Venezuela
Coordinates: 7°N 65°W / 7°N 65°W / 7; -65
Venezuela (/ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə/ (listen) [VEN-ə-ZWAYL-ə]; American Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ([Spanish]: República Bolivariana de Venezuela),[7][note 1] is a country on the northern coast of [South America], consisting of a [continental] landmass and a large number of [small islands] and [islets] in the [Caribbean Sea]. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of [Caracas]. It has a territorial extension of 916,445 km2 (353,841 sq mi). The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the [Atlantic Ocean], on the west by [Colombia], [Brazil] on the south, [Trinidad and Tobago] to the north-east and on the east by [Guyana]. With this last country, the Venezuelan government maintains a claim for [Guayana Esequiba] over an area of 159,542 km2 (61,600 sq mi). For its maritime areas, it exercises sovereignty over 71,295 km2 (27,527 sq mi) of [territorial waters], 22,224 km2 (8,581 sq mi) in its contiguous zone, 471,507 km2 (182,050 sq mi) of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean under the concept of [exclusive economic zone], and 99,889 km2 (38,567 sq mi) of [continental shelf]. This marine area borders those of 13 states. The country has [extremely high biodiversity] and is ranked seventh in the world's list of nations with the most number of species.[8] There are habitats ranging from the [Andes] Mountains in the west to the [Amazon basin] rain-forest in the south via extensive llanos plains, the Caribbean coast and the [Orinoco River Delta] in the east.
The territory now known as Venezuela was [colonized by Spain] in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories to [declare independence], which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of [Gran Colombia]. It gained full independence as a country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly [Caracazo] riots of 1989, [two attempted coups in 1992], and the impeachment of President [Carlos Andrés Pérez] for embezzlement of public funds in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the [1998 election] of former coup-involved career officer [Hugo Chávez] and the launch of the [Bolivarian Revolution]. The revolution began with a [1999 Constituent Assembly], where a new Constitution of Venezuela was written. This new constitution officially changed the name of the country to Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ([Spanish]: República Bolivariana de Venezuela).
The [sovereign state] is a [federal] [presidential republic] consisting of [23 states], the [Capital District] (covering [Caracas]), and [federal dependencies] (covering Venezuela's offshore islands). Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the [Essequibo River], a 159,500-square-kilometre (61,583 sq mi) tract dubbed Guayana Esequiba or the Zona en Reclamación (the "zone under dispute").[9] Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America;[10][11] the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital (Caracas) which is also the largest city in Venezuela.
Oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and today, Venezuela has the world's [largest known oil reserves] and has been one of the world's leading [exporters of oil]. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as [coffee] and [cocoa], but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The [1980s oil glut] led to an [external debt crisis] and a long-running economic crisis. [Inflation] peaked at [100% in 1996] and poverty rates rose to 66% in 1995[12] as (by 1998) [per capita] [GDP] fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak.[13] The recovery of [oil prices] in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s.[14] The Venezuelan government then established [populist] [social welfare] policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, temporarily[15] reducing [economic inequality] and [poverty].[19] However, such populist policies[20] later became inadequate, causing the nation's collapse as their excesses—including a uniquely extreme fossil fuel subsidy[21]—are widely blamed for destabilizing the nation's economy. The destabilized economy led to a [crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela], resulting in [hyperinflation], an [economic depression],[22] [shortages of basic goods][23] and drastic increases in unemployment,[24] poverty,[25] disease, child mortality, malnutrition and crime. By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in [default] regarding debt payments by [credit rating agencies].[26][27] In 2018, the country's economic policies led to extreme hyperinflation, with estimates expecting an inflation rate of 1,370,000% by the end of the year.[28]
Venezuela is a charter member of the [UN], [OAS], [UNASUR], [ALBA], [Mercosur], [LAIA] and [OEI].
Etymology
According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, an expedition led by [Alonso de Ojeda] visited the Venezuelan coast. The [stilt houses] in the area of [Lake Maracaibo] reminded the Italian navigator, [Amerigo Vespucci], of the city of [Venice], Italy, so he named the region Veneziola, or "Little Venice".[29] The Spanish version of Veneziola is Venezuela.[30]
[Martín Fernández de Enciso], a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that the crew found [indigenous people] who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name "Venezuela" may have evolved from the native word.[31]
History
Pre-Columbian history
Evidence exists of human habitation in the area now known as Venezuela from about 15,000 years ago. [Leaf-shaped] tools from this period, together with chopping and [planoconvex] scraping implements, have been found exposed on the high riverine terraces of the Rio Pedregal in western Venezuela.[32] [Late Pleistocene] hunting artifacts, including spear tips, have been found at a similar series of sites in northwestern Venezuela known as "El Jobo"; according to [radiocarbon dating], these date from 13,000 to 7,000 BC.[33]
It is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest; it has been estimated at around one million.[34] In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historical groups such as the [Kalina] (Caribs), [Auaké], [Caquetio], [Mariche], and [Timoto–Cuicas]. The Timoto–Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks.[35] Their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops. Regional crops included potatoes and [ullucos].[36] They left behind works of art, particularly anthropomorphic ceramics, but no major monuments. They spun vegetable fibers to weave into textiles and mats for housing. They are credited with having invented the [arepa], a staple in [Venezuelan cuisine].[37]
After the conquest, the population dropped markedly, mainly through the spread of new infectious diseases from Europe.[34] Two main north-south axes of pre-Columbian population were present, who cultivated [maize] in the west and [manioc] in the east.[34] Large parts of the llanos were cultivated through a combination of [slash and burn] and permanent settled agriculture.[34]
Colonization
In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, [Christopher Columbus] sailed near the Orinoco Delta and landed in the [Gulf of Paria].[39] Amazed by the great offshore current of freshwater which deflected his course eastward, Columbus expressed in a letter to Isabella and Ferdinand that he must have reached Heaven on Earth (terrestrial paradise):
Great signs are these of the Terrestrial Paradise, for the site conforms to the opinion of the holy and wise theologians whom I have mentioned. And likewise, the [other] signs conform very well, for I have never read or heard of such a large quantity of fresh water being inside and in such close proximity to salt water; the very mild temperateness also corroborates this; and if the water of which I speak does not proceed from Paradise then it is an even greater marvel, because I do not believe such a large and deep river has ever been known to exist in this world.[40]
His certainty of having attained Paradise made him name this region "Land of Grace", a phrase that has become the country's nickname.
Spain's colonization of mainland Venezuela started in 1522, establishing its first permanent South American settlement in the present-day[update] city of [Cumaná]. In the 16th century, Venezuela was contracted as a concession by the King of Spain to the German [Welser] banking family ([Klein-Venedig], 1528–1546). Native caciques (leaders) such as [Guaicaipuro] (c. 1530–1568) and [Tamanaco] (died 1573) attempted to resist Spanish incursions, but the newcomers ultimately subdued them; Tamanaco was put to death by order of Caracas' founder, [Diego de Losada].[41]
In the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization, indigenous peoples such as many of the [Mariches], themselves descendants of the Kalina, converted to [Roman Catholicism]. Some of the resisting tribes or leaders are commemorated in place names, including Caracas, [Chacao] and [Los Teques]. The early colonial settlements focused on the northern coast,[34] but in the mid-18th century, the Spanish pushed farther inland along the [Orinoco River]. Here, the [Ye'kuana] (then known as the Makiritare) organized serious resistance in 1775 and 1776.[42]
Spain's eastern Venezuelan settlements were incorporated into [New Andalusia Province]. Administered by the [Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo] from the early 16th century, most of Venezuela became part of the [Viceroyalty of New Granada] in the early 18th century, and was then reorganized as an autonomous [Captaincy General] starting in 1777. The town of Caracas, founded in the central coastal region in 1567, was well-placed to become a key location, being near the coastal port of [La Guaira] whilst itself being located in a valley in a mountain range, providing defensive strength against [pirates] and a more fertile and healthy climate.[43]
Independence and 19th century
