Anne Applebaum

And they're stuck fighting this ground war that they don't want to be in.

I mean, I don't think it changes that.

Even the bump up in oil prices I don't think is helping them the way it could.

They've lost something like 20% of their refining capacity, which is a lot.

Former mayor and was the opposition leader in Venezuela.

It's a really, really important story.

Also, he goes on to make a broader point, which is that there's still no rule of law in Venezuela.

And you'd be crazy to invest in Venezuela.

You know, you could write a contract tomorrow.

And it could be annulled by the government.

His house was expropriated.

So why wouldn't the government expropriate your oil company's investment should you want to make it?

Acting like if we just change the leader to someone who's less obnoxious to me personally, that that somehow changes the situation in Venezuela completely when we haven't changed the judges or the regime or anything else is crazy.

I mean, one of the reasons there's not a lot of reporting from Venezuela is it's incredibly dangerous for Americans to go to Venezuela.

You know, there's still reports of, you know, threats to Americans in the street and a lot of caution about sending reporters there.

We don't have a very good idea of what's going on deeper inside the country.

I mean, it seems like there are a few small kind of wildcat oil companies who have gone in and are trying to make some money.

But I'm not hearing of any really big investments or long-term commitments, which is the kind of thing you would need to really get that oil.

oil industry moving again.

And, you know, until there is a real change, until there's an election, until there's a change of regime, until there's a regime that's committed to the rule of law, at the very least, you're not going to have a lot of change in Venezuela.