Venezuela is world’s worst democratic backslider

IDEA’s annual Global State of Democracy Report finds that Venezuela “is the only country in the world that has gone from being a democracy with high levels of Representative Government (from 1975 to 1996) to a non- democracy.”

As protests in Bolivia, Chile and Haiti continue, Colombia is now confronting protests of its own and Venezuela and Nicaragua are now facing renewed waves of demonstrations, Global Americans* adds:

Inspired by how major protests (and other factors) led to the resignation of former Bolivian President Evo Morales, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó called on his supporters to take to the streets and demand the ousting of President Nicolás Maduro. In Nicaragua, pro-government supporters clashed with the Catholic Church as hunger strikes demanding the release of political prisoners took place in three separate churches. Thirteen activists were arrested as they tried to deliver aid to protestors in the San Miguel church in Managua. 

*A partner of the National Endowment for Democracy.