What happened this past weekend in Venezuela? Farz walks us through the history of abundance when they found oil, to the Oil Embargo of the 1970s that brought great inflation and poverty. This past weekend, the Venezuelan election happened and so far, Nicholas Maduro is being declared the winner. How did they get from a Socialist uprising to having a dictator essentially? Learn more about this breaking news with us!
What happened this past weekend in Venezuela? Farz walks us through the history of abundance when they found oil, to the Oil Embargo of the 1970s that brought great inflation and poverty. This past weekend, the Venezuelan election happened and so far, Nicholas Maduro is being declared the winner. How did they get from a Socialist uprising to having a dictator essentially?
Learn more about this breaking news with us!
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Welcome to doomed to fail, the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of state of California v. Orndal James Simpson, case number ba zero nine six. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: Hey, Taylor, how are you?
>> Taylor: I'm, fine. How are you?
>> Farz: I'm, tired from driving to Dallas and traveling and I'm sure you are, too. But why don't you go ahead and introduce us and then we can do some light banter about our weeks and weekends.
>> Taylor: Sounds good. Sounds good. Welcome, to doomed to fail, we are the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures twice a week, every week. And I'm Taylor, joined as always by.
>> Farz: Fars, always, always here, never change, always. yeah.
Taylor's flight from Las Vegas to Maryland got canceled because of Internet problems
So you've had a travel week, too, or weekend?
>> Taylor: Yeah, I mean, we skipped recording last week. We were all sick over here. And then we had to go to Maryland to visit family. And, we were supposed to leave the day that all of the Internet went down for airplanes. You were traveling that day, too? You had to get on a bus.
>> Farz: I took a bus. Yeah. It was basically, trains is the only thing I miss. But I took an Uber car to an airport to catch a flight to another airport where everything was down. Actually, Taylor, I don't know if I told you this, but if I had tried to wait for that flight, that was six and a half hours after when I decided that I'm just going to catch the bus, they got canceled. Anyways, they got pushed to 05:15 a.m. the next morning and got canceled.
>> Taylor: So the 515 got canceled?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So mine was wild. Like, I was a late flight anyway. It was like a 1230 midnight flight, direct to baltimore from Las Vegas. We're 3 hours from Las Vegas. So we were like, gonna drive there. But they kept pushing it back. And then finally they were like, okay, it's at 330 in the morning, and I'm like, I don't even know if we can do that. Like, should we go to Las Vegas and try to get a hotel? And then I saw that it was canceled, but I wasn't getting anything from the airline that I couldn't get online, I couldn't get onto my account. And then they texted and said, oh, we got it back at the regular scheduled time. And I was like, but we're not there. You know, like, yeah, we're 3 hours away. So we, finally got, and we bought another flight for the next day. So we just like delayed an entire day. and I'm glad that we stayed home that night. We weren't, like, stuck in Las Vegas and, like, whatever. So we stayed home, and then we went the next day, on a different flight. And it was a pain, but we did it.
>> Farz: Yeah. You missed out on the insane amount of anxiety and the backup of people because the airport that I was stuck at was super busy. and so even getting services, like, just a drink or someone to eat was, was kind of a nightmare. And also, everybody around you just super pissed off and you could feel in the air.
>> Taylor: Oh, no, totally. I was like. And then I was so upset at the end of the day because I was, like, I tried so hard all day, and, like, I thought it was canceled. Maybe I read the wrong thing. I know they told me it was 03:00 a.m. but then, like, I can't delay a flight 3 hours and then bring it back.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: You know, like, that's not fair. So, anyway, we got, we got a, oh, you know, like, a credit for that flight, but we still have, we, still paid more for the other one, but whatever.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: Yeah, we did it. We went, we had a great time. We went to the white house. Super cool. I put a bunch of stuff on, instagram because I went to the national gallery, which is. I love. And just, like, around every corner is a painting, that we know about. There was Leonardo da Vinci there, the famous madame du Barry that I have posted a lot is there. So that was cool. It was very fun.
>> Farz: Nice. Nice. I saw the pictures. It looked really, really fun. I've never been in the white house. Every time been DC. I make it a point to kind of go there because mostly it's really what people are pissed off and screaming at the white house about.
