Democracy looks to be coming to an end in the rapidly impoverishing Venezuela.

If we want an example of the disaster socialism can inflict upon a country, we need only look at Venezuela. It was once regarded as South America’s luckiest nation, with huge oil reserves guaranteeing riches for its people on a continent where poverty is endemic. Today it is riven with strife, an economic basket-case brought to its knees by years of feckless mismanagement and rampant corruption, exacerbated by falling oil prices. The constitutional assembly election that President Nicolas Maduro says he has won was patently rigged, according to observers, with a far lower turnout than the government has claimed. The opposition, which won parliamentary elections two years ago, had called for a boycott, but millions of public sector workers were ordered to take part. Violence has broken out and dozens of countries, including Britain, are refusing to recognise the outcome of the vote.

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