Drug trafficking keeping Maduro in power in Venezuela, analysts say

It has been more than three months since the U.S. accelerated its onslaught of economic sanctions, words of warning and announced it was backing a completely new interim President – heightening official expectation that the Nicolas Maduro-led regime of Venezuela would crumble within a few days, if not a few weeks. Only the socialist dictatorship has failed to fall. While there an array of factors to blame, analysts are pointing to illicit trafficking rings as a fundamental Maduro lifeline.