Latin American Response to Venezuelan Authoritarianism

Venezuela spiraled further with yesterday's events, where the Maduro government forced a leadership vote and claimed victory while blocking Juan Guaidó and others, who then held a separate vote. It was almost stereotypically authoritarian. If you're going to lose a vote, then don't allow it to happen. Looking at the regional response, you can take the more optimistic approach or the more pessimistic one.

The glass half full response:

A lot of governments responded, including some--like Argentina and Mexico--that lean more to the left. Consensus appears to be growing, though a bit of that is Evo Morales' ouster.

The Lima Group issued a statement condemning it and other things, such as human rights abuses (as well as welcoming the Bolivian coup government to its ranks). Some presidents made statements themselves. Lenín Moreno strongly criticized the move. The Argentine foreign minister condemned it. Mexico's foreign ministry urged the Maduro government to allow real leadership elections. Incidentally, Evo Morales carefully kept his Twitter account silent on the issue.

The glass half empty response:

The response, while broad, was tepid. There are calls for Maduro to allow democracy and for the international community to come together somehow, but no response goes anywhere close to proposing collective action. The U.S. does nothing but impose sanctions, which hurts Venezuelans while Maduro finds alternate means of funding the regime. The constant refrain is that there are 50 countries that recognize Guaidó, but that is not changing anything on the ground.