Venezuela's President Backtracks as Caracas Burns

A few months ago, Venezuela watchers predicted that the time of reckoning for the chavista model had come.Stagnant oil prices -- Venezuela's main source of tax revenue -- and years of profligate spending had left the country with a budget deficit larger than that of Greece at the time of its default. A byzantine foreign exchange regime had made a habit of importing goods on a ridiculous scale, though the country didn't have enough oil dollars to finance the splurge. A web of price controls meant many staples had disappeared from supermarket shelves. More…