Twenty years ago, Hugo Chavez took over as president of Venezuela after promising to use the country’s oil riches to cut poverty and inequality.
But policies like expropriation of farmland and nationalization of industry caused production to fall and investment to flee. When oil prices tanked, the country experienced severe shortages that led to civil unrest and a crackdown by the military.
Chavez died in 2013 but his handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, has continued to preside over an economy in collapse, clinging to power despite an election last May that was widely viewed as illegitimate.
On Wednesday, National Assembly Leader Juan Guaido declared with the backing of more than a dozen countries that he will serve as president until new elections can be held.
Here are four charts that show how the country has declined during the Chavez-Maduro era.
Venezuela is experiencing hyperinflation which means its currency is now basically worthless. That’s a problem considering the country is heavily dependent on imports of food and medicine.
The country’s health care system improved in the early years of the Chavez regime but has more recently been plagued by a lack of staff and supplies. In 2017, more babies died per capita than in war-torn Syria.
More than 87 per cent of Venezuelans now live in poverty, according to the government’s own statistics. Riots over food are becoming commonplace.
An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled, mostly to the neighbouring countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. The number of asylum seekers has shot up too.
