VENEZUELA IN CRISIS | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jul 8, 2026 6:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Jul 8, 2026 6:00 pm
14th & V
In this essential intervention, Venezuelan socialists provide an invaluable analysis of the origins and causes of their country’s crisis, and offer a critique of the Maduro regime.
Venezuela in Crisis brings together a diverse array of Venezuelan thinkers and activists to grapple with the question of how and why the aspirations for what Hugo Chavez deemed “socialism in the twenty-first century” gave way to the deepest economic collapse in all of South America. While recognizing the devastating impact of sanctions, this collection’s authors reject the simplistic view that all would be well if not for US meddling. Rather, they argue that from governmental mismanagement to rising repression, the regime of Nicolás Maduro deserves a significant share of the blame for Venezuela’s ongoing crisis.
With chapters focused on the Maduro government’s economic policies, its continuities and breaks from the Chávez era, its erosion of democratic processes in the country, and its doubling down on extractivism, Venezuela in Crisis is an indispensable guide for international solidarity activists and for anyone looking for a nuanced understanding of Venezuela’s crisis.
Writing from an anticapitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-authoritarian perspective, this volume never loses sight of the need to stand with the Venezuelan people rather than their government—even when it claims to be struggling to build socialism.
Editor of Venezuela in Crisis Dr. Anderson Bean is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside contributing author Simón Rodríguez to share more about this “invaluable book that helps us all better understand how a country that was once the most exciting social laboratory for change descended into such a profound crisis” (Federico Fuentes, Editor, LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal). Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Dr. Bean will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Doors open to guests at 5:30pm. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of VENEZUELA IN CRISIS will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Anderson Bean is a sociology professor at North Carolina A&T State University, a North Carolina–based activist, and a member of GRS and the Tempest Collective. He is a contributor and editor of Venezuela in Crisis: Socialist Perspectives as well as the author of the book Communes and the Venezuelan State: The Struggle for Participatory Democracy in a Time of Crisis.
Simón Rodríguez is a Venezuelan socialist writer and journalist, a founder of the Partido Socialismo y Libertad (PSL), and a former professor at the Universidad de los Andes. He is a founding member of Laclase.info and Venezuelanvoices.org and has published in NACLA, The New Arab, Rebelión, and numerous other outlets. His work has been translated into six languages, and he is coauthor, with Miguel Sorans, of Why Did Chavismo Fail? A Left-Opposition Balance Sheet.
BOOK DETAILS
Venezuela in Crisis
Socialist Perspectives
Edited by Anderson M. Bean
February 17, 2026 | Paperback, 332 pages, $27.95
