Since mid-2013, the Venezuela it drags itself into a crisis that gets worse every day. Currently, the country is at a crossroads, facing a political crisis due to the dispute between NicolasMature (and his party - United Socialist Party of Venezuela) and the Venezuelan opposition, which denounces the abuses of power committed by the president. In addition, there is the economic crisis, the humanitarian crisis and even the risk of a US-led intervention.
Read too: Biography and political trajectory of Nicolás Maduro
Historical Background: Chavismo in Venezuela
An understanding of what is happening in Venezuela is only possible through a brief analysis of the chavismo in that country. The political rise of Hugo Chavezin Venezuela happened in the decade of 1990. Chavez was a paratrooper in the Venezuelan army and got involved in acoup attempt against then president Carlos Pérez in the year 1992.
Chavez was a member of Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement 200, a left-wing movement aimed at taking power in the country. The coup failed, Chávez was arrested, but he became an extremely popular figure in the country and
was released by the next president of Venezuela, Rafael Caldeira.Chávez got out of prison and ran for presidential candidacy, with a speech attacking the country's politicians and promising to remake Venezuelan democracy. He claimed to seek greater social justice through the country's main product, the Petroleum. Hugo Chávez won the election in 1998 and began a long process in power, which spanned fourteen years. During this period, Chávez won four elections (1998, 2000, 2006 and 2012).
During the fourteen years in power, Hugo Chávez promoted a wide distribution of income in the country. It managed to increase Venezuela's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), significantly reduced the number of poor people in the country, reduced infant mortality, etc. Chavismo, however, openly contributed to the erosion of Venezuelan democracy.
Chávez harnessed the country's Supreme Court by increasing the number of judges from 20 to 32. The 12 new judges were followers of Chavismo. During his government, Hugo Chávez it also promoted the persecution of opponents and sought, through small reforms, to perpetuate itself in power.
At contradictions of chavismo they created a situation in which many became staunch supporters of the government, because the actions to distribute income and fight poverty benefited these people. On the other hand, the government's actions created an opposition, which acted in a radical way, including trying to remove Chávez from power by force, as occurred in 2002.
Nicolás Maduro assumed the presidency of Venezuela after the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013.*
After the death of Hugo Chávez, victim of cancer, the country's power temporarily passed to the vice-president, Nicolas Mature. From 2013 onwards, Maduro became the country's de facto president, after being elected with a narrow victory over Henrique Caprilles. Since then, the situation in Venezuela has worsened considerably, and the embryonic economic crisis has taken on great proportions.
The crisis of the Venezuelan economy
The crisis in Venezuela is directly linked to the oil devaluation in the international market, which happened from 2014. Oil reserves were discovered in Venezuela at the beginning of the 20th century and have since become the main source of wealth for the South American country.
Venezuela is a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and is currently the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. During the Chavez government, all of Venezuela's social gains were financed with money that was brought into the country through the sale of oil.
However, oil wealth has created a country that is extremely dependent on this commodity (product that has its value based on the offer in the international market). Dependence on oil meant that Venezuela did not invest enough in its own industry and agriculture. Thus, the country bought everything it did not produce.
The trigger for the crisis was the fall in the price of a barrel of oil on the international market. In June 2014, the price of a barrel of oil was US$111.87 and in January 2015, the value was US$48.07. This had a direct result in the country's GDP, which fell by almost 4% in 2014. The drop in the value of oil directly impacted the supply of the Venezuelan market, since, without money, the government stopped buying basic items of daily life for the population.
Venezuelan market completely empty as a reflection of the economic crisis that hits the country.**
In addition, starting in 2017, the US government, led by President Donald Trump, began to impose a series of sanctions against the Venezuelan economy, in retaliation for the authoritarianism of Nicolas Maduro in charge of the Venezuela. These sanctions have aggravated the economic situation and forced the country to reduce the amount of oil exported, for example. This reduction in oil production is also the result of poor management by the Venezuelan state-owned company, the Venezuela Petroleum (PDVSA).
This current economic crisis in Venezuela has turned into the biggest crisis in the country's economic history. The reduction in the value of a barrel of oil, government inefficiency and US sanctions have brought the country to its current situation. Basic items such as medicines, food and toilet paper are not easily found in supermarkets, and when they are found, their prices are exorbitant.
The lack of food led thousands of Venezuelans to go hungry, and data show that, in 2017, the population lost an average of 11 kg|1|. Many mothers have turned over their children to the authorities because they are unable to support them, and many families have been forced to buy spoiled meat, as it is the only one they have access to.
The crisis in the Venezuelan economy can be better understood through statistics:
Inflation in Venezuela in 2018 exceeded 1,300,000%|2|.
The country's extreme poverty jumped from 23.6% in 2014 to 61.2% in 2017|3|.
Between 2013 and 2017, the country's GDP fell 37%, and the estimate for 2018 is that it has fallen 15% (there is still no official data on Venezuela's GDP in 2018)|4|.
The current minimum wage in Venezuela is currently R$77|5|.
As a result of the political and economic crisis in the country, nearly three million Venezuelans left the country|6|.
