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Meanwhile, Venezuela is in very serious turmoil — as the country has been roiled by protests the past few weeks against an increasingly authoritarian government. [BBC / Vanessa Buschschlüter]
The death toll in the protests, which have now endured for more than a month, is nearing 40 — a sign of just how out of control the situation is. [CBS News and the Associated Press]
The government has defended its aggressive anti-protest actions by arguing, in part, that protesters are using chemical weapons — by which it means bottles filled with feces (seriously) that protesters are throwing at police. [Fox News]
Why are Venezuelans so angry? The big catalyst was the Supreme Court’s decision to essentially dismantle the legislature — the equivalent of America’s Congress — and absorb its powers. The Supreme Court is heavily tilted in favor of the current regime, led by leftist President Nicolás Maduro, while the National Assembly is controlled by the opposition. The court’s move was just the latest in Maduro’s slow acclimation of more and more power. [NYT / Nicholas Casey and Patricia Torres]
The broader reason, however, is that the country is having massive economic problems. In large part thanks to the policies of Maduro and predecessor Hugo Chávez, there are huge shortages in many crucial sectors of the economy, from food to health care. [NYT / Nicholas Casey]
Things are so bad that most people reported losing an average of 19 pounds between 2015 and 2016. [Vox / Zeeshan Aleem]
It’s hard to say where this all ends. But some experts argue that Venezuela’s slow descent into authoritarianism offers a warning for any other countries considering populist leaders. [NYT / Max Fisher and Amanda Taub]
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