https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated December 2, 2022
Venezuela: Political Crisis and U.S. Policy
Venezuela, under the authoritarian rule of Nicolás Maduro,
remains in a deep economic and humanitarian crisis.
Maduro has consolidated power over all of Venezuela’s
institutions since his 2013 election after the death of
President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013). Maduro’s United
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) took control of the
National Assembly after flawed parliamentary elections in
December 2020; the PSUV and allies also won 19 of 23
gubernatorial races in November 2021 state-level elections.
Maduro has quashed dissent and resisted U.S. and
international pressure to step down since his reelection in a
2018 presidential vote widely deemed fraudulent. Domestic
and international support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó,
the former National Assembly president once regarded as
interim president by nearly 60 other countries, has
dissipated. Opposition parties, organized since 2021 under a
Unitary Platform that includes Guaidó’s party among many
others, resumed negotiations with Maduro officials in
November 2022 to create better conditions for presidential
elections due in 2024. The Biden Administration and other
donors have offered limited sanctions relief to the Maduro
government if those negotiations lead to improved
humanitarian conditions and political and human rights.
Political Situation
Maduro has used security forces, buoyed by corrupt courts,
to quash dissent. His government has rewarded allies,
particularly in the security forces, by allowing them to earn
income from illegal gold mining, drug trafficking, and other
illicit activities. Those forces have detained and abused
Maduro’s opponents, including military officers, opposition
politicians, and civic leaders. As of November 22, 2022, the
government had imprisoned 268 political prisoners,
according to Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights group.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights has documented, and the International Criminal
Court is investigating, extrajudicial killings and other grave
crimes committed by Venezuela’s security forces.
The Venezuelan opposition has been weak and divided,
with many of its leaders in exile. Guaidó challenged
Maduro’s authority in 2019, but Guaidó’s support has since
faded. After Norway-led negotiations stalled in mid-2019,
the Maduro government persecuted Guaidó’s supporters. In
April 2021, Guaidó called on opposition parties and civil
society to form a Unity Platform. In late November 2022,
the Unity Platform announced the resumption of Norway-
mediated talks with Maduro officials that had been
suspended since October 2021. The two sides also
announced an agreement to establish a $3 billion U.N.-
administered fund for humanitarian programs supported, in
part, by Venezuelan assets frozen abroad. The Biden
Administration issued a new license for Chevron to begin
limited operations in Venezuela after talks resumed. It is
unclear whether Maduro will make significant concessions
without significant U.S. sanctions relief.
Economic and Humanitarian Crisis
By most accounts, Maduro’s government has mismanaged
the economy and engaged in massive corruption,
exacerbating the effects of a decline in oil production.
Between 2014 and 2021, Venezuela’s economy contracted
by 80%, according to estimates by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a February 2021
Government Accountability Office report, sanctions
imposed by the United States in response to Maduro’s
authoritarian actions, particularly sanctions targeting
Venezuela’s oil industry, contributed to the economic crisis.
Since 2021, hyperinflation has abated and higher oil prices
driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appear to be driving
a nascent economic recovery.
Well before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic, Venezuelans were facing a lack of food,
medicine, health care, and access to social services. In
2022, an estimated 7.7 million Venezuelans required
humanitarian assistance, according to the U.S. Agency for
International Development. Food insecurity remains a
challenge, mainly due to the price of food rather than a lack
of availability. Many households do not have reliable
access to potable water, and interruptions in electrical
service and gas supplies are common. With a collapsed
health system, overall health indicators, particularly infant
and maternal mortality rates, have worsened. Previously
eradicated diseases such as diphtheria and measles also
have become a major concern, along with COVID-19.
As of November 2022, U.N. agencies estimated that more
than 7.1 million Venezuelans had left the country (with
26.9 million remaining). Some 6 million of these migrants
fled to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, but a
record 187,700 arrived at the U.S. border in FY2022.
Migrants have faced obstacles keeping jobs and accessing
health care; they are vulnerable to human trafficking and
other abuses. In 2021, Colombia and Peru began granting
temporary protected status to Venezuelans.
International Response
The international community, once divided on policies
toward Venezuela, has coalesced behind support for
Maduro-opposition negotiations.
In 2019, the United States, European Union (EU), Canada,
and most Western Hemisphere countries recognized Juan
Guaidó as interim president. They exerted economic and
diplomatic pressure on Maduro to leave office. Other
countries, including China, Russia, Cuba, Turkey, and Iran,
have supported the Maduro government. Russia has
supported the oil industry in Venezuela, helped Venezuela