>> Taylor: Sure. Yeah. Well, we were there the day of the night, and yahoo. Was there. but it wasn't. I didn't see anything crazy. You know, there were people obviously, like, with signs and stuff when we were by, like, the National Mall, but it was, like, maybe 10% full of people. I didn't see anything bad, and I wasn't, like, afraid at all. I was worried there was gonna be, like, hard to get around, and it was a little bit hard to get around. There's street closures, but DC is hard to drive around on a good day.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. So you were in the front of the white house. Every time I've been there, I've gone around the back of it.
>> Taylor: You were in the back. You go in the east wing, and then it's like a self guided tour. You kind of walk through and you're through all, like, the big reception rooms, and you see all the famous paintings, like the George Washington that, Dolly Madison saved during the war of 1812. Is there a bunch of, like, great famous paintings? Are there?
>> Farz: Got it. Got it. Yeah, no, in that part that I usually go, there's. There's almost always a group of people there, like, protesting something, and so. Oh, yeah, it is a trip. But, I'm glad you guys got there, had fun, and were able to get home safe and sound. as I'm, glad I am, too.
Taylor: Did you watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics
that being said, let's go ahead and dive in for today. I assume I'm going first today.
>> Taylor: You are? Wait, can you talk about something else first?
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: did you watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
>> Farz: not all the way through. I saw bits and pieces of it.
>> Taylor: I loved it. A lot of people were complaining, but they have to remember that it's always really fucking weird. That's the thing. It's a weird show. And I thought it was so cool. They went all over Paris. I'd be pissed if I bought a ticket to it. Cause you probably only saw one little tiny thing because it wasn't in a stadium. But, it was great. I cried, I laughed. It was wonderful.
>> Farz: I, loved the people that were comparing it to Henry Zabrowski, that one guy in the blue.
>> Taylor: Oh, the Bacchus. Then people were like, it was the last separate. It's like, it's a greek, you idiots. But, you know, I don't.
>> Farz: I don't because I don't watch it. But I saw the memes of everybody in the last podcast Facebook group, of everybody comparing that guy to Henry. I saw.
>> Taylor: That was amazing.
>> Farz: also, I messaged our old friend Johnny, who lives in Paris, and I was like, are you there? Are you watching? He's like, no. Even. Just, like, even being able to see any part of it, you have to buy really expensive tickets. And so we're just, like, in our place in Paris, watching it on tv. I was like, all right, well, so, so be it.
>> Taylor: But can they see the flame? The flames up in the air and a hot air balloon?
>> Farz: Is that what happened? I missed all of it?
>> Taylor: Yeah, it was really cool. They like, they like, they like Serena Williams and Raphael Nadal and Carl Lewis were on a boat, and then holding the flame after the flame, like, went all the way around. And then there was, like, this cool mechanical horse and this, like, rider of the Olympic thing, and then, like, ten famous french athletes kind of passed the torch to each other and they kind of jogged together. There were some paralympic athletes. There's a guy who's like the oldest living French Olympian, just turned 100 years old. Like, he's not in it now, obviously, but like, he was before, so he was there and then clarifying, Taylor, I just want to make m that clear. And then they lit. It was on how to air balloon. They lit it, then it went up into the air and the Eiffel Tower lit up. And Celine Dion sang. And that's wonderful because she's so sick.
>> Farz: Yeah. So she was dying.
>> Taylor: Yeah, she's. She's not doing well, but she looked beautiful and sang beautifully and was wonderful.
>> Farz: I saw, you know, where I cut it off was, I waited until the USA boat showed up.
>> Farz: And I cut off. Did everything happen after that, basically, or did I miss the beginning?
>> Taylor: I don't know. Did you see Lady Gaga?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: She was dressed like a flamingo, kind of. She sang in French, a bunch of, like, really weird dancing.
>> Farz: Oh, I think it was happening at the same time, I think. Okay, so I think the boat, the presentation of the athletes on the boat was having the same time as the actual event part of it. And so the cameras just pan back and forth. Okay.
