Venezuela Today: Challenges from Within and Abroad

Steve Ellner, author of numerous books and professor at Universidad De Oriente in Venezuela from 1977 to 2003, is touring the US to give a presentation on the recent events in Venezuela and how people there are coping with hyper-inflation as well as food and medicine shortages.

Sponsored by: BU Center for Latin American Studies, Pardee School of Global Studies and US-Venezuelan Solidarity Committee

Endorsed by United for Justice with Peace

The Bolivarian Revolution, initiated by Hugo Chavez in 1999 and now led by President Nicolas Maduro, has been in the bullseye of attacks by the Trump administration and the European Union. The US and European sanctions have been an economic stranglehold that has caused the Venezuelan economy to crumble. Economic sanctions prevent the normal flow of payments for goods, causing shortages and hyper-inflation that has reached over 1,000%. Venezuelans have resorted to migration to neighboring countries to look for a better life. The exodus has created a shortage of human talent in Venezuela impairing infrastructure (water, electricity, gas). The main Venezuelan industry, oil, has also suffered due to lack of talented resources and disinvestments, leading to a production decline of over 50%.

The Venezuelan Solidarity Committee is organizing a delegation to Venezuela in November. Information on the delegation will be available at this event.

Steve Ellner earned his Ph.D. in Latin American history at the University of New Mexico in 1980. Since 1977 he has taught economic 
history and political science at the Universidad de Oriente in Puerto La Cruz. He has been a visiting professor at Georgetown University (2004), Duke University (2005), Universidad de Buenos Aires (2010), Australian National University (2013), and Tulane University (2015) and has taught at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins, all in the field of Latin American history and political science. Among his book publications are: Venezuela’s Movimiento al Socialismo: From Guerrilla Defeat to Electoral Politics (Duke University Press, 1988); Organized Labor in Venezuela, 1958-1991: Behavior and Concerns in a Democratic Setting (Scholarly Resources, 1993); Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Polarization and the Chávez Phenomenon (Lynne Rienner, 2008).