In the first episode of our joint podcast series on Venezuela, Chief Policy Director Jordan Valerie Allen speaks with North American Congress on Latin America Executive Editor, NYU Gallatin Professor, and author of "Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela" Alejandro Velasco and Visiting Scholar at the Hemispheric Institute in New York and the Institute of Social Research at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and author of "We Created Chávez" George Ciccariello-Maher. (Alejandro Velasco and George Ciccariello-Maher are not affiliated with Brand New Congress and speak only for themselves as guests on this podcast episode.)