Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela is performing its usual diplomatic magic trick: declare a “new era” at home, offer olive branches (or airline routes) abroad, and above all, try to keep the headlines from mentioning the millions trying to escape. In a week when most world leaders are still nursing their G7 hangovers, Maduro is focused on different optics—sending Venezuelan airlines “ready to fly” to the Dominican Republic as a gesture of diplomatic engagement and, perhaps, a release valve for a population with increasingly itchy feet.
Behind the spectacle of aviation diplomacy lies the bedrock of the regime: oil. Or rather, the illusion that PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil giant, is still a global player rather than a cautionary tale. New reporting confirms oil production has receded yet again, with the government desperately courting new partners to plug holes in both output and credibility. For Maduro, every new handshake is spun as proof of international legitimacy, but the numbers speak for themselves: output remains a shadow of its former self, and sanctions-busting creativity is now the only growth sector worth mentioning.
Internationally, Maduro is eager to play the part of principled statesman—granting posthumous Venezuelan citizenship to Dominican merengue icon Rubby Pérez (diplomatic soft power, one cumbia at a time), while publicly condemning Israel’s attacks on Iran, always ready to echo the anti-Western solidarity chorus for global effect. In the week’s strangest episode, Maduro even claimed to be “a real Jew—unlike Netanyahu”, a statement more befitting late-night variety TV than a sitting head of state, but here we are.
Yet for all the nationalist fanfare, Venezuela remains the world’s most prolific factory of refugees. The country has now set a new record for the largest number of citizens forced abroad—an achievement that elicits silence from official broadcasts, but alarm from Washington to Brussels. Even as Maduro’s government grants posthumous passports and bemoans foreign interference, the outflow of desperate Venezuelans continues at a pace that no new airline route can hide.With the U.S. Congress voicing fresh concerns over “unprecedented” levels of Venezuelan migrants and the global press documenting each new checkpoint and border crossing, Maduro’s tightrope act is being observed with increasing skepticism. The regime’s insistence on “new beginnings”—in oil, in travel, in citizenship—cannot obscure the core reality: for millions of Venezuelans, the only route to hope is a one-way ticket out, and no amount of televised bravado is going to reverse that journey.