President Nicolas Maduro was elected in 2013, succeeding his mentor, the very popular Hugo Chavez, who had died. Maduro's first term was marked by a tremendous decline in the economy and a steep increase in the number of people leaving the country.

Nicolas Maduro

Juan Guaido

Maduro was re-elected to a second six-year term as president in May 2018, in an election that most opposition parties boycotted. Many opposition candidates had been prohibited from running; others were in jail; still others left the country. Maduro won by a large margin; the National Assembly did not recognize the result. A strong opposition, led by Juan Guaido, challenged the results of that election, citing a large number of irregularities. Echoing that challenge were a large number of powerful international officials. Maduro clung to power and had strong allies.

In January 2019, Maduro ordered all American diplomats to leave the country; in response, many top U.S. officials, including then-President Donald Trump and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recognized opposition leader Guaido as the leader of the country. In the wake of weeks of widespread protests against Maduro's government, Guaido swore himself in as interim president and found support from leaders of Brazil and Canada. Longtime ally Russia saluted Maduro.

The U.S. and other countries imposed sanctions on Venezuela. In February 2019, the U.S. sent a large shipment of humanitarian aid–food and medical supplies, complete with doctors to administer the medical supplies. Maduro set up military cordons to block the aid's entry into the country, saying that he believes the aid to be a sham and the pretext for a military intervention. Further, Venezuelan troops burned aid trucks and fired tear gas and rubber bullets, killing a handful of people accompanying the foreign aid. Dozens more people were injured in the confrontation, which happened at the country's border with Colombia.

The following month, a widespread blackout crippled Caracas, the capital, and other cities. Venezuelan government officials and opposition leaders traded assignations of blame for the power outage, which eventually ended. Not ending were shortages of basic supplies and emigration of millions of people fleeing the chaos.

The economic sanctions, including the blocking of vital oil trading, took a heavy toll on the country; Maduro eventually reversed price controls, resulting in an economic upturn. The country limped along and then suffered along with the rest of the world through the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, four years after the contested election, the two political enemies agreed to a joint agreement seeking access to humanitarian aid, with an eye toward also gaining access to money in overseas banks, who froze that access in the wake of the election-based chaos. Also part of the agreement was an allocation of funds to repair the country's electricity grid. In response, U.S. President Joe Biden eased some sanctions on the Maduro government and the American oil giant Chevron restarted its oil program with the country.

The agreement, which succeeded where previous rounds of negotiations in the past two years failed, came in Mexico City; more talks are scheduled.