After a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela, under the leadership of [Francisco de Miranda], a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the [American Revolution] and the [French Revolution], [declared independence] on 5 July 1811.[44] This began the Venezuelan War of Independence. A devastating [earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812], together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros, helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic.[45] A [second Venezuelan republic], proclaimed on August 7, 1813, lasted several months before being crushed, as well.[46]
[Sovereignty] was only attained after [Simón Bolívar], aided by [José Antonio Páez] and [Antonio José de Sucre], won the [Battle of Carabobo] on 24 June 1821.[47] On 24 July 1823, [José Prudencio Padilla] and [Rafael Urdaneta] helped seal Venezuelan independence with their victory in the [Battle of Lake Maracaibo].[48] New Granada's congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded [Gran Colombia].[47]
Sucre, who won many battles for Bolívar, went on to liberate [Ecuador] and later become the second president of [Bolivia]. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by Páez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela; Páez became the first president of the new republic.[49] Between one-quarter and one-third of Venezuela's population was lost during these two decades of warfare, which by 1830, was estimated at about 800,000.[50]
The colors of the [Venezuelan flag] are yellow, blue, and red: the yellow stands for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain, and the red for the blood shed by the heroes of independence.[51]
[Slavery] in Venezuela was abolished in 1854.[50] Much of Venezuela's 19th-century history was characterized by political turmoil and [dictatorial] rule, including the Independence leader José Antonio Páez, who gained the presidency three times and served a total of 11 years between 1830 and 1863. This culminated in the [Federal War] (1859–1863), a civil war in which hundreds of thousands died in a country with a population of not much more than a million people. In the latter half of the century, [Antonio Guzmán Blanco], another caudillo, served a total of 13 years between 1870 and 1887, with three other presidents interspersed.
In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the territory of Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of [British Guiana] and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the [Venezuela Crisis of 1895]. The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela's lobbyist, [William L. Scruggs], sought to argue that British behavior over the issue violated the United States' [Monroe Doctrine] of 1823, and used his influence in Washington, D.C., to pursue the matter. Then, US President [Grover Cleveland] adopted a broad interpretation of the doctrine that did not just simply forbid new European colonies, but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere.[52] Britain ultimately accepted arbitration, but in negotiations over its terms was able to persuade the US on many of the details. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the issue and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.[53]
In 1899, [Cipriano Castro], assisted by his friend [Juan Vicente Gómez], seized power in Caracas, marching an army from his base in the Andean state of [Táchira]. Castro defaulted on Venezuela's considerable foreign debts and declined to pay compensation to foreigners caught up in Venezuela's civil wars. This led to the [Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903], in which Britain, Germany and Italy imposed a naval blockade of several months before international arbitration at the new [Permanent Court of Arbitration] in [The Hague] was agreed. In 1908, [another dispute] broke out with the Netherlands, which was resolved when Castro left for medical treatment in Germany and was promptly overthrown by Juan Vicente Gómez (1908–1935).
20th century
The discovery of massive [oil deposits] in Lake Maracaibo during World War I[54] proved to be pivotal for Venezuela and transformed the basis of its economy from a heavy dependence on agricultural exports. It prompted an economic boom that lasted into the 1980s; by 1935, Venezuela's per capita [gross domestic product] was Latin America's highest.[55] Gómez benefited handsomely from this, as corruption thrived, but at the same time, the new source of income helped him centralize the Venezuelan state and develop its authority.
He remained the most powerful man in Venezuela until his death in 1935, although at times he ceded the presidency to others. The gomecista dictatorship (1935–1945) system largely continued under [Eleazar López Contreras], but from 1941, under [Isaías Medina Angarita], was relaxed. Angarita granted a range of reforms, including the legalization of all political parties. After [World War II], [immigration] from Southern Europe (mainly from Spain, [Italy], Portugal, and France) and poorer Latin American countries markedly diversified Venezuelan society.
