One in Four: The Exodus that Emptied Venezuela, 2019-2024
Carlos Lizarralde
How did Chavismo survive after 2019 to mark over a quarter century in power? Why did a country fractured by social conflicts turn to María Corina Machado, the first lighter-skinned leader of Spanish ancestry to achieve massive popularity across all races, ethnicities, and regions in the country’s history? How did a national Catholic vision, anchored in the symbolism of the Virgin Mary, upset most observers’ political calculations?
One in Four finds answers in the country’s demographic collapse after nearly eight million people walked out of their own country. The biggest human mobilization in the Americas of modern times first saved Nicolás Maduro’s rule and then doomed any legitimacy his government still had, forcing Chavismo to govern with an iron hand and a tiny minority. María Corina Machado’s quasi-religious leadership gained the affection of vast majorities, but was unable to seize power.
Following two decades of struggles over the country’s racial and ethnic identity, this demographic collapse reshaped the nation, while sending shockwaves that directly challenged the politics and social fabric of the United States, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile.
Carlos Lizarralde’s masterful chronicle of the tumultuous years from mid-2019 to mid-2024 dissects the catastrophic hemorrhaging of a country’s population and connects it to population trends that, going back thousands of years, have shaped the political struggles to define the country’s identity.