What's going on in Venezuela?
What's going on in Venezuela?
“What makes the protests particularly volatile is that other avenues to express these demands have been closed down,” explains AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini.
Venezuelan opposition and pro-government demonstrators took to the streets again today in the highly polarized South American nation. The turnout was large and protests remained relatively calm, but tensions have been on the rise since the Feb. 12 deaths of three people after demonstrations in Caracas.
Why are Venezuelans taking to the streets?
Venezuela is faced by economic, social, and political challenges: Inflation is at 56 percent, the currency is rapidly devaluing, shortages of staples like toilet paper and sugar are plaguing the nation, and the murder rate is one of the worst in the world. What started out as roughly two weeks of small, student-led protests against the Maduro administration has turned into opposition-organized marches that involve stone-throwing and taunting met by tear gas and water cannons.
“These are legitimate issues that do need a popular voice and channel for expression,” says Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society in New York. “What makes the protests particularly volatile is that other avenues to express these demands have been closed down,” Mr. Sabatini says, referring to the closure of opposition media over the past several years and the shuttering of multiple newspapers nationwide more recently due to paper shortages....
“As this movement is increasingly identified with the opposition, it’s less likely to be a broad popular movement that could include former Chavistas that are feeling the bite of Venezuela’s disastrous economic policy,” says Sabatini....
“This is the penny that never drops. We always expect this moment where everything will turn and the government will change course … and try to build trust and dialogue,” Sabatini says. “But instead, the government and the country keep stumbling on, and stumbling downward....”
