Maduro settles in for the long-haul: and there isn't much anyone can do about it

The International community lacks good options on Venezuela and he knows it

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Some residents in Venezuela dared to hope, often against their better judgment, that the July 28 elections might prove to be such a landslide loss for Maduro that he would have no choice but to step aside. Instead, President Nicolas Maduro has refused to acknowledge them, and this week issued an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. 

The protests that threatened to turn into a popular revolt, which swept even once-Chavista working-class strongholds like 23 de Enero, have stopped, their momentum smothered by draconian security crackdowns on opposition politicians and citizenry alike.

After a flurry of dramatic activity, Venezuela has once again settled into a dynamic familiar to residents who live in the autocratic nation— a frozen tension that seems designed to stamp out any resistance to government rule via an exhausting campaign of attrition.

But what can the international community or Latin American leaders do to resolve the problem? Maduro realizes that their options are extremely limited and is betting that after a cost-benefit analysis, they won’t do much at all. And if recent history is any guide, he is probably right.