Episode 18: What are Mongolians thinking about Venezuela and Maduro’s capture?

Mongolians have rarely had any connection to Venezuela—aside from a brief moment in the 90s, when a Venezuelan soap opera unexpectedly captured all of Mongolians' attention.

But with the following capture of Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, "MERGEN Takes" took hold in Mongolia, with commentators, pundits, columnists, and social media users issuing predictions and warnings that Mongolia could face a similar fate if it continues down a “socialist” path.

But is Mongolia actually governed by socialism? Do people truly understand what the label "socialism" means?

Three Universals “The echos of the past still ring“:

1. Echos of Mongolia’s unions still ring in Venezuela

2. Echos of Mongolian collectivism still ring in Venezuela

3. Echos of populism ring in Venezuela

Pocketcast | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

45min

Hosts: Anand, Dolgion, Julian

Date Recorded: Jan 8 2026

Date Released: Jan 21 2026

Keywords: politics | progressive | populism

Further reading:

• Julian for Mongolia Focus on why Norway is not a useful comparison

• If you want to compare Mongolia to other countries, take a look at Mongolia Focus’ Scorecard for rankings across many different indices