# Ep 363 - Venezuela's Unfinished Revolution with Ricardo Vaz

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/macro-n-cheese-703488/ep-363-venezuela-s-unfinished-revolution-with-ricardo-vaz
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/macro-n-cheese-703488/ep-363-venezuela-s-unfinished-revolution-with-ricardo-vaz.md
Podcast: [Macro N Cheese](https://stenobird.com/podcast/macro-n-cheese-703488)
Published: 2026-01-17T11:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://macroncheese.captivate.fm/episode/ep-363-venezuela-ricardo-vaz
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/a2c88987-1856-4dcd-8765-c3e2d90fdbd1.mp3
Processing state: processed
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/macro-n-cheese-703488/episodes/ep-363-venezuela-s-unfinished-revolution-with-ricardo-vaz
Duration seconds: 3808

## Resource

Steve opens in a subdued mood brought on by the dizzying speed of ‘current events.’ For this episode he’s stepping back and looking at Venezuela. News reports are working hard to create confusion. On social media US citizens claim that kidnapping a sitting president is justified if you don’t like him. Or if he’s socialist. To understand a situation, it must be considered historically, materially, and as a connected process. With that in mind, Ricardo Vaz of Venezuelanalysis , joins Steve to talk about what the Bolivarian Revolution actually was – on the ground – beyond the familiar US media caricatures. Ricardo walks through key turning points in the Chávez era and the social gains that reshaped everyday life. But there’s a bigger question that haunts every revolutionary project. How do you build new forms of democratic power while the old state machinery, domestic elites, and hostile external forces push back? (Does this sound familiar? It will if you took part in RP Book Club’s study of State and Revolution ) From there, the conversation follows the oil thread. It’s not a single-cause explanation, but it’s where sovereignty, development, and imperial pressure collide. Steve and Ricardo unpack how the hydrocarbons industry evolved, what “nationalization” really meant in practice, and why the fight over Venezuela’s resources can’t be separated from US strategy in the hemisphere. They then look into the Maduro years, sanctions, economic siege, and the constant tug-of-war inside Venezuela between survival policies and revolutionary horizons. This includes a clear-eyed look at opposition figures and the narratives that dominate US talking points. The episode closes with a grounded discussion of why Venezuela matters as a 21st-century political experiment, and what meaning…

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## Transcript

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