Venezuela, proof that socialism rocks

‘Hope Is Gone’ for Venezuelan Opposition
Antigovernment protests have dissipated and the president faces few short-term challenges to his rule
By Ryan Dube

CARACAS, Venezuela—Wuilly Arteaga became a symbol of Venezuela’s protest movement as he played patriotic hymns from his violin in the face of tear gas and rubber bullets. Then he was arrested and beaten.

When the 23-year-old was released after three weeks, he was stunned to find the protest movement had died and President Nicolás Maduro in greater control than ever.

“It looks like hope is gone,” said Mr. Arteaga this week, bruises visible on his left cheek. “I feel like everything is so dark, I don’t see an exit.”

Five months of violent antigovernment demonstrations have dissipated and the epicenter in Caracas, Plaza Altamira, sits eerily quiet. The barricades that opponents once set up to slow government armored vehicles are gone. Rumors of a military uprising are gone. And life has returned to normal, with people struggling to find enough to eat in a country stricken by shortages.

Despite an 80% disapproval rating, Mr. Maduro seemingly faces few short-term challenges to his rule just a month after he drew international condemnation by installing his allies into a new rubber-stamp assembly.

The government’s crackdown on protesters—including widespread arrests and torture, human-rights groups and victims say—has broken the once-potent protest movement. The protests claimed more than 125 lives and nearly 2,000 wounded, including scores with permanent injuries.
Clockwise from top, opposition activist Wuilly Arteaga played the violin during a antigovernment protest in Caracas, was in a hospital in July after being injured during a protest and sat in August after spending three weeks in detention.
Clockwise from top, opposition activist Wuilly Arteaga played the violin during a antigovernment protest in Caracas, was in a hospital in July after being injured during a protest and sat in August after spending three weeks in detention. Photo: federico parra/AFP-Getty; ROBERT CARMONA-BORJAS/AFP-Getty; Ryan Dube/The Wall Street Journal

Some of the government’s leading political adversaries have fled the country and left the opposition coalition in disarray. The new so-called constituent assembly, stacked with Mr. Maduro’s supporters, has in recent weeks declared the opposition-run congress void of power, replaced a dissident attorney general with one supportive of Mr. Maduro, and is now investigating opposition leaders for alleged treason.

Emboldened, Mr. Maduro’s lieutenants now publicly debate how to censor social media while kicking off the air two Colombian TV broadcasters that were critical of his government, in what the channels called censorship.

“In the short term I think it’s paid off because they have effectively gained control over the whole government,” said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. Longer term, he added, it remained to be seen whether the moves to maintain control will suffice.

Amid a deepening economic crisis, protests could always begin again at any moment. The crisis is expected to deteriorate, with the administration struggling to pay both its debt obligations and food imports amid dwindling reserves and soaring inflation.

“The economic crisis is the unpredictable element going forward,” said Harold Trinkunas, an expert on Venezuela at Stanford University. “How that evolves I think will be the critical variable.”

Still, many analysts say it is difficult to see what could get a large number of Venezuelans to mobilize on the street again. Presidential elections aren’t scheduled until October 2018.

Mr. Maduro argues that the constituent assembly was needed to unify the country against an opposition it accuses of trying to destabilize the country alongside Washington. His supporters say they are happy some in the opposition are fleeing the country. “This Venezuelan opposition is being left isolated with only its boss in Washington at its side,” said Delcy Rodríguez, the president of the constituent assembly.
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