David Smilde is a WOLA Senior Fellow and the Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations at Tulane University. He founded the WOLA Venezuela Politics and Human Rights blog and curated it from 2012-2020. He has lived in or worked on Venezuela since 1992, and has researched Venezuela for the past 30 years. He has taught at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the Universidad Católica Ándres Bello. He is currently working on a book manuscript called Venezuela’s Transition to Illiberalism: Hugo Chávez and 21st Century Socialism, 2007-2012.
The real challenge is yet to come with the need to develop a strategy to confront legislative elections this year. What is more, the political capital that Guaidó gained in meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump would seem more valuable for radical strategies of boycotting and calling for intervention, than fighting to preserve the National Assembly.
The New York Times asked me to write up my reactions to Juan Guaidó's presence at the State of the Union address and meetings with Donald Trump last week. Here is the piece in English and in Spanish. I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but Guaidó's meetings with Trump...
Just as important was what Trump did not say about Venezuela. He did not mention the “military option” that has so divided the Venezuelan opposition over the past two years. Nor did he mention “temporary protected status” for Venezuelans in the United States.
I published a piece on Juan Guaidó's international trip and the outlook for Venezuela's opposition push for a return to democracy. The folks at WPR were nice enough to whitelist the link from this blog, so you can access the piece here without hitting the paywall. The...
Guaidó needs to demonstrate he still has Trump’s support..For Trump the Venezuela issue is mainly interesting in terms of Florida electoral politics. The current stalemate actually works quite well for those purposes and any change of course might not be worth the risk.
Tuve el gusto de hablar con mi amiga Luz Mely Reyes, directora de Efecto Cocuyo, en su programa de entrevistas llamado ConlaLuz. Tomamos un inventario del primer año desde que Juan Guaidó asumió la presidencia interina, de su gira internacional, y de la coyuntura...
With an increasingly adverse domestic context, Venezuela’s National Assembly (AN) president Juan Guaidó has defied a Supreme Court travel ban and has set out on an international tour to build international support. It is a risky move for Guaidó, as it is not clear he...
The attack on the deputies suggests the government is not going to pull back on its push to take over the National Assembly…a multi-faceted push appears to be underway to consolidate their control.
Venezuela’s political situation decayed even further this week as the Maduro government pushed to seize control of the National Assembly rather than allow National Assembly president Juan Guaidó be elected to a second term. (See explainers from AP, the Financial Times...
Atravesando nuestro análisis es la idea de que es normal que un conflicto serio viera iniciativas multiples que surgen y se agotan, siendo reemplazado por nuevos esfuerzos. La clave es que se construyen sobre lo que ya ha ocurrido en lugar de comenzar de nuevo cada vez. Vemos este progreso en los cuatros procesos.