The New York Times’ Sept. 28 piece on “the mood” inside Venezuela portrays a country bracing, confused, and cynical amid Washington’s lurches between pressure and engagement. A reading that to a great degree can be attributed to the fact that of the sources the report cites, all are sympathetic to the regime. Whether it’s malpractice, considering that a perfect opportunity to ask the Maduro regime uncomfortable questions was missed, is a question worth asking. More importantly, however, is to address how the piece fundamentally misreads President Donald Trump’s strategy while leaving Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro’s narrative unscrutinized.
The Times’ Julie Turkewitz misdiagnoses not only popular sentiment in Venezuela, by not challenging the regime’s talking points, but also U.S. strategy. What can look from Caracas like whiplash is, in fact, a deliberate “squeeze” designed to narrow Nicolás Maduro’s room for maneuver: brief, reversible openings to secure concrete gains — paired with fast-escalating pressure that steadily raises the cost of loyalty inside the regime. Recent months supply the clearest evidence yet — and there’s a logic reporters like Turkewitz refuse to grasp.
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Santiago Vidal Calvo is a Cities policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute. Juan P. Villasmil is a Research Fellow at the Center for a Secure Free Society.
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