What's really going on in Venezuela

In a plaza in Caracas, surrounded by supporters carrying flags and chanting for democracy, Juan Guaido, a 35 year-old legislator from a coastal town in Venezuela swore to "to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation." The event was widely reported as "Guaido declares himself President of Venezuela." This language, the idea that he "declared himself," suggests images of banana republics and of misguided attempts to claim foreign pieces of land for oneself or one's children a la Jeremiah Heaton and Princess Emily. This language misrepresents what happened in Venezuela on Wednesday. Guaido did not "declare himself" president of the South American country. He assumed the presidency of Venezuela as constitutionally mandated.