Times are tough in Venezuela and likely to get even tougher this year.
Before oil prices started crashing last summer, cutting revenue for the oil-rich country, President Nicolas Maduro was already presiding over a country plagued by food shortages, soaring inflation and rising discontent.
All this has made the president unpopular in many quarters. And it would seem to present a golden opportunity for opponents of the country's socialist government that's held power for the past 15 years.
However, Venezuela's opposition remains fractured and weak while one of its main leaders, Leopoldo Lopez, is behind bars.
Last February, Lopez helped lead massive anti-government demonstrations that he hoped would force the resignation of Maduro. Instead, Lopez was arrested and charged with inciting violence during the protests, which left 43 people dead.
His incarceration is taking a toll on his family.
His wife, Lilian Tintori, recently climbed into the back of an SUV with her 5-year-old daughter Manuela. They were headed to the outskirts of Caracas to visit Lopez, who is being held being held at the Ramo Verde military prison.
Tintori says her daughter often asks things like, "Why did Maduro put my father in jail? Why they don't want to open the door of the cell?"
"So, it's a lot for a kid," Tintori adds. "And she asks me, 'Mommy, my father is going to die in jail?'"
Yet Tintori insists her husband did the right thing. His imprisonment, she says, has exposed the authoritarian nature of the Maduro government.
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