The Heat: Venezuela’s crisis

The Heat

Police officers detain an anti-government demonstrator in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, June 19, 2017. Nearly 70 people have died, hundreds more have been injured and thousands have been detained in months of almost daily protests demanding new elections as the nation battles triple-digit inflation, crippling food and medical shortages and rising crime. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Last month Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shocked many in his country by calling for a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution.

The embattled President has seen his political capital sapped by triple-digit inflation, plunging oil prices and chronic shortages of food and consumer goods.

Public anger has fueled almost daily protests since early April, with more than 70 people killed, and no end in sight.

Tonight’s panel takes a look at how the Latin American country could rebound from the current crisis:

  • Jennifer McCoy, founding director of Georgia State University’s Global Studies Institute and the former director of the Americas program at the Carter Center
  • Gloria La Riva, coordinator for the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee
  • Luis Angosto-Ferrandez, author of “Venezuela Reframed”
  • Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas