Venezuela, along with Hugo Chavez, for many years implemented the ideas of the Bolivarian revolution. Currently, the current president, Nicolas Maduro, is at the head of the process. As a "legacy" from the previous government, he received a lot of problems. His rule cannot be called easy - what are the only protests in Venezuela in 2014-2017, when the opposition kept trying to remove the legitimate rulers. But first things first.
Short biography of Maduro
Nicolas Maduro was born in 1962 in the capital of Venezuela. On the paternal side, his grandparents were Jews who converted to Catholicism. Little is known about the childhood of the future president of Venezuela. Already in the seventies, he became one of the leaders of the student movement and the trade union (unofficial), representing metro construction workers. Later, the young man graduated from high school and high school. Nicolas Maduro is considered one of the founders of the fifth Movement for the Republic, he played a significant role in the liberation of Hugo Chavez.
Acquaintance with Hugo Chavez
In 1994, Chavez was imprisoned for a failed military coup in the country two years earlier. As an active supporter of the revolution and a union worker, it was Maduro who played an important role in the liberation of the leader. Since then, he became an approximate leader: he was a member of the leadership of the Bolivarian revolutionary headquarters.
Hugo Chavez began his election campaign with a promise to carry out large-scale political reforms, change the name of the state, begin work to eliminate significant stratification of society, and initiate the fight against poverty and illiteracy of the population. Not only before taking office, but also at the beginning of his reign, the rich sections of society and private media actively opposed, accounting for 90% of the total number of newspapers, magazines, television and radio channels.
All this time, the future president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was the right hand of the national leader.
Political career
Maduro's political career began as a student. But the biography of Nicolas Maduro began to develop especially rapidly after meeting Hugo Chavez and the latter's coming to power. He was elected to the National Assembly, the Chamber of Deputies and the Constitutional Assembly. Despite the fact that Nicolas Maduro never received higher education, he became the speaker of parliament and distinguished himself in this post. Later, under his leadership, a new Venezuelan Labor Code was drafted, which entered into force in 2012.
Separately, one can highlight the activities of Maduro as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He taught an anti-American course. The following case is known, which further strengthened the anti-American position of the politician: in 2006 Maduro was detained at an international airport in the United States when he tried to pay three tickets in cash. He was taken to the guard room, where they kept him for an hour and a half. This event caused a political scandal between Venezuela and the United States, as such actions against a foreign minister of a foreign state are considered a gross violation of diplomacy.
As for relations with Russia, they began to actively develop in a positive manner immediately after Chavez came to power. Maduro, as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in diplomatic meetings, oversaw contacts in the fields of energy and weapons, and initiated cultural and economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and Venezuela.
Presidential elections
The next presidential election was held in Venezuela in early April 2013, but less than a month later, Hugo Chavez, who won, died. Back in 2012, when the president was leaving for Cuba to undergo cancer treatment, he ordered that if he died, he would like to see Nicolas Maduro as his successor. It was he who won the election, receiving 50.61% of the vote.
First steps at the post
From Hugo Chavez, in the last years of the reign of a cancer sufferer, Maduro received a lot of problems: firstly, a huge external debt, and secondly, a budget deficit. In October 2013, the 49th President of Venezuela asked the government to give him expanded powers to better combat corruption and the economic crisis threatening Venezuela. He had enough votes of deputies to get more opportunities at the post.
By order of the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, employees and owners of chain stores that were engaged in the sale of household goods were soon arrested. All products were sold at a price of 10% of the initial cost. For refusing to demand a reduction in prices, the Daka distribution network was nationalized. Reason: the owners sold goods with a margin of 1000% or more, when it was permissible to add only 30%. Despite such aggressive measures, the inflation problem could not be quickly resolved.
The crime rate in the country remained high, which later became one of the reasons for the mass protests of the population.
Mass protests
Demonstrations began with the demand to ensure sufficient security, to overcome the economic crisis, which, according to the population, was caused precisely by the latest actions of the government. Some of the participants in these demonstrations were immediately detained, which caused a new surge of popular discontent. Nicholas Maduro then appealed on television to calm, in addition, he announced that a coup was being prepared against him, and urged his supporters to march through the streets of the capital for a peace march.
The president sought to find a common language with the population: he began to go live on the radio as part of the “Contact Maduro” program. The leader believed that this would make it possible to quickly respond to problems and give a live commentary on the current political and economic situation.
In the following 2014-2015, the country's economic situation deteriorated again. Protests flared up with renewed vigor. According to the results of the 2015 elections, most of the seats in parliament were received by opponents of the current president. The situation was getting worse.
Crisis relations with Colombia
In 2015, a diplomatic and economic crisis erupted between the governments of Venezuela and Colombia. Reason: the alleged presence in the territory of Venezuela of paramilitary groups whose task would be to declare a state of emergency in a number of settlements and close the border between the countries for an indefinite period. Nevertheless, a state of emergency was declared, Colombians were forced to deport, diplomatic relations between the countries were severed. The consequences of the crisis were zoning and humanitarian crisis.
Attempt to remove
The opposition accused the incumbent of attempting a coup in 2016. The National Assembly later voted to impeach the head of state and open a criminal case against him on charges of disrupting the referendum. Nicholas Maduro then met with the pope and asked for help, after which the procedure was suspended. After a couple of months, the government again attempted to remove the president from office, but the Supreme Court said parliament could not impeach the president.
