Donald Trump is no Hugo Chávez. He’s more like Nicolás Maduro – By Francisco Toro | The Washington Post

Donald Trump is no Hugo Chávez. He’s more like Nicolás Maduro.

By Francisco Toro  | The Washington Post

…..  Francisco Toro is executive editor of CaracasChronicles.com and a contributing columnist for Post Global Opinions.

Nobody can be happy about the way the Clinton-Trump race has gone. But for us Venezuelans, alarm comes with a side of comfort.

For 17 years, as Venezuela has sunk deeper and deeper into a morass of autocratic populism, people have been tut-tutting in our direction.

“How could you let this happen?” our friends in the United States of America have asked. “How could you put your country in the hands of an evident huckster? Wasn’t it obvious what would happen since day one?”

You could try to explain it, of course, and I have. But it is difficult for people to really understand. Having your democracy commit suicide under the lure of a charismatic demagogue is not the kind of experience you can fully make sense of unless you’ve lived it in your own skin.