The Organization of American States is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
The National Assembly is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote partly by direct election in state-based voting districts, and partly on a state-based party-list proportional representation system. The number of seats is constant, each state and the Capital district elected three representatives plus the result of dividing the state population by 1.1% of the total population of the country. Three seats are reserved for representatives of Venezuela's indigenous peoples and elected separately by all citizens, not just those with indigenous backgrounds. For the 2010 to 2015 the number of seats was 165. All deputies serve five-year terms. The National Assembly meets in the Federal Legislative Palace in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.
Elections in Venezuela are held at a national level for the President of Venezuela as head of state and head of government, and for a unicameral legislature. The President of Venezuela is elected for a six-year term by direct election plurality voting, and is eligible for re-election. The National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) has 277 members (diputados), elected for five-year terms using a mixed-member majoritarian representation system. Elections also take place at state level and local level.
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.
Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento, also known as Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, is a Honduran politician who is the 56th president of Honduras, in office since January 2022. She is the country's first female president, and once served as first lady during the presidency of her husband Manuel Zelaya.
Israeli–Venezuelan relations refer to foreign relations between Israel and Venezuela. Both countries have no formal relations since 2009. Canada serves as Israel's protecting power in Venezuela through its embassy in Caracas, while Spain serves as Venezuela's protecting power in Israel through its embassy in Tel Aviv.
Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician who has served as the president of Venezuela since 2013.
Under the rule of President Hugo Chávez who was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, relations between Israel and Venezuela rapidly deteriorated as Venezuela strongly supported the rights of the Palestinians and condemned Israeli actions, twice expelling the Israeli ambassador from Venezuela. Venezuela officially recognized the State of Palestine and established diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority on 27 April 2009.
33 independent nations of the Americas are member states of the Organization of American States (OAS); Cuba and Nicaragua are the only exceptions, although they were both formerly member states.
Julián Isaías Rodríguez Díaz is a Venezuelan politician, diplomat and lawyer. He was appointed the vice president of Venezuela on 29 January 2000 by Hugo Chávez, and served in the post until 26 December 2000.
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.
Constituent Assembly elections were held in Venezuela on 30 July 2017 to elect the members of the 2017 Constituent National Assembly. Unlike the 1999 Constituent National Assembly, which was assembled following a referendum, the 2017 election was convened by the presidential decree of President Nicolás Maduro. Smartmatic, the company which provided the voting machines, stated that the results were tampered with by the CNE, and that the turnout was off by at least one million votes.
Samuel Reinaldo Moncada Acosta is a Venezuelan politician and diplomat currently serving as Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations since 2017 and formerly served as Alternate Representative of Venezuela to the Organization of American States from 2017 to 2019. He was Venezuela's deputy foreign minister until June 2017, when he succeeded Delcy Rodriguez as Venezuela's Foreign Minister. On August 2, 2017, following the 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election, President Nicolás Maduro appointed former Vice President Jorge Arreaza to replace Moncada as the new Foreign Affairs Minister.
Freddy Guevara is a Venezuelan politician. He was elected deputy to the Venezuelan National Assembly for Circuit 2 of the Miranda State representing the Democratic Unity Roundtable in the parliamentary elections of December 6, 2015. He has been a key figure of the opposition to Nicolás Maduro, Guevara was arrested in July 2021 charged with crimes against the state. The United States and others condemned the arrest as politically-motivated. In mid-August, he was freed as part of negotiations between the Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition.
The Lima Group is a multilateral body that was established following the Lima Declaration on 8 August 2017 in the Peruvian capital of Lima, where representatives of 12 countries met in order to establish a peaceful exit to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.
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. On 23 January 2019, the National Assembly declared that he was acting president of Venezuela and Guaidó swore himself into office, starting the Venezuelan presidential crisis by challenging Nicolás Maduro's presidency. In December 2022, opposition parties voted to dismiss Guaidó as interim president, choosing Dinorah Figuera as a successor on 5 January 2023 and ending Guaidó's presidential claim.
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.
Gustavo Tarre Briceño is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, author, professor of constitutional law and politic science, and representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).
Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa is a Portuguese diplomat who serves as the European Union Ambassador to Venezuela. She has been the ambassador since February 2018.
