How did it all go so horribly wrong? Back
in 1998, when Hugo Chavez was first elected president, many Venezuelans’
expectations could not have been higher. The burly former paratrooper vowed to
end the politics that had allowed corruption to thrive and vast oil wealth to
fritter away. More than anything else, Chavez gave a voice — arguably for the
first time in the South American nation’s history — to the poor majority. Seventeen
years later, the economy is in shambles, and Chavez’s handpicked successor,
President Nicolas Maduro, is locking up store owners and opposition leaders,
drawing angry protesters into the streets. The death toll increased again last
week when a 14-year-old schoolboy was shot in the head, reportedly by police. The mayor of the capital Caracas, Antonio
Ledezma, was detained Feb. 19 and charged the next day for “conspiring” against
President Maduro in a United States-backed coup plot. He denies the charge. More…
Thursday, March 5, 2015
A timeline of Venezuela’s slide toward disaster
How did it all go so horribly wrong? Back
in 1998, when Hugo Chavez was first elected president, many Venezuelans’
expectations could not have been higher. The burly former paratrooper vowed to
end the politics that had allowed corruption to thrive and vast oil wealth to
fritter away. More than anything else, Chavez gave a voice — arguably for the
first time in the South American nation’s history — to the poor majority. Seventeen
years later, the economy is in shambles, and Chavez’s handpicked successor,
President Nicolas Maduro, is locking up store owners and opposition leaders,
drawing angry protesters into the streets. The death toll increased again last
week when a 14-year-old schoolboy was shot in the head, reportedly by police. The mayor of the capital Caracas, Antonio
Ledezma, was detained Feb. 19 and charged the next day for “conspiring” against
President Maduro in a United States-backed coup plot. He denies the charge. More…
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