About This Book
The opinion columns of Asdrúbal Aguiar A. —written for the hemispheric press between 2020 and 2025—are incorporated into this second edition of his Crónicas de Facundo: Bajo la usurpación de Nicolás Maduro (1999-2025), thereby bringing them up to date. A historical cycle has drawn to a close in Venezuela, concluding the two volumes I compiled from these writings—volumes that serve as a chronicle of the nearly three decades we have traversed in the 21st century. The first volume was titled Crónicas de Facundo: Bajo el régimen de Hugo Chávez (1999-2012).
The U.S.-led extraction of the Venezuelan dictator—along with his wife, Cilia Flores—to stand trial for drug-trafficking crimes marks a distinct new phase in the nation's unfolding history, even as the narco-criminal dictatorship currently prevailing in Venezuela has yet to cease. This work—spanning the two aforementioned volumes—completes the historical record of one of the most tragic periods in the nation's past; indeed, it is a period perhaps without precedent, comparable only to the fratricidal wars for independence and the Federal War of the 19th century—conflicts during which Venezuela lost 30% of its population in each instance. That same figure represents the portion of the population that, between 1999 and 2025, has been swept away into a diaspora, much like a devastating landslide or a tsunami. Yet memory, however painful it may be—is precisely what establishes roots and drives the great transformations of history. It also serves as the foundation for upholding the right to the truth and for enabling victims, moving forward, to find reconciliation through justice.
