What The World Needs To Do After Venezuela's Vote
Venezuela's latest vote will worsen its crisis as it consolidates its socialist authoritarian system. But Washington is not well-positioned to lead the charge to stop it, writes Ted Piccone.
Ted Piccone (@piccone_ted) is a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.
Venezuela's latest electoral affair only worsened the country's continued slide from a relatively stable middle-income democracy to a socialist authoritarian system stricken with hyperinflation, rising poverty, declining oil production and record levels of violent crime. Rather than boost President Nicolás Maduro's standing after five years in power, the low voter turnout — down from 80 percent in 2013 to 46 percent on Sunday — coupled with a clear rejection of the
