Venezuela’s path to undoing its democracy amidst ‘Petro-Muzzled’ region

Traditionally, whenever the topic of Venezuela is discussed or written about, the stories are almost always framed as the Davidesque struggle of a Leftist regime against the Goliathan evils of the economic Right. Essentially, such characterisations are not necessarily invalid, because Venezuela’s government remains committed to its socialist principles, while resisting the tenets of its more conservative counterpart.

However, since the days of Chavez to the present times of his hand-picked successor President Nicolas Maduro, the issue is becoming less about capitalism challenging socialism and more about authoritarianism supplanting democracy–the ostensibly natural outcome of populism.  Continue reading →