Venezuela's holidays shadowed by rumors

Social media fuel the daily rumor mill, in part because access to independent news is severely restricted.

- BY MERY MOGOLLÓN AND PATRICK J. MCDONNELL

FEDERICO PARRA AFP/Getty Images

SOCIAL MEDIA have fueled talk of a U.S. invasion and the fate of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Above, his supporters rally Saturday.

Even in Venezuela, a nation battered by years of economic, social and political turmoil, the Christmas season is a time to put aside one’s troubles, spend time with family, enjoy a bit of holiday cheer — if you can escape the ubiquitous uncertainty and rumors that mark life here.

On one day social media will be ablaze with reports that President Nicolás Maduro has fled to Brazil. Or to Turkey. Or that he stopped in Turkey on his way to Qatar. Or that the U.S. invasion had begun. None of it (so far) is true.

“One hears so much on social media but learns little,” said Begoña Monasterio, 78, who was out shopping in Caracas, the capital, for ingredients to prepare las hallacas, the country’s emblematic Christmas dish. It’s a succulent mix of cornmeal, meat, olives, raisins and other delectables cooked and wrapped in banana leaves, a kind of Venezuelan tamale.

“I want to give a surprise to my eldest son, who is having a birthday during the holiday,” said the grandmother.

She toted a small shopping bag and vowed to buy “the minimum,” now the custom in a once-wealthy South American nation that has suffered a decade of hyperinflation, ravaged wages, lost savings, mass displacement and migration the equivalent of multiple Great Depressions.

JESUS VARGAS Getty Images

VENEZUELA is rife with rumors that the president has fled or that the U.S. has invaded. In Caracas, people commemorate an 1859 battle.