The politics of Venezuela are conducted under what is nominally a federal presidential republic, but is in practice an authoritarian system of government. Prior to the early 1990s, Venezuela was considered an unusually long-standing and stable liberal democracy in Latin America, having transitioned to democracy in 1958. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Venezuela was in 2023 the third least electoral democratic country in Latin America.
United States–Venezuela relations have traditionally been characterized by an important trade and investment relationship as well as cooperation in combating the production and transit of illegal drugs.
Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician who has served as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th vice president of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013, the minister of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2012, and the 3rd president of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2005 to 2006.
Relations between Cuba and Venezuela were established in 1902. The relationship deteriorated in the 1960s and Venezuela broke relations in late 1961 following the Betancourt Doctrine policy of not having ties with governments that had come to power by non-electoral means. A destabilizing factor was the Cuban support for the antigovernment guerrilla force that operates in remote rural areas. Relations were reestablished in 1974.
Russia–Venezuela relations include cooperation between Russia and Venezuela in areas of common concern, such as their common status as oil exporters, and policy toward the United States. Venezuela is Russia's most important trading and military ally in Latin America. Russia recognizes Nicolás Maduro as the president of Venezuela, instead of Juan Guaidó, in the Venezuelan presidential crisis.
France–Venezuela relations are foreign relations between France and Venezuela. France has an embassy in Caracas and Venezuela has an embassy in Paris.
China–Venezuela relations are the international relations between the People's Republic of China and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Formal diplomatic relations between both countries were established in August 1944 and switched recognition to the PRC in 1974. Before 1999 only one sitting president, Luis Herrera Campins, had visited China. Cooperation began growing significantly during the Presidency of Hugo Chávez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the tenure of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao as the leader of the People's Republic of China. In 2016, China-Venezuelan trade amounted to $7.42 billion, with $4.9 billion coming from Venezuelan exports and $2.52 billion coming from Chinese exports.
An ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened during the presidency of successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration.
The participation of the United States in regime change in Latin America involved US-backed coup d'états which were aimed at replacing left-wing leaders with right-wing leaders, military juntas, or authoritarian regimes. Intervention of an economic and military variety was prevalent during the Cold War. Although originally in line with the Truman Doctrine of containment, United States involvement in regime change increased following the drafting of NSC 68, which advocated more aggressive actions against potential Soviet allies.
Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez is a Venezuelan opposition politician. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas.
The Venezuelan presidential crisis was a political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela between 2019 and 2023, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó.
Nationwide recurring electrical blackouts in Venezuela began in March 2019. Experts and state-run Corpoelec sources attribute the electricity shortages to lack of maintenance and to a lack of technical expertise in the country resulting from a brain drain. Nicolás Maduro's administration attributes them to sabotage. Since March, various nationwide blackouts occurred in the country.
The negotiations during the crisis in Venezuela are the negotiation and dialogue attempts and processes between the government of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition. Although numerous dialogue processes and roundtables have taken place, by 2023 none had been effective in achieving a solution to the country's crisis.
Defections from the Bolivarian Revolution occurred under the administrations of Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. The 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis concerning who is the legitimate President of Venezuela has been underway since 10 January 2019, when the opposition-majority National Assembly declared that incumbent Nicolás Maduro's 2018 reelection was invalid and the body declared its president, Juan Guaidó, to be acting president of the nation. Guaidó encouraged military personnel and security officials to withdraw support from Maduro, and offered an amnesty law, approved by the National Assembly, for military personnel and authorities who help to restore constitutional order.
During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, AP News reported that "familiar geopolitical sides" had formed, with allies Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Cuba supporting Maduro, and the US, Canada, and most of Western Europe supporting Juan Guaidó as interim president. Amid widespread condemnation, President Maduro was sworn in on 10 January 2019, and the President of the National Assembly, Guaidó, was declared the interim President by that body on 23 January 2019. Intervention by the United States in Venezuela was criticized by allies of Nicolás Maduro and political figures from the left spectrum; Maduro's government stated that the crisis was a "coup d'état led by the United States to topple him and control the country's oil reserves." Guaidó denied the coup allegations, saying peaceful volunteers backed his movement.
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.
Operation Gideon was an unsuccessful attempt by the Active Coalition of the Venezuelan International Reserve, Venezuelan dissidents, and a private security firm, Jordan Goudreau's Silvercorp USA, to infiltrate Venezuela by sea and remove Nicolás Maduro from power. The plan executed from 3 to 4 May 2020 was for expatriate Venezuelan former military personnel living in Colombia to enter the country by boat at Macuto, take control of an airfield, capture Maduro and other high-level figures in his administration, and expel them from the country.
Brazil and Venezuela maintain diplomatic relations.
The Guaidó administration–Silvercorp agreement between Jordan Goudreau's private security firm Silvercorp USA and the administration of Juan Guaidó was signed in October 2019. The operation occurred in the broader context of an ongoing presidential crisis beginning in January 2019 over the identity of the legitimate president of Venezuela – Nicolás Maduro or Guaidó. Goudreau's plan was for expatriate Venezuelan military living in Colombia to enter the country by sea, capture Maduro and other high-level figures in his administration, and expel them from the country.
