July 29, 2024, 12:33 PM
July 29, 2024, 12:33 PM
The disputed result of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela is the latest in a series of elections that have been questioned by the opposition and parts of the international community since Nicolás Maduro came to power in 2013.
– Maduro succeeds Chavez in 2013 –
In April 2013, after the death of Socialist President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), Vice President Nicolás Maduro takes up the torch of his Chavista doctrine and wins the presidential election with 50.62% of the votes.
The opposition leader, the governor Henrique Capriles, narrowly defeated, demands an audit of the results and goes to the Supreme Court of Justice in vain.
The opposition tried unsuccessfully in 2016 to call for a recall referendum.
Maduro’s first term has been marked by waves of protests (more than 168 dead in 2014 and 2017), repression of opponents, increased power of the president and international isolation, with the application of US sanctions.
– Re-election questioned –
On May 20, 2018, Nicolás Maduro was re-elected in an early presidential election, boycotted by most of the opposition. More than 60 countries do not recognize his re-election, and the United States imposes an oil embargo on Venezuela in 2019.
On January 21, 2019, 27 soldiers were arrested after rebelling. Maduro accused the United States of having ordered “a fascist coup d’état.”
On January 23rd, the opposition Juan Guaidó, President of the Parliament whose control was lost by the Chavistas in 2015, he proclaims himself interim presidentIt is recognized by some 60 countries, led by the United States.
At the end of April, the uprising of a group of pro-Guaidó soldiers fails.
– Chavismo regains Parliament –
On December 6, 2020, President Nicolás Maduro regains control of Parliament in legislative elections marked by 69% abstention and internationally rejected. Most of the opposition calls for a boycott.
At the end of 2022, the deeply divided opposition puts an end to the presidency and the interim government of Juan Guaidó. The United States indicates on January 3, 2023 that it still does not consider Nicolás Maduro to be the legitimate president.
– Opposition leader ruled out –
Months before the presidential election on July 28, 2024, the charismatic opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the favorite in the polls, is declared ineligible by the poweras she is accused of corruption.
She is replaced by a diplomat unknown to the general public, Edmundo González Urrutia, to face Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking a third six-year term.
Considering that the power continues to repress the opposition, The US government announces in April that it is reinstating sanctions against the oil and gas sectors, which had been eased months earlier.
