Venezuela has been in the spotlight recently, as a result of the ongoing economic crisis, mounting civil strife, and the protracted political standoff between the government and the opposition.

Between April and July 2017, clashes between military/security forces and protestors led to dozens of deaths, hundreds of people detained (with some subject to military trials), and thousands wounded in Caracas and most major cities across the country. On July 30, the Government celebrated elections to establish a Constituent Assembly to replace the 1999 Bolivarian socio-democratic regime with a ‘communal state’ and restore law and order. The new Constitution would ostensibly do away with the opposition-dominated National Assembly, restrict freedoms of expression and association and, in a nutshell, strengthen the government’s grip and secure its rule. This move has been widely denounced as a move to consolidate an autocratic order. Where is Venezuela standing, and where is it heading? 

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