Books by Francisco Rodriguez
“He particularly focuses on the period between 2012 and 2020, from when Hugo Chávez died and into the Nicolas Maduro presidency. When I was choosing these books, I thought Francisco’s book was the best at capturing the state of degradation and at explaining the economic and social collapse that Venezuela has experienced since 2012, and after Maduro became president. It also coincides with the incredibly aggressive US responses to the Nicholas Maduro government. So what we see is the beginnings of the Maduro government coinciding with a very tough response, initially from Barack Obama, then from the first Trump presidency, from the Joe Biden presidency, and again, currently, under the second Trump presidency. What Francisco does very cleverly in this book is to demonstrate—and it’s a very serious claim to make—that destroying Venezuela’s economy was actually a political strategy, both of the Venezuelan government and of the Venezuelan opposition.” Read more...
Julia Buxton, Policy Analyst
Interviews where books by Francisco Rodriguez were recommended
-
1
The Magical State: Nature, Money and Modernity in Venezuela
by Fernando Coronil -
2
The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela
by Miguel Tinker Salas -
3
Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution
by Richard Gott -
4
Who Can Stop the Drums: Urban Social Movements in Chavez’s Venezuela
by Sujatha Fernandes -
5
The Collapse of Venezuela: Scorched Earth Politics and Economic Decline 2012-2020
by Francisco Rodriguez
The best books on Venezuela, recommended by Julia Buxton
The best books on Venezuela, recommended by Julia Buxton
In early January 2026 US forces arrested the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro and took him into custody in the US, charged with drug offences. Political scientist Julia Buxton chooses five books on modern Venezuelan politics and explains that this is only the latest political catastrophe to befall a country that has been plagued by its vast oil reserves. An endowment of natural resources that was expected to make the country rich when they were discovered in the early 20th century has only succeeded in making it poor and politically unstable.
