The Monocle Minute

The US is expected to impose even tougher sanctions on Venezuela following its disputed election last week. Just hours after voting stations closed, incumbent president Nicolás Maduro claimed victory, despite exit polls indicating a landslide win for opposition candidate Edmundo González.

When you see the fury that has taken over the streets of Caracas, it is hard to believe that Venezuela was recently on the road to some kind of recovery. In 2023 the US agreed to loosen sanctions on the Maduro regime, provided that Venezuela’s opposition was allowed to participate in this year’s election. The relief measures helped bolster the country’s faltering economy, which had been crippled by hyperinflation, mismanagement and blackouts for more than a decade.

With more oil pumping, large sums of money began sloshing through the capital – so much so that a Ferrari showroom opened in the city. By the start of this year, Venezuelans began launching new businesses. One European tour operator told me that it had just sent its first travellers to the capital, who came home with tales of a battered yet beguiling metropolis that felt safer than expected. New bars, restaurants and nightclubs were opening. While not every Venezuelan shared equally in this tenuous recovery, some saw better wages and an increase in public services.

One analysis predicted a 4.2 per cent rise in Venezuela’s GDP this year, as long as the ship remained steady through the election. But, of course, this did not happen. The US reinstated punitive economic measures in April, when the regime barred or jailed most of the opposition. Yet those few, short months of relief revealed a country that is coiled like a spring, anxiously waiting to realise its potential. Maduro might try to soldier on, content to be in the pariah club while selling his country’s oil to China, Russia and Iran. But many Venezuelans have had a small, fleeting taste of how different life could be. They will not simply accept a return to the stultifying status quo.

Christopher Lord is Monocle’s US editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, is in Africa this week to secure support for Kyiv in its war with Russia. This is Kuleba’s fourth trip to the continent in the past two years and includes stops in Malawi, Zambia and Mauritius. Though several African countries took part in the Summit on Peace in Ukraine in June, many have been reluctant to place sanctions on Russia.

Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine yesterday over the latter’s alleged involvement in a rebel attack that killed Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries in the country. “Mali relies heavily on Russian support to fight separatist groups,” Olga Tokariuk, Monocle’s Ukraine correspondent, told The Briefing on Monocle Radio. “Ukraine has only 11 embassies in Africa and the incident in Mali will certainly be a blow to its diplomatic presence in the wider region. Senegal has already summoned its Ukrainian ambassador to answer questions about the incident.”

For more on Ukraine’s efforts to gain support in Africa, as well as what Mali’s severance means for the nation, tune in to Monday’s edition of ‘The Briefing’ on Monocle Radio.

Copenhagen Fashion Week is currently under way in the Danish capital and will run until Friday. Ahead of the launch of its spring/summer 2025 collection this week, Danish brand Rotate has opened its first shop on Kristen Bernikows Gade in the city centre. “When we launched in 2018, we thought that having an online presence would be enough,” Thora Valdimarsdottir, co-founder of Rotate, tells The Monocle Minute.

“But as the label grew we wanted to be more in touch with our customers; to see people react to new pieces so that we could improve our products.” The glossy interiors of the shop were designed by Copenhagen-based architect Thibaut Allgayer and feature burgundy storage systems offset by brushed-steel panels. “Because we’re a party brand, people might expect bright colours or a disco ball but we wanted to push for something more modern,” says Rotate co-founder Jeanette Madsen.

Brothers Jules and Gédéon Naudet, directors of the 2002 documentary 9/11, have been selected to produce the official film of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Here, they tell us about the run-up to the events, how they captured athletes’ stories and what drew them to the project.

How has filming been going?
Jules Naudet: I have lost my voice from screaming for all of the incredible French athletes. It has been a mix of terror, ecstasy and absolute joy – and that’s just from watching. We focus on four to five teams per day and spend about 17 to 20 hours filming, so we’re just trying to enjoy it as much as we can.

How do you pick who you’re going to follow?
Gédéon Naudet: The people who we chose are not necessarily the main players that you would recognise at the Games. You have to be smart about finding a fantastic storyteller, who will also happen to let you follow them around. This requires the patience of an angel. These people must allow themselves to be revealed.

Many of the films that you have produced have focused on painful, historical events. What drew you to the Paris Olympics?
JN: We approached the organisers of Paris 2024 and the IOC because we were at a stage where we had made a lot of these more serious documentaries. We are incredibly proud of telling these types of incredible stories. But it became mentally difficult. We wanted to grow by giving ourselves a challenge and taking on something else in an artistic sense. When we read about the Olympic ceremony three and a half years ago, we said, “OK, let’s do something different.”

For our full interview with the Naudet brothers, tune in to our latest episode of ‘Monocle on Sunday’ on Monocle Radio.

Andrew Mueller hosts the show from Paris to mark the end of week one of our Maison Allianz residency. Allianz is a Worldwide Insurance Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We speak to our editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, about soft power at the Games, journalist Colette Davidson tells us why Parisians are starting to regret leaving the city and we get the latest from the action with Kieran Pender. Then: Kevin FitzPatrick, New Balance’s global vice-president of running, tells us about his company’s Olympic ambitions. We also meet the duo behind Eve Roger Athletics, a sportswear brand launched during the Games, which combines African culture with athleticism. Plus: journalist Paul Osbourne on team Australia and aviation news.