In the third episode of The Venezuela Briefing podcast, hosts Geoff Ramsey and Kristen Martinez-Gugerli had the pleasure of interviewing journalist and political analyst Jose de Bastos and international relations and legal expert Mariano de Alba.
Kristen Martinez-Gugerli is the Venezuela Program Associate at WOLA, where she conducts research, facilitates congressional outreach, and provides support for the Venezuela program. Her main areas of interest are conflict resolution and human rights for vulnerable populations. At WOLA, she actively works to advocate for humanitarian assistance to Venezuela, the development of a peaceful and democratic resolution, and the rights of Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Ms. Martinez-Gugerli graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019 with a BPhil in International and Area Studies and Political Science and a certificate in Latin American Studies.
In the third episode of The Venezuela Briefing podcast, hosts Geoff Ramsey and Kristen Martinez-Gugerli had the pleasure of interviewing journalist and political analyst Jose de Bastos and international relations and legal expert Mariano de Alba.
Today, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is publishing the second episode of The Venezuela Briefing, a new WOLA podcast that explores various aspects of Venezuela’s political, humanitarian, and migratory crises.
On Sunday, December 6, Venezuela held widely-questioned elections for the National Assembly, allowing the Maduro government to consolidate its power over the country’s legislature, the sole remaining democratically-elected institution in the country. While the...
When National Assembly President Juan Guaidó claimed a mandate as interim president in January 2019, dozens of countries moved to recognize him as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, based on the widely-documented flaws and irregularities in the 2018 presidential election of Nicolas Maduro. As support for Guaidó grew domestically and internationally, some believed that a transition in Venezuela under Guaidó’s leadership was imminent.
This year, Venezuelan migrants and refugees face unprecedented challenges and risks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, border closures, and inhumane treatment of migrants both within and outside of Venezuela. Since countries throughout the region initiated border...
On June 28, the Maduro government celebrated 46 years of “fruitful” and “unbreakable” diplomatic relations between Venezuela and China, praising the Chinese government for its defense of Venezuelan sovereignty.
On May 3, 2020, a group of mercenaries attempted to enter Venezuela through the port city of La Guaira with stated intentions to capture de facto President Nicolás Maduro and transport him to the United States. The ambitious military raid failed immediately as Venezuelan security forces intercepted mercenaries at the border, leaving eight dead and at least 10 individuals
Women are chronically underrepresented on Venezuela’s national political stage, both within Chavismo and the opposition. While women tend to be very politically active at the local level, comprising 72 percent of local community councils, they are often restricted to local and/or subordinate positions while men are appointed to senior offices.
While most of the 5 million Venezuelans who have left the country in recent years face serious challenges abroad, displaced women and girls are at a disproportionately high risk of violence and exploitation.
While Venezuela’s ongoing political and economic crisis has had a profound impact on the entire population, it has also exacerbated existing gender inequalities, with evidence increasingly suggesting that the burden of the country’s crisis has fallen disproportionately on Venezuela’s women and girls.As policymakers in Venezuela work to address the various elements of the crisis—humanitarian, economic, migratory—the particular needs of women have been largely overlooked.