>> Taylor: Which is why if you bought a ticket, people were pissed because they, like, it didn't matter. Like, you only saw a little part of the show, you know, like, you saw all the boats, but you didn't see, like, everything, which I thought was wonderful. Everyone looked really great. Everyone was so excited. It was raining and just looked very pretty and great.
>> Farz: Glad you got your money's worth.
>> Taylor: I did, I did. I loved it.
Join us next week for our olympic medal count ceremony
>> Farz: is there anything else you want to sound announced before?
>> Taylor: no, we just have some. Well, there was. There was a little bit of an arson attack on the railway before, but it seems like that nobody was hurt, so that was like, the first thing. And we have some, I think. Wait, let me look at the metal account right now just to announce something that will be old news.
>> Farz: Yeah. Should we just start having, like, for the next two weeks? Olympic. Ah. News session section.
>> Taylor: Absolutely. Absolutely. So we have twelve medals so far. Wait, what is this? What is this one to take four bags. So seven medals. We have twelve battles so far. three golds. Oh, very fun in swimming. so anyway, we got a silver in women's synchronized diving, which was fun this morning. We stayed at a hotel last night and we watched this morning archery and the korean women's archery team won gold for the 10th time in a row. It was so cool.
>> Farz: Sweet.
>> Taylor: Yeah, it was really fun. So, yeah.
>> Farz: You are just living it up, aren't you?
>> Taylor: I love it. What can you do?
>> Farz: What can you do? yeah, so join us next week for our olympic medal count ceremony.
>> Taylor: that will be outdated by the time you do it.
>> Farz: Yes. speaking of which, what I'm going to talk about is going to be outdated by the time you'll listen to it.
>> Taylor: Great.
>> Farz: And this is supposedly coming out, in, like, 12 hours from now, so it's going to be outdated by then. but we'll go ahead and. Go ahead and hop right in.
Taylor: I was researching immigration and coffee wars this morning
I was all the map with my content for this week, taylor, just, like, a little bit of behind the scenes for you. I started researching these horrible, horrible murder content, and I was just so sick of it. I was like, I can't do another murder thing. And, I'm just thinking, just briefly thinking of, what can I think about? And I was making coffee this morning, and, like, coffee. How many people have tired over coffee? Like, what has happened that's been horrible for coffee? And I started googling it. Yes, there's been, like, civil wars and revolutions caused by control of coffee and coffee routes, and El Salvador, all these other countries. And so I started researching. Okay, I bet there's a lot of downstream impact, these coffee wars in a place like El Salvador, Colombia, and sort of researching immigration. And I realized that El Salvador is not even, like, the top ten in terms of immigration, people coming over from the border. And so I started looking, like, who was in the top ten? What does it consist of? so, obviously, everybody is aware that immigration is a huge topic in the US at this point. And I don't really follow it very much. I don't follow anything very much. And so I don't actually know what the big deal is or what people are talking so much about, but I started pulling some numbers on it and basically trying to gauge why it's a big deal. So I pulled out that in 2023, there was 2.4 million, people that were trying to cross illegally across the border. And that was pretty much what it was in 2022. By comparison, in 2021, it was like 1.6 million, and that was the highest ever. So from 2021 until now, it's been the highest it's ever been over the course, about 20 some odd years. And m I started researching into this, like, what is, like, where are the countries that folks are coming from. And obviously, no surprise, Mexico's number one, Guatemala is number two, Cuba's number three, Honduras is number four, and Venezuela is number five. And you talk about Venezuela that. Yes.
>> Taylor: Okay, so I. Well, okay, I just told you this, and I think I told you before, we started recording it. My brother and his wife just got into a car accident, and I'm waiting to hear from them. They're fine. They're in an ambulance. They're gonna be okay. But his wife, Lowry, is from Venezuela, and she was texting us about this election that's happening.
>> Farz: No way. That's so random.
>> Taylor: Yeah, well, I want you to know more because I googled a little bit of it when she texted a couple hours ago.
>> Farz: Okay, so. So, first off, we're hoping everything's fine if you have to go, like I said, just go. But, But in the meantime, so, actually. So this. This episode is going to be, out of date by the time you all listen to it. But now that you told me that, Taylor, it's actually out of date now. So part of the outline I'm gonna have just tweak in the moment that we're talking.
