Jun 8, 2017
Over 65 Venezuelans have died in over two months of protests against the Maduro government's authoritarian turn. WOLA Senior Fellow David Smilde, the Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations at Tulane University and moderator of the WOLA Venezuela Politics and Human Rights blog, discusses Venezuela's political crisis.
This fast-moving interview covers the risk to democracy posed by Maduro's proposed constitutional assembly; the opposition's strategic opportunities, challenges, and mistakes; civil-military relations; the highly politicized issue of humanitarian aid; diplomatic efforts at the Organization of American States; the issue of sanctions, and WOLA's skepticism about this tactic; and hope for multilateral action to find a way forward.