In 1945, a civilian-military coup overthrew Medina Angarita and ushered in [a three-year period of democratic rule] (1945–1948) under the mass membership party [Democratic Action], initially under [Rómulo Betancourt], until [Rómulo Gallegos] won the [Venezuelan presidential election, 1947] (generally believed to be the first free and fair elections in Venezuela). Gallegos governed until overthrown by a military junta led by the triumvirate Luis Felipe Llovera Páez, [Marcos Pérez Jiménez], and Gallegos' Defense Minister, [Carlos Delgado Chalbaud], in the [1948 Venezuelan coup d'état].
The most powerful man in the military junta (1948–1958) was Pérez Jiménez (though Chalbaud was its titular president) and was suspected of being behind the death in office of Chalbaud, who died in a bungled kidnapping in 1950. When the junta unexpectedly lost the [election it held in 1952], it ignored the results and Pérez Jiménez was installed as President, where he remained until 1958. The expansion of the Venezuelan economy in this period was based on the indebtedness of the Venezuelan nation and that was one of the causes of the economic crisis in Venezuela in the 1960s,[56] in which important projects such as the Urban Center El Recreo de Marcel Brauer on Avenida Casanova in [Sabana Grande] district were paralyzed.[57]
During the years of Pérez Jiménez's administration, the State intervened areas of the economy that were traditionally carried out by private companies. The Pérez Jiménez government was characterized by its state capitalism and not by liberal capitalism. It was an antecedent of the populist and paternalistic economic regime of the later democratic regimes.[58] The national private entrepreneurship increasingly had less space to grow and prosper. The State was the great capitalist in the Venezuela of Pérez Jiménez and was the largest national shareholder of major hotel chains such as Sheraton.[59]
In the government of [Pérez Jiménez], Venezuela's debt grew more than 25 times and went from 175 million to more than 4,500 million bolivares in just 5 years (approximately 15 billion dollars in 2018). The malaise over the debts of Venezuela reached the barracks and the national business. Pérez Jiménez responded that: "there is no debt, but commitments". The Finance Minister failed to convince Pérez Jiménez to order the cancellation of debts.[60] As of 14 January 1958, the Venezuelan business community decided to divorce itself completely from the regime, nine days before the collapse of the government.[56] The military dictator Pérez Jiménez was forced out on 23 January 1958.[61] In an effort to consolidate a young democracy, the three major political parties ([Acción Democrática] (AD), [COPEI] and [Unión Republicana Democrática] (URD), with the notable exception of the [Communist Party of Venezuela]) signed the [Puntofijo Pact] power-sharing agreement. The two first parties would dominate the political landscape for four decades.
During the presidencies of [Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello] (1959–1964, his second time) and [Raúl Leoni Otero] (1964-1969) in the 1960s, substantial guerilla movements occurred, including the [Armed Forces of National Liberation] and the [Revolutionary Left Movement], which had split from AD in 1960. Most of these movements laid down their arms under [Rafael Caldera]'s first presidency (1969–1974); Caldera had won the [1968 election] for COPEI, being the first time a party other than Democratic Action took the presidency through a democratic election. The new democratic order had its antagonists. Betancourt suffered an attack planned by the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1960, and the leftists excluded from the Pact initiated an armed insurgency by organizing themselves in the Armed Forces of National Liberation, sponsored by the Communist Party and Fidel Castro. In 1962 they tried to destabilize the military corps, with failed revolts in Carúpano and Puerto Cabello. At the same time, Betancourt promoted an international doctrine in which he only recognized elected governments by popular vote.[need quotation to verify]
As a result of the debt that Marcos Pérez Jiménez had left, it was necessary an economic adjustment program in Venezuela. The Economic Recovery Plan of 1960 was formulated by Tomás Enrique Carrillo Batalla. The construction industry was revitalized through the "rediscount" of the Central Bank of Venezuela. The Economic Recovery Plan fulfilled its objectives and in 1964, Venezuela was able to return to an anchored exchange rate, with free purchase and sale of foreign currency. This system lasted until the Venezuelan Black Friday of 1983, although the model was already running out at the end of the seventies.[62] The consolidation of the democratic system and the dissipation of fears of political radicalization of the country contributed to normalize the demand for foreign currency, stabilizing the parallel exchange rate.