Venezuela is number five in number of people trying to enter US
So, yes, I got to number five. Most populous, most highest volume of people who have been kind of caught trying to cross into the southern border of the United States. And Venezuela is an interesting one because, like I said, it kind of dovetails with a lot of things that are kind of going on in the US at the moment. I m also found this really interesting because, even though Venezuela is number five, that's in total count of people that are coming into the country, in terms of percentage of the country that is coming into the US, it is number one because over the past ten years, about a quarter, one out of every four Venezuelans has tried to cross into the US border. And there's something like you just pointed out that's going on literally right now, that if it happens, the predictions are that about one in three Venezuelans that are currently still there will be trying to make that crossing.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: Taylor, do you know, what I might be talking about? That is also, salient to our current situation, where we have a fresh face, female political leader promising a new future compared to a old, broken down, yesteryear's politico.
>> Taylor: Yeah, no, I. Okay, so here's what I know. I know there's an election going on right now, and I looked up the person that, my sister in law told me about, and I saw that he was 74. That's funny enough so far.
>> Farz: Okay. There's so much to say about that. So let's get into it.
>> Taylor: I know there's a lot more, but I was like, cool.
>> Farz: No, no. So it is super confusing, but I'm going to get into it because basically right now, the election in reality is between a m woman named Maria Corinna Machado and a guy named Nicolas Maduro. But if you look at the ballot right now, it's actually between a guy named Edmundo Gonzalez Urutia versus Maduro. So let me get into it.
In 1999, Venezuela underwent what is known as the bolivarian revolution
>> Taylor: Okay, tell me all about it.
>> Farz: We're gonna get into it. And this is like, super interesting. I probably learned more, researching this than I have any other, well, I probably learned more about, like, the world than any other episode of research. So let's dive into it. So basically, everything in Venezuela really, really, truly started going to shit around 1999, and it never really picked up from there. And up to today, we're kind of contending with the decisions that were made, that far ago. So in 1999 and some years before, some years after, like, around 1990 is when this all happened, Venezuela underwent what is known as the bolivarian revolution, which was a political movement, which a man named Hugo Chavez was a leader of, whose name we might be familiar with in context that we can understand, is essentially a political party. That's what the revolution really was. It was bringing up to prominence this political party. And it would be something to the effect of, for example, if the Green Party and Joel Stein were to, like, take over today. Like, it would be like a massive swing in politics that would just be, like, unheard of in our country, for example. So going a little further back in venezuelan history, the high notes really were around the discovery of oil reserves within Venezuela. So.
>> Farz: Around, the 19 hundreds, early 19 hundreds, was when the full depth of the vastness of venezuelan oil reserves was understood and was discovered and able to be exploited. So, for context, Venezuela outranked Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the US, and literally every other country in the world in terms of having the largest oil reserves in the world.
>> Taylor: Holy shit.
>> Farz: Crazy, right?
>> Taylor: I did not know that.
>> Farz: Yeah, I didn't know that either. so Venezuela has. So Venezuela got into oil production, and was a leader in many ways in oil production. For example, it was actually them who suggested and moved towards the formation of OPEC with the Persian Gulf states. Like they were big, big players in all this. So during this time that, as they exploited oil and oil became a bigger part of everybody's life. Their economy obviously grew and the standard of living improved. So people, people were basically living that dream of, I want what my kids have better than I had. That was basically the reality. Everything was growing, everything was looking very rosy at the time. So it's also interesting as I was researching this, because it is when you look at things like over the span of like 100 years, you can see logically why a decision was made. But then you zoom out over the course of that 100 years, like, oh my God, how could you not see this was coming? And I kept thinking that as I was reading this, like every paragraph, I went further into this. It's like, not see this coming, but like.
