Venezuela’s dictator is less isolated than he once was
A regional tilt left and high oil prices are shoring up Nicolás Maduro’s rule
As regional leaders descended on Bogotá for the elaborate inauguration on August 7th of Colombia’s first left-wing president, one man was notable by his absence. The outgoing conservative president, Iván Duque, used his last dregs of power to make sure of that. He barred Nicolás Maduro, the dictator next door in Venezuela, from stepping on Colombian soil until the very moment Gustavo Petro was sworn in. So Mr Maduro stayed home and played television presenter, standing by a large screen in his palace and commenting on events in Bogotá as they unfolded.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Isolation interrupted”
From the August 20th 2022 edition
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