Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro has failed his country. Picked by Hugo Chávez as successor just before his death in 2013, President Maduro has been an incompetent leader in hard times. Now, in what was once South America’s richest country, more than four households in five are in poverty, twice the level of when he came to power. Weeks of protests have been met by state violence, semi-official vigilantes and, increasingly, counterattack from some opposition groupings. But the alternative is a dysfunctional country that brings nothing but insecurity and suffering to its citizens.

Source: The Guardian April 25, 2017 18:33 UTC