The Twilight of Chávez: Are the Supporters of Venezuela's President Ready to Revolt?

Oscar B. Castillo

A gang member poses with a gun in Caracas. Some 50 homicides occur in the city each week.

There has never been a shortage of
bereaved mothers in the sprawling, violent Caracas barrio known as Catia. But these days the sidewalks seem haunted by legions of women like Luz Marina Morón. In recent years, Morón has seen her brother-in-law, niece and 23-year-old son Roger murdered on Catia's streets — the latter shot in the face by a gangbanger who wanted Roger's New Balance tennis shoes. "Have you seen our homicide statistics?" Morón, 53, a nurse, asks me as we sit down for a guayoyo , a Venezuelan-style cup of coffee. "We might as well be in...

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