About 96% of Venezuela's GDP is dependent on one commodity, oil
Anyways, yeah, so, so I'm going to start dropping hints on where things start not to be rosy and you kind of pick this up yourself. So Venezuela's economy grew steadily in the 19 hundreds through the 1960s. But in 1973, the oil crisis hit. So basically all Persian Gulf countries are part of OPEC decided they're going to refuse to sell to countries that support Israel. So that's a problem for the US, obviously. And so the price of crude skyrocketed. And the only source of crude that the US had at that time, in the middle of the cold War and everything else was Venezuela. And so this resulted in a tremendous growth explosion in Venezuela. Apparently their economy during this period was four x. Before this period, it grew an astonishingly high rate. And heres where part of the hints come in. The other sectors of the, business within Venezuela kind of ceased to operate and the entire country was entirely working in some capacity on oil production, transportation or whatever else. Estimates of this vary. I saw estimates as high as 96% of the GDP was entirely dependent in some way to oil. Others were placing it at a more conservative 60%. But really no number goes below 60. And that is still a shit ton of your economy to be entirely dependent on one industry, especially an industry where the prices fluctuate so dramatically based on world events.
>> Farz: So, so in this context, if you think about it, your economy is so dependent on this one commodity, what would happen, for example, if Saudi Arabia decided to dramatically increase oil production and flood the market? It would drop your prices and your economy would drop as a result of it. So a side effect of this is also the fact that because your economy had grown so dependent on one particular thing that there is nothing secondarily for it to back up to as a short term way to bridge the gap, between that primary thing and everything else. This is actually known as dutch disease. So this was due to the fact that in 19 50 59 in the Netherlands, they discovered natural oil and natural gas fields, and they basically stopped all other manufacturing sectors and just worked to support this. And as a result, their economy tanked. Like, literally the exact same situation happened to them. and so that's why now this is a thing called dutch disease. So starting the late 1970s, Venezuela economy. Venezuela's economy started contracting dramatically for the first time. So I'm just going to throw some numbers at you and feel free to stop me and be like, far as this makes sense, or does it make sense? Whatever else? So it had gone from 5.65% growth the previous decade, so the sixties, to 1.9% growth, so about 4% contraction. That's really, really bad. But it gets worse, because from that point on, every decade going forward, the economy went into negatives, meaning, growth wasn't slowing down, it stopped and started going backwards, which kind of makes sense when you think about the fact that I mentioned that most of the people are trying to leave the country, or a ton of them are. but that's the situation that they found themselves in. So it was with this being kind of the backdrop that Hugo Chavez rose to prominence and power. And the first thing he did was nationalizing the oil companies, industry and their income to citizens. So, basically, this is like traditional socialism. The state controls the means of production. The biggest means of production the country had was oil. We're going to control it as a country. So, that was his way of kind of moving the country forward. In addition to that, he also reformed the constitution and included removing presidential term limits. So, he could basically keep running for office, despite the fact that m originally the constitution did have term limits. as a result of all this, the economy kept slowing down. And obviously, all the things that come along with that ended up happening. Right, murder rates spike, crime rates spike, everything that we would assume would happen, he would lay the groundwork, for what was going to come next, which is the situation we find ourselves in today. and that is in 2013, his vice president, Nicolas Maduro, announced that Hugo Chavez had died from a massive heart attack, and also his body was apparently riddled with cancer, and that he was going to take over and basically double down on all of Chavez's policies. He would go on to socializing more parts of the economy, which introduced a ton more waste at a time when the economy was basically contracting anyways. And one story I read was that well, it's complicated, but one story I read was that there was a border, patrol, venezuelan border patrol, that had seized, a shipment of contraband from Colombia into Venezuela. And so I was like, okay, cocaine. It's gonna be cocaine. It's gonna be like, something horrible. No, it was food and gas. It was literally food and gas. Like, that's what they were trying to ship into the country. So pretty much every year since 2013 to 2022, Venezuela has led the world on the global misery index. The only time it was really replaced was, in 23, when Argentina took its place due to very similar circumstances. But that's a different story for a different day. During the mid, 2010s, Venezuela experienced hyperinflation due to the devaluing of its dollar. Some, of these percentages actually don't really understand. So Bloomberg, for example, reported that in 2018, annual inflation was 448,000%. What does that even mean? I don't even know what that means.
>> Taylor: I mean, I feel like it's like in Germany, like, before World War two, it was things where, like, red was five deutsche marks. On the next day, it was a million deutsche marks. You know, so you're like, my, nothing matters anymore because this is so. This is just like, beyond comprehension for how much things cost.
