"Venezuela in Crisis" a Conversation with Opposition Leaders Carlos Vecchio and David Smolansky

Date
Dec 6, 2017, 4:30 pm6:00 pm
Location
Whig Senate Chamber
Audience
  • Faculty
  • Graduate
  • Undergraduate

Speakers

Details

Event Description

Since the rise of Chavismo in 1998, Venezuela has experienced dramatic changes to its economic, political and social structures. According to varying indicators, such as Freedom House, Polity IV or V-Dem, state institutions, including courts, electoral authorities, or security forces have lost their independence. This context has created uneven conditions for electoral competition and a lack of accountability and transparency. As a result, Venezuela has seen a long enduring status of crisis and tensions between the incumbent regime, its opposition and civil society. This event will address some of the sources of conflict in Venezuela, specifically the clashes between Chavismo and the opposition.

David Smolansky is one of Venezuela’s youngest ever elected mayors. Between 2013 and September 2017, he governed in El Hatillo, one of Caracas’ five municipalities. He is a member of the opposition party Voluntad Popular. David first got involved in politics back in 2007 as a student leader. Most recently, after being persecuted by the country’s Supreme Court, he was forced to leave the country. Now, in exile, he has been denouncing the Venezuelan political and socio-economic crisis.

Carlos Vecchio is a Venezuelan politician. He is a co-founder and National Coordinator of Voluntad Popular. He has been active in the fight against Chavismo and has ran important campaigns for the Venezuelan opposition, including the 2012 and 2013 presidential campaigns. Carlos is a former Fulbright Scholar at Yale and has worked to expose constitutional and human rights abuses in his home country, particularly since he was forced into exile in 2014.

This event is organized and sponsored by the Latino Graduate Students Association, Princeton Latinos y Amigos, Whig-Clio, and the Program in Latin American Studies.