{"id":12245,"date":"2019-01-28T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T05:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=12245"},"modified":"2019-01-27T18:59:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T23:59:50","slug":"one-country-two-presidents-an-uncertain-future-ahead-for-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/one-country-two-presidents-an-uncertain-future-ahead-for-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"One country, two presidents: an uncertain future ahead for Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venezuela is going through the harshest political, social, and economic crisis of its history. The once rich naci\u00f3n petrolera<\/em> (oil country) is now drowning in a deep ocean of misfortune and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

The current situation dates back to 1999, when Hugo Ch\u00e1vez took power and implemented the so-called socialismo del siglo XXI<\/em> (21st<\/sup>-century socialism) in the South American country.<\/p>\n

In the name of a dubious ideology, Ch\u00e1vez established a nation where corruption runs rampant. And following his death in 2013, his heredero<\/em> (heir), Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, assumed power in a widely contested election.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Photo taken from www.vicepresidencia.gob.ve<\/p><\/div>\n

Since Maduro’s took charge of Venezuela’s poder ejecutivo <\/em>(executive power), the crisis has worsen in a way that even the international community has expressed concerns about the country\u2019s overall stability.<\/p>\n

One terrible example of Venezuela\u2019s volatility is represented by its hyperinflation: in 2014, el bol\u00edvar<\/em> (the national currency) suffered from an annual inflation rate of 69%; four years later, it surpassed 1,600,000%. In other words, Venezuela set a record for the highest inflation rate in the world for a nation in peacetime.<\/p>\n

(Just for comparison, the US had an annual inflation rate of 2.54% in 2018 from 2.14% in 2017.)<\/p>\n

Many elections have taken place in the South American nation, but most of them have had a doubtful result as the poder electoral<\/em> (electoral power) has shown its complacency towards the government since Ch\u00e1vez was in charge. The same occurs with las Fuerzas Armadas<\/em> (the Armed Forces) and the poder judicial<\/em> (judicial power).<\/p>\n

The last presidential election, held on May 20th<\/sup> 2018, was not recognized by the major part of the international community as it was considered fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Opposition leaders in Venezuela, which are backed by 80% of the population according to respected polls, have tried unsuccessfully to reinstall democracy in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Juan Guaid\u00f3. Photo taken from www.rosarionuestro.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The National Assembly or poder legislativo<\/em> (legislative power)\u2014the only remaining body democratically elected by Venezuelans\u2014have declared that Maduro is usurping the presidential role. Thus, guided by Venezuela\u2019s Constitution, the current head of that power, Juan Guaid\u00f3, declared himself last Wednesday, January 23rd<\/sup>, presidente interino<\/em> (interim President) until clear elections are held and democracy is restored.<\/p>\n

During his cabildo abierto<\/em> (open cabildo) the congressman declared, \u201cI swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting President of Venezuela to end the usurpation, install a transitional government and hold free elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maduro stated hours later that day, \u201cAqu\u00ed no se rinde nadie; vamos al combate<\/em>\u201d (\u201cNo one throws in the towel here; we are going to fight.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Today, Venezuela stands divided in two, with two effective jefes de Estado<\/em> (chiefs of State). On the one part, Maduro is unrecognized by the biggest part of the international community and is only supported by Bolivia, Cuba, Russia, China, Turkey, and its Caribbean allies of the ALBA bloc.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Guaid\u00f3’s interim presidency is backed by most of Venezuela\u2019s neighbors, 11 out of 14 countries that make up the Lima Group, including the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, the European Union stated that it will support Guaid\u00f3 if fair elections are not called within the next eight days.<\/p>\n

More protests are expected in the coming weeks. For the time being, Venezuela\u2019s future remains uncertain, forcing three million people to flee their homeland in search of a better tomorrow overseas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read more on this topic (and practice your Spanish) visit the following news sites:<\/p>\n

El Nacional<\/a><\/p>\n

Efecto Cocuyo<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venezuela is going through the harshest political, social, and economic crisis of its history. The once rich naci\u00f3n petrolera (oil country) is now drowning in a deep ocean of misfortune and uncertainty. The current situation dates back to 1999, when Hugo Ch\u00e1vez took power and implemented the so-called socialismo del siglo XXI (21st-century socialism) in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[122,402310],"class_list":["post-12245","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-politics","tag-venezuela"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12245"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12250,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12245\/revisions\/12250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}