The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, come here to the talk page to discuss them. Content must be written from a neutral point of view. Include citations when adding content and consider tagging or removing unsourced information.
Please stay calm and civil while commenting or presenting evidence, and do not make personal attacks. Be patient when approaching solutions to any issues. Ifconsensus is not reached, other solutions exist to draw attention and ensure that more editors mediate or comment on the dispute.
This article is part of WikiProject Argentina, an attempt to expand, improve and standardise the content and structure of articles related to Argentina. If you would like to participate, you can improve Washington Consensus, or sign up and contribute to a wider array of articles like those on our to do list.ArgentinaWikipedia:WikiProject ArgentinaTemplate:WikiProject ArgentinaArgentine articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Economics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Economics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EconomicsWikipedia:WikiProject EconomicsTemplate:WikiProject EconomicsEconomics articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Globalization, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Globalization on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.GlobalizationWikipedia:WikiProject GlobalizationTemplate:WikiProject GlobalizationGlobalization articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject International relations, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of International relations on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.International relationsWikipedia:WikiProject International relationsTemplate:WikiProject International relationsInternational relations articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Latin America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to Latin America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Latin AmericaWikipedia:WikiProject Latin AmericaTemplate:WikiProject Latin AmericaLatin America articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Trade, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Trade on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TradeWikipedia:WikiProject TradeTemplate:WikiProject TradeTrade articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
Your last changes remove information that is important to understand the context of Venezuela and the Caracazo (in other words, the background where these policies took place):
Venezuela's international reserves were only US$300 million at the time of Pérez' election into the presidency
The increase was supposed to be implemented on 1 March 1989, but bus drivers decided to apply the price rise on 27 February, a day before payday in Venezuela
Lack of timely intervention by authorities, as the Caracas Metropolitan Police was on a labour strike
The privatization ended Venezuela's monopoly over telecommunications and surpassed even the most optimistc predictions, with over US$1,000 million above the base price and US$500 million more than the bid offered by the competition group
By the end of the year, inflation had dropped to 31%, Venezuela's international reserves were now worth US$14,000 million and there was an economic growth of 9% (called as an "Asian growth"), the largest in Latin America at the time.
It should be interesting to know about more the content that is perceived to be WP:PUFF, as most of this content is related to the situation in the country and the impact of the policies, instead of Carlos Andrés per se. Ironically, one of the popular terms to refer to his policies group, "The Economic Package", which carries a strong and negative connotation, was also removed. The current version states all of the negative effects of the reforms, including the Caracazo, as well as those regarded as the positive ones.
The main problem with the contributions is the use only of single academic papers, instead of bibliographical sources or news reports, which usually does not represent a general or common point of view, which bring due weight concerns- Not only that, but taking a look at the sources I can also see neutrality and verifiability problems. With the former, for instance, Carlos Andrés Pérez's cabinet is compared to Pinochet's Chicago Boys, and with the latter, at some point it is stated that during the Caracazo Hugo Chávez Frías was one of the few disobedient officers who firmly ejected to take part in the repression, when Chávez actually was bedridden with smallpox at the time (funnily enough, the author quotes himself for this claim). One of this issues actually affects the article, with one of the last changes: Powerful business groups and US-educated economists would persuade Pérez to liberalize the economy. Not only is this loaded language, but contradicts the experience and testimonies from his ministers, who actually adviced Pérez with a gradual approach instead of a shock terapy, and the common knowledge that one of Pérez's key flaws was his terrible political communication. This can be seen from the documentary Cap 2 Intentos, from historian and filmmaker Carlos Oteyza, to scholar Mirtha Rivero, who is already quoted in the article. Regarding the WP:SYNTH issue, one of the statements said that Economic nationalism and clientelism was prominent in Venezuela as a result of the two-party hegemonic system established by the Puntofijo Pact. None of this is mentioned later in the section and is unclear how it is related to the content at hands, besides also having loaded language.
Speaking of which, I also wanted to ask: the recent changes say that corruption increased in Venezuela as a result of Pérez's policies. How is this stated in the sources? I did not find it in any of them, and I find it really interesting because, arguably, the worst corruption scandals before the Bolivarian Revolution also happened before El Gran Viraje: the Sierra Nevada affair, the Jeeps scandal, and most famously, RECADI, which brought inmense fraud to the financial system and it was a currency control program, the very opposite of what the Washington Consensus is! Moreover, they also hold responsible the reforms of the 1994 banking crisis, where other authors would point out the important state intervention in the preceding years, which caused fiscal deficit and debt, and point out to several previous bank failures in the years before: Banco de los Trabajadores in 1982, Banco de Comercio in 1985 and Banco Nacional de Descuento in 1986.
I could provide references for the last arguments, but for the time being I want them to be examples on how the last changes can be problematic. Per WP:BRD, as the proponent of the changes, the onus is on you to prove why these changes are adequate. I'm all ears regarding the thoughts on this insight. Regards, --NoonIcarus (talk) 21:52, 3 June 2023 (UTC)Reply