Interestingly, there has been a resurgence of discussions about the situation in Venezuela recently. Many people may not be very familiar with the figure of Maduro, so I’ll briefly outline his background and the events of these years.

Maduro comes from the working class, born in 1962. His father was a union leader. In his youth, he worked as a bus driver and later became involved in Chávez’s failed military coup in 1992. Since then, Maduro has been a staunch supporter of Chávez, rallying for his leftist policies. After Chávez took power in 1998, Maduro entered the legislative body, rising through the ranks to become the President of the National Assembly, and later served as Foreign Minister.

He is quite active on the international stage, traveling around to build international alliances, relying on oil-funded aid programs. Chávez designated him as his successor before his death, and after Chávez passed away in 2013, Maduro was elected president by a narrow margin. This marked the beginning of his power.

But things took a turn for the worse afterward. During Maduro’s rule, Venezuela’s economy completely collapsed, characterized by hyperinflation and long-term shortages. These became the most prominent features of his tenure. He was also accused of manipulating elections, causing famines, and suppressing protests—particularly brutal crackdowns in 2014 and 2017. Millions of Venezuelans fled the country as a result.

The U.S. government has never let go of him, imposing multiple sanctions, and in 2020, he was also charged with corruption and other crimes. Maduro of course denied these charges. By 2024, he participated in elections that were widely condemned by international observers and the opposition as fraudulent. He was sworn in for a third term in January 2025, after which thousands of protesters were imprisoned.

Most painfully, last month the UN Human Rights Inquiry team found that the Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela has been committing serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over the past decade, often with impunity targeting political opponents. This is also why the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 was awarded to opposition leader María Corina Machado, seen as a direct response to Maduro’s authoritarian rule.