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What happened to all the concern about Venezuelan democracy?
The rise of right-wing governments in Latin America has reshaped the region's political landscape. As a new wave of conservative leaders takes office, the region is moving closer to Washington to a degree not seen in decades. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in the changing political approach to Venezuela. Just a year ago, governments across the region were condemning Nicolás Maduro's authoritarianism, questioning the legitimacy of his electoral victories and supporting international pressure on Caracas. Today, many engage directly with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's former vice president and Venezuela's interim president. The region has moved from demanding democratic change in Caracas to normalizing relations with the very political establishment it once sought to isolate. Looking back at the previous decade makes this contrast clearer. With few exceptions, Latin America had adopted an increasingly firm stance against Maduro's authoritarian rule. In 2017, after Maduro stripped the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its powers, the founding members of the Southern Common Market, or Mercosur, suspended Venezuela indefinitely under the democracy provisions of the Ushuaia Protocol. A few days later, a coalition of mostly center-right governments, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru, established the Lima Group to coordinate pressure on Caracas. In 2018, five of its members joined Canada in referring the situation in Venezuela to the International Criminal Court. The group rejected Maduro's reelection the same year, later supported Juan Guaidó's claim to the interim presidency, and pressed for sanctions. By 2019, Maduro had become largely isolated in his own region. Venezuela's neighbors adopted a similar position after the 2024 election. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner without publishing polling station-level results, while opposition tallies showed Edmundo González winning by a substantial margin. Governments across the political spectrum, from Gabriel Boric's left-wing Chile to Javier Milei's right-wing Argentina, rejected the official outcome. Maduro's government expelled diplomats from several countries in response. Caracas severed diplomatic relations after President Santiago Peña recognized González as the president-elect. These political efforts undermined Maduro’s international legitimacy and signaled that Venezuela's crisis was not merely an internal matter. This isolation helped shape the political context for the U.S. military operation that resulted in Maduro's capture on Jan. 3. Following Washington's lead The events that followed Maduro's capture caught the region's right-wing governments off guard. Instead of bringing González and his political ally María Corina Machado to power, the Trump administration chose to work with Rodríguez, one of the regime's leading figures. Rodríguez continues to govern with Washington's backing. This decision left the region's right-wing governments in a difficult position. For years, they had argued that the regime in Venezuela lacked democratic legitimacy. Yet when Washington chose to replace its leader without dismantling the regime, these governments remained largely silent. As the Trump administration deepened its relationship with Rodríguez, most of the region followed suit. Now, leaders who placed democratic legitimacy at the center of their foreign policies are now cooperating with a different face of the same Chavista system. Paraguay is one of the clearest examples. Peña lost diplomatic relations with Caracas after recognizing González as the winner of the 2024 election. Yet on Sept. 19, he became the second foreign head of state to visit Venezuela since Maduro's removal. As Julieta Heduvan, a Paraguayan foreign policy analyst, argued, the gesture toward Venezuela "must be read in light of Asunción's realignment with Washington." The result, she concluded, is "a foreign policy that sacrifices doctrinal coherenc…
Framing
venezuela's
right-wing governments
trump
sanctions
pressure on caracas
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