Delcy Rodriguez doesn't need democracy. She needs the generals paid

On Sept. 2, Chevron announced a signed a $7 billion expansion of its Venezuelan operations, doubling production over the next five years. That is the concrete number. The $209 billion figure that acting President Delcy Rodriguez has floated publicly describes something looser, her own accounting of what the broader arrangement with Washington could eventually be worth to Venezuela.

What is not loose is what Defense Minister Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez said when reporters asked him about the Chevron deal specifically: “This is prosperity and well-being for the country, just as it is for us.” Nobody asked him who “us” was.