Caracas CNN —It would be easy to dismiss this Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela as a fait accompli. The opposition campaign has re-energized its bases, and the candidature of Edmundo González has attracted widespread support in Venezuela and abroad. A chance to rebuild Venezuela’s economic power“On the ballot is how long it’ll take to fix Venezuela’s economy,” said Asdrubal Oliveros, founder of Caracas firm Ecoanalitica, in his weekly podcast on July 8. Once the fifth-largest economy in Latin America, today Venezuela’s economy has shrunk to the equivalent of a medium-sized city, smaller than say, Milwaukee, according to data from the IMF. As Venezuela’s economy has crumbled, around eight million Venezuelans have already fled their country, many of them scattered across South America.

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Persons: Nicolas Maduro, ”, –, Laboratorio de Paz, Edmundo González, Asdrubal Oliveros, Andres, Maduro, Edmundo Gonzalez, Maria Corina Machado, Gabriela Oraa, Gonzalez, Consultores, Putin, Xi Jinping, who’s, “, Donald Trump Organizations: Caracas CNN —, Laboratorio, IMF, Andres Bello Catholic University, Central University of Venezuela, of American, World Bank, Inter, American Development Bank, Supreme, CNN Locations: Caracas, Venezuela, Ecoanalitica, Latin America, Milwaukee, AFP, United States, Americas, South America, Venezuelan, America, China, Iran, Russia, Miami, Cuba, Maduro, of American States, Mercosur, Algiers, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Spanish, Washington, Brexit, neofascism, Europe, India, Turkey, Philippines