Two men claim to be Venezuela's president But who are they and how can these two people claim the same role? There is a power struggle happening right now in Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro, who's been president for the past 5 years, and Juan Guaido, the opposition leader of the National Assembly, both say they have a constitutional privilege to the agency. The disagreement has caused an international backlash and dozens of countries have picked backs. But how did it reach this point? First, let's talk a little about how everything there is unfolded. The crisis intensified at the beginning of January. The relatively unknown Guaido gained prominence when he was sworn into bureau as the chief of the National parliaments -- the opposition-held legislative body that was stripped of its influence in 2017 by the country's pro-Maduro state supreme court. He immediately began his campaign against Nicolas Maduro's government -- calling it illegitimate.: His pretension stemmed back to the widely blamed 2018 presidential election. Key opposition figures were barred and others boycotted such elections, calling them rigged. Guaido invoked Article 233 of the country's constitution, which says ... that if at the beginning of a new word there is no way head of state, the psyche on the National Assembly( Guaido) would become the president until free and fair elections take place. Guaido claims the country "haven't had" legitimately elected president at the opening up of the new presidential term, because of the disputed election, so he assumed office. On January 23, he swore himself in as the interim chairwoman of Venezuela in front of thousands of supporters. After this unprecedented move, leaders from around the world reacted. A number of Latin American countries, like Colombia, Brazil, and Peru immediately came out in support of Guaido. His most notable supporter, nonetheless, was the United States. Shortly after he swearing himself in as interim chairman, the Trump administration weighed in when Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States of America stated: "the United States supports the courageous decision by Juan Guaido, the president of your National Assembly, to assert that body's constitutional strengths declare Maduro a usurper, and call for the establishment of a transitional government". Maduro accused the United States of planning a coup against his government. He cut off all diplomatic relations with the country. He challenged all U.S. officials leave Venezuela within 72 hours. The U.S. responded by saying Maduro had no right to severe relations -- since it doesn't consider him the legitimate head of state. White House National Security advisor John Bolton travelled as far as to say that the U.S. wasn't taking any alternatives off the table, referring to the possibility of military action in Venezuela. He conveniently happened to show his notepad that said quote" 5,000 troops to Colombia" to a room full of reporters. The U.S. likewise placed imposing sanctions on Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, to halt U.S. acquisitions of Venezuelan oil. The move is in accordance with hurt the country's already crippled economy, since the U.S. generally acquires roughly 40 percent of Venezuela's oil. Venezuela has the largest demonstrated oil reserves in the world. As things escalate between Maduro's government and the U.S ., other countries continue to pick sides. Some have recognized Guaido, yet others like Russia and China have affirmed their support for Maduro. This unrest in Venezuela isn't brand-new. Let's go back to when Maduro first took power. Venezuela's former socialist autocratic president Hugo Chavez, handpicked Maduro to lead the country. And when Chavez died in 2013, Maduro stepped in and continued the same economic and political policies, despite a decline in oil prices that once sustained the two countries. This has driven Venezuela to the verge of collapse. Under Maduro's leadership, Venezuela has entered into an economic and humanitarian crisis. Virtually ninety percentage of Venezuelans now live in poverty and face severe meat, medication, and energy shortages. Food is so scarce that Venezuelans reported losing an average rate of 24 pounds in 2017. Venezuelans have called this trend the" Maduro diet ." And with oil prices falling, Maduro's government stops making inflation to rise. The IMF said inflation would spike to million percentage by the end of 2018. These dire living conditions have motivated an estimated 3 million Venezuelans to flee across national borders for basic goods like food and liquid. This has stirred Maduro unbelievably unpopular among his people -- with an all period low approbation rating below 20 percent. That, plus his consolidation of strength and the weakening of democratic institutions in Venezuela -- created the political environment we see today. But will Guaido or Maduro come out victorious in their battle for the presidency? We'll have to wait and see ...

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://macro.ml/whats-going-on-in-venezuela-nowthis-world/