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What the Crisis in Venezuela Tells Us About Democracy
The institutions that should have protected the people chose power and wealth instead. Could that happen in the U.S.?
It’s easy to look at the chaos in Venezuela and think that it couldn’t happen here. But there was a time Venezuelans believed just as strongly that a dictatorship was impossible there. In fact, their story is a cautionary one for us in the U.S. If you look closely at the headlines, you’ll see a path we could find ourselves on if we’re not careful.
Those old enough to remember the 1980s and early ’90s may remember when Venezuela was one of the richest and most successful democracies in Latin America. So what happened? The answer you hear repeated often, including by President Donald Trump, has to do with the country’s embrace of socialism. It’s an ideologically driven explanation that oversimplifies the situation.
The true origins of Venezuela’s crisis go back to 1992, when a military officer named Hugo Chavez led an unsuccessful coup against the government. The last time the military had gotten involved in Venezuela’s domestic affairs was the late 1950s, when it stepped in to support the establishment of the country’s long-running democracy. This history raises an important point: Democracies flourish as long…
