© Nathalia Angarita for The New York Times
Venezuelan local history is central to Arístides Medina Rubio’s legacy, which reclaimed regional memory, oral testimony and archives beyond official narratives.
Related: Venezuela Launches Zero-Hunger Plan Targeting 2030 Goal
Venezuelan local history was the life’s work of historian Arístides Medina Rubio, who argued that no universal history is possible without the memory of towns, regions and ordinary people.
Medina Rubio believed that Venezuela’s past had been reduced for too long to the history of Caracas, independence heroes and official dates.
His central thesis was simple but powerful: without local history, universal history is impossible.
The historian was born in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, on April 27, 1937, and died in Caracas on October 1, 2019, at the age of 82.
He graduated as a professor of History and Geography from the Pedagogical Institute of Caracas in 1969 and earned a doctorate from El Colegio de México in 1974.
Medina Rubio founded the Chair of Venezuelan History at the Pedagogical Institute in 1976 and taught undergraduate, graduate and doctoral courses at the Central University of Venezuela.
He directed the university’s School of History from 1986 to 1989 and became one of the country’s leading theorists and promoters of regional history.
His influence extended beyond Venezuela through his work with historians across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Medina Rubio was also an editor, publisher and institution builder. He led Editorial Trópicos and co-founded the journal Tierra Firme in 1982, which has published more than 100 issues.
He served as director of Venezuela’s National Library from 2003 to 2009 and helped found and lead the National Center for History.
His books include Regional History: Seven Essays on Theory and Method (1984), A Minimal History of Venezuela (1994), Introduction to Regional History (1995) and Readings in Regional and Local History (2002).
In 2018, he presented The Venezuelan People: 15,000 Years of History, written with Mario Sanoja, Iraida Vargas, Carmen Bohórquez and Luis Britto García.
The book challenged the idea that Venezuelan history begins with Christopher Columbus or independence, placing Indigenous peoples at the center of the national narrative.
Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela | Centro Nacional de Estudios Históricos
Medina Rubio argued that Venezuelan local history had long been overshadowed by a Caracas-centered narrative.
He said official history focused on events such as April 19, 1810, and July 5, 1811, while ignoring the provinces that made up the Spanish Captaincy General of Venezuela.
“The great contribution of those of us who work on regional and local history is that we have reclaimed those spaces,” Medina Rubio said.
“Our history was filled with the history of Caracas, not even the Province of Caracas. The same happened with Maracaibo and Cumaná. Angostura appeared only when Bolívar was there, but beyond that, almost nothing.”
He argued that many Venezuelan towns had histories long before independence, but those stories were often reduced to the presence of famous figures.
He cited the McGregor Stone in El Socorro as an example of a place remembered mainly because a celebrated leader passed through it.
Medina Rubio insisted that local chroniclers preserved details that national histories often overlooked.
He also defended oral history as a legitimate historical source.
“The academic historian works with documents, statistics and maps,” he said. “But the people work with memory, and the only way to preserve that memory is through testimony.”
He said oral testimony passes from generation to generation and preserves events that may never leave a community but remain part of its historical memory.
Medina Rubio pointed to the Tere Tere, a traditional dish from Guatire, as an example of how local knowledge survives through community memory.
He said many people learned about the dish because residents created a magazine to document local flavors and knowledge.
For Medina Rubio, food, crafts, music and everyday practices were also historical sources because they revealed regional identities and social relations.
He noted that the hallaca, considered a national dish, has distinct regional expressions in the Andes, Margarita and central Venezuela.
The historian believed that recognizing those differences was essential to understanding Venezuela as a diverse and plural country.
Archivo General de la Nación | Academia Nacional de la Historia
Medina Rubio also challenged traditional accounts of Venezuela’s independence, arguing that the process was broader, more complex and less centralized than official history suggested.
He explained that the people present in Caracas’ Plaza Mayor on April 19, 1810, were mainly from the Province of Caracas.
They came from Charallave, what is now the Plaza municipality, Guarenas and the valleys of Aragua.
People from Barcelona, Margarita, Cumaná, Angostura, the Andes and other regions joined the independence movement later, but quickly.
Medina Rubio said communication was decisive in spreading the movement.
In 1810, news from Caracas could take weeks to reach other parts of the country. Yet the April 19 events spread within eight to 10 days.
Caracas was the most important city in the Captaincy General, which included seven provinces.
After the Caracas council declared the Junta of the Rights of Ferdinand VII, later transformed into the Supreme Junta of Caracas, emissaries were sent to other provinces.
Their mission was to secure support for the Caracas movement and build consensus across the Captaincy General.
Of the seven provinces, only Maracaibo, Coro and Guayana did not immediately join. They later incorporated into the independence process.
Medina Rubio said the role of those emissaries remained insufficiently studied.
