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.