Venezuela after the Bombs: Between Imperialism, Authoritarianism and Mobilizations
Dr. Yoletty Bracho, Université de Montréal
Abstract: Since January 2026, Venezuela has become the model for the new “successful” imperialist intervention. Indeed, the Chavista authoritarian government has been reinforced by the support of US intervention while transforming itself to accommodate to this new situation. In this context, social mobilization has been visible in different forms: workers’ unions, human rights and diverse leftwing organizations are currently going through important transformations to build new forms of solidarity from below. The Venezuelan case allows us to put into perspective social sciences literature on authoritarian governance and democratic resilience by taking a “mezzo” perspective on the relationship between policy and politics. This approach can help us to answer a new question: how can we integrate conceptual tools from studies of imperialism and neo-colonialism to study interactions between policy and social movements?
Bio: Yoletty Bracho has a PhD in political sociology from the Université Lumière Lyon 2. She’s now an Impact + postdoctoral fellow at the Université de Montréal. She specializes in participatory public policy and leftwing activism in Venezuela. She is currently working on her manuscript, “Faire la Révolution dans l’État: participation et consolidation autoritaire au Venezuela” at Éditions Terres de feu.