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Venezuela’s New Dawn

During his decade in power, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s economic mismanagement has led to staggering poverty and hyperinflation. Despite the regime’s efforts to undermine opposition leaders ahead of the critical 2024 presidential election, Venezuelans are ready for change.

CARACAS – Venezuela is on the cusp of a profound transformation. An organized popular movement is mobilizing to oust President Nicolás Maduro through lawful and institutional means. I am honored to help spearhead this effort to restore my country’s democracy, alongside a diverse coalition of citizens, professionals, and political and social leaders.

My country’s spectacular economic collapse is notorious worldwide. Years of negative growth under Maduro has resulted in staggering poverty and mass migration, with estimates suggesting that nearly 25% of the population has left since 2015. No one sincerely believes economic recovery is possible under the corrupt, dictatorial, and criminal regime that has been in power for the past quarter-century.

Twenty-five years ago, Venezuela was the wealthiest country in Latin America; today, it is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. From 2012 to 2022, GDP plummeted by an astonishing 75%, with no signs of bottoming out. The bolivar, Venezuela’s national currency, has experienced unprecedented depreciation, resulting in hyperinflation reminiscent of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe in 2008, and Hungary and Greece in the aftermath of World War II.

https://prosyn.org/lRubvIr