Cuba's firm grip on power is keeping Venezuela afloat: Mary Anastasia O'Grady

At a time when Venezuela faces an economic crisis, a spiraling crime epidemic and political unrest, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, editor at the Wall Street Journal, says Cuba’s firm grip on power is the reason why the country hasn’t collapsed.

“The reason the government hasn’t collapsed is because number one, they have the intelligence networks that were built by the Cubans,” O'Grady told Stuart Varney on the FOX Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”

Cuba’s subdued policies have also been used to stifle the Venezuelan population, she said.

“One of the reasons they have this close alliance with Cuba is Cuba knows how to spy on people… monitor people… [and] repress people. They use all of those tactics to keep the country in line,” she said, adding that they also have control of all the weapons and military. “They have increased the size of the National Guard to the same size as the military and the single role of the National Guard is to repress the population,” she said.

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In her opinion, the only way Cuba would exit Venezuela is if there is a revolution.

“I think one of the reasons why they keep saying, ‘oh we are going to have another election,’ is because as long as they think there’s a hope alive among the Venezuelan people that there is an answer at the ballot box, they will not have this civil war,” she said. “I think every time they go through one of these exercises where basically they show there is not an option at the ballot box, [it] increases the odds that there is going to be a very violent rebellion at some point – we don’t know when.”