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Period: to
Global oil prices fall.
Global oil prices fall. Venezuela’s economy contracts. The country faces massive debt. -
Hugo Chavez becomes president.
Hugo Chavez, former leader of a 1992 coup attempt, is elected president. He promises to use the country’s oil wealth to improve the lives of the poor. -
Period: to
Corruption and Debts
Chavez expands social services, but corruption is rampant, and a steady decline in oil production reduces oil reserves and increases government debt. -
Nicolas Maduro becomes president.
Chavez dies of cancer at age of 58. Chosen successor Vice President Nicolás Maduro assumes the presidency and narrowly wins an election. With inflation at more than 50% a year, the National Assembly gives Maduro emergency powers for a year, beginning in November. -
Economic Crisis
The economy is in crisis, and the healthcare system lacks funding. Hunger and malnutrition, maternal and child mortality, infectious diseases, and unemployment increase alarmingly. -
Maduro is "reelected" as president. Venezuelan refugees.
Maduro wins the presidency again in the national election that was seen by many countries as fraudulent because of low participation by opposition parties. To tackle hyperinflation, the government slashes five zeroes from the face value of its old currency and ties the new “sovereign bolivar” to a cryptocurrency that can’t be traded. In November, the U.N. estimates that 3 million Venezuelans have migrated because of the economic crisis and shortages in food and medical care. -
The start of Maduro´s second term.
Maduro starts his second six-year term. As opposition leader and head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó declares himself to be interim president according to the constitution. He is recognized as the interim president by the U.S., Canada, and some Latin American countries. -
Covid-19 Pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads in Latin America, border are closed and the collapse of global oil prices have made life even harder for Venezuelans.