Nicolás Maduro

Nicolás Maduro Moros (born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader who has been the de jure president of Venezuela since 2013. On 3 January 2026, US forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores; they were transported to the US and charged with drug trafficking to which they pleaded not guilty. Although he was de facto removed from power, according to the Venezuelan government and interim president Delcy Rodríguez, he is still the de jure president of Venezuela. Prior to his presidency, he served as the vice president of Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez from 2012 to 2013 and as minister of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2012.

Initially a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade union leader before being elected to the National Assembly in 2000. A member of the United Socialist Party (PSUV), he was appointed to a number of positions under Chávez, serving as President of the National Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and vice president under Chávez. Maduro assumed the presidency after Chávez's death and won the 2013 special presidential election, becoming the 53rd president of Venezuela. He ruled Venezuela by decree after 2015 through powers granted to him by the ruling party legislature.

Maduro's popularity declined following shortages in Venezuela and a drop in living standards which led to a wave of protests in 2014 that escalated into daily marches nationwide and repression of dissent. An opposition-led National Assembly was elected in 2015, but Maduro maintained power through the Supreme Tribunal, the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the military. The Supreme Tribunal stripped the elected National Assembly of power and authority, resulting in a constitutional crisis and another wave of protests in 2017. In response to the protests, the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela was elected in 2017 under voting conditions that the opposition alleged were irregular. In 2018, Maduro was reelected and sworn in. The president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, was declared interim president by the opposition legislative body, starting a presidential crisis. In 2024, Maduro was reelected for a third term, although evidence indicates that he lost the election by a wide margin.

Maduro was widely considered to have been leading an authoritarian government, characterized by electoral fraud, human rights abuses, corruption, censorship and severe economic hardship. The United Nations (UN) and Human Rights Watch have alleged that under Maduro's administration, thousands of people died in extrajudicial killings and seven million Venezuelans fled the country due to economic collapse. Maduro has denied all allegations of misconduct and argued that the US has conspired against Venezuela to manufacture a crisis to enact regime change.