Online Public Relations Thoughts

 Millions of Venezuelans have left the country and its ruinous economy in an indictment of President Nicolas Maduro and his leftist policies.  They're voting with their feet.  Following them are tens of thousands of civil servants who have abandoned their jobs because the pay is too low to live on.  The country is hollow at the core and ripe for upheaval but for Maduro's grip on the military.  The dictator understands that the barrel of a gun can keep the public down, as long as he has the stomach to use it.  Such behavior is ruthless, amoral and the opposite of listening to citizens and their needs.  Maduro has a grasp on power that can only be shaken by the generals he liberally rewards to keep them in line.  Should the day come when he can no longer dole out money and goods to them, his time in office will become tentative and eventually, he will go.  Until then, he will plunge the country ever deeper into destruction and watch as his support withers.