For much of the period between 1950 and 1973, the Venezuelan economy was characterized by its stability and sustained strength, factors that contributed decisively to being able to maintain a fixed exchange rate without major inconveniences. In the period of [Carlos Andrés Pérez] (1974–1979, his first time as president), as a result of the Arab-Israeli war (the Yom Kippur war), the average price of a barrel of oil went from 3.71 to 10.53 dollars and continued to rise to exceed 29 dollars in 1981.[62] The income of the public sector went from 18,960 million bolivars in 1973 to 45.564 million in 1974. The economic bonanza also had the characteristics of an economic bubble, but Venezuelans remember the "Ta barato, dame dos".[63][64] The increased inflow of funds to savings and loan entities and mortgage banks allowed an increase in the mortgage loan portfolio, which also tripled. In general, Venezuela was a prosperous country in the governments of Rómulo Betancourt (1945- – c. 1948; 1959–1964), Rafael Caldera (1969–1974; 1994 – c. 1999) and Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974–1979; 1989 – c. 1993)[citation needed]. In 1975 the iron industry was nationalized and the following year the oil industry, creating Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). Both Caldera and Pérez partially broke with the [Betancourt Doctrine].
[The election in 1973] of [Carlos Andrés Pérez] coincided with an [oil crisis], in which Venezuela's income exploded as [oil prices] soared; oil industries were nationalized in 1976. This led to massive increases in public spending, but also increases in external debts, which continued into the 1980s when the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy. As the government started to devalue the currency in February 1983 to face its financial obligations, Venezuelans' real standards of living fell dramatically. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability.[65]
During the presidency of [Luis Herrera Campins] (1979–1984), important infrastructure works were completed, such as the Parque Central Complex (which became the largest housing complex and the tallest towers in Latin America), Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex (the largest cultural center in South America at that time), the Brígido Iriarte Stadium and the United Nations Park. Most of these works had been previously planned.[66] Until the mid-eighties, the Venezuelan economy showed a very positive behavior, characterized by the absence of internal or external imbalances, high economic growth, largely due to the sustained and very high gross fixed investment of those years, 10 under unemployment and great price stability. This translated into sustained increases in the average real wage and an improvement in the condition of life.[62]
In 1983 the bolivar was devalued on Black Friday[which?][when?][citation needed], unleashing a strong economic crisis, which hit investments in the most important financial centers of the Venezuelan capital, such as [Sabana Grande]. In the government of [Jaime Lusinchi] (1984–1989), an attempt was made to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the measures failed. After a long period of accelerated economic expansion that lasts for six decades (value of the stock of homes by families), an extreme higher value is reached towards 1982. From this historical value begins then a systematic fall that mounts to 26 hundred up to 2006, and that configures a genuine unique experience in contemporary economic life.[67] However, the economic deactivation of the country had begun to show its first signs in 1978.[68]
In the 1980s, the Presidential Commission for State Reform (COPRE) emerged as a mechanism of political innovation. Venezuela was preparing for the decentralization of its political system and the diversification of its economy, reducing the large size of the State. The COPRE operated as an innovation mechanism, also by incorporating issues into the political agenda that were generally excluded from public deliberation by the main actors of the Venezuelan democratic system. The most discussed topics were incorporated into the public agenda: decentralization, political participation, municipalization, judicial oder reforms and the role of the State in a new economic strategy. Unfortunately, the social reality of the country made the changes difficult to apply.[68]
Economic crises in the 1980s and 1990s led to a political crisis in which hundreds died in the Caracazo riots of 1989 during the presidency of Carlos Andres Pérez (1989–1993, his second time), [two attempted coups d'état in 1992 (February and November)] by [Hugo Chávez],[69] and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez (re-elected in 1988) for corruption in 1993 and the interin presidency of [Ramón José Velásquez] (1993–1994). Coup leader Hugo Chávez [was pardoned in March 1994] by president Rafael Caldera (1994–1999, his second time), with a clean slate and his political rights reinstated. This let him later get the presidency continuously from 1999 until his death in 2013, winning the elections of 1998, 2000, 2006 and 2012 and the presidential referendum of 2004, with the only exception in 2002 of [Pedro Carmona Estanga] as a [two-day de facto government] and [Diosdado Cabello Rondón] as a few-hours interim president.