He also argued that many historical documents had been hidden or removed from public access for decades.
He pointed to the case of independence leader Francisco de Miranda and Juan Germán Roscio, who served as prosecutor against Miranda in 1806.
Medina Rubio said Roscio’s role in condemning Miranda and others captured at Ocumare had long been obscured by official narratives.
He said archives later revealed another side of Roscio, not to erase his contribution to independence, but to show that his life had more than one phase.
Medina Rubio said three volumes of previously unknown Miranda documents were later published, while other archives remained insufficiently studied.
Venezuelan Ministry of Popular Power for Education | Fundación Librerías del Sur
Medina Rubio believed that the democratization of Venezuelan local history required recovering archives, publishing forgotten documents and training new historians.
He said that before 1960, Venezuelan history was often presented as a nearly divine war led by elites.
He cited the 1808 Revolution of Caracas, organized by wealthy Caracas elites known as mantuanos against Spanish rule.
Although the movement was betrayed, Medina Rubio considered it more important than earlier pre-independence uprisings led by figures such as Pirela and Chirino, as well as Miranda’s invasions.
He noted that the first major study of the movement, Andrés de Ponte’s The Revolution of Caracas, was published in 1910 and not republished until after the 1960s.
Medina Rubio said that after 1960, the work of the General Archive of the Nation, the National Academy of History and university history schools began to recover Venezuela’s past.
Books written by witnesses, memoirists and military figures became available to researchers and the public.
After 1998, he said, the recovery of historical memory accelerated further.
More archives were created, and descendants of historical figures began donating documents to the National Library, the General Archive of the Nation and the National Academy of History.
Medina Rubio said those archives allowed a completely different understanding of Venezuela’s past.
He also criticized the fact that, until about 2002, Venezuelan school history textbooks were produced in Spain.
He said the government purchased millions of books from the Spanish publisher Santillana, with financing linked to international institutions.
Medina Rubio said that practice ended during the government of Hugo Chávez, when he was director of the National Library and Aristóbulo Istúriz was education minister.
He argued that replacing Santillana’s editorial capacity would take years because it involved producing and updating textbooks for millions of students.
For Medina Rubio, the transformation of historical knowledge was a long-term process tied to education, archives and public access to information.
UNESCO Memory of the World | Latin American Council of Social Sciences
Medina Rubio argued that Venezuelan local history helps people understand present-day problems and develop independent civic consciousness.
He gave the example of a town without drinking water or an aqueduct.
Residents may ask why there is no water system despite the existence of a large river nearby.
By investigating the issue, they may discover that a nearby aqueduct serves land owned by a powerful landowner.
That discovery can lead people to organize and fight for their rights.
For Medina Rubio, local history was therefore a tool for social awareness and political action.
He also emphasized the importance of recovering the everyday lives of ordinary people, including songs, dances, food and popular traditions.
He noted that colonial society was deeply marked by class and racial hierarchies.
The term “mantuano” referred to wealthy white elites because the Church allowed only white women to wear mantles, while Black, Indigenous and mixed-race people were excluded.
Medina Rubio said food also reflected those hierarchies. Elites ate refined dishes, while ordinary people ate sancocho, a mixture of ingredients cooked in a gourd.
He argued that history must recover those excluded voices and recognize collective actors as makers of their own history.
Medina Rubio believed that independence was not a completed event but an unfinished process.
He said Venezuela had not yet built a fully independent structure or developed independence as a collective way of life.
For him, history should not be reduced to memorizing dates, names and places.
It should reveal processes, recover local heroes and connect the past with present realities.
His legacy continues through the historians, archivists and communities working to recover Venezuela’s regional memory.
Machado regressou à Venezuela dez meses depois. Durante a sua ausência, os Estados Unidos detiveram o Presidente Nicolás Maduruo numa operação muito criticada pela comunidade internacional e assumiram o controlo da indústria petrolífera do país, enquanto mantiveram o apoio à líder da oposição venezuelana
La leader dell’opposizione venezuelana e premio Nobel per la Pace Maria Corina Machado ha annunciato di essere tornata in Venezuela dopo quasi un anno di esilio. “Sono qui. Con voi”, ha scritto in spagnolo su X. Il suo alleato, l’ex candidato presidenziale Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, ha rilanciato il messaggio confermando il rientro: “Venezuela! Sono entusiasta di annunciarvi che la nostra leader, la mia cara Maria Corina, è sul suolo venezuelano”. La ‘libertadora’ viveva in esilio dal dicembre dello scorso anno, dopo aver lasciato il Venezuela per recarsi a Oslo a ritirare il Premio Nobel per la Pace 2025 poi clamorosamente donato a Donald Trump, che oggi l’ha definita “una donna molto gentile” aggiungendo: “Spero che sia al sicuro”.
Nicolas Maduro, catturato il 3 gennaio dagli Stati Uniti e ora detenuto al Metropolitan Detention Center di Brooklyn, la definiva “una nazista criminale”. Machado aveva già tentato di tornare in Venezuela nei mesi scorsi, a giugno e a settembre via mare o via aerea, ma le era stato impedito. In Venezuela è accusata di tradimento, terrorismo, cospirazione e omicidio.
Prima degli ostacoli al suo rientro, dall’aprile del 2014 le era stato proibito lasciare il Paese e viveva in clandestinità dalla vittoria di Maduro alle presidenziali. Nel 2015, le era stato impedito di ricandidarsi alle elezioni legislative e nel 2024 a quelle presidenziali, anche se aveva vinto le primarie dell’opposizione con il 90 per cento dei tre milioni di voti totali. Ha poi sostenuto il candidato Urrutia, costretto all’esilio.
Coordinatrice nazionale di “Vente“, il partito della libertà che ha cofondato nel 2013, è stata deputata all’Assemblea nazionale, eletta con il maggior numero di voti alle elezioni per la legislatura del 2010-2015. Era stata espulsa dall’Assemblea nazionale dal presidente della Camera Diosdato Cabello dopo essere intervenuta nel marzo del 2014 al Consiglio permanente dell’Organizzazione degli Stati americani per denunciare le violazioni dei diritti umani del regime di Maduro. Nel 2017 ha fondato, insieme ad Antonio Ledezma e Diego Arria, sostenuti da un Consiglio nazionale, la piattaforma “SoyVenezuela“, alleanza a cui hanno aderito molti settori della società impegnati per riportare il Paese alla democrazia.
Il partito ha lanciato la piattaforma digitale Constructores per registrare i venezuelani residenti nel Paese e all’estero in vista di possibili elezioni. L’iniziativa punta a facilitare l’aggiornamento dei dati e l’iscrizione al registro elettorale, anche in vista di un eventuale rinnovo del Consiglio nazionale elettorale. Gli utenti potranno inserire i propri dati personali e registrarsi attraverso un’identificazione biometrica. Il partito assicura che le informazioni saranno protette e non accessibili alle sue strutture. La piattaforma consentirà inoltre agli iscritti di proporre idee e progetti da sottoporre alla valutazione dei gruppi di lavoro. Da anni l’opposizione denuncia le difficoltà incontrate da migliaia di venezuelani all’estero per iscriversi alle liste elettorali, spesso accessibili soltanto nel territorio nazionale. Il nuovo registro dovrebbe anche aiutare a individuare le aree in cui potrebbero servire punti di iscrizione, qualora si creassero le condizioni istituzionali per organizzare il voto.
L'articolo La leader dell’opposizione Maria Corina Machado torna in Venezuela. E il suo partito lancia una piattaforma per registrare gli elettori proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
© Nathalia Angarita for The New York Times
After nearly 10 months abroad, María Corina Machado, the anti-Chavista opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has returned to Venezuela. “I am here, with you,” the opposition figure wrote on social media on Sunday morning.
© Vente Venezuela (EFE)
© Federico Parra/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has launched a national food security plan aimed at eliminating undernourishment by 2030, combining domestic production with an expanded distribution network and cooperation between public institutions and private businesses.
RELATED: Venezuela Oil Production Hits 1.25 Million Barrels Daily in Major Recovery
The Venezuela Alimenta Hambre Cero (Venezuela Feeds: Zero Hunger) plan was launched Saturday alongside the opening of the 250th facility in the Mercal and PDVAL food distribution networks in La Trinidad. The rollout also included the deployment of 100 mobile food outlets nationwide and the simultaneous opening of 10 supermarket-style establishments in other regions.
The new facility features a meat-cutting center for retail sales. According to the government, more than 90% of Venezuela’s food supply comes from domestic production, which it identifies as a foundation for improving access to essential goods across the country.
“All efforts, all capacities, the local economy, the large agro-industrial sector, the entire distribution and logistics network, financial resources and fuel incentives will be brought together to achieve this strategic objective,” Acting President said during a broadcast on state television channel Venezolana de Televisión.
First announced on Oct. 12, 2026, at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s World Food Forum in Rome, the plan is built around six strategic areas designed to coordinate government and private sector efforts. These include support for community-based economic activity and local entrepreneurship through a proposed Local Economy Law.
The initiative also prioritizes scientific innovation in nutrition and the development of statistical monitoring and oversight systems.
“We are very close to achieving our zero-hunger goal. We made this commitment to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), to the country and to our citizens,” Delcy Rodríguez said.
She also pointed to the effects of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States, saying they had restricted access to financing, agricultural inputs, technology and spare parts needed to sustain domestic production chains.
Senior government officials responsible for the economy, digital government, food, youth, industry and commerce, agriculture, and science and technology attended the launch.
