Over the past year, left-wing writers have debated the crisis in Venezuela, focusing on some basic questions: how responsible is the Maduro government for the country’s economic malaise? How justifiable are its political moves over the last two years? And what chance is there that the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will take the necessary steps to win back the popular support it previously enjoyed?

You can find a sample of this debate in articles by Gabriel Hetland and Mike Gonzalez, who put forward a critical perspective, and George Ciccariello-Maher and Gregory Wilpert, who take a more sympathetic line. It’s also a discussion that has been taking place among Venezuelan socialists: Marea Socialista, previously organized as a current within the PSUV, has now divided into two groups, with sharply contrasting analyses of the Venezuelan crisis.

We can expect those polemics to continue, especially now that Maduro has announced presidential elections will be held in April.