The Nightmare in Venezuela Finally Has the World's Attention. Can the Opposition's Gamble Pay Off?

“Oil revenue was never seen as a tool for development,” says Raúl Gallegos, a political analyst and author of Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela. (Maduro denies any criminal wrongdoing.) “The levels of crime in Venezuela in the last few years have been unimaginable—higher than I can remember in any other case in recent history,” says Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States. “It remains an extremely corrupt organization, and these people don’t have the knowledge to run an oil industry.” In two years, under-investment in equipment and a lack of expertise have halved production to 1.1 million barrels per day—the lowest it has been for almost 70 years.All the while, Venezuela’s powerful military counter-intelligence service, DGCIM, has kept close tabs on the armed forces, monitoring for signs of dissent and quickly putting down small-scale rebellions. U.S. refineries can’t buy Venezuelan crude unless they pay money into bank accounts unrelated to Maduro, whom U.S. officials now refer to as “the former President.” “We’re cornering the regime now,” says Rebolledo, the Venezuelan judge.But the regime still has powerful allies. “The military as a whole is still behind Maduro, but if the demonstrations continue or become overwhelming, that could cause a break in the chain of command,” says Moya-Ocampos. “No one is willing to sacrifice themselves for Maduro or take up arms to fight for him,” he says. “Increasingly, the obvious choice is to put it all aside.” Guaidó has a three-pronged plan: first, remove Maduro from the presidency; second, establish a transitional government; and third, call free and fair elections.However the next few weeks and months unravel, Venezuelans have a long road to restore their country and way of life. We need to rebuild our state.” Almagro says foreign governments will need to put investigators to work on repatriating some of the dirty money that has bled out of the country in recent years.But before they can look to the future, Venezuelans are looking to Guaidó.