The Monocle Minute

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, continues to cling to power, despite mounting evidence that he stole the recent election. The past decade of madurismo has been a period of high inflation, insecurity and unemployment, and Venezuela has lost a quarter of its citizens to emigration. The mass exodus was not just among the wealthy, who have cash parked in Miami. Many Venezuelans fled to find jobs as far afield as Argentina or crossed into neighbouring Colombia, some continuing north through the perilous Darién Gap.

I got back in contact with Victoria Capriles, a lawyer and former university teacher who now consults on migration and human rights. We have been in touch since 2016, three years after Maduro came to power and not long after she returned to Venezuela from Spain. I wanted to know how she had been affected by the country’s mass emigration. Capriles lives in a middle-class neighbourhood in Caracas and admits to being more fortunate than others. She inherited her home from her grandmother and could afford to buy a water tank but she hasn’t been untouched by recent events. In 2017 a student from her university was killed during protests. Many of her former students abandoned their studies either because they moved abroad or were no longer able to pay their fees. Capriles’s best friend was arbitrarily arrested and ended up seeking asylum in the UK; most of her family now live in Mexico.

Though Capriles has remained in Venezuela, she is now contemplating life overseas. “I have stopped trying to analyse this country,” she told me. “I don’t know what will happen. But something feels different this time.” Maduro’s next steps will influence whether Capriles sticks it out or becomes another number in Venezuela’s seemingly endless outflow of people.

Ed Stocker is a former Americas editor and currently Monocle’s Europe editor at large. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Never have the skies above Paris been watched so closely. The weather during Olympic events has veered between blistering heat and heavy downpours. On Tuesday the men’s triathlon was delayed as a result of rain, which led to higher-than-permitted levels of E coli entering the Seine. In the run-up to the Games, one of Paris’s main ambitions was to make the river safe for swimming – a huge task given that, for more than a century, it was used as an overflow sewer.

By Wednesday morning the water quality had improved and competitors dived in. But some athletes were critical of the river’s cleanliness after the event. In the long term, city officials must come up with a plan to ensure that the Seine remains safe enough for the public to swim in. The end of the Olympics is no excuse for Paris to dampen its mission to improve residents’ quality of life.

To learn more about what Paris is doing to ensure the cleanliness of the Seine after the Olympic Games, tune in to Thursday’s edition of‘Monocle in Paris’.

Africa’s largest design trade show, 100% Design Africa, kicked off in Johannesburg yesterday and runs until 4 August. It brings together furniture makers, fashion houses and architects from across the continent. There is a strong emphasis on South African talent, including emerging creatives such as fashion designer Thabo Kopele. The show is the forerunner to its sister event, Design London, which will take place in the UK capital in September.

This year’s fair includes “Future Talks” panel discussions, which offer insights into the industry, featuring speakers such as award-winning architect Tristan du Plessis, known for his work across South Africa’s hospitality and retail sector. Exhibitors range from tile-makers to lighting manufacturers, underscoring the diversity of the region’s design scene and giving a crucial platform to innovative studios.

US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has ramped up her campaigning ahead of the November election. Addressing a crowd of 10,000 in Georgia this week, she directly responded to comments by Donald Trump about her appearance and ability to run.

Video footage of her statement, “If you got something to say, say it to my face,” has been widely circulated on social media and has been interpreted as an open invitation for debate.

We speak to the landscape architect behind Brooklyn Bridge Park, one of New York’s most exciting public spaces. Plus: we explore what makes a place liveable from youth through to adulthood, by way of a recent survey on lifelong neighbourhoods in London.