Ira Glass

Help on today's rerun from Henry Larson. Special thanks today to Nicole Wolfe-Rodriguez-Robbins, Tarek Fouda, Mark Johnson of Global Wildlife Resources, David Meech of the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Minnesota, and Bill White. This American Life is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the public radio exchange, to become a This American Life partner.

which gets you bonus content, ad-free listening, and hundreds of our favorite episodes of the show right in your podcast feed. Go to thisamericanlife.org slash lifepartners. That link is also in the show notes. Thanks, as always, to our program's co-founder, Mr. Torrey Malatia.

which gets you bonus content, ad-free listening, and hundreds of our favorite episodes of the show right in your podcast feed. Go to thisamericanlife.org slash lifepartners. That link is also in the show notes. Thanks, as always, to our program's co-founder, Mr. Torrey Malatia.

You know, he was helping his little nephew with a school project, this 3D topographical map of the Ottoman Empire, which was very nice. So Torrey called the kid's teacher to brag.

You know, he was helping his little nephew with a school project, this 3D topographical map of the Ottoman Empire, which was very nice. So Torrey called the kid's teacher to brag.

I'm Eric Glass. Back next week with more stories of This American Life.

I'm Eric Glass. Back next week with more stories of This American Life.

There was another presidential election that happened recently in another country, and it was an astonishing one. And it has an aftermath that is ongoing. I don't know if you followed this very closely. I did not. President Nicolas Maduro was up for re-election in Venezuela in July. A lot was on the line in this election.

There was another presidential election that happened recently in another country, and it was an astonishing one. And it has an aftermath that is ongoing. I don't know if you followed this very closely. I did not. President Nicolas Maduro was up for re-election in Venezuela in July. A lot was on the line in this election.

Their economy is in ruins, partly because of Maduro's policies, but made worse by U.S. sanctions. Millions of people have left the country. One in five people have emigrated.

Their economy is in ruins, partly because of Maduro's policies, but made worse by U.S. sanctions. Millions of people have left the country. One in five people have emigrated.

Also, during Maduro's time as president, there's been an increase in government surveillance and government repression, arbitrary detentions of government opponents or perceived opponents, security forces arresting people or killing people during protests, as according to the United Nations and human rights groups. But every six years in Venezuela, there's a presidential election.

Also, during Maduro's time as president, there's been an increase in government surveillance and government repression, arbitrary detentions of government opponents or perceived opponents, security forces arresting people or killing people during protests, as according to the United Nations and human rights groups. But every six years in Venezuela, there's a presidential election.

And the country does have a real political opposition. And the way they conduct their elections in Venezuela has all kinds of safeguards against election fraud. It's a system put in place by the socialist president, Hugo Chavez, because he didn't want there to be a shadow of a doubt. He wanted to prove to the world and to his opponents that he really had gotten the most votes every time.

And the country does have a real political opposition. And the way they conduct their elections in Venezuela has all kinds of safeguards against election fraud. It's a system put in place by the socialist president, Hugo Chavez, because he didn't want there to be a shadow of a doubt. He wanted to prove to the world and to his opponents that he really had gotten the most votes every time.

Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center observes elections all around the globe, once said that out of dozens of elections that they'd monitored, Venezuelanism's election system was, quote, the best in the world. And this year, that got put to the test. When this brutal government went to the polls with the very real possibility that they might get voted out of office.

Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center observes elections all around the globe, once said that out of dozens of elections that they'd monitored, Venezuelanism's election system was, quote, the best in the world. And this year, that got put to the test. When this brutal government went to the polls with the very real possibility that they might get voted out of office.

And the way it played out on the ground was this vast national drama and thousands of polling stations. Really, when you hear the details, it is remarkable what people did, hoping for a fair election. Today on our show, we have that story and also a couple of other stories of people trying to set the record straight against very great odds. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life.

And the way it played out on the ground was this vast national drama and thousands of polling stations. Really, when you hear the details, it is remarkable what people did, hoping for a fair election. Today on our show, we have that story and also a couple of other stories of people trying to set the record straight against very great odds. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life.

I'm Ira Glass. And let's just get to it. One of our shows is called Best Actor in a Dramatic Role. Nancy Updike has our story about Venezuela. Here she is.