The political, economic and humanitarian crisis that has hit Venezuela has forced its population to seek refuge in neighboring nations. As just mentioned, almost three million Venezuelans have already fled the country since 2015, and it is believed that, by the end of 2019, this number could reach the number of five million people. The two countries that received the most Venezuelan refugees were Colombia and Peru. The entry of Venezuelan refugees in Brazil resulted in a migration crisis in Roraima, a low-resource state located in the north of the country. To understand more about the impacts of Venezuelan immigration in Brazil, we suggest reading of this text.
political crisis
The political crisis is another facet of the chaotic situation that Venezuela is currently facing. At the government of Hugo Chávez, the relationship with the opposition was already tumultuous – as mentioned, there was an attempted coup against Chávez in 2002. However, during Maduro's government, the country's shift towards authoritarianism was total, and its current situation is delicate.
As already seen, the political project of Chavismo began to be intensely criticized due to its shift to authoritarianism. After Chávez's death, the power struggle intensified, and the 2013 election was a symbol of that: Maduro won the disputes against Henrique Caprilles, obtaining 50.61% of the votes against 49.12% of his opponent, a very large margin of difference little.
Maduro took over Venezuela when the country's economic crisis was beginning to emerge. This reinforced the country's opposition against the government and led Maduro to use force mechanisms to fight and silence his opponents. In 2016, for example, Maduro's opposition began to articulate to convene a referendumrevoke of Maduro's mandate. The country's National Electoral Council, however, postponed the date for receiving the necessary signatures, and the recall referendum process did not evolve as a result.
The pressure on the Maduro government was great because, in 2015, the balance of forces in the Venezuelan Legislature changed when the opposition managed to elect a majority of parliamentarians. The pressure on Maduro from the National Assembly made him adopt a mechanism to weaken it, and, in 2017, Maduro proposed the convening of a Constituent to draft a new Constitution for Venezuela.
The opposition accused Maduro of using the summoning of a Constituent Assembly as a way to fight and weaken the performance of parliamentarians in the National Assembly, and, therefore, the opposition did not launch any candidate to be elected in this way. The referendum to summon the Constituent Assembly was accused of being rigged by the government.
Image of organized protest against Maduro. On the poster it says: “We are all suspect and persecuted by the regime”.***
While all this political dispute was taking place, the Venezuelan streets were boiling with social demonstrations against Maduro's government. The government's reaction was to repress the protests with violence. In addition, opponents began to be harassed and imprisoned. There are allegations that government troops are coordinating executions of people demonstrating against Maduro.
In 2018, a presidential election was held in Venezuela, with Nicolás Maduro running for re-election against Henri Falcón. The Venezuelan opposition was weakened due to government persecution, and Maduro won the victory by almost conquering 68% of votes. It turns out that this election was not recognized by the opposition or by the international community, including Brazil. The opposition's denunciation was of fraud carried out by government agents in counting and buying votes.
The most recent chapter in Venezuela's political crisis came with the pronouncement of the President of the National Assembly, JuanGuaido, held in early 2019. The 35-year-old Venezuelan politician proclaimed himself acting president Venezuela while the country is in the process of transition of power.
Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly who proclaimed himself president of Venezuela in early 2019.****
Needless to mention, Guaidó's ad was immediately rejected by Maduro. The latter's situation, in turn, is increasingly delicate, as part of the international community has recognized Juan Guaidó as Venezuelan president. This includes the countries: StatesUnited, Canada, Spain, France and even the Brazil.
Countries like Russia, China, AfricaofSouth and Cuba they declared support for Maduro, and the Venezuelan president sustains himself in power solely and exclusively by the fact that he still has the support of the Venezuelan Armed Forces. This is because Maduro has reinforced his support for the military, providing them with important posts in the Venezuelan government in exchange for loyalty. So far, the country's presidency remains in dispute, with Nicolás Maduro being the country's de facto president, but with Juan Guaidó having some international recognition.
The current risks surrounding the crisis in Venezuela are the threat of war and the one of interventionAmerican in the country. Scholars and specialists in International Relations point out that the United States has managed the situation in Venezuela in order to force a change of regime in the country. As the crisis worsened, the international community began to pressure Venezuela for the country to receive humanitarian aid teams.
Pacaraima, a city in the state of Roraima that borders Venezuela and has been impacted by the Venezuelan immigration crisis.*****
Venezuela, for its part, denies this humanitarian aid, claiming that it is just a justification for the United States to intervene directly in the country. President Maduro's reaction was to order the closureof theborders of the country with Colombia, Brazil and Aruba. The situation on the borders with Colombia and Brazil is tense, with news that the Venezuelan military has repressed the population, which is crowding the border regions, demanding passage.
The tension has led many to raise the possibility of an armed conflict between Brazil and Venezuela, but declarations of Brazilian government agents realized that the country will continue with the line of non-intervention in the country neighbor. The current tension continues over a possible US intervention in Venezuela — an action criticized by many as a way for the United States to gain access to the country's oil production. The situation in Venezuela remains undefined, and only the democratic transition should serve as a solution to the crisis that has taken hold in the country.
____________________
|1| Hunger forces mothers to give up their own children in Venezuela. To access, click on here.
|2| Venezuela's inflation surpasses 1,000,000% in 12 months. To access, click on here.
|3| Survey on living conditions in Venezuela. To access, click on here [in Spanish].
|4| Which led Venezuela to economic collapse and the biggest crisis in its history. To access, click on here.
|5| Maduro announces a 300% increase in the minimum wage in Venezuela. To access, click on here.
|6| UN reports that 2.7 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015. To access, click on here.
*Image credits: golden brown / Shutterstock
**Image credits:sunsinger / Shutterstock
***Image credits: Edgloris Marys / Shutterstock
****Image credits:Ruben Alfonzo / Shutterstock
*****Image credits: Matyas Rehak / Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historia-da-america/crise-na-venezuela.htm
