At an in-person event organized by Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Chatham House, and the Inter-American Dialogue, panelists discussed the consequences of Venezuela’s crisis in anticipation of 2024, a pivotal year in which presidential elections are scheduled to take place.
As Venezuela’s presidential elections, scheduled for 2024, draw closer, the international community’s attention is primarily focused on how to use leverage to ensure minimal electoral conditions. US high-level officials have publicly said they would ease some of the economic and political sanctions imposed on the country in exchange for meaningful concessions by Nicolas Maduro’s government, and there is clearly an ongoing back channel between US and Venezuelan authorities along these lines. While this discussion is essential, it often overshadows a vital aspect of the conversation—the plan for what comes next. No transition of power is possible without a clear path forward after election day.
President Donald Trump’s decision last month to increase sanctions on Cuba represents a strategic error with serious long-term repercussions for U.S. national security.
Venezuela’s stalemate will not last forever, but an immediate and easy return to democracy is highly unlikely. The quicker the opposition and its international supporters adapt their strategies to this hard reality, the sooner the country can begin to find a way out of this unprecedented crisis.
Michael Shifter, presidente del Diálogo Interamericano, ofreció una entrevista al programa La Tarde de NTN24 en la que conversó sobre la actual situación en Venezuela.