Demonstrators take to the streets as Venezuela battles triple-digit inflation, crippling food and medical shortages and rising crime

Glitzy car showrooms line the main road into town. A giant General Motors production plant hints at prosperity and employment. But the showrooms are empty. The plant has closed after a year when it lay idle because no parts were available. Valencia, Venezuela’s third largest town of two million about 100 miles west of the capital Caracas, gives a glimpse of life behind the headlines of riots and deaths. Venezuela, circled by Colombia, Brazil, Guyana and the Caribbean Sea on the north coast of South America, is an “undeveloping” nation going backwards. More…