Mac Margolis, Columnist

Guaido’s Risky Bet in Venezuela Paid Off. Barely.

Restoring democracy will require less brinkmanship and more international support.

May 1, 2019 at 5:40 PM UTC

Mac Margolis is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin and South America. He is the author of “The Last New World: The Conquest of the Amazon Frontier.”

A narrow win for Guaido.
Photographer: Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images South America

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Venezuela’s political opposition is seemingly in a tough place. More than three months after Juan Guaido, leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, assumed the mantle of acting president, receiving the endorsement of more than 50 nations, political stalemate persists and Nicolas Maduro remains in the Miraflores palace.

But instead of rethinking opposition strategy or retreating, Guaido, uncannily perhaps, opted to press his disadvantage.