Democracy under threat in Venezuela

Richard Gott
The Guardian

The opposition’s plan was to make people believe that ‘democracy in Venezuela is in grave peril.’ It is indeed in peril, threatened by a tiny ragbag of opposition groups given disproportionate international influence through the support of the US.”

The people of Venezuela have gone to the polls 11 times in seven years. Almost a superfluity of democracy, some might think, and signs of electoral fatigue could be detected in Sunday’s elections for the National Assembly when only 30% of the electorate bothered to vote. The rest perceived the result as a foregone conclusion since in earlier elections President Hugo Ch