Venezuela’s government, steadily more authoritarian in recent years, cast off more vestiges of democracy Thursday night, when electoral authorities extinguished the opposition’s efforts to recall President Nicolás Maduro by referendum. The action came days after the government postponed December elections for governors that it would have badly lost and stripped the legislature of one of the last powers it had left: its constitutional right to pass a federal budget. University students protesting to demand a recall referendum against Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas… Taken together, the moves signal the end of opposition hopes that Mr. Maduro could be removed from power through referendum, as provided for under the constitution, or have his executive power checked. And they fuel growing doubt about whether Mr. Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela will hold presidential elections scheduled for […]