Private sector representatives included Ítalo Atencio, president of the National Association of Supermarkets and Self-Service Stores (ANSA), and Juvenal Arbeláez, president of the Venezuelan Chamber of the Food Industry (CAVIDEA).
The plan brings together food distribution infrastructure, domestic production and public-private cooperation as Venezuela pursues its goal of eliminating undernourishment by 2030.
Durante i viaggi ufficiali, solitamente i ministri o i diplomatici si concedono dei momenti privati per visitare determinati siti o luoghi d’interesse nei Paesi che li stanno ospitando. Il segretario di Stato Usa, Marco Rubio, ha tenuto fede a questa tradizione durante la sua recente visita in India. A destare curiosità è stata però la meta scelta: la raffineria di Jamnagar, nello Stato indiano nordoccidentale di Gujarat. Il funzionario statunitense ci è arrivato dopo la tappa compiuta a Mumbai, capitale finanziaria del subcontinente, un itinerario che fa capire la natura soprattutto economica del suo viaggio nel Paese asiatico.
Prevedere un programma di questo tipo è servito all’amministrazione Trump per due scopi principali: primo, evitare tensioni politiche con l’India in una fase di grande vicinanza tra Stati Uniti e Pakistan, arcinemico del gigante asiatico. Ulteriore dimostrazione di questa volontà è il fatto che Rubio non abbia incontrato il primo ministro indiano, Narendra Modi, ma solamente il suo omologo, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Secondo, in questa fase di avvicinamento alle ormai prossime elezioni statunitensi di midterm, l’attenzione della Casa Bianca è tutta dedicata alla necessità di ottenere risultati che gli elettori Usa possano toccare con mano.
E qui si arriva all’impianto di Jamnagar, controllato dalla famiglia del multimiliardario Mukesh Ambani attraverso la società Reliance Industries. La raffineria è la più grande al mondo, al punto da essere in grado di produrre fino a 1,4 milioni di barili di petrolio al giorno, quasi il 2% globale. Un’altra sua particolarità è la capacità di raffinare anche greggio ultra-pesante, come quello che ad esempio esce dai pozzi petroliferi del Venezuela, che richiede cicli di lavorazione molto sofisticati e approfonditi prima di poter essere immesso sul mercato come carburante. Il riferimento al Paese sudamericano non è casuale. Già attualmente l’India è il secondo principale acquirente di greggio proveniente dal Venezuela dietro agli Stati Uniti, che sostengono il governo ad interim che guida Caracas dopo la cattura di Nicolas Maduro del gennaio scorso.
Non sono trapelate dichiarazioni ufficiali dopo la visita di Rubio all’impianto, ma è chiaro come l’obiettivo statunitense sia far sì che l’India aumenti ulteriormente le importazioni di petrolio dal Paese sudamericano e continui a immettere sul mercato diesel a basso costo per calmierare i prezzi a livello globale. C’è da dire che Jamnagar opera già quasi al massimo della sua capacità di raffinazione, ma in ogni caso un maggiore acquisto di petrolio venezuelano potrebbe ridurre le importazioni indiane di greggio russo, uno dei fattori che negli ultimi mesi ha causato maggiori attriti lungo l’asse Washington-Nuova Delhi. Certo, recentemente il presidente Usa Donald Trump ha cambiato tono nei confronti di Mosca – sempre guardando alla riduzione del prezzo del diesel – ma anche solo la diversificazione delle rotte di approvvigionamento favorisce la calma sui mercati internazionali.
Un altro tema che probabilmente è stato affrontato è quello dell’investimento di Reliance Industries sul territorio statunitense. A marzo scorso Trump ha annunciato che la conglomerata indiana avrebbe realizzato una raffineria nei pressi di Brownsville, in Texas, ma da quel momento non sono emersi altri dettagli. Una situazione che ha portato molti osservatori a mettere in dubbio la volontà degli Ambani di procedere. Un tentennamento legato probabilmente anche alla grande vicinanza dell’imprenditore indiano al primo ministro Modi che potrebbe spingere Reliance a tenere in stand-by l’operazione come leva politica nei confronti degli Stati Uniti in una fase di tensione anche sul fronte economico.
Durante la sua visita nel subcontinente, Rubio ha però affermato che la definizione dell’accordo commerciale tra India e Stati Uniti è “incredibilmente vicina”, un’intesa che dovrebbe regolamentare a 360 gradi gli scambi tra i due Paesi e scongiurare l’introduzione di dazi da parte di Washington. Apparentemente, quello del segretario di Stato Usa è stato un viaggio interlocutorio, ma in vista del midterm per Trump ogni sforzo può essere decisivo.
L'articolo Rubio visita la più grande raffineria del mondo in India. Trump vuole un accordo con Nuova Delhi per abbassare ancora il prezzo del gasolio proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Login