Is Venezuela In Crisis, Or Is It a Media Storm?

FEATURING MIGUEL TINKER SALAS – Reuters is reporting that Coca Cola has stopped production of its sugary beverages in Venezuela, apparently because of a sugar shortage. The news agency describes the context of the story like this: Venezuela is in the midst of a deep recession, and spontaneous demonstrations and looting have become more common amid worsening food shortages, frequent power cuts and the world’s highest inflation.”

But as we have seen many many times in the past, it is pretty difficult to trust mainstream corporate media coverage of Venezuela. The left-leaning government of Nicholas Maduro, who took over from the late Hugo Chavez, is often demonized as dictatorial even as it remains pro-poor and popular.

Miguel Tinker Salas is a Professor of Latin American History and Chicano/a Latino/a Studies at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He has written several books including The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Citizenship in Venezuela, and Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know, and co-edited Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and the Decline of an Exceptional Democracy.