Venezuela election chaos: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English,

this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme –

Venezuelan election chaos.

Hello, I'm Phil. And I'm Beth.

In this programme, we look at one big news story

and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

as well as a worksheet, on our website,

BBCLearningEnglish.com.

So, let's hear more about this story.

So, we're talking about the recent Venezuelan elections,

and in these elections, the president Nicolas Maduro, claimed victory,

but not everyone agrees with him. That's right.

Opposition politicians say that their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won

73% of the vote, which is in line with predictions before the election.

And this disagreement has led to protests across the country,

and many countries in the region have expressed doubts

about whether the result is correct.

Now, I have a headline here that is talking about what's happened

since the election.

It's from Al Jazeera.

Protests break out as Maduro declared winner of disputed Venezuela election.

OK, that headline again.

Protests break out as Maduro declared winner of disputed Venezuela election.

And that's from Al Jazeera.

Now, the headline is talking about what has been happening,

and we're going to look at the adjective 'disputed'.

Now, 'a dispute' is a disagreement,

so if something is 'disputed', then there is a disagreement about it.

'Disputed' is often used in the media to refer

to elections where there are questions about the results. And

we also often use 'disputed' to talk about international disagreements,

so you might hear about a disputed territory or a disputed region,

and that is land that different countries say they own.

We can also talk about a disputed history where historians disagree

about past events.

It can be anything

where there's a disagreement about what happened or what is true.

So, in this story, Maduro says he has won the election,

but opposition politicians disagree.

They think that they have won the election, so the result is disputed.

So, we have disputed and that means disagreed about.

For example:

Many companies consider it too risky to operate in the disputed region.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about disagreements about the result

of the Venezuelan elections.

Now, as we mentioned earlier,

lots of people around the world don't believe the election results.

For example, some other Latin American countries

have refused to recognize the result, and the United Nations have said

Venezuelan authorities should release more data from the elections.

But in a speech on Venezuelan state television,

President Maduro has insisted he is telling the truth.

The next story we're looking at is an opinion article written by

an academic who writes about business in Latin America.

Venezuela:

Maduro's declaration of victory isn't fooling anyone.

And that's from The Conversation, an academic news site.

Again, that headline: Venezuela: Maduro's declaration of victory

isn't fooling anyone.

And that's from The Conversation.

We're looking at the phrase 'not fooling anyone'.

The writer is saying that no one believes the official results.

To fool someone is to trick someone.

So, if you say that someone isn't fooling anyone,

you mean that what they're saying is firstly, not true,

and secondly, it's so obviously not true that no one believes them.

It's a very everyday expression.

You can use it in any context where someone might not be telling the truth,

or is trying to deceive someone.

Yeah. So, let's give some examples.

It could be children telling their parents

that they didn't eat the last chocolate.

Or, in a more serious example,

maybe a suspect protesting their innocence to the police,

even though there's a photo of the crime.

If they're obviously lying, then they're not fooling anyone.

So, we had: not fooling anyone –

it means obviously dishonest.

For example: You say you've been working all day,

but you're still in your pyjamas.

You're not fooling anyone!

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about the controversial Venezuelan elections.

Before the election,

opinion polls, which ask who people want to vote for,

showed that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had the most support.

And different politicians had worked together

to try to beat President Maduro,

and the most famous opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado,

was actually chosen to run for the election,

but was later banned from standing as a candidate.

And this next story we're going to look at is about her.

So, the headline is: The woman behind Venezuela's upstart opposition movement.

And that's from CNN.

Again, that headline from CNN.

The woman behind Venezuela's upstart opposition movement.

So, here we're looking at the word 'upstart'.

And that describes someone or something which has risen in importance quickly.

And here it's talking about the Venezuelan opposition movement.

Now this word 'upstart' can sometimes have a negative meaning.

Someone might be described as an upstart because others feel

that they are inexperienced and maybe don't deserve their position.

'Upstart' can also carry the idea of disruption – a new company or movement

that has appeared suddenly and threatens to have a big impact.

That's the meaning we see in this article.

The writer is talking about how the politics of Venezuela is changing.

This opposition movement is new and becoming important quickly.

That was upstart, which means has become important surprisingly quickly.

So, for example: Six months ago it didn't exist,

but this upstart airline threatens to revolutionise the travel industry.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

If you've enjoyed this programme, make sure you search for

and listen to 6 Minute English.

You can find it on our website, BBCLearningEnglish.com.

And check us out on social media. Search for BBC Learning English.

Bye for now. Goodbye!