Venezuela from a model nation to a failed state

Venezuela, a Latin American country, once boasted a stronger social safety net than any of its neighbors and was making progress on its promise to deliver free health care and higher education to all its citizens. But today it is one of Latin America’s most impoverished nations where schools lie half deserted and a devastated health system affected by decades of underinvestment, corruption and neglect. According to Foreign Affairs writers Moisés Naím and Francisco Toro, “The short answer is Chavismo. Under the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, the country has experienced a toxic mix of wantonly destructive policy, escalating authoritarianism, and kleptocracy.”More…