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Venezuela's Maduro cements control as the opposition fractures
Source: Washington Post
Venezuela’s Maduro cements control as the opposition fractures
By Anthony Faiola and Rachelle Krygier October 27 at 11:58 AM
Despite international sanctions and widespread discontent at home, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appears to have consolidated his grip on power, outmaneuvering the opposition and leaving it fractured, weakened, even disgraced.
Maduro, the anointed successor of the late left-wing firebrand Hugo Chávez, has emerged as one of the highest-profile foreign adversaries of President Trump, who has repeatedly called Venezuela a dictatorship. The bus-driver-turned-president still faces serious challenges in the coming months, as his oil-producing country seeks to avert further international sanctions and a debt default that could deepen an already-withering economic crisis.
Yet analysts increasingly see Maduro as having neutralized one of his biggest threats: his domestic political opposition.
Formed in 2008 to present a united front against Chávez, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, known as the MUD in Spanish, amounted to a confederation of anti-government parties. This year, the MUD helped fuel months of anti-government protests. Some of its major figures, including leading dissident Leopoldo López, have been in detention on what critics call spurious charges. But those who could speak out — including his wife — were embraced in Washington and European capitals as the voices of democracy in Venezuela.
To a significant extent, they still are. Yet this past week, the MUD’s behind-the-scenes infighting spilled into the open, apparently playing right into Maduro’s hands.
-snip-
By Anthony Faiola and Rachelle Krygier October 27 at 11:58 AM
Despite international sanctions and widespread discontent at home, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appears to have consolidated his grip on power, outmaneuvering the opposition and leaving it fractured, weakened, even disgraced.
Maduro, the anointed successor of the late left-wing firebrand Hugo Chávez, has emerged as one of the highest-profile foreign adversaries of President Trump, who has repeatedly called Venezuela a dictatorship. The bus-driver-turned-president still faces serious challenges in the coming months, as his oil-producing country seeks to avert further international sanctions and a debt default that could deepen an already-withering economic crisis.
Yet analysts increasingly see Maduro as having neutralized one of his biggest threats: his domestic political opposition.
Formed in 2008 to present a united front against Chávez, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, known as the MUD in Spanish, amounted to a confederation of anti-government parties. This year, the MUD helped fuel months of anti-government protests. Some of its major figures, including leading dissident Leopoldo López, have been in detention on what critics call spurious charges. But those who could speak out — including his wife — were embraced in Washington and European capitals as the voices of democracy in Venezuela.
To a significant extent, they still are. Yet this past week, the MUD’s behind-the-scenes infighting spilled into the open, apparently playing right into Maduro’s hands.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuelas-maduro-cements-control-as-the-opposition-fractures/2017/10/27/4b284b7a-ba5f-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html
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