List of presidents of Venezuela

Venezuela took the name of Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República de Venezuela) with the adoption of the 1953 constitution, written by the Constituent Assembly elected in November 1952. The Presidents of Venezuela under this constitution (as well as the 1961 Constitution, which kept the name) were officially styled as President of the Republic of Venezuela.

This period of the history of Venezuela began with the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.[13][14] After a short period of political instability following Pérez Jiménez's exile in 1958, democracy was restored in the country with the election of Democratic Action leader Rómulo Betancourt as president in 1959. This marked the beginning of the democratic period, started with the Puntofijo Pact and which was characterized by the prevalence of the bipartidism of the two main political parties in the country at the time, Democratic Action and Copei.

The second presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez (1989–93) saw a deep economic crisis, a series of major riots known as the Caracazo in 1989, in which hundreds were killed by security forces, two coup attempts in 1992, and the 1993 impeachment of Pérez. That same year, Rafael Caldera became the first President of Venezuela not to belong to either Democratic Action or Copei in over forty years, having been elected under the banner of National Convergence. The bipartidism ended in 2000 when a new constitution entered in force.

President of the Republic of Venezuela
Democratic Action (5)   Copei (2)   National Convergence (1)   Independent (2)   Military government (1)
No. [note 1]	Portrait	President (Birth–Death)		State	Term of office	Term [note 2]	Party
35			Marcos Pérez (1914–2001)	Táchira	2 December 1952 – 23 January 1958	25 (1952)	Military
36			Wolfgang Larrazábal (1911–2003)	Sucre	23 January 1958 – 14 November 1958[note 4]		Independent
37			Edgar Sanabria (1911–1989)	Caracas	14 November 1958 – 13 February 1959[note 4]		Independent
(31)			Rómulo Betancourt (1908–1981)	Miranda	13 February 1959 – 11 March 1964	26 (1958)	Democratic Action
38			Raúl Leoni (1905–1972)	Bolívar	11 March 1964 – 11 March 1969	27 (1963)	Democratic Action
39			Rafael Caldera (1916–2009)	Yaracuy	11 March 1969 – 12 March 1974	28 (1968)	Copei
40			Carlos Andrés Pérez (1922–2010)	Táchira	12 March 1974 – 12 March 1979	29 (1973)	Democratic Action
41			Luis Herrera (1925–2007)	Portuguesa	12 March 1979 – 2 February 1984	30 (1978)	Copei
42			Jaime Lusinchi (1924–2014)	Anzoátegui	2 February 1984 – 2 February 1989	31 (1983)	Democratic Action
(40)			Carlos Andrés Pérez (1922–2010)	Táchira	2 February 1989 – 21 May 1993[note 5]	32 (1988)	Democratic Action
43			Octavio Lepage (1923–2017)	Anzoátegui	21 May 1993 – 5 June 1993		Democratic Action
44			Ramón José Velásquez (1916–2014)	Táchira	5 June 1993 – 2 February 1994		Democratic Action
(39)			Rafael Caldera (1916–2009)	Yaracuy	2 February 1994 – 2 February 1999	33 (1993)	National Convergence

Venezuela became the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela) with the adoption of the 1999 constitution, which renamed the country in honor of Simón Bolívar. The new constitution was promulgated by President Hugo Chávez, who served de jure from 1999 until his death in 2013. The new constitution augmented the presidential term from five years to six years.

Chávez's presidency was interrupted shortly in 2002 following a failed coup d'état attempt that put Pedro Carmona in office for a day. After government-loyal forces ousted Carmona from Miraflores, Vice President Diosdado Cabello assumed executive control for a couple of hours until Chávez could be restored. In 2009, a constitutional referendum approved the elimination of term limits, which allowed Chávez to be re-elected again in 2012. However, Chávez died in March 2013, only three months into his fourth term, and was succeeded by his Vice President Nicolás Maduro, who was elected the following month to finish Chávez's term, enforcing the majority of Chávez's economic policies.

Under Maduro, Venezuela has seen a rise in unemployment, shortages of goods, closures of several corporations, and the deterioration of productivity. Maduro – who has seen a sharp decline in his approval ratings in correlation to the economic collapse, and was the subject of a 2016 recall referendum to remove him from office that was later suspended[15] – has been criticized for what opponents consider to be him backsliding the country towards a full-fledged authoritarian regime; this led to an ongoing constitutional crisis stemming from a March 2017 ruling by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (whose members largely consist of Maduro supporters) that removed immunity for National Assembly members (including those opposing Maduro),[16] which subsequently made a brief assumption of legislative powers from the Assembly,[17][18] and the Constituent Assembly election, which resulted in the formation of a Constituent Assembly intended to rewrite the 1999 constitution. These actions have worsened tensions and sparked violence during protests against the Maduro administration over concerns that Maduro would eliminate or significantly erode the independence of Venezuela's democratic institutions and shift the country towards one-man rule.

The process and results of the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election were widely disputed.[19][20] The opposition-majority National Assembly declared Maduro a "usurper" of the presidency on the day of his second inauguration and disclosed a plan to set forth its president, Juan Guaidó as the succeeding acting President of the country under article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution.[20][21] A week later, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice declared that the presidency of the National Assembly was the "usurper" of authority and declared the body to be unconstitutional.[20]

Minutes after Maduro took the oath as President of Venezuela, the Organization of American States (OAS) approved a resolution in a special session of its Permanent Council declaring Maduro's presidency illegitimate and urging new elections.[22] Special meetings of the OAS on 24 January and in the United Nations Security Council on 26 January were held but no consensus was reached. Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres called for dialogue.[23] During the 49th General Assembly of the Organization of American States, on 27 June, Guaidó's presidency was recognized by the organization.[24]

Guaidó declared himself acting president and swore himself in on 23 January.[25] Maduro's government has accused the United States of organizing a coup d'état to remove him and take control of the country's oil reserves.[26] Guaidