Crowding the Opposition

President Nicholas Maduro won the election in Venezuela in 2013. He was Hugo Chavez’s predecessor. Since Hugo Chavez’s death the country has taken a slow tumble for the worst. President Hugo Chavez brought economic growth because of the rising oil prices but as of recent the global oil prices have collapsed which has taken a hit on Venezuela’s export earnings. Last December, the people of Venezuela attempted to remove Maduro from office. President Maduro is still in office and the country took to the streets to protest. The Corrales article argues that Chavez leaped into the direction of authoritarianism because he felt politically threatened, even no there was no threat. Nancy Bermeo calls this jump “elite intentions”. “His use of polarization, clientelism offers the opportunity to engage in corruption.” This brings me to my argument. The people of Venezuela have been fighting to remove the current President because they believe he hasn’t lived up to President Hugo Chavez’s work and because they believe he is heading from a democracy to a dictatorship. But when President Hugo Chavez was in office he went from a democracy and jumped to Authoritarianism. I believe that is what set Venezuela for their fall today. President Chavez slowly changed the system without the people’s knowledge and they did not really notice because they saw a positive outcome. He was using corrupt methods but those methods were getting the job done. The new President came in and thought he could put more restrictions on the people and keep up the work of Chavez but it seemed obvious the fall was coming. I believe some of President Hugo Chavez’s methods would of appealed to a Dictatorship but the people were blinded by the growth of the economy.