Venezuelan manhunt underway for opposition leader

[Marksman_91]

8. No, we figure that the Castros are using Maduro as a puppet

They're teaching him the ways of how to repress the people and keep them from ever rising up against the regime by way of fear. It's why the government has never bothered to fix the crime rate in these last 15 years: they know it's an effective tool to keep people at home and afraid of going out into the streets. The armed pro-government colectivos, which are nothing more than narcoparamilitaries, are simply another form of armed forces that answer directly to the government as well, though they "officially" have no affiliation with it.

The Castros want to keep their lapdog Maduro as long as they can in the president's seat so they can still keep receiving subsidies and oil from the Ven. government in exchange for "personnel" that come to "assist" in the glorious Revolution.