Venezuela is Buried Under Division and Violence

Abstract

After 15 years of the self-proclaimed Bolivarian revolution, Venezuela is divided between two factions. The first yearns for the political hegemony promised by the now deceased Hugo Chavez; its quest to remain in power buttressed by a socialist order. The other part of the country, smothered by a sense of a hopeless future, clamours for a change in the existing political and economic model. Violence was the trigger and is now the norm and the path to solutions remains unclear. Unclear, too, are the consequences for South America of this crisis that erupted in 1999 when Chavez assumed the Presidency. This article attempts to summarise the genesis of the present situation; it reflects upon the implications for the government, for the opposition and for the future of a hydrocarbon economy like Venezuela.