Venezuela's equity markets have staged a remarkable rally in recent weeks. Following the December 23rd escalation in geopolitical tensions, the market surged +148% as Washington intensified diplomatic pressure. Even more striking—from the point of heightened political instability alone, equities jumped +73% in a compressed timeframe. The velocity of this rally raises questions about market repricing of political risk premium and what traders are anticipating about economic policy shifts. Whether this reflects genuine economic optimism or speculative positioning remains an open debate among emerging market watchers. The scale of these gains underscores how sensitive frontier equity markets can be to headline political developments.