Venezuela teeters

A combination of falling prices for oil — the chief source of income for Venezuela — and misgovernment by President Nicolas Maduro is bringing that South American country closer to collapse and possible revolt. With a population of 30 million and some of the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela has the raw materials to be a successful country. It is America’s fourth largest supplier of crude oil. Venezuela was led from 1998 to 2013 by Hugo Chavez, a mercurial, bombastic former army officer who espoused a rabid anti-Americanism. The George W. Bush administration fell out with Mr. Chavez in 2002, when it recognized the leader of a coup carried out against him. Yet Mr. Chavez reversed the coup and returned to power. When he died in 2013, he was succeeded by a less-charismatic protege, Mr. Maduro, who has struggled ever since. More…