The National Electoral Council is one of the five branches of government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that was designed to be independent. It is the institution that has the responsibility of overseeing and guaranteeing the transparency of all elections and referendums in Venezuela at the local, regional, and national levels. The creation of the CNE was ratified in Venezuela's 1999 constitutional referendum. Following the election of Nicolás Maduro – Hugo Chávez's handpicked successor – into the presidency, the CNE has been described as being pro-Maduro.
The Supreme Justice Tribunal is the highest court of law in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and is the head of the judicial branch. As the independence of the Venezuelan judiciary under the regime of Nicolás Maduro is questioned, there have recently been many disputes as to whether this court is legitimate.
María Corina Machado Parisca is a Venezuelan opposition politician and industrial engineer who served as an elected member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014. Machado was the founder and former leader of the Venezuelan volunteer civil organization Súmate, alongside Alejandro Plaz. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
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.
Concentrazione Antifascista Italiana, officially known as Concentrazione d'Azione Antifascista, was an Italian coalition of anti-fascist groups which existed from 1927 to 1934. It was formed in Paris on 27 March 1927 with the purpose of the organization of Italian antifascist forces in order to reorganize the anti-fascist movement abroad avoiding to repeat the old divisions existing in Italy before the establishment of the regime. The CAI made a public appeal signed by Claudio Treves and Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (PSLI), Pietro Nenni and Angelica Balabanoff (PSI), Fernando Schiavetti and Mario Pistocchi, Bruno Buozzi and Felice Quaglino (CGdL) and by Alceste De Ambris. Communists remained outside along with liberals, populars and others in order to keep contact with Italian masses "in their social defence and political resistance moves". The official weekly newspaper La Libertà was created on 1 May 1927 with Claudio Treves as director.
Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician who has served as the president of Venezuela since 2013.
Censorship in Venezuela refers to all actions which can be considered as suppression in speech in the country. More recently, Reporters Without Borders ranked Venezuela 159th out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index 2023 and classified Venezuela's freedom of information in the "very difficult situation" level.
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.
Aporrea is a Venezuelan website that publishes news and opinions from the point of view of supporters of former President Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. It ranks as the fourth most visited local political site in the country, according to site metrics Alexa.com, and it claims to be the first among local independent left-leaning outlets. Most of the site'a content was supportive of the political changes promoted by late president Hugo Chávez, but in recent years, it has content critical of the current government led by Chavez's protégé Nicolás Maduro, turning it into a "gathering place for dissidence within chavismo".
Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez is a Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat, and politician serving as the vice president of Venezuela since 2018. Gómez has held several positions during the presidencies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. She was also Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information of Venezuela from 2013 to 2014, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017 and President of the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela from 4 August 2017 to 14 June 2018 until her retirement from office on June 15, 2018 to assume the vice presidency of the country. She currently holds the positions of Minister of Economy, Finance, and Foreign Trade, and Executive Vice President of Venezuela. She is a member of the national leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The European Union, the United States and Canada have placed sanctions on her for human rights violations and the political crisis in the country.
Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 6 December 2015 to elect the 164 deputies and three indigenous representatives of the National Assembly. They were the fourth parliamentary elections to take place after the 1999 constitution, which abolished the bicameral system in favour of a unicameral parliament, and the first to take place after the death of President Hugo Chávez. Despite predictions from the opposition of a possible last-minute cancellation, the elections took place as scheduled, with the majority of polls showing the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) holding a wide lead over the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its wider alliance, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP).
On 14 April 2013 Nicolás Maduro was elected President of Venezuela, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles with just 1.5% of the vote separating the two candidates. Capriles immediately demanded a recount, refusing to recognize the outcome as valid. Maduro was later formally inaugurated as President on 19 April, after the election commission had promised a full audit of the election results. On 24 October 2013, he announced the creation of a new agency, the Vice Ministry of Supreme Happiness, to coordinate all the social programmes.
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.
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, Guaidó and the National Assembly declared that he was acting president of Venezuela, 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 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.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Venezuela in 28 July 2024 to choose a president for a six-year term beginning on 10 January 2025. Leading candidates of the Venezuelan opposition have been disqualified from participating in the election during its campaign or in previous elections. In June 2023, the leading candidate María Corina Machado was barred from participating by the Venezuelan government for alleged political crimes. This move has been regarded by the opposition as violation of political human rights and has been condemned by international bodies like the Organization of American States, the European Union, and Human Rights Watch, as well as countries such as Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.
The Constitutional Law Against Hatred, for Peaceful Coexistence and Tolerance, also known simply as the Law Against Hatred, is a law passed unanimously by the Venezuelan Constituent National Assembly and published in Gaceta Oficial 41,274 on 8 November 2017.
Con El Mazo Dando is a Venezuelan television programme. It is transmitted every Wednesdays at 7pm on Venezolana de Televisión and TVes. It is hosted by Diosdado Cabello. Its sister broadcast Nos Vemos en la Radio is also broadcast on Radio Nacional de Venezuela.
Regional and municipal elections were held in Venezuela on 21 November 2021. In the elections, all executive and legislative positions of the 23 federal entities, as well as that of the 335 municipalities of the country, were renewed.
The Law on Control, Regularization, Operations and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organisation, also known colloquially as the Anti-Society Law, is a law approved by the V Legislature of the National Assembly of Venezuela, with a pro-government majority, presented in first discussion on 24 January 2023. The law is currently in second discussion in the National Assembly, since 9 January 2024.
