Venezuela: Background and U.S. Relations

The crisis in Venezuela has deepened under the authoritarian rule of Nicols Maduro, who has consolidated power despite presiding over a dire economic and humanitarian crisis worsened by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Maduro, narrowly elected in 2013 after the death of Hugo Chvez (president, 1999-2013), and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) took de facto control of the National Assembly, the last independent branch of government, in January 2021. Maduro has resisted U.S. and international pressure to step down and an opposition led by Juan Guaid, the National Assembly president elected in 2015 and once regarded as interim president by nearly 60 countries. Venezuelas economy has collapsed. The country is plagued by hyperinflation, severe shortages of food and medicine, and a dire humanitarian crisis that has further deteriorated as a result of gasoline shortages, COVID-19, and U.S. sanctions. Maduro has blamed sanctions for the economic crisis, but many observers cite economic mismanagement and corruption as the main factors. U.N. agencies estimate 5.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country as of April 2021.