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Venezuela

Venezuela devalued its currency in February 2013 due to rising shortages in the country, which included those of milk, flour, and other necessities. This led to an increase in malnutrition, especially among children. Venezuela’s economy had become strongly dependent on the exportation of oil, with crude accounting for 86% of exports, and a high price per barrel to support social programs. Beginning in 2014 the price of oil plummeted from over $100/bbl to $40/bbl a year and a half later. This placed pressure on the Venezuelan economy, which was no longer able to afford vast social programs. To counter the decrease in oil prices, the Venezuelan Government began taking more money from PDVSA, the state oil company, to meet budgets, resulting in a lack of reinvestment in fields and employees. Venezuela’s oil production decreased from its height of nearly 3 to 1 million barrels (480 to 160 thousand cubic metres) per day. In 2014, Venezuela entered an economic recession. In 2015, Venezuela had the world’s highest inflation rate with the rate surpassing 100%, which was the highest in the country’s history. In 2017, Donald Trump‘s administration imposed more economic sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA and Venezuelan officials. Economic problems, as well as crime and corruption, were some of the main causes of the 2014–present Venezuelan protests. Since 2015 nearly 2 million people have fled Venezuela.

In January 2016, President Maduro decreed an “economic emergency”, revealing the extent of the crisis and expanding his powers. In July 2016, Colombian border crossings were temporarily opened to allow Venezuelans to purchase food and basic household and health items in Colombia. In September 2016, a study published in the Spanish-language Diario Las Américas indicated that 15% of Venezuelans are eating “food waste discarded by commercial establishments”.

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Maduro was inaugurated for a contested and controversial second term on 10 January 2019.
Close to 200 riots had occurred in Venezuelan prisons by October 2016, according to Una Ventana a la Libertad, an advocacy group for better prison conditions. The father of an inmate at Táchira Detention Center in Caracas alleged that his son was cannibalized by other inmates during a month-long riot, a claim corroborated by an anonymous police source but denied by the Minister of Correctional Affairs.

In 2017, Venezuela experienced a constitutional crisis in the country. In March 2017, opposition leaders branded President Nicolas Maduro a dictator after the Maduro-aligned Supreme Tribunal, which had been overturning most National Assembly decisions since the opposition took control of the body, took over the functions of the assembly, pushing a lengthy political standoff to new heights. The Supreme Court backed down and reversed its decision on 1 April 2017. A month later, President Maduro announced the 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election and on 30 August 2017, the 2017 Constituent National Assembly was elected into office and quickly stripped the National Assembly of its powers.

In December 2017, President Maduro declared that leading opposition parties would be barred from taking part in following year’s presidential vote after they boycotted mayoral polls.

Maduro won the 2018 election with 67.8% of the vote. The result was challenged by countries including ArgentinaChileColombiaBrazilCanadaGermanyFrance and the United States who deemed it fraudulent and moved to recognize Juan Guaidó as president. Other countries including CubaChinaRussiaTurkey, and Iran continued to recognize Maduro as president, although China, facing financial pressure over its position, reportedly began hedging its position by decreasing loans given, cancelling joint ventures, and signaling willingness to work with all parties. A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman denied the reports, describing them as “false information”.

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