Nicolas Maduro’s Embarrassing Week

Courtesy of: Associated Prses

The presidency of former bus driver Nicolás Maduro began inauspiciously, his government using intimidation and threats to consolidate power.  Now, two months after he claimed victory in an election fraught by irregularities, things have only gotten worse for Maduro. The aftermath of Venezuela’s election controversy have caused Maduro to lose support and popularity among his own people. And as violence and a sinking economy continue to take their toll on Venezuelans, Maduro is now coming face-to-face with the consequences of years of Chávez’s failed socialist policies.

Maduro reacted like a spurned child when news emerged that opposition leader Henrique Capriles had traveled to Colombia and had been received there by President Juan Manuel Santos. As Venezuela’s socialist policies have kept the country in economic squalor, Colombia is one of Latin America’s success stories, and a strong U.S. ally in the region. Capriles met with President Santos, along with members of the Colombian parliament, where the leaders discussed Venezuela’s narrow presidential election along with the country’s dire economic situation.

“We are taking the voice of millions of Venezuelans beyond our borders,” Capriles said in Colombia. “The fight for democracy has to be everyone’s fight.” Indeed, news emerged this week that voter rolls indicate that deceased Venezuelans had “voted” in recent elections – the latest in a series of disturbing revelations about the state of democracy in Venezuela.

Economically, the situation is perilous and getting worse. With inflation near 30 percent and Venezuelans struggling to find basic goods like toilet paper, the country’s economy is heading for a recession sure to make matters worse. The Venezuelan government plans to institute restrictions on the sale of 20 basic items subject to price controls in Zulia, the country’s most populous state. Starting next week, the state will issue computer chip cards that will limit consumer purchases of certain products. Though the government has spun the move as a fight against contraband on the Colombian border, it is another clear sign that Venezuela’s shortages are worsening.

Meanwhile Venezuela’s bonds have bottomed out; Moody’s now rates them as junk status, a sign that the financial community has lost faith in Maduro’s government.

Indeed, criticism from the international community and from watchdogs continues to ratchet up. The meeting between President Santos and Capriles embarrassed Maduro on the world stage; the shootings of two U.S. embassy officials only further underscored the dreadful violence that plagues Venezuela. Desperate to quell the concerns of the international community, Venezuela has requested a meeting with top U.S. Diplomat John Kerry. Kerry will meet with Foreign Minster Elías Jaua at the ongoing Organization of American States General Assembly session in Guatemala. The meeting – the first at the cabinet level between the nations in several years – will explore ways to improve fractured relations between the two nations.

The only hope for Venezuela’s economy and her people lies in moderation, yet the signs often point in the opposite direction. Maduro has grasped for scapegoats, blaming Venezuela’s scant remaining private industry for the problems caused by the government. Venezuela’s last independent television station, Globovisión, was recently purchased by a group of businessmen with ties to the country’s ruling party. Now, as if on cue, the station has pledged to curb criticism of the government on its airwaves.

With Venezuela’s media already almost entirely controlled by the government, Globivision represented the last semblance of free media in the country. Its sale “appears to represent a new extension of the Venezuelan government’s control over broadcast media,” write Latin America experts Hugo Pérez Hernáiz and David Smilde.

All in all: it paints an embarrassing picture for Venezuela’s new president. Lacking in legitimacy before the international community and his own people, his government unable to reverse the economic calamity it caused, Nicolas Maduro’s first months in office started poorly, and have only gotten worse. And the Venezuelan people are feeling the consequences.