Bolivarian government: 1999–present
The Bolivarian Revolution refers to a [left-wing populism] [social movement] and political process in Venezuela led by the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, the founder in 1997 of the [Fifth Republic Movement], later in 2007 the [United Socialist Party of Venezuela]. The "Bolivarian Revolution" is named after [Simón Bolívar], an early 19th-century Venezuelan and [Latin American] revolutionary leader, prominent in the [Spanish American wars of independence] in achieving the independence of most of northern South America from Spanish rule. According to Chávez and other supporters, the "Bolivarian Revolution" seeks to build a mass movement to implement [Bolivarianism]—[popular democracy], economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to [political corruption]—in Venezuela. They interpret Bolívar's ideas from a [populist] perspective, using [socialist] rhetoric.
Hugo Chávez: 1999–2013
A collapse in confidence in the existing parties led to Chávez being elected president in 1998, and the subsequent launch of a "Bolivarian Revolution", beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. Chávez also initiated [Bolivarian missions], programs aimed at helping the poor.[70]
In April 2002, Chávez was briefly ousted from power in the [2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt] following popular demonstrations by his opponents,[71] but he was returned to power after two days as a result of demonstrations by poor Chávez supporters in Caracas and actions by the military.[72][73]
Chávez also remained in power after an all-out national strike that lasted [from December 2002 to February 2003], including a strike/lockout in the state oil company [PDVSA].[74] The strike produced severe economic dislocation, with the country's GDP falling 27% during the first four months of 2003, and costing the oil industry $13.3 billion.[75] Capital flight before and during the strike led to the reimposition of currency controls (which had been abolished in 1989), managed by the [CADIVI] agency. In the subsequent decade, the government was forced into several currency devaluations.[76][77][78][79][80] These devaluations have done little to improve the situation of the Venezuelan people who rely on imported products or locally produced products that depend on imported inputs while dollar-denominated oil sales account for the vast majority of Venezuela's exports.[81] The profits of the oil industry have been lost to "social engineering" and corruption, instead of investments needed to maintain oil production.[82]
Chávez survived several further political tests, including an [August 2004 recall referendum]. He was elected for another term [in December 2006] and re-elected for a third term in October 2012. However, he was never sworn in for his third period, due to medical complications. Chávez died on 5 March 2013 after a nearly two-year fight with cancer.[83] The presidential election that took place on Sunday, 14 April 2013, was the first since Chávez took office in 1999 in which his name did not appear on the ballot.[84]
Venezuela under Hugo Chávez suffered "one of the worst cases of [Dutch Disease] in the world" due to the Bolivarian government's large dependence on oil sales.[85][86] Poverty and inflation began to increase into the 2010s.[87] [Nicolás Maduro] was elected in 2013 after the death of Chavez. Chavez picked Maduro as his successor and appointed him vice president in 2013. Maduro was elected President in a shortened election in 2013 following Chavez's death. Despite the demand for a recount and claims of manipulation by his competitor, Maduro was announced victorious.[79][88][89] Venezuela devalued its currency in February 2013 due to the rising shortages in the country,[80][90] [which included those of] milk, flour, and other necessities. This led to an increase in malnutrition, especially among children.[91][92] In 2014, Venezuela entered an [economic recession].[93] In 2015, Venezuela had the world's highest inflation rate with the rate surpassing 100%, becoming the highest in the country's history.[94] Economic problems, as well as crime and corruption, were some of the main causes of the [2014–2018 Venezuelan protests],[95][96] which left hundreds of protesters killed.