Why I wrote the book ‘The General of Caracas’
The germ of an idea for The General Of Caracas occurred to me back in 2011 while crossing the border from Colombia into Venezuela. I wasn’t going far into the country, just to the nearest town (San Antonio de Táchira) to have my Colombian work visa approved at the Colombian consulate. In San Antonio, I chatted with locals while munching on empanadas and sipping icy cold Polar-brand beer in the town square. Many told stories of family members that had already left the country due to hard economic times and worrying signs that Venezuela was becoming more autocratic.
It was a story I’d heard before. While living in Bogotá at the time, I knew many Venezuelans who had fled for brighter opportunities abroad. Some were my students at the university where I taught. Later, as the situation in the country worsened, millions more would flee, turning it into the largest recorded refugee crisis in the Americas. Then, in 2017, large protests erupted onto the streets of Caracas as a constitutional crisis engulfed the country (See here for more details). Key members of the government, the military, the police, and other prominent state institutions began to voice their concern about the current regime in power, leading to a further crackdown on dissent, forcing many to flee abroad, often secretly. It was at this moment that I thought back to that border region as I read stories of dissidents crossing the border by foot at night or bouncing across the seas in speedboats to Aruba or Trinidad. Stories that, while covered in some news outlets, were largely unknown to the wider population. Or at least not given the priority of other humanitarian events elsewhere. At present (as of 2022), it’s thought that almost 7 million have left Venezuela (according to the UNHCR) and some news outlets have reported more. For a country of 28 million, that’s around a third of the population. When I returned to Colombia in 2018, it was common to hear Venezuelan accents in the street, from behind the bar in a tienda, or serving you at your table in a restaurant.
The opening scene of The General of Caracas is based on an event which happened around this time (in 2017 to be more precise). I’ll let you read the book to find out what happened but let’s just say it involves a helicopter flying over Caracas, firing shots, and dropping flash grenades. Although what follows in the story is pure fiction, I’ve peppered it with real events which have been fictionalised and woven into the story. To give you an idea of the gist of the novel, The General of Caracas focuses on a Venezuelan ex-general who flees the country and enlists the help of an ex-MI6 analyst to escort him to Lisbon to catch a flight to speak at the UN in New York. However, shadowy forces emanating from Caracas follow their every move and pursue them through Spain and Portugal. I know it sounds very thriller-y and action-y and James Bond-y but I hope it also has some substance to paint an accurate, if somewhat satirical, glimpse of the current regime in power in Venezuela.
And although my book doesn’t really cover the wider migration problem or the lives of everyday Venezuelans, I’ve provided some links below which will fill you in on the current situation. And while I don’t really have any skin in the game, so to speak, I hope that in some small way, this story might draw attention to what has happened in Venezuela since the early 2000s.
Click here to order it online through your preferred book shop.
P.S. See below for some news and non-fiction book recommendations.
Below is a list of news sources and articles showing the situation in Venezuela. Further down you’ll find a list of non-fiction books I found useful in researching more about Venezuela.
News Sources
A recommended list of news sources and specific articles regarding the situation in Venezuela.
Caracas Chronicles — Caracas Chronicles
UNHCR — UNHCR - Venezuela situation
BBC Article on recent migration — Venezuela crisis: 7.1m leave country since 2015 - BBC News
Muros Invisibles - https://www.murosinvisibles.com/
Non-fiction Books on Venezuela
For a deeper insight into recent Venezuelan history and politics, I’d recommend the following books.
Crude Nation — Raul Gallegos
Dragon in the Tropics: Venezuela and the legacy of Hugo Chavez —Javier Corrales and Michael Penfold (both Venezuelan academics who give a more scholarly approach)
Comandante: Hugo Chávez's Venezuela — Rory Carroll
Blogging the Revolution: Caracas Chronicles and the Hugo Chávez Era — Francisco Toro & Juan Cristobal Nagel (A compilation of some of the best articles/blogs from the news website Caracas Chronicles)
The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela —Fernando Coronil (again a more academic book)