December 18, 2015 Issue

Caracas, Venezuela—Humberto Lopez, a Chavista known for dressing like Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, reacts to news that the opposition Democratic Unity coalition won a landslide victory in congressional elections on December 6. Lopez, a strong supporter of socialist President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, once said that if the opposition won an election, thousands of militants would offer resistance. An unprecedented recession and a collapse in the bolívar turned voters against the populist policies of Maduro and gave the opposition a majority in Congress for the first time in 16 years.