A timeline of the political crisis in Venezuela, which began with claims of election rigging and has the US calling for regime change

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Guaido Maduro 50 50 thumbAP/Getty Images

  • Venezuela is in the depths of a crippling political crisis, precipitated by a hotly-contested election in January 2019.
  • During the crisis, opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó has risen as a credible threat to President Nicolás Maduro.
  • Guaidó is backed by the US and many other countries, and has been seeking to wrest power from Maduro. 

For the past two months, Venezuela has been locked in a dramatic political crisis, which has seen countries around the world disavow its president and back an upstart politician in his bid to depose him.

In less than two months, Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó went from being a little-known lawmaker to the opposition leader posing one of the greatest threats to President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist rule in recent years.

But the tensions between the socialist government and the opposition party dates back more than a decade, spanning over accusations of vote rigging, violent protests, and a humanitarian crisis. 

Here are the events that culminated in the current crisis.

Socialist leader Hugo Chavez died in 2013, when his vice president Nicolas Maduro stepped in to take over. Chavez had been in charge for 14 years.

(Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Source: BBC

Soon after, shortages and crime ravaged the country. Anti-Maduro mass protests broke out, and 43 people died.

(Rodrigo Abd/AP)

Sources: CNN, Forbes

Leopoldo Lopez, the most prominent opposition leader, was charged for fomenting unrest in the 2014 protests. He spent three years in prison and is now under house arrest.

(Leo Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images)

Source: Reuters

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: Meet Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela who’s challenging Nicolas Maduro for power

Source: Business Insider – bchristofaro@businessinsider.com (Beatrice Christofaro)

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