Some Americans have a funny definition of "democracy"...

[EX500rider]

5. Since 2013 Venezuelan GDP has dropped 35 percent and per capita GDP has dropped 40 percent....

.....who wouldn't vote for that awesome success story?

Venezuela’s future darkens
AUG 7, 2017
Venezuela continues to slide deeper and deeper into crisis. Rather than take constructive action to remedy a worsening humanitarian situation, President Nicolas Maduro has instead instituted a power grab, convening a constitutional assembly to eliminate the vestiges of opposition to his rule. This is the last desperate act of a dictator and will plunge a troubled country further into chaos and dysfunction.

The Venezuelan economy has imploded in recent years, with the International Monetary Fund reporting that GDP this year will be 35 percent below that of 2013, a drop of 40 percent in per capita terms. This is a greater contraction than that experienced by Russia at the end of the Cold War and the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Only countries ravaged by war, such as Libya, Rwanda and South Sudan, have fared worse.

According to one study, 74 percent of Venezuelans have involuntarily lost an average of 8.6 kg in weight. Infant and maternal health is worsening: The number of women who died in childbirth last year rose 76 percent over 2015 and infant mortality increased 30 percent over the year before. There was also a 76 percent jump in reported cases of malaria. Two million Venezuelans — out of a population of 30 million — have left the country since 1999. The situation will surely worsen. The country has just $9.9 billion in foreign currency reserves and must make nearly $5 billion in bond payment for the remainder of this year.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/08/07/editorials/venezuelas-future-darkens/#.Wef2DWhSxEY