Starting Over in Venezuela

By Allison Fedirka

Internal differences have again prevented the political opposition from achieving its goals.

The failure to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro has finally caught up to Venezuela’s political opposition. Internal divisions are preventing its constituent parts from coalescing into a force strong enough to contest his power. Just last week, in fact, having apparently seen the writing on the wall, a small group of dissidents defected back to the government.

When we speak of the Venezuelan opposition, we refer to an umbrella group of diverse political parties that are united by a common hatred of Maduro and a mutual desire to gain political power at his expense. But that’s about it. These groups try to overcome their differences so that they don’t lose what little collective power they can bring to bear, but the truth is that their competing agendas make it difficult to agree on a long-term strategy.

This goes a long way in explaining the events of last week. The splinter group that went back to the government was actually a group loyal to Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, but not...