August 9, 2016

Date: 2016-08-09 15:32

A traffic light without green

As Venezuela falls deeper into a disaster movie scenario, the Electoral Board threw another obstacle in the path to a referendum this year — saying there might be a pre-referdum step by late October. This implies no referendum until next year, which would mean that Maduro could be revoked, but the VP would finish the term1.

I can only explain the frustration with an analogy:

Imagine you’re waiting for your turn at a traffic light, and the lights keeps switching from red to yellow, and immediately back to red. The traffic moves forward sometimes, but not always. You’d be awed by the injustice — if you’re Venezuelan you’d likely comment it with a laugh with the cars around you. But after enough turns, you’d start to get pissed.

Every time the cycle skips green again, you’re more likely to disregard the light altogether. But fear of the police/military in the corner and some common sense holds you back. Someone in twitter keeps saying that a green light is our right and some are talking to the traffic cop.

How does this bad analogy end? your guess is as good as mine. I trust the guy in Twitter. But each time the green light is skipped, scenarios become more complex, and the likelihood of people getting hurt approach certainty.


  1. Maduro’s number are so low, that even Chavismo might want this.↩︎


Venezuela


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