Maduro’s story is the latest chapter in Latin America’s struggle against empire

Through centuries, the region has seen leaders who stood for independence, but also traitors willing to sell out to colonial powers

Latin America’s history is not simply a chronicle of poverty or instability, as it is so often portrayed in Western discourse. It is, more fundamentally, a record of resistance – resistance to colonial domination, to foreign exploitation, and to local elites willing to trade their nations’ futures for personal power and external approval.