The World Is Watching Caracas

December 6, Latin American democracy will face a crucial turning point: parliamentary elections in Venezuela. For the first time in over fifteen years, the country’s ruling United Socialist Party (PSVU), which has dominated the legislature since 1998, looks set to lose a major national election despite its control of a system rigged steeply in its favor. Runaway inflation, severe commodity shortages, and high levels of crime have sparked massive street protests and battered President Maduro’s approval rating, now below 25 percent. He faces a crisis of confidence that his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, never experienced. The PSVU’s challenges are largely self-made, the result of years of economic mismanagement and political repression. It is high time the party faced the electorate directly on an even playing field. More…