When President Trump turned to the Capitol gallery during his State of the Union speech in February to recognize Venezuela’s young opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, it seemed like a political masterstroke. “Maduro’s grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken,” Mr. Trump proclaimed. In the 2020 battleground of South Florida, home to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan expatriates and Cuban-Americans who support their cause, Mr. Trump’s embrace of Mr. Guaidó drew a rapturous response. But on the eve of Election Day, Mr. Trump’s approach to Venezuela has yielded both some political success and a foreign policy failure. Mr. Maduro has effectively vanquished Mr. Guaidó, whose popular support has collapsed.

Source: International New York Times November 01, 2020 18:45 UTC