, Columnist
Boycotting Venezuela’s Election Is a Big Mistake
The opposition’s greatest progress against autocracy has come when it has rallied the country’s voters.
Guaido should hit the campaign trail.
Photographer: Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images
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Two decades after Bolivarian caudillo Hugo Chavez remade Venezuelan politics in his own autocratic image, the country’s opposition finds itself in a familiar place: splintered and at each other’s throats.
National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, hailed by foes of the Chavista regime and more than 50 countries as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, has stumbled. His enviable 63% approval rating upon taking the oath as interim president in January 2019 has tanked (25.5% in May).