Radio War Nerd EP #568 — Venezuela Under Siege, feat. Miguel Tinker Salas
Guest: Miguel Tinker Salas
Recorded: December 17, 2025
Ames talks to Venezuelan historian Miguel Tinker Salas about Venezuela politics & history as the country faces renewed imperialist assaults from the Trump regime.
Buy Miguel's books:
-Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know
-The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela
Total time: 1:07:37
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Buy & review John Dolan's new book, They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War
Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd
Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (26)
Good episode overall but so tired of the neither Washington or Caracas crowd. ‘Maduro has done a horrible job’. Ok bro, you try constructing socialism under siege from the biggest global empire. The majority of the Venezuelan people clearly don’t think Chavismo has failed. Even with the tremendous pressures, the majority of the Venezuelan working class continues to support the PSUV and, by extension, Maduro. Millions have come out to support the patriotic militias against US imperial aggression. Even under the most extreme economic deprivation, the government under Maduro has continued massive expansion of the housing stock. Literally millions of home built which would be inconceivable in the US let alone a small country with all the challenges they face. And people keep voting for the PSUV. There’s been no compelling evidence produced by the opposition to suggest last year‘s election was fixed. It turns out people just don’t like compradores and the reactionary opposition who are calling for the US to bomb their country.
Another excellent guest. Well-done.
Good episode thanks
Tinker tailor solider spy
IMO there is no darker future for a nation than one that follows as a US backed coup. Maybe you get temporary economic relief, but in the long run it's chaos and exploitation. Seems like Maduro is on the whole a remarkable leader simply for withstanding the US this long
Curious whether the anti maduro left represents a large constituency? Or is it similarly academic/elite as in the US and other western nations?
My limited understanding as a white US American, who has no knowledge beyond a pretty deep interest in the bolivarian revolution is that no, the anti-chavismo “left“ is pretty much tiny and irrelevant. Like the guest brings up the PCV. But if you look at the PCV, they have no real base. Even the deeply popular opposition around Machado has dozens of positions at national and local levels. The PCV has something like one member of the house of Congress. And four people say this is because of some sort of like cruel depression or something, that was the case going back to the beginning of the revolution. They’ve always been marginal
great episode
RWN succumbs to dysentery
“Nu-con” is an amazing term, I’m stealing it
Anyone catch the name and author of the book he mentions early in the interview.? Se habla español.
Maduro is a gd saint for even putting on a show of having elections, after all the opposition has done. If I was in charge, machado and her ilk would have long been put through the blender
51:11 You gotta be fucking kidding me, dude said "six seven" Unsubscribe, history is boring anyway
poke made with warm rice is like an petri dish with media in an incubator… if it’s any solace, it may be just a bacteria toxin and not an infection. feel better soon
Wegmans mention
Point taken about there being real issues with the way the Maduro gov has inherited Chavismo but it’s absolutely time to “circle the wagons” and back them 100% against this nightmarish imperialist onslaught. “They’re authoritarian and don’t abide by liberal elections” okay I don’t care. Giving an inch to the opposition is suicidal given their situation, even the opposition to their (ultra)left. I sympathize with the extreme poor of VZ suffering under sanctions and who hold resentment that their society is so militarized and there’s room for corruption in that military structure but agitation and condemnation of it are just unacceptable when the US wants to turn them into another Libya. Anyways overall good episode and all the best to John.
There doesn't have to be a good guy. There's just different factions of assholes, a bunch of hapless victims who have no say in anything that happens, and a bunch of hapless bystanders who similarly have no say in anything that happens. I can imagine better outcomes, even if they're very unlikely, for Gaza, Sudan, and plenty of other places where terrible things are happening. Ukraine and Venezuela, on the other hand, are just fucked. Much like Ukraine, whether Venezuelans resist or not, capitulate or not, no matter what they do, they can't win - they can't even effect a different outcome. Short of God personally intervening to vaporize the United States and its entire empire, Venezuela's fate is sealed.
Trump is gearing up for Operation Jungle Storm
Heroic effort by Mark poisoning himself so that we can have a health update even without John. Thank you for your service Mark 🫡
Well said! Friendly note to Mark that as a food poisoning aficionado (but not a medical professional) I can say it doesn't sound like any food poisoning I've ever had, but obviously everyone's body is differently horrible. If it doesn't clear soon I would suggest looking into the possibility that it's parasites, though. Feel better soon!
And, once again, thanks Obama for being such a chickenshit monster to wield sanctions because they are bloodless in the first order effects but actually inflict unconscionable pain and damage on people. Fucking demonic.
I can’t believe it took meow long but I just realized that Norway awarded the Nobel peace prove to this insurgent piece of shit that should have been dealt with like all insurgent leaders should be within the context of Norway also being a huge non-OPEC member petrostate. In case it’s not clear what the Atlantic consensus is on lesser states wishing to actually assert their sovereignty
I think this is oversimplified. Norwegian petrochemical interests do likely drive some of the hawkishness of the local elite, but this specific prize award is probably meant as a way of mollifying Trump who couldn't get the prize because all euros find him incredibly gauche. Additionally, the makeup of the present Committee is such that there's a very whiney right wing who nonetheless don't necessarily want to give the Prize to e.g. Zelensky. The Machado award solves a lot of problems for the Committee - it protects them from charges of wokeleftism and it's not in an area which is particularly sensitive to local political concerns while also placating Trump.
Hey RWN gang, will you guys be adding a gift option ? I’d love to gift a subscription.
What I love about the publicity push behind Maria Corina Machado is that every time she is photographed, the lighting always makes her look evil. It seems like there is no way to light her that *doesn't* make her look evil.
Being evil does that. It also ages the fuck out of people.