Not much more than a decade ago, political scientists considered Venezuela to be a Latin American success story.
While its neighbours were wracked by dictatorship and political violence, Venezuela boasted a stable democracy.
Between 1960 and 1990 two moderate parties took turns to run the country and manage its oil wealth. Even the names of the two parties – Democratic Action (AD) on the left and the Committee for Independent Elections (Copei) on the right – reflected the country’s enthusiasm for the new democratic system established when the Pérez Jiménez dictatorship was ousted in 1958.
