There has been a collapse of Venezuela and the country is in chaos. How did they get here?
Correction at 1:58: The Supreme Court tried to strip the country’s National Assembly of its powers in March 2017 and not 2016. We regret the error.
Venezuela was once the richest country in Latin America. It has the largest known oil reserves in the world and its democratic government was once praised world wide.
But today, Venezuela’s democratic institutions and its economy are in shambles. The country has the highest inflation in the world, making food and medicine inaccessible to most Venezuelans.
Over the last four years, its GDP has fallen 35%, which is a sharper drop than the one seen during the Great Depression in the US. The country’s murder rate has surpassed that of the most dangerous cities in the world.
These conditions have sparked months of protests against the president, Nicolas Maduro. And it’s easy to see why: the country has become measurably worse since his election in 2013.
For more on the Supreme Court ruling
