The government of President Nicolás Maduro says he did not. The stakes for Friday’s swearing-in of the man who will govern Venezuela for the next six years have never been higher in this century. González had never imagined he would be carrying the weight of the main opposition faction,

As Venezuela’s strongman leader prepares to be sworn in as president, the country’s opposition vows to fight on.

Syria had experienced 13 years of civil war and splintered into religious and ethnic factions before the regime fell. While Venezuela’s situation differs in many respects from that of Syria, the repressive regime in Caracas shares allies with Assad’s ousted government and, like his, is loathed by most citizens.