The slow death of a democracy

What happened in Venezuela could never happen in the US or Western Europe. Right?

caracaschron

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Claire Berlinski and Venezuelan expat Simón Franco take a deep dive into the catastrophic collapse of Franco’s oil-rich home country:

Venezuela is now the poorest country in Latin America. More than 5.4 million Venezuelans have fled, creating a refugee crisis exceeded in numbers only by Syria’s. To the rest of the world, Venezuela is synonymous with hyperinflation, starvation, disease, crime, corruption, and misery.  

One of the most astonishing and alarming aspects of Venezuela’s story is that only recently, it was the wealthiest country in South America. It was believed to be one of the most stable democracies in the region. Indeed, in the 1950s, Venezuela was one of the wealthiest countries in the world—it ranked fourth—with a per capita GDP that rivaled West Germany’s. Well into the 1980s, Venezuela had far more in common with the United States than with Syria.

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Venezuela’s story inspires horror, for it suggests that a single mistake at the ballot box can lead to ruin, starvation, …