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Venezuela: The spiral widens and intensifies... but there is some good news - The Venezuelan legislative elections are only one month away (December 6‘) and the country continues to be wracked by dysfunction, corruption and shortages of food, toilet paper, medicines, etc. - The government has also banned a number of leading opposition figures from running for office and/or has placed them under house arrest. - Inthe first half of 2105, their were reports of 132 lootings of stores and 2,800 protests”*. - Inflation is now estimated at over 800 percent, making it the highest in the world. - Meanwhile, President Maduro has revived old border disputes with Guyana and closed the border with Columbia, causing significant social unrest. - $owhatis the good news? There is a new and serious dialogue underway between the United States and Venezuela. Multiple high-level diplomatic visits have been undertaken in the last six months. A by-product of the US- Cuba rapprochement? *source: Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict Deutsche Bank Francis J. Kelly Global Public Affairs francis.j.kelly@db.com 28 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_026822