--- title: A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis | TIME description: Venezuela continues to be the world’s worst economic-cum-humanitarian disaster. canonical: https://time.com/video/vuE2xeWr/ og:title: A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis og:description: Venezuela continues to be the world’s worst economic-cum-humanitarian disaster. og:url: https://time.com/video/vuE2xeWr/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vuE2xeWr/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis twitter:description: Venezuela continues to be the world’s worst economic-cum-humanitarian disaster. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vuE2xeWr/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis [Watch (HLS stream): A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vuE2xeWr.m3u8) (4:58)  _Published 2019-02-08. Venezuela continues to be the world’s worst economic-cum-humanitarian disaster._ --- Jul 28, 2023 4:18 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [U.N. Says Yemen Experiencing World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis](/video/s2frA939/) ### U.N. Says Yemen Experiencing World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis [Venezuela’s Economic Crisis Means There’s Not Enough Sugar to Make Coca-Cola](/video/lux01unO/) ### Venezuela’s Economic Crisis Means There’s Not Enough Sugar to Make Coca-Cola [Venezuela's Elusive Peace as Protests Continue](/video/F9kx0dSl/) ### Venezuela's Elusive Peace as Protests Continue --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The U. S. government continues to tighten the screws on Nicolas Maduro's regime in Venezuela. [ MUSIC ] The Trump administration has announced extensive sanctions against Venezuela's state- oil giant in a push to collapse the regime in favor of Venezuela's parliamentary leader and self- proclaimed interim president, [ MUSIC ] 35 years old engineer Juan Guaido. The Trump administration also handed control to a number of Venezuelan accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New york over to Guaido, ratcheting up pressure even further [ MUSIC ] Venezuela continues to be the world's worst economic and humanitarian disaster. The economic policies of the Maduro administration have largely been an attempt to replicate the socialist welfare policies of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who presided over the country at a time of sky- high oil prices. Prices. Unfortunately, for both Maduro and the Venezuelan people, those ambitious government programs can't be funded in today's oil price environment which have been compounded by woeful economic mismanagement from the Maduro administration. To date, 3 million Venezuelans, about 10 percent of the country's total population have fled in search of a better life elsewhere. In search of better life elsewhere. Many of those who fled are among the most- educated and politically connected precisely the folks who would be leading the political charge against the Maduro regime. The opposition that remains is fractured and leaderless. Or at least it was until recently, Recently when Guaido, the leader of the opposition controlled National Assembly, declared himself the rightful leader of Venezuela until free and fair elections can be held to replace Maduro. I swear- [ APPLAUSE ] To formally assume the powers [ APPLAUSE ] [ FOREIGN ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] Maduro refused to recognize the legitimacy of Guaido, not a surprise. Somewhat more surprisingly, dozen of governments around the world, many of whom have been critical of Maduro but wary Of wading into the domestic affairs of a foreign country have voiced their support for Guaido, including the United States and the Trump administration. The United States officially recoginized the legitimate Government of Venezuela and its new president. [ APPLAUSE ] Juan Guaido. [ MUSIC ] The most notable group to not voice support for Guaido is the leadership of Venezuela's military, who continue, at this point, to publically pledge allegiance to Maduro. to publicly pledge allegiance to Maduro. The U. S. decision to send humanitarian aid to the country in the wake of Guaido's announcement is in part an attempt to force the country's military to choose sides between Maduro and the Venezuelan people, an acknowledgement of the reality that no matter how many international sanctions the Maduro regime is slapped with and however much the Venezuelan people suffer as a result, The Venezuelan people suffer as a result, so long as the military remains behind Maduro, he'll be the one calling the shots on the ground in Venezuela. It's the recognition of this reality that prompted the leaders of the world's most prominent autocracies, among them Russia, Turkey, Iran and China, to continue to recognize Maduro. Be that as it may, Guaido has injected real momentum into Venezuela's fractured political opposition, and at a time it desperately needed it. But plenty of dangers remain. Chief among them is just how critical Guaido is to this nascent opposition Opposition movement. Should anything happen to him, personally, the entire movement is at risk of losing momentum. To Guaido's credit, he's not backing down, daring the Maduro regime to kidnap him in public speeches. Guaido seems to believe the movement is bigger than he is. That remains to be seen. Another key danger not to be overlooked Overlooked is that the United States and by extension President Donald Trump are now personally invested in the political developments on the ground in Venezuela. If the Maduro regime does indeed go after Guaido, Washington will be hard pressed not to get involved given their very public support for him. All things being equal, there is a greater chance that the current political standoff ends with Maduro leaving than with the US sending in troops to Caracas. But the risk of extreme scenarios, both good and bad, is only rising. 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