Weekly Report - 23 February 2017 (WR-17-07)

Venezuela’s opposition coalition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) has unveiled a new canopy structure. This will incorporate into the MUD additional political parties, as well as civil-society organisations and NGOs, to create one national opposition movement. This appears to be an effort to broaden, renew and strengthen the opposition, before launching a new offensive against the government led by President Nicolás Maduro and the ruling left-wing Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV). The clear risk, however, is that this ambitious new movement becomes even more unwieldy and unmanageable.