Nicolas Maduro ruled Venezuela with a heavy hand for more than 12 years, presiding over deep economic and social crises and resisting pressure from domestic opponents and foreign governments for political change.
A 63-year-old socialist and the handpicked successor of the late Hugo Chavez, Maduro was long accused by critics both at home and abroad of being a dictator who jailed or persecuted political opponents and repeatedly staged sham elections.
Maduro, a salsa aficionado with a flair for theatrics, often called opposition politicians “fascist demons” and took pride in resisting US pressure against him, even having his invocation to Trump of “yes peace, not war” remixed into an electronica song.
He was sworn in for a third term in January 2025 following a 2024 election that was widely condemned as fraudulent by international observers and the opposition. Thousands of people who protested against the government’s declaration of victory were jailed.
Venezuela’s opposition, the US and many other Western countries also considered Maduro’s election win in 2018 to be a sham.
His government’s repressive measures were highlighted by the awarding of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
After Trump announced last October that he was authorising CIA operations in the country, Maduro blasted “those demonic powers that aim to sink their claws into Venezuela to steal our oil.” Maduro has long denied US accusations of connections to drug smuggling and corruption.
In August, Washington doubled its reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups.
A UN Fact-Finding Mission found last month that the country’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over more than a decade in targeting political opponents.
Maduro long denied abusing political and human rights, instead describing his government as being at odds with what he views as a decades-long imperialist campaign to topple Chavez’s socialist movement and take Venezuela’s oil.
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