After the death of Hugo Chavez, Nicolás Maduro took the Presidency of Venezuela in March, 2013 – identified by Chavez himself as his heir. The following month, the presidential elections saw Maduro prevailing with 50,66% of consensus against the candidate Enrique Capriles. Complaints about electoral fraud were raised, arguing that the legitimacy of the electoral process was questioned.
Former foreign Minister from 2006 to 2013 and Vice President of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013, Maduro promote a policy which aims to keep going Chavez’s action in the wake of socialism. The coming to power of the new Venezuelan leader has, though, encountered several difficulties, among which the collapse of oil’s prices, a commodity of which Venezuela is rich and also the social climate generated, which has contributed to the exodus of Venezuelans to other States such as those of Central America.
With a debt through the roof and the consequently instability, Venezuela has seen its economic condition worsening and, more recently, it has been crossed by a serious political crisis, begun in 2017. The latter derives from the impeachment of Maduro by the Parliament. Why? The President has been charging of the humanitarian crisis and the starvation of the country.
Maduro had been then re-elected in May, 2018. But this lead to many disputes for the worries that there would have been irregularities in the procedure.
Over time, many events occurred. The latter of these refers to the confrontation with Guaidò, who self-proclaimed President after the election of the National Assembly, whose task was to draft a new constitution. What is clear is that, Maduro or not, Venezuela has to deal with a situation which got worse during the years: collapse of economic system, poverty, social unrest to sum up. Until now, it seems that a long-term strategy is missing, the one which is able to mitigate and try to solve the existing problems.
Marta Annalisa Savino
Laureata magistrale in "Relazioni Internazionali", appassionata di scrittura, viaggi, lingue tra cui inglese, francese e spagnolo, politica internazionale e geopolitica. Il suo focus di interesse è sul Nord America e sui suoi rapporti con il resto del mondo. Autrice di "Framing the World.
Master's Degree in "International Relations", keen on writing, travelling, languages including english, french, spanish, international politics and geopolitics. Her focus of interest is North America and its relationship with the rest of the world. Author of "Framing the World".