>> Farz: Well, so there's, there is an equivalency here. I'm going to get to that here in a second. So around this time, to your point there, about the deutsche mark piece, stores stopped carrying price tags on things because it didn't matter. Because minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, the price would fluctuate so dramatically. You, just have to ask them in the moment what the price of something was. one podcast that lists one of the topics said that if you had any currency in Venezuela during this time, your best bet was to get rid of it as fast as possible. Get rid of it and buy anything that has some value, like screws or nuts or a hammer, get stuff like that, because that will at least retain its value more than the dollar will. Part of this problem was also the fact that Maduro kept mandating minimum wage increases to keep up with increasing inflation. But that basically just created a death spiral. So you can sort of keep up with inflation in the short term until everyone else is also able to keep up with it, which further devalues the dollar and increases the demand for, the supply side. So at this point, it was stated that a school teacher, like somebody who is a school teacher having a school teacher salary in Venezuela, the most they can afford to purchase on one month's salary was two pounds of cheese and a dozen eggs in a month.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. One thing, one thing I noticed, if you research, like, anything related to, like, the monetary policies of Venezuela or like, Maduro's reign, there's so many videos of just hordes of people in the streets eating out of garbage cans.
>> Taylor: terrible.
>> Farz: It's crazy.
Only 32% of Venezuelans voted in 2018 presidential election
So luckily, the people of Venezuela had a chance to speak and let their voices be heard, because in 2018 was the year of a presidential election and Maduro was on the ballot, he, was basically running against a slate of like, it doesn't matter who the candidates are because it was all going to be corrected anyways. So the outcome was almost a foregone conclusion. Also, one thing I learned researching this is when the government, when the living situation gets so bad that people stop caring about civics and stop doing things like voting. So for example, in this election in 2018, only 32% of the country turned out for it, despite the fact that everybody wanted to get rid of this.
>> Taylor: Guy, right, but they had no hope that it was going to work.
>> Farz: Yeah, they had no hope it was going to work. Exactly. And a lot of people were getting killed in protests and being thrown in jail. So there was that piece of it too. so the international community basically said that once Maduro was, elected, quote unquote, they all called it a sham election, saying, no way, this was like, real. The US and the european allies declared that this guy named Juan Guaido was the actual acting president that they would deal with. and that was because he was in the line of succession as the National assembly speaker. He wasn't actually on any ballots. so he just kind of got picked up and placed in that spot that obviously resulted in Guaido going into exile and he eventually would settle in Miami with his wife and kids after trying a coup in 2019 to seize power, which failed miserably.
Tomorrow's presidential election in Venezuela will not be a free and fair one
that brings us to today where ballots are again currently being cast. And the hope is that it will be a free and fair election. It will not be a free and fair election. So there's already talks about how, Maduro is telling the poor people that whatever districts vote for him are going to get more food fashion, because again, the government controls food, they don't. And so he's trying to. Anyways, it's not going to be a free and fair election. Everybody kind of knows that already. but because of the sanctions that all these other countries are putting on Maduro, he's like, I have to hold this election, otherwise I won't get away from these sanctions. And these four like, are going to kill me. let's see, it will be. Wait, where should I leave this? Where I leave this? Yeah. So on this ballot for today, going into tomorrow, it's going to be Maduro versus a guy named Louise, Martinez and Edmundo, Gonzalez Uretia. We don't actually care about Louise because the real story here is the unitary platform, which should be the party platform on which Maria Corinna Machado runs on. But instead, the platform, for her stand in is, Sorry, the standard for her platform is this guy Edmundo. The reason she's out on the ballot was because basically she's a pain in the ass to the government. So she founded a group called Cernate, which I would just describe as a voter turnout electoral reform nonprofit. she actually led a recall referendum against Hugo Chavez in 2004. And, that was like, as the economy was kind of collapsing. She was one of the first ones to Cuba and saw it and started protesting against it. Chavez would declare anybody a part of this organization, especially its founders, traders. And they face prison time and substantial fines. Yeah, this is funny. So Chavez really hated George Lee Bush, who was oppressed at the time. and so anybody he didn't like, who, like, he didn't like this woman. And he like, said that she was like a bush lackey in doing his bidding. He was so petty. One time he went to the UN and he said that the devil spoke here yesterday. And I can still smell the sulfur. You remember that? m he really hated Bush. It was funny. So, in late 2023, she won her party's nomination to run for president. But in the intervening period, between her political activity against Chavez and this time period, she was also a huge supporter of Guaido, which the Maduro government saw as a traitor. So because of this, because of the actions she took to support Guaido in a peaceful transition of power, she was banned by the government of Maduro to run for official office for 15 years, 2023.