Ryan Berg, director of the Future of Venezuela Initiative and senior fellow in the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “Nicolás Maduro’s regime was not invited to the Summit of the Americas—quite rightly in a summit about consolidating and strengthening democracy. As a response, he went on a diplomatic tour, intended to show that he is, in fact, not diplomatically isolated. The governments he visited were, at best, hybrid regimes, and at worst, decidedly undemocratic countries. Venezuela does not maintain robust economic relations with many of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa that Maduro visited—indeed, a country like Venezuela that has experienced one of the largest economic contractions outside of conflict doesn’t maintain robust economic relations with many countries at all. In fact, Venezuela’s oil production and presence in OPEC makes it somewhat of a competitor. As a result, the trip was heavy on bromides of brotherly solidarity and wishful thinking about…”