Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia has urged the Venezuelan military to recognize him as their commander-in-chief and “put an end to the leadership” of President Nicolás Maduro,

Syria had experienced 13 years of civil war and splintered into religious and ethnic factions before the regime fell. While Venezuela’s situation differs in many respects from that of Syria, the repressive regime in Caracas shares allies with Assad’s ousted government and, like his, is loathed by most citizens.

FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech during a meeting of leaders of the member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the Treaty of Commerce and Promotion (ALBA-TCP), in Caracas, Venezuela December 14, 2024. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo