The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Rosie Bloor.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

For decades, he manned Britain's UFO hotline.

In a field of wild speculation and fantasy, he set himself up as a man of calm appraisals.

Our obitaries editor remembers Nick Pope,

who remained open-minded to the very end.

But first. I was recently able to get a visit to Venezuela after many years of trying and came at the last minute.

And so I got up there and travelled around the country.

And what I found was quite a striking feeling of optimism.

A hundred days on, more or less,

from the raid by American Special Forces

that seized Nicholas Maduro,

then president and strong men of the country.

Kinley Salmon is our Latin America correspondent.

I tried to get out and about.

I got out of the capital Caracas to a town called Okumari del Tui to a political parties meeting, and there were hundreds of dual-in people there.

They'd come along, despite this being a traditionally very pre-regime town.

And they were all supporters of Maria Karina Machado.

She's the Nobel Peace Laureate and also the main opposition leader.

She's out of the country right now, having been in hiding for a long time,

...