Constant low grade civil war and dictators has been the offhand history of south america for a very long time, sadly. Definitely predates drug cartels and US in

Constant low grade civil war and dictators has been the offhand history of south america for a very long time, sadly. Definitely predates drug cartels and US influence. See Darwin: http://imgur.com/Q68r0uD http://imgur.com/Q68r0uD From: http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&itemID=F11&pageseq=183 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&... I only raise this because there is a common and lazy supposition to Venezuela's state of affairs that goes something like, "It must be drug cartels or the US that caused all the problems, fundamentally." The country's problems are probably nuanced, deeper, and older.