How Nicolás Maduro Has Been Able to Cling to Power
How Nicolás Maduro Has Been Able to Cling to Power
“We have to remember these [Venezuelan] guys are being advised by the Cubans, who are masters of staying in power,” said AS/COA's Brian Winter.
He rules a nation where inflation is spiraling toward 10 million percent. The United States and about 50 other countries no longer recognize him as president. His popularity has slumped to about 14 percent.
And yet, Nicolás Maduro has withstood intense pressure from Washington and a Venezuelan anti-government movement that is posing the stiffest challenge to the former union leader since he assumed the presidency in 2013...
Complicating matters, Cuban advisers to the Venezuelan military work to prevent defection, surveilling officers to guarantee their loyalty, according to diplomats, analysts and former military officers. “We have to remember these [Venezuelan] guys are being advised by the Cubans, who are masters of staying in power — 60 years and counting,” said Brian Winter, a Latin America expert at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York.
But even the military is not fully insulated from the countless strains on Venezuelans...
