Venezuelan presidential elections were held prematurely in May 2018; the "New York Times" printed a news piece about the elections, headlining the word "dictator", "Critics Say He Can't Beat a dictator. This Venezuelan thinks he can". Miguel Angel Latouche, a political science professor at Central University of Venezuela wrote an opinion piece entitled, "Venezuela is now a dictatorship", and "CNN" reported that US Republicans were using the term "Venezuelan dictator" to describe a Democratic candidate. Roger Noriega wrote in the "Miami Herald" that a "lawless regime" and "narcodictatorship" headed by Maduro, Tareck El Aissami and Diosdado Cabello had driven "Venezuela to the brink of collapse".