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: Yeah. So what she said was, okay, look, I'm in charge of my party. My party's on the ballot. I'm gonna pick this other woman named Karena Yoris as my alternate. that was actually blocked for reasons I don't totally understand procedurally, because her name wasn't. She wasn't able to add her name to the ballot. But this other guy was apparently already on the ballot named Edmundo Gonzalez. And that's the person that is running against Maduro really right now. and so they basically just place him as the alternate. So in theory, if he were to win, he would be the formal president while Machado would really be running the show behind the scenes. so that's kind of where we are right now. And really, like a question, like, what's going to end up happening? Polls are estimating that this Edmundo guy is going to win by a huge, huge landslide. Apparently, as of early July, then Biden and now presumably Harris's team, as well as Trump's team have both, for all three, I don't know who would say all have been in touch with Maduro saying, hey, like, we can give you a soft landing. Like, you don't have to destroy your country, basically. Because the outcome of that is that if we don't help him find a way to make this peaceful, then the quiet immigration situation gets even worse. And so it's all kind of interconnected. But the one thing that did make me think of Taylor was something you said before, which is if you can be so liberal that you become conservative, or so conservative, you can become liberal because Richard was considered, like a right wing extremist, because she doesn't believe in, like, the first thing she says she's going to do if she takes over is she's going to privatize the oil industry again and privatize all these other industries, which, like, is considered kind of like a right wing talking point. She's like, no, like, I'm not right wing. This has, this, what we're doing is killing all of our people. And so, it's like a, it's like a, I thought I was thinking about that as a good example of what you said of,
>> Taylor: Yeah, and I think that's what you hear. A lot of, like, Latin Americans are afraid of socialism in America because they have seen things go so poorly, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. When I was living in Miami, the Cubans, man, you never wanted to, like, tell them you were supporting Democrats. They were so hard. Right? yeah. And, yeah, I mean, I get it. Like, you, you came here for a reason, to escape that. So. But anyways, that's what's going on. That's why you're seeing that old dude against Maduro is because legally she was barred from being on the ballot, but her party wasn't. And so as the party leader, the same way, kind of Kamala Harris is the party head now of the democratic party. so is she. And so she gets to choose who gets to replace her on the ballot.
>> Taylor: Interesting.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. But realistically, hopefully, she wins. It's like a really, really bad situation, like, reading some of the stories about what's going on. I think being in America, we're kind of insulated from a lot of, a lot of things that you wouldn't even think about. But listen to some podcasts around this. They were talking about how there's just nonstop blackouts all over Venezuela. The government has no tax revenue to build infrastructure, much less maintain the infrastructure it has, which means when horrible events happen, the crackdowns on, protests happen, or whatever happens, those people go into the hospital, it has no power. And apparently hospitals there are guarded by the military because they don't want you to know how they're taking care of people.
>> Farz: one doctor they interviewed who was like, his voice was like hidden or whatever he was, he was saying like, yeah, you know, the other thing that happens when you don't have good access to, like, the equipment you need in a functioning hospital, people die. But then the morgue doesn't have power, and so all these bodies are just blowing up and the morgue, and it's just horrible. It's a nightmare story.
>> Taylor: where's all the oil?
>> Farz: So the oil is still, So the oil is still there. It's not that they don't have oil, it's that the price of oil. Well, it's two, it's twofold. One is the price of oil is fluctuated back and forth to not allow for any stability in their per, barrel market share. there's another point I was going to make there.
