz. I cant believe this bus driver is still breathing.
I accept this video as a sort of apology/re-assessment of your way-old video on Biographics that was, in my assessment, far too generous and lenient towards Hugo Chavez, once and future slapnuts. What a difference a few years makes. Carry on.
No sure how else to suggest a video subject… so I’ll ask here.
Would you (more likely one of your authors) be interested in writing about the Māori Wars in New Zealand?
13:55 "Maduro is stiff, solemn, and awkward..."
Were you trying to make us laugh here?
Love what you do, but it’s Chávez. The account indicates emphasis on that syllable. It was pronounced as though there were no accent.
Okay
PLEASE do Dutarte next!
He was elected and stepped down when his time was up no? Not really the criteria for "dictator"
Dictators don't step down voluntarily when their terms end.
cmon guys, leave him to his ignorance or pr0pgnda, maybe he needs to eat for comments-income
@@g-ratstickler3107 saying he wants a holocaust against drug dealers and giving out free guns for people to kill drug dealers seems pretty dictatorial to me dawg
@@AlexLee-dc2vb 😂 what
It’s incredible to me that Latin American countries continue to choose this path over and over again despite so many lessons.
I understand when you have poverty that it’s hard to not ask more from the government. And I understand a Venezuelans didn’t fully get a say.
But in democratic countries like Brazil and Argentina, voters are voluntarily choosing to make this mistake repeatedly. I can only assume they’ve failed to notice a pattern - and are blaming issues on individual leaders rather than socialist policies. And you can totally have some more socialist policies work - but they have to be within reason, and they only work once you’re wealthy enough to support it.
if they had had any economic stability for the last 30 years - they would easily have GDP per capita that is 2-3x their current figures.
They’re not poor or failing countries like VZ. But they are squandering the chance to be rich and extremely successful countries… democratically…repeatedly.
I don't know for sure if this psyche in their societies during election times comes from Cold-war era dictators CIA put in places
Please say API Gravity. Us folks with ties to the oil industry never say API with the "Gravity". API by itself is the American Petroleum Institute, known for both its technical and political efforts.
Next can you do the two generals fighting over sudan next?
interesting
Very great analysis. Something many people don’t know or talk about why Venezuela is constantly messing with the Guyana is because that border is MASSIVE for human trafficking.
1:15 first mistake of the video. Maduro isn’t a Venezuelan Citizen by birth, he’s Colombian.
Simon literally explained seconds later that he might've been born in Colombia.
@@pickymapping6098 not might have. He is.
Less then 10 minutes after the video uploaded, nice
Do Daniel Ortega next.
They elected a fucking bus driver
He dropped everyone off metaphorically. Old habits die hard
a communist to boot
I wonder what his IQ is. Probably 102 or something
That isn't the problem. Ukraine elected a comedian, and they're doing well by it. The problem is the Venezuelans didn't elect a COMPETENT bus driver.
@@MM22966eh, at least comedians need to demonstrate wit, a greater cognitive feat than driving a bus
Socialism working like its supposed to.
yep
It reminds me of everything I hate in raw material dictatorships, and how much we all should distrust the next populist with fuzzy boundaries to the armed forces.
now do HORACIO CARTES please!!
Do william ruto in kenya next
After watching „The revolution will not be televised“ i have decided to put this channel on „Don’t recommend“
05:47 - Yes, exactly as I suspected
This is what happens when dictators are in power, my country was this before I left, it was horrific and absolutely terrible for my family, none of us live there anymore and we'll never go back though now the country is doing great
Venezuela , you do realize you outnumber 1 man and his henchman. Make the sacrifice and get together as a nation and DO WHAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE TO DO.
Hope you can create a video about Marcos Sr of the Philippines
you know the insurgency/trorism problem of the 60-80s?
To all those blaming socialism: South Vietnam was capitalist, and so were the horribly ran and failing regimes of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador etc. Corruption and authoritarianism are the problem.
Both ends of the aisle are prone to authoritarianism
@VMan29397 True, and both ends are bad. The right option is somewhere in the middle, left or right depends on the case
South Vietnam was run by a paternal autocrat who for some reason decided to ban buddhism. And then by a succession of military leaders.
Vietnam today has turned into a state capitalist state closer to South Korea, Japan and China. The USA pretended these state capitalist places followed their ideal of capitalism.
Socialism is at fault tho of course it isn't the full story and other parts are at play of Venezuelas downfall. Socialism is more authoritarian ideology compared to Social Democracy and its destined to transfer more power away from people to the state thus the ruling political elite in the hierarchy to limit free market. Chaves exactly did this be it he in the short term eased living conditions while the oil prices luckily were kind to him and venezuela.
South Korea democratized in the 80's, it was a centrally managed military rule. South Vietnam had an autocrat for president, who was couped out by the USA and replaced by a succession of military leaders. The president was an old french-catholic dynasty bloke who thought it would be good to ban buddhism. Leading to burning monks and stuff.
The more I looked, the more places I found in that area who use the same centralized, managed state capitalism. Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, Singapore. Places that might be democratic (China and Vietnam are not, currently) but effectively run like single-party governments. Companies that form a keiretsu.
Venezuela sounds more and more like a typical raw material dictatorship to me. The state income depends not on taxation or a developing economy but one or two valuable raw materials. When the world market price dips or enough outside nations put in an embargo, state revenue hurts. Saudi Arabia also runs a raw material dictatorship that does not need its own population.
It seems like Venezuela's political circumstances is just truly mind-boggling. Each successive govt in Venezuela seemed to be ruling like thugs instead of wise-thinking statesmen.
No Simon what you meant to say was FAR left the same way you do every time you mention am American right winger that isn't a communist.
There is no far left all leftists are extreme
"Any American right-winger that isn't a communist."
...How many right-wing American communists are there? I'm curious.
Closest thing to A "Communist" and a "Right Winger" i could interpit would be A national socialist. And i do not mean Neo-nazi as that only consists of white supremacy and racism, not so much of the "socialist" aspect
Spoiler alert - nothing will change in Vz
Always will remember how you said that we were the “only dictatorship that the citizenship supported”🖕
You should talk about the current Naval situation involving Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Gitmo. 'Drills'. Unless your bosses don't want you to talk about it.
4:45 * million not billion
Secret Biographics video. 😏
Liking this format = art of war/special operators, and now we have = dictators - should just drop the THE and keep it simple = dictators lol.
As an OSRS player thank you for covering this!
What the hell is that?
@@glassbottlemenacesyou8323Oldschool Runescape.
@@glassbottlemenacesyou8323some venezuelans make a living from playing a game called runescape selling ingame characters for irl money
@@glassbottlemenacesyou8323
Runescape, aka what Venezuelans are playing to get money that's actually worth something.
"Academically mediocre and politically expedient" a tale as old as time
What most analysts miss, it is not that Venezuela started plummeting in 2013 with Maduro, he just kept doing the same as Chavez, but with mith most of the government officials already having full pocketa and nothing to plunder.
Military is literally can changed yet this shameless military is disgusted me.
"Let's dig deep to build the kind of police force that our fatherland really deserves. We need a revolution of the police force here in Venezuela, and I will carry it out without delay, without excuses."
-- Nicolas Maduro
You have no idea how I have been waiting for this to release all day.😂 I have practically been pulling my hair out. Because there's no good content to watch, please. Dear lord and savior simon, give us the good stuff😅
your ssss are so sharp, nice video otherwise
What happened in Venezuela 🇻🇪 as an oil exporter country.. during Cold War years and aftermath , similar economic devastating occurred in the majority of exporter countries in 3rd world countries. those countries remained loyal to US political agendas ....rather than theirs internal difficulties of their people and the absence of democracy....the USA 🇺🇸 was not alleviated a criticized finger towards those countries ?
There’s no reason to think anything would change at the next election when he already lost the previous one. Look how much election results mattered in Belarus. The autocrats are all teaming up lately to support one another.
1:42 Right. But it's weird when America has the same restriction...rme