11-09-2014: Latin American Weekly Report

Analysts in Venezuela are beginning to wonder if they had been misdi- rected into believing that the main content of President Nicolás Maduro’s announced “big shake-up” was to be found in a package of major economic measures — which led to it being judged a damp squib. More than a few are beginning to reinterpret it as fundamentally political, a rearrangement of roles at the top in order to push ahead with policies which, beyond their ideological wrappings, could have very concrete consequences when Venezuela gets into electoral mode in 2015.