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Venezuela’s hardline leftist leader Nicolás Maduro took office after his mentor Hugo Chávez in 2013.
In the 2015 elections, his Socialist Party PSUV lost a majority in the National Assembly for the first time in 17 years. As a result, the government and parliament were controlled by two different political opponents.
To round off the situation, in August 2017, Maduro held a controversial election for a new legislature, which was also given the authority to rewrite the constitution.
Maduro then announced that the presidential elections would be brought forward to May 2018 and there he was declared the winner. Turnout was low because large sectors of the opposition boycotted it. The election has been condemned by much of the world as unfair, and both the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Venezuela due to the political crisis.
On January 23, 2019, the president of the original National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, proclaimed himself interim president of the country, citing the fact that Maduro’s presidential term could not be considered legitimate.
Guaidó was immediately recognized by the United States and within weeks, more than 50 countries had recognized him as the legitimate leader of the country.
Maduro describes Guaidó as a puppet controlled by the United States and his claim as a coup. Maduro has been able to lean economically on Russia and China.
A UN report has shown that armed groups loyal to the Maduro government killed nearly 7,000 people between January 2018 and May 2019.
An estimated four million people, more than a tenth of Venezuela’s population, have fled the country, which has long been devastated by a deep economic crisis.
Attempts at mediation between the Venezuelan parties have so far not been successful.
Source: Landguiden / UI
