In his column “Epicentro” for the Mexican newspaper El Universal, journalist and commentator León Krauze draws a pointed comparison between the political trajectory of Venezuela and the current moment in the United States under President Donald Trump.
Krauze, a longtime chronicler of Latin American politics, has often warned that democratic institutions can erode gradually rather than collapse overnight. Venezuela, once one of the wealthiest and most stable democracies in the region, saw its checks and balances dismantled piece by piece under Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro, culminating in the authoritarian, economically devastated state it is today.
The columnist suggests that this history is not merely a Latin American cautionary tale but a warning with broader relevance, particularly for a country like the United States, where he sees echoes of the same warning signs: the erosion of institutional norms, attacks on independent judiciary and press, and the concentration of executive power.
While the piece does not offer a policy prescription, its central message is one of vigilance: democracies rarely fail in a single dramatic moment, but through the slow accumulation of small compromises.
For the full analysis and Krauze’s complete argument, we invite you to read the original column at El Universal.
Image: Tim Evanson, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).