David Smilde

David Smilde

David Smilde is a WOLA Senior Fellow and the Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations at Tulane University. He founded the WOLA Venezuela Politics and Human Rights blog and curated it from 2012-2020. He has lived in or worked on Venezuela since 1992, and has researched Venezuela for the past 30 years. He has taught at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the Universidad Católica Ándres Bello. He is currently working on a book manuscript called Venezuela’s Transition to Illiberalism: Hugo Chávez and 21st Century Socialism, 2007-2012.

Venezuela Weekly: COVID-19 and Geopolitics

Rector of the Ándres Bello Catholic University Francisco Jose Virtuoso, S.J., said “a humanitarian agreement in Venezuela is urgent.” He argued that the current Venezuelan crisis is an accumulation of various problems in almost all areas of the life in Venezuela that have worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic, and he is calling for an urgent political and humanitarian agreement.

Venezuela Weekly: Despite Stalemate, Backchannel Contact Persists

News of secret negotiations and Norwegian involvement periodically emerges, generating expectations. However, insiders suggest that backchannel contact between the Guaidó and Maduro governments is frequent and that Norwegian diplomats have never stopped their contact with each side, despite formal talks being suspended in September. Given the way the COVID-19 pandemic is changing conditions, contacts solidifying into talks is always a possibility.