Venezuela’s resistance to the tyrannical rule of Nicolas Maduro has hit a new peak, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to demand his exit. He can hold on if the military doesn’t turn — and if he’s willing to rule over a wasteland.
That’s where the country’s headed as the economy grinds toward an utter halt, having already shrunk in half over the last five years. The oil industry, Venezuela’s main source of foreign cash, is collapsing, thanks to government mismanagement.
Food and basic medicines are increasingly scarce; malnutrition and disease increasingly common. The flight of refugees has topped 3 million — in a country with no war except the government’s assault on the citizenry.
Juan Guaidó, the new head of the National Assembly, has rallied the latest uprising by invoking constitutional provisions that make him the legitimate interim president. Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru and other Latin nations have recognized his claim, as have Canada and the United States.
Maduro is pretending it’s all more American imperialism, but most democracies, including the European Union as well as his neighbors, declared his recent re-election to be a complete fraud. Polls show that 80 percent of Venezuelans want him gone.
The regime is holding on with the help of secret police imported from Cuba, and by mortgaging the nation’s future to China and Russia. Guaidó became leader of the opposition because the government has jailed, killed or otherwise sidelined a long string of challengers — and he’s now been forced into hiding.
Washington has no magic answers here, certainly not an invasion. For now, Team Trump is rightly doing what it can to support Venezuela’s best hope for freedom.