Venezuela and Cuba are experimenting with a limited economic opening to preserve political control, following the model of China and Vietnam without opening the door to democratic freedoms.
More than eight million Venezuelans living abroad are calling for representation in the National Assembly, a goal that would require a constitutional amendment along with electoral and institutional reforms.
Without reconciliation between the Venezuela within and the Venezuela abroad, social fragmentation will continue to limit any attempt at sustainable national reconstruction.
The oil boom has ceased to translate into effective power, revealing the structural limits of a model without institutions or a sustainable productive base.
