MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
We've heard a lot these past few days about Venezuela, about President Trump's decision to seize that country's president, Nicolás Maduro, and about what happens now that Maduro sits in a U.S. jail facing drug trafficking charges. Right now, we want to take a step back to try to understand Venezuela a little better. And for that, we turn to Paula Ramon. She's a Venezuelan author and journalist with AFP, normally based in Los Angeles, but she happens to be in Caracas at the moment. Paula, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
PAULA RAMON: Hi, Mary, thank you very much for reaching out.
KELLY: How are you? That's my first question. Just what have these last few days been like for you in Caracas?
RAMON: I'm currently OK, I have to say. It's been a return for me after [inaudible] after 10 years (ph). Honestly, I have to say that the country is kind of calm right now. People are very with expectations, like, waiting to see what is going to happen. You know, like, everybody's very cautious right now.
KELLY: I - and I think that's what I'm so curious about because for us, for many of us watching in the United States, we saw these dramatic scenes of explosions and the attack unfolding, and there was so much activity. So for you to tell me it feels calm is a little surprising.
RAMON: It is. I think it has been. Like, I was talking some - to some people in the streets, like my relatives as well, and everybody - there's something, like, people more or less that has the same impression of, first of all, the priorities - you know, like, go to do your groceries, go to work, put gas in your car - like, the normal life. Those are your main priorities.
KELLY: Yeah. So I introduced you as a journalist and an author, and I want to ask about the second piece of that. You wrote a book, a memoir called "Motherland," which shares your memories of growing up in Venezuela and your family and how your family has experienced everything that's happened in the country during your adulthood. I know it's almost impossible to sum up a book in one story, but is there a story - is there something from your book that would help Americans better understand this moment?
RAMON: So people were mentioned how what you always read in the news is, like, what politicians says and not what - how people really lives. And that was more or less the idea of the book, to tell how Venezuelans - they go through life, and especially how - try to explain through a family - in this case, my family - the ups and downs of Venezuela economy and the changes through the years, through the decades and how this can impact everything, like, obviously, politics, but also your structure, your family structure.
KELLY: So give us an example. You're talking about ups and downs in the economy and how they can change and alter our family. Things like what?
RAMON: I think, like, one of the things that mark my family and many families in this country is the oil. So my family come from a - came from a rural town, very rural area, and the boom of the oil in the '70s changed everything for them. And out of nowhere, they start getting more money and making better conditions for themselves, going to university, owning houses. And then when oil prices went down in the '80s, everything was kind of destroyed again. And this happened again in the '90s, in the 2000s.
KELLY: And here we are again in 2026, and it's oil that everybody in America is talking about, and specifically Venezuela's oil - it's changing life in your country yet again.
RAMON: Yes. So I think it goes through oil...
KELLY: Yeah.
RAMON: ...The last 50 years or so.
KELLY: So I'm listening to you and thinking, I would like to know so much more about your country than I do, and I suspect many of our listeners may feel the same. Would you help us build a reading list for Venezuela? Are there books aside from yours that might help us understand your country, paint a picture of your country and how it's come to this point? Start with nonfiction, any nonfiction books you would recommend.
RAMON: I always recommend a book called "The Magical State" by Fernando Coronil. It's a very interesting book because it takes inspiration from playwright - Venezuelan playwright. And he - Coronil has this analysis that how the oil impact Venezuela and create this kind of magical state where everything with our progress is - becomes, like, you know, like, an art of magic. It's out of nowhere. And this book was before Chavez, so it became kind of prophetic because you can see how this happened before is, like, this promise of progress and how things can go very fast up and very fast down. And then I always recommend the Chavez - there are many biographies and...
KELLY: Sure.
RAMON: ...Books about Chavez, Hugo Chavez.
KELLY: Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Yeah.
RAMON: Exactly. And I recommend always "Hugo Chavez" written by Cristina Marcano and Alberto Barrera Tyszka because this is, like, the most interesting profile, personal profile, about how he became the man he become.
KELLY: What about on the fiction side, a novel or collection of short stories?
RAMON: In the fiction side, there are not so many, many books translated into English, but I think the quintessential novel that I would recommend is "Dona Barbara," and it's written by Romulo Gallegos. And it's a very interesting novel because it shows this struggle between civilization and barbarism.
KELLY: And the author Gallegos, for people who don't know - and I am learning all this, too - was Venezuela's first democratically elected president, right?
RAMON: Yes. Yes. It was our first attempt for democracy. And it's interesting as well because it's the ambience in the Los Llanos, which is, like, the region where Hugo Chavez came. And it shows - it portrays the fight of modernity over barbarism in Venezuela in the first half of the 20th century. So it can give you a window up to the changes that the country was living in that moment, so I think that's why it's very important.
KELLY: Anything in a very recently published page-turner, thrillers, mystery - anything like that that just is set in Venezuela, and you feel captures it?
RAMON: Yes, there's this book that was a success here, and it's also translated into English, "The Adventures Of Juan Planchard." This was written by Jonathan Jakubowicz, and it's like the life during Chavez, Hugo Chavez era, and it goes - it looks through this hero called Juan Planchard that is taking advantage of the revolution - like, Chavez imposed this Bolivarian revolution, right? And I think it was a success because really connect with what people felt it happens during those Chavez years.
KELLY: OK, I can't wait to go buy or check out all of these. That is Venezuelan journalist and writer Paula Ramon, speaking with us from Caracas. Thank you so much for joining us.
RAMON: Thanks to you for inviting me.
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