Socialism equals death, market equals life: anti-socialist and pro-market policy discourse among the contemporary Venezuelan Opposition.

While there has been much coverage in the media and in academic work on the crisis in Venezuela, little has been written about the Venezuelan Opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unity Coalition (MUD) and even less about their economic and social policies. This paper seeks to address this latter lacuna by providing a critical examination of three key MUD policy documents. Situating this analysis within a wider discussion on the relationship between democracy and neoliberalism, and using a framework derived from Wendy Brown’s book “In the Ruins of Neoliberalism”, the article argues that the Venezuelan Opposition is fundamentally neoliberal in ideological orientation. This means that it seeks to, paraphrasing Brown, critique and dismantle society, using anti-socialism as its principle trope to do so; attack “democracy understood as popular sovereignty and shared political power”, even while it uses democracy as its main discursive banner; and extend the personal protected sphere at the expense of the public. This may result, the article concludes, in a form of neoliberal authoritarianism rather than ‘restored’ democracy as the Opposition claims. ; Si bien ha habido mucha cobertura mediática y trabajos académicos sobre la crisis en Venezuela, poco se ha escrito sobre la oposición venezolana, agrupada en la Coalición de Unidad Democrática (MUD) y menos aún sobre sus potenciales políticas económicas y sociales. Este texto busca abordar esta laguna al proporcionr un examen crítico de tres documentos clave de política de la MUD. Este análisis se sitúa dentro de una discusión más amplia sobre la relación entre democracia y neoliberalismo y utiliza el marco derivado del libro de Wendy Brown "En las ruinas del neoliberalismo", lo que le permite sostener que la oposición venezolana es fundamentalmente neoliberal en su orientación ideológica. Esto significa que busca, parafraseando a Brown, criticar y desmantelar la sociedad y para ello utiliza el anti-socialismo como su principal tropo; atacar a “la democracia entendida ...