ASSESSMENTS

Latin America's Burning Question: What to Do About Venezuela?

Apr 2, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

Mass migration from Venezuela won’t be easily ignored by any politician, no matter their leanings.

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The Lima Group, an organization of countries created to assist the United States in pressuring Venezuela's government toward free and fair elections, will continue to raise the pressure on Caracas.
  • The group's members, including Brazil, will share with the United States financial intelligence on the Venezuelan government's illicit actions, which will facilitate the drafting of criminal indictments or sanctions against the country.
  • But the election of leftist presidents in Colombia and Brazil later this year could reduce the countries' cooperation with the United States and delay heavier financial investigations into Venezuela.

 

Everyone agrees on Venezuela's diagnosis, but agreeing on the best course of treatment is another matter entirely. The economic and political situation in Venezuela has become too dire for its neighbors to ignore, but countries in the region are having a hard time deciding how to arrest Venezuela's slide into authoritarianism and economic catastrophe. More than a dozen countries from North, Central and South America have publicly committed to supporting free elections in Venezuela and sharing financial intelligence on the country, although two of Venezuela's most critical neighbors, Colombia and Brazil, are at odds regarding the best course of action for the country. And with presidential elections scheduled later this year in Colombia and Brazil, all bets are off as to whether states in the region will succeed in taking concerted, united action to solve the Venezuelan problem. (Mexico is also headed to the polls later this year, but the...

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