Diosdado Cabello Rondón is a Venezuelan politician and current member of the National Assembly of Venezuela, where he previously served as Speaker. He is also an active member of the Venezuelan armed forces, with the rank of captain.
The Bolivarian Circles are political and social organizations of workers' councils in Venezuela, originally created by President Hugo Chávez on 21 December 2001. The circles have also been described as militias and compared to Cuba's Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and Panama's Dignity Battalions.
A failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 saw the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, ousted from office for 47 hours before being restored to power. Chávez was aided in his return to power by popular support and mobilization against the coup by loyal ranks in the military.
Chavismo, also known in English as Chavism or Chavezism, is a left-wing populist political ideology based on the ideas, programs and government style associated with the Venezuelan President between 1999 and 2013 Hugo Chávez that combines elements of democratic socialism, socialist patriotism, Bolivarianism, and Latin American integration. People who supported Hugo Chávez and Chavismo are known as Chavistas.
Holy See–Venezuela relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and Venezuela. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1869. The Holy See has a nunciature in Caracas. Venezuela has an embassy in Rome.
Crime in Venezuela is widespread, with violent crimes such as murder and kidnapping increasing for several years. In 2014, the United Nations attributed crime to the poor political and economic environment in the country—which, at the time, had the second highest murder rate in the world. Rates of crime rapidly began to increase during the presidency of Hugo Chávez due to the institutional instability of his Bolivarian government, underfunding of police resources, and severe inequality. Chávez's government sought a cultural hegemony by promoting class conflict and social fragmentation, which in turn encouraged "criminal gangs to kill, kidnap, rob and extort". Upon Chávez's death in 2013, Venezuela was ranked the most insecure nation in the world by Gallup.
Ninette Lina Ron Pereira was a Venezuelan political leader. She was the founder and president of the Venezuelan Popular Unity party, one of the parties which supported President Hugo Chávez. Ron ran one of the Bolivarian Circles. She died of a heart attack in 2011 at the age of 51 and was buried in the South Cemetery of Plaza Andrés Eloy Blanco. President Chávez extolled her as "a true soldier of the people" and a "complete revolutionary."
In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods and services. Explanations for these worsening conditions vary, with analysis blaming strict price controls, alongside long-term, widespread political corruption resulting in the under-funding of basic government services. While protests first occurred in January, after the murder of actress and former Miss Venezuela Mónica Spear, the 2014 protests against Nicolás Maduro began in earnest that February following the attempted rape of a student on a university campus in San Cristóbal. Subsequent arrests and killings of student protesters spurred their expansion to neighboring cities and the involvement of opposition leaders. The year's early months were characterized by large demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and government forces that resulted in nearly 4,000 arrests and 43 deaths, including both supporters and opponents of the government. Toward the end of 2014, and into 2015, continued shortages and low oil prices caused renewed protesting.
Colectivos are far-left Venezuelan armed paramilitary groups that support the Bolivarian government, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) political alliance and Venezuela's ruling party, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Colectivo has become an umbrella term for irregular armed groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas.
La Patilla is a Venezuelan news website that was founded by Alberto Federico Ravell, co-founder and former CEO of Globovisión, in 2010. In 2014, El Nuevo Herald stated La Patilla had hundreds of thousands of visitors per daily. Beginning in early 2018, the website has been censored in Venezuela by the Nicolás Maduro government.
The Units of Battle Hugo Chávez (UBCh) is a collection of organizations with multiple members of PSUV involved that has both military and political characteristics.
In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict price controls. Mass protesting began in earnest in February following the attempted rape of a student on a university campus in San Cristóbal. Subsequent arrests and killings of student protesters spurred their expansion to neighboring cities and the involvement of opposition leaders. The year's early months were characterized by large demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and government forces that resulted in nearly 4,000 arrests and 43 deaths, including both supporters and opponents of the government.
23 de Enero is a parish located in the Libertador Bolivarian Municipality west of the city of Caracas, Venezuela. The parish receives its name from the date of the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état which overthrew dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
On 29 March 2017, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela took over legislative powers of the National Assembly. The Tribunal, mainly supporters of President Nicolás Maduro, also restricted the immunity granted to the Assembly's members, who mostly belonged to the opposition.
The Mother of All Marches, also known as the Mother of All Protests, was a day of protests held on April 19, 2017, in Venezuela against the Chavista government of president Nicolás Maduro. The protests began after the Supreme Tribunal of Justice dissolved the National Assembly and took over its legislative powers March 29, 2017 in what was called a self-coup. The dissolution of the National Assembly was reversed shortly thereafter on April 1, 2017.
The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's government.
On 27 June 2017, there was an incident involving a police helicopter at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) and Interior Ministry in Caracas, Venezuela. Claiming to be a part of an anti-government coalition of military, police and civilians, the occupants of the helicopter allegedly launched several grenades and fired at the building, although no one was injured or killed. President Nicolás Maduro called the incident a "terrorist attack". The helicopter escaped and was found the next day in a rural area. On 15 January 2018, Óscar Pérez, the pilot and instigator of the incident, was killed during a military raid by the Venezuelan army that was met with accusations of extrajudicial killing.
On 5 July 2017, colectivos and supporters of President Nicolás Maduro stormed the Palacio Federal Legislativo on the Independence Day of Venezuela, assaulting many members of the opposition-led National Assembly. At least 12 opposition legislators and their staff were injured as a result of the attack.
On 30 April 2019, during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, a group of several dozen military personnel and civilians joined Juan Guaidó in his call for the removal of Nicolás Maduro as part of what he labeled "Operation Freedom". Reuters reported an "uneasy peace" by the afternoon of 30 April. During the unrest, opposition leader Leopoldo López was freed from house arrest after being imprisoned for five years. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, the head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, denounced the Maduro government and was dismissed from his position before going into hiding. At least 25 military men who opposed Maduro sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Caracas.
The 2020 Barquisimeto shooting occurred on 29 February 2020, when pro-government colectivos shot at the Speaker of the National Assembly of Venezuela Juan Guaidó and his supporters in Barquisimeto, Lara state during a demonstration, leaving ten injured.
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