x.com
x.com

The twitter thread is referenced in this excellent article by the same journalist, Alan MacLeod, which I posted here yesterday, but I think it deserves its own post.

Thread reader: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1818050593468072023.html

If you don't feel like clicking a link, here are the tweets transcribed, with some links added:
  • iie [they/them, he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    14·
    2 months ago

    This article by the same author includes some information

    Here are two interesting quotes from the article:

    U.S. sanctions have devastated the country. But the Maduro administration appears to have successfully weathered the worst of the storm. Stores are full again, inflation has been tamed, and Venezuela now produces 96% of the food it consumes. On top of that, Maduro’s signature housing policy, Misión Gran Vivienda Venezuela, just celebrated the building of its five-millionth apartment. “Venezuela is healing” is a common slogan across the country.

    and on elections:

    Many U.S. observers who spoke with MintPress were quick to compare the Venezuelan system favorably with their own. “I am actually kind of blown away by how advanced [the Venezuelan electoral system] is, particularly compared to the backward nature of the U.S., so I am completely impressed,” Jodi Dean, a professor and political scientist, said.

    […]

    Elizabeth Burley, a representative of Unión de Vecinos, a Los Angeles tenants’ union, spent election day monitoring voting in La Guaira state and noted a number of superior features of Venezuelan democracy, including that the polling system is automated and completely consistent between localities. Furthermore, she said, Venezuelan elections are held on Sunday rather than midweek as they are in the U.S., allowing more people to participate. Burley noted that she was able to go inside stations and observe everything and that there were witnesses from both government and opposition parties present. Apart from a few verbal exchanges between left and right-wing voters, she said, events proceeded in a state of calm.

    This list by dessalines might be a decent place to look for more information. It focuses on refuting attacks against Venezuela, but there should be some good information in the mix about what Maduro has done. The important context to keep in mind is that Venezuela is under more than 900 sanctions and other punitive measures, which have severely hampered the economy