As Despair Spreads in Venezuela, Maduro Doubles Down

There is a solution to Venezuela’s social and economic tragedy: The recall referendum, a constitutionally sanctified mechanism allowing the voters to remove the president. The opposition is trying to force a recall, but autocratic President Nicolas Maduro and the “Chavista” military, which lost the the National Assembly elections in December, won’t allow it because Mr. Maduro would lose. Instead, they are bent on eliminating all civil resistance and political opposition. The result is a potential humanitarian nightmare for the Western Hemisphere. In one week, 400,000 Venezuelans flocked across the reopened border with Colombia looking for food and medicine; some are even fleeing to Guyana, a very poor country. More…