Jesús Armas sips coffee with his partner in a sidewalk café. María Pérez takes part in a public protest. Melva Vásquez holds up enlarged photos of her son and her daughter outside a prison where political opponents are held.
These seemingly ordinary actions were all but unthinkable just a few months ago under the rule of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
The United States has done its best to give Venezuela a shiny new image this year — from the daring and deadly night raid to capture Maduro, beefing up diplomatic relations and sending Cabinet secretaries for all-smiles visits with the acting president, and allowing the resumption of direct flights. But Armas, Pérez, Vásquez and many other Venezuelans are waiting to see whether change will take hold or whether the still-visible security apparatus will again spur the Latin American nation towards repression.
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“We need elections,” said the demonstrator, Pérez. “We don’t have freedom. Flexibility, but not freedom.”
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