Venezuela is country in Latin America. the country has been facing hyperinflation, crimes, starvation, food shortages and severe socioeconomic and political crisis. there is a geopolitical game played by great powers.

1. VENEZUELA
CRISIS
BY MEHARWAR NAJAM

2. INTRODUCTION
 Venezuela is a country rich in resources that has
suffered from both internal mismanagement and
external intervention.
 A socioeconomic and political crisis that began in
Venezuela during the presidency of HugoChávez has
continued into the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. It is
marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation,
disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive
emigration from the country.
 In comparison to historical crises, it is more severe than
that of the United States during the Great Depression

3. BACKROUND
 In 1999, Hugo Chavez became president of the country. He
pledged to fix income inequality in the nation by giving to
the poor, who felt neglected in the classist society. Many
Venezuelans believed in his promises, and his charismatic
personality made many of his followers support him
unconditionally.
 During 2000s, Chavez increasingly tightened his grip on
authority. He introduced a new constitution, began to
strictly regulate the media, “threatened and punished his
political opponents,” according to a report from Human
Rights Watch, and forged an alliance with the Cuban
government.
 By 2013, before his death, Chavez was a force to be
reckoned with ,he had strategically placed his supporters at
the most important levels of the government, the military,
and the state-run oil company.

4. CONTINUED
 Before Chavez died of cancer in 2013, he named Nicolas Maduro as his
successor. He is leader of the United Socialist Party ofVenezuela (PSUV), and
was narrowly elected in 2013 after the death of populist President Hugo
Chávez, who had served since 1999.
 Maduro promised to continue his predecessor’s legacy through established
and popular social programs. Shortly after Maduro came to power, the price of
oil dropped, and because 98% ofVenezuela's export earnings come from oil,
the state of the country declined rapidly.

5. ECONOMIC CRISIS
 The decline is now deeper than that of the Soviet Union after its
breakup
 Gross domestic product shrank from about $196 billion in 2013 to some
$80 billion last year, smaller than that of Guatemala or Ethiopia,
according to calculations fromAGPV Asesores Económicos, a Caracas-
based consulting firm, and the International Monetary Fund.

7. HYPERINFLATION
 Hyperinflation is destroying the economy. Consumer
prices have risen more than 50% per month since
November 2017, including a jump of about 65% in the
first 10 weeks of 2019, according to estimates from
Ecoanalítica.
 The pace of inflation in Venezuela is among the fastest
recorded in recent world history, according to the IIF
 Wages have become worthless. Some basic goods, like
food and nonalcoholic beverages, rose almost 50% just in
January, according to Ecoanalítica estimates. The
monthly salary of a schoolteacher is enough to buy a
dozen eggs and about 2 pounds of cheese.

10. REMITTANCES
More than 3.4 million Venezuelans have
left the country in recent years, and most
of them send money to relatives back
home. Remittances rose by almost 57%
last year. Millions of Venezuelans depend
on such transfers, which average some
$80 per month per family, to survive.

13. TAXATION
Tax collection has dropped as a result of
falling production and hyperinflation.
The government is insolvent and lack
sources of foreign funding
$8 billion denominated debt was due this
year

15. OIL
PRODUCTION
 Venezuela has vast amounts of oil, owning 25
percent of the world’s reserves of crude
 By 2018 the political and economic troubles
facing Venezuela had engulfed the El Tigre-San
Tomé region, a key region for oil production in
eastern Venezuela. Oil workers were fleeing the
state-owned oil company as salaries could not
keep up with hyperinflation, reducing families
to starvation.

17. POITICAL
CRISIS

18.  An opposition-led National Assembly was elected in 2015 and a movement toward
recalling Maduro began in 2016; Maduro maintained power through the Supreme
Tribunal, the National Electoral Council and the military.
 Maduro called for a rewrite of the constitution, and the Constituent Assembly of
Venezuela was elected in 2017, The majority of nations in the Western world did not
recognize the Constituent Assembly election or the validity of Maduro's 2018 re-
election
 A crisis concerning who is the legitimate President of Venezuela has been underway
since 10 January 2019, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás
Maduro or Juan Guaidó.
 The National Assembly elected Juan Guaidó as its president on January 5, 2019; he is
a 35-year-old industrial engineer from the Popular Will (VP) party. In mid-January,
Guaidó announced he was willing to serve as interim president until new presidential
elections are held.
 Guaidó has been recognized as the acting President ofVenezuela by 54 countries

19. INTERNATIONAL
PLAYERS
US interests inVenezuela
IDEOLOGICAL
OIL and RESOURCES
GEOSTRATEIC GOALS
REGIONAL(INTER-American democratic charter)
VENEZUELA ALLIANCEWITH RUSSIA and CHINA
MAITAIN INFLUENCE IN LATIN AMERICA
UNITED STATES

20.  Russia has remained a strong ally of the Maduro
government.
 Venezuela was a major market for Russian arms
between 2006 and 2013, with an estimated $4 billion
in sales
 Venezuela reportedly had more than 5,000 Russian-
made surface-to-air missiles as of 2017, raising
concern about the potential for them being stolen or
sold to criminal or terrorist groups.
 Russian state oil company Rosneft has also invested
billions of dollars inVenezuela.
 Russia’s 2017 decision to allowVenezuela to
restructure $3 billion in debt provided much-needed
financial relief to the Maduro government.
RUSSIA

21.  China’s interest in Venezuela is primarily
economic, and the Chinese government has
reportedly been in contact with the Guaidó
government.
 From 2007 through 2016, China provided some
$62.2 billion in financing toVenezuela.
China has also provided loans for military
equipment to be repaid by oil deliveries.
CHINA

22. OTHERS
 Apart from United States, 53 other countries have formally
recognized the interim government of Juan Guaidó.These
countries include most members of the EU,Canada, 14 countries
in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean,Australia, Israel, Japan, and
South Korea, among others.
 Some of those countries have undertaken initiatives to increase
pressure on Maduro to leave office.
 Canada, the EU, Panama, and Switzerland have placed targeted
sanctions on Maduro officials and have frozen reserves formerly
controlled by the Maduro government and/or blocked suspicious
financial transactions involving Maduro.
 83 Other countries have withdrawn their diplomats from Caracas
and/or accepted the credentials of diplomats representing the
Guaidó government.

24. GREAT POWER
COMPETITION
 Venezuela has become an arena of geopolitical competition
 Both Russia and China have interests in Venezuelan oil.
They wish to buy it at a fair price, which the U.S. doesn’t.
While the U.S. has an enduring policy of increasingly brutal
sanctions against Venezuela, Russia has an enduring policy
of bailing Venezuela out. China has $60 billion worth of loans
and interests in Maduro’s government.
 The reason for the alliance of Russia, China, Iran, and
Venezuela is simply that they oppose Washington’s policy of
world domination
 The U.S. is targeting Russian investments in the Venezuelan
oil sector. Venezuela owes Rosneft, the state-backed oil
company of Russia, $2.3 billion.
 U.S. officials have accused Russia for sustaining up Maduro’s
regime

25. SANCTIONS
 The Trump Administration has significantly expanded sanctions on
Venezuela
 targeted specific Venezuelan officials, the Maduro government’s
access to the U.S. financial system, and Venezuela’s oil and gold
sectors, which are key sectors and sources of financing for the
Maduro government
 In August 2017, President Trump issued E.O. 13808 to prohibit
access to U.S. financial markets by theVenezuelan government
 The recent round of sanctions from the Trump administration has
pushed the Venezuelan government to publish its oil prices in
Chinese Yuan which has been seen as a fulfilled promise from
President Nicolás Maduro to layoff the U.S dollar
 sanctions might represent an opportunity for countries like Russia
and China to penetrate markets in the Caribbean