Your brother's wife is in surgery for internal bleeding
I totally letting go of and forgetting. Oh, the other thing was that they have this concept called billionaires, which is, It's like a derogatory term for the government officials who are basically getting enriched off of the oil and natural resources and none of that kind of flowing down. And so it's just equal parts corruption, and the devaluing of a barrel of, crude. But yeah, it was called the bolivar revolution. And so the people who are in power, who are now exceedingly rich, like Maduro, are called that boulevard. Boulevard heirs.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: So, yeah, nightmare situation. is, your brother's wife, is that what you said? Or girlfriend?
>> Taylor: wife.
>> Farz: So she was. She raised there?
>> Taylor: Yeah, she's from Venezuela. They met in, online. He wanted to learn to speak Spanish and they met online in like a place where you get like, paired up with someone. and then she came here on a scholarship to go to a, ah, school in Oregon. And she only had that for like a semester, but then, like, he went up there and then she came down to Vegas and they lived, they've been buried for like ten years. She's been her ten years. but she's in surgery right now.
>> Farz: Is she really?
>> Taylor: Yes. For internal bleeding is what my brother says, so.
>> Farz: Oh, my God.
>> Taylor: I'll keep everyone posted. I don't know anything else. I'm just hearing this from them. It's just wild that she texted me that today about being excited about the election.
>> Farz: Oh, my God. Is he in surgery or.
>> Taylor: No, he did a ct scan and they said he's okay. and he just is like, in pain. He's gonna probably just be in a shit ton of pain, you know?
>> Farz: Geez. Well, two things, obviously, hope she's gonna be okay. And the second is. Man, that'd be so interesting to get her perspective on all this.
>> Taylor: I know. We'll, we'll ask her.
>> Farz: Yeah, I know, I know. Obviously, like, interview her and get her perspective, especially after results come back.
>> Taylor: Yeah, we should ask. You can ask my brother too. yeah, I'm sure he knows a lot about it. His Spanish is excellent. So is her English. So it worked.
>> Farz: Well, I, mean, that kind of has to. One or the other.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Sweet.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Well, cool. Super interesting. And interesting that's happening, like, right now.
>> Farz: Yeah. Dutch disease. I never heard of it. It's like when I first saw that, I was like, is this some, like it's supposed to like dengue or something? Like, I don't understand. Would.
>> Taylor: I would think. I think. I would think maybe like a tree would be involved, you know, but like, that's like a dutch umb. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: cool. Well, thanks for taking hearing this through and especially in the middle of everything you're going through right now.
Taylor: I read your book and did a podcast about volcanoes
do you have anything that you want to read out?
>> Taylor: I do. I have such an exciting email to share with you. so in November, I was in the middle of my series on volcanoes, and, I read a book called the Untold Story of Mount St. Helens. And I in Bill the author, Steve Olson, and I just said, hey, I did a podcast and your, and your book was the main source. And he wrote back this week and he said, taylor, I lost this email for months and then suddenly found it. And my wife and I listened to the podcast in the car yesterday. Great job. We laughed all the way down the I five quote 100% dead as you described Harry Truman post eruption has entered our permanent lexicon.
>> Farz: Aw, isnt that cool? Thats so cool.
>> Taylor: I know. Im very excited about it.
>> Farz: Thank you for listening.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah super fun. Thats the second time ive emailed an author and been like I read your book and did a podcast. Also the woman who wrote the book on the Merlin incident, she was like, it was great. I was like yay.
>> Farz: Well no you also did an interview with.
>> Taylor: Oh yeah, and I interviewed the other guy too. Yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: So you're like three, three and oh yeah, pretty fun. That was awesome.
If you want to email us, we're at doomtofailpodmail
yeah, yeah you mentioned, Taylor mentioned to me that we got a letter and I was like what is it? What is it? You never replied. I was like, well I know because.
>> Taylor: I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you live.
>> Farz: Very exciting and we got a new fan out of it. This is our guerrilla marketing tactic. Taylor's.
>> Taylor: You just have email authors at a fucking time. yeah, but if you want to email us, we're at doomtofailpodmail.com on all the socials at doom to fail pod. So please let us know.
>> Farz: Please let us know.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: sweet. Okay, well I'll go ahead and cut things off. There's nothing else. Are you good?
>> Taylor: I'm good. Thank you.
>> Farz: Thanks all. Bye.