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The legitimacy questioned by several countries and international organizations makes the re-election of Maduro the last chapter of the tortuous trajectory of democracy in the country.
For more than 15 years, the country has been experiencing a growing political, economic and social crisis, resulting in an exodus of Venezuelans.
Here are the main facts that contributed to the situation in Venezuela reaching the current level.
Hugo Chavez, elected in 1999, suffered a coup attempt in 2002 which has lasted nearly 48 hours. During this period, businessman Pedro Carmona proclaimed himself president by decreeing the dissolution of all public authorities. But loyal military troops brought Chavez back to power.
In 2004, during his second term, the President suffered another setback when the opposition gathered enough signatures to hold a recall referendum, in which the public would have to confirm whether his term of office is being upheld. or not. Chavez emerged victorious with 59.1% of the vote and stayed. He then re-elected twice more in 2006 and 2012.
This is from the coup attempt and the harshest attack from the opposition that Chávez hardened his speech and his defense of Bolivarian socialism. He promoted a series of constitutional reforms that he enacted in 1999 during his first term, expanding his powers.
Control of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary
In 2003, taking advantage of the Chavez majority in Parliament, the President was able to increase the number of judges of the Venezuelan Supreme Court from 20 to 32. With 12 new judges appointed by their supporters, he had no difficulty in blocking the opposition's initiatives. Gerardo Blyde, one of the opposition leaders at the time, said after the measure that "if the judiciary is controlled by the government, it will not be subject to any form of control".
Chávez also received a letter from the International Commission of Jurists in which he was warned of the dangers of a reform of the Supreme Court to end the independence of the judiciary in Venezuela.
Repression of protesters and imprisonment of opponents
The first major demonstrations against the Venezuelan government took place in 2014, during the first term of Nicolás Maduro. That year, the price of oil collapsed and the country was already facing signs of economic crisis.
On February 12, three people died during a protest. Until June, the death toll was 43. The leader of the opposition, Leopoldo López, who had called the partisans to the street, was arrested. The following year, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2017, he was transferred to house arrest where he remains for health reasons.
In 2015, the response to the crackdown took the form of a defeat in the elections: the opposition won the majority in the National Assembly, but the power of the opponents did not. did not last long, since the Supreme Court declared that the Chamber was "" contempt "for taking possession of three deputies whose victories were disputed.
On September 1, 2016, one million Venezuelans protested against Maduro, Calling for a referendum to shorten the president's mandate On 21 October, the National Electoral Council (CNE) suspended the recall referendum and the opposition returned to the streets.
The protests erupted again in 2017 : more than 100 days and more than 100 deaths, leaving a balance between destruction, disappearances, arrests and even more repression According to the National Union of Press Workers, 69 media closed in Venezuela in 2017 in the midst of growing aggression against journalists.
A protester body catches fire after the explosion of a tank of 39, essence during a demonstration in Cara In June, during clashes, men used a coroner's helicopter to launch grenades against the Supreme Court of Justice and fired on the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior. the Interior and Justice. The author of the attack, later identified as Oscar Pérez, has released videos demanding the resignation of Maduro. Perez was killed during a police operation in January 2018, in the suburbs of Caracas.
Another attack against the authorities, this time against the president himself, took place in August. Maduro was speaking at a military event when drones exploded. He accused the United States and Colombia of being behind a "murder attempt".
More than two months later, a counselor from the city of Libertador who would be involved in this case, Fernando Albán Salazar, died while he was in the building of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) in Caracas, pending his transfer to court. According to the Venezuelan prosecutor's office, he committed suicide by shooting himself from a window on the tenth floor, but the Albán party, Primero Justicia, said that he "had died as a result of the l '. badbadination of Nicolás Maduro's regime ".
In 2018, protests have been drastically reduced and the migratory movement has increased since 2015. According to UN estimates, the number of people leaving Venezuela every day in August has reached a Mountain peak. a thousand at the end of the year. Nevertheless, it is expected that 5.3 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees will be settled by the end of 2019.
Nicolás Maduro announced in 2017 that the country had reached the pinnacle of violent demonstrations that left more than 100 dead, and announced the convening of a new Constituent Assembly to "promote peace". According to the law, the measure should be adopted by referendum, but that did not happen.
The opposition even organized a symbolic plebiscite gathering more than 7 million votes, of which 98.4% opposed the formation of the Constituent Assembly. Despite this, the government put forward its plan and, with only 41.53% of the voters present, 545 deputies were elected – all Chavistas, since the opposition refused to participate in the process to not legitimize it.
The vote was marked by demonstrations, with 10 deaths and dozens of arrests and, as in other polls in Venezuela, a strong negative international impact and country messages indicating that the result would not be recognized.
Two weeks after his inauguration, the Constituent Assembly unanimously approved a decree authorizing the body to badume the power to approve laws, which previously fell within the competence of the Congress. Since then, the opposition-dominated Parliament has ignored its decisions and the government has eventually become bound to the Constituent Assembly as the legislative body of the country.
The Constituent Assembly dismissed the Venezuelan Attorney General, ex-chavista Luisa Ortega Díaz, who had denounced a "constitutional break" in the country, and began to set deadlines for the day. elections, among other functions.
Changes in election dates
Changes in election dates became constant during the Maduro government, especially after the election of the National Constituent Assembly. Moreover, opposition parties and candidates are often prevented from participating in bureaucratic conflicts, leading to accusations that the National Electoral Council (NEC) would become a member of the government.
Recent examples include governor elections, which are scheduled to take place in December 2016 but have been postponed to six months. On June 23, 2017, it was announced that they would only be held on December 10 of this year. In the end, the Constituent Assembly changed its mind and set the date as October 15. With polls showing that Chavists should lose most states, the Democratic Unity Bureau, an opposition coalition, was not allowed to run in seven of the 23 states. country.
Maduro was re-elected for the presidential election: originally scheduled for the end of 2018, it was postponed to "until April 30" by the Constituent Assembly and set on April 22. Lastly, the deadline was May 20, 2018.
On May 20, 2018, Maduro was re-elected for an additional six years, following protracted elections, denunciations of frauds, attempted boycott of the government. opposition, 54% abstention and lack of recognition from a large part of the international community. Immediately, several countries and international organizations refused to recognize the legitimacy of their victory.
The inauguration took place nearly eight months later, on January 10, and Maduro was sworn in before the Supreme Court of Justice, the government saying that the National Assembly had been in contempt since 2016 which acknowledged the outcome of the elections. [Photo:CarlosGarciaRawlins/Reuters"NicolásMaduroreçoitlaceintureprésidentiellelorsdelacérémonied'inaugurationentantqueprésidentduVenezuela-Photo:CarlosGarciaRawlins/Reuters"src="data:image/jpeg;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"/>
The Venezuelan political opposition and several countries – including the United States, Canada and members of the Lima group, of which Brazil is a member – do not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro's new mandate. The Organization of American States (OAS) also said this afternoon that it would not recognize the socialist government.
Most Latin American countries, including Brazil, as well as the United States and the European Union countries, have not sent any representative to the inauguration . On the day of the ceremony, Paraguay broke off relations with Venezuela.
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