Venezuela is on fire. After a vote on Sunday, its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, claimed victory in his re-election campaign. But few believe he truly won, and he has not produced a vote count that verifies the result. The opposition says its candidate scored at least 3.9 million more votes than Maduro did.
Now protesters are surging in the streets of this oil-rich nation, exasperated by a generation of leaders they can’t get rid of. They are toppling statues of the man who founded the country’s socialist movement. At least 16 people have died, including one soldier, and about 750 have been detained by security forces. Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday in the capital, Caracas,to support the opposition. In some places, the authorities responded with tear gas. The day before, government-aligned gangs had responded with bullets.
It’s another chapter in a national saga of crisis, despotism and penury. Nearly eight million have fled the country, according to the United Nations; you’ve probably seen photos of Venezuelan families trudging toward the U.S. border. That migration has strained not only Venezuela’s neighbors but even the United States, where the presidential election turns partly on a spike in immigration in recent years.
Just 25 years ago, Venezuela had a functioning, if flawed, democracy. Then it elected Hugo Chávez, who helped pioneer a new form of Latin American socialism. His style antagonized Western powers but inspired hope among millions at home — and, at first, he helped many out of poverty. Then things began to change. How did the country fall so far? I’ve been covering the country since 2019, including the mass exodus of frustrated Venezuelans. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what happened here, and what’s happening now.
The descent
In the 1970s, Venezuela prospered from an oil boom. Politics were stable, as two major parties competed in democratic elections. But a decade later, petroleum prices dropped. As the cost of living rose, voters came to see the two-party system as entrenched and self-serving.