Venezuela is increasingly turning into an authoritarian dictatorship. Everyday there are protests against the government, and everyday these are crushed and the government is taking over all of the private media and is increasingly using censorship on the Internet and in everything else. Meanwhile, there are food shortages, gasoline shortages (that’s saying something in one of the largest oil producers in the world), inflation, crime spiraling out of control, and extreme government controls of the country’s currency. This “socialist” government is not only not allowing dissent of any kind, but it is forcing the country’s richest citizens and now even its middle class to flee for their lives and take as much of their assets with them.

None of this is good for Venezuela, and while one may talk of a possible Communist state, there are growing indications that Venezuela may head into the opposite direction—no one in control of the country. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is showing that he is unable to govern the country, and his only answer seems to be more violent repression. Yet this does not solve any of the country’s problems, nor deal with what opposition there is. The big danger here is that eventually some of the states may decide to break away. They may see no future with the current government and may want to leave. With the growing loss of many of Venezuela’s best and brightest people fleeing the country, the government may lose control over vast swaths of the country and may be unable to govern (as is happening in Libya today).

Just as troubling is the amount of corruption that is not only dragging down the country but the currency itself. The Bolivar has largely become worthless, and the government has mismanaged the country’s resources since its former president Hugo Chavez, ruled the country. Despite the country’s vast oil, natural gas, and gold reserves, the country is disintegrating. With the exception of the government itself, the future of Venezuela looks very bleak.