With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass that spoke out against inequality, discrimination, war, and climate destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE

VENEZUELA’S National Assembly elections this weekend offer the prospect of ending the right-wing majority the opposition won five years ago.
Given what the right have used their parliamentary majority to do — including repeated attempts to overthrow the democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro, organise violent street insurgencies that targeted and killed scores of suspected “Chavistas” (often identified as such solely by their dark skin) and provide a platform for the assembly’s rotating president, Juan Guaido, to unconstitutionally declare himself president of the country last year, winning a pro-revolutionary majority would be a huge step forward.
Adan Chavez Frias, elder brother of the revolutionary Hugo who led Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, is currently Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba and vice-chair of the United Socialist Party (PSUV).

