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    "headline": "Human Rights Group Warns Venezuela's Political Opening Risks 'Gray Zone' Hybrid Regime",
    "dek": "Laboratorio de Paz warns Venezuela's political transition risks creating a hybrid 'gray zone' regime without deep structural reforms.",
    "prose": "Laboratorio de Paz warns that recent political changes in Venezuela do not guarantee a return to democracy and could instead lead to a 'gray zone' or new hybrid regime if deep modifications to power structures do not occur. [^1]\n\nOn September 1, 2026, the human rights organization Laboratorio de Paz published a report titled 'Un mes después del 1A: ¿Toda transición conduce a la democracia? La 'zona gris' de Carothers como alerta para pensar el momento venezolano' following a month of discussions on a potential democratic transition in Venezuela. [^2]\n\nThe Venezuelan NGO Laboratorio de Paz released a new analysis one month after the start of the announced political transition process in Venezuela. [^3]\n\nLaboratorio de Paz acknowledges recent milestones including the installation of a dialogue table between the Government and a sector of the opposition, agreements to renew the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), and conversations regarding the National Electoral Council (CNE). [^4]\n\nThe organization cites the thesis of US political scientist Thomas Carothers to describe states that abandon classic authoritarianism but fail to consolidate functional democratic institutions, resulting in a 'gray zone'. [^5]\n\nLaboratorio de Paz asserted that Delcy Rodríguez currently exercises power without having been elected president, based on a controversial constitutional interpretation of Maduro's absence, and that her governance does not resolve the democratic legitimacy deficit. [^6]\n\nLaboratorio de Paz claimed that Venezuela changed after January 3, 2026, but the definitive direction of that change is not yet known. [^7]\n\nLaboratorio de Paz warns that exiting authoritarianism does not necessarily imply advancing toward democracy, noting the risk of a country that is more open and plural but has power structures incompatible with full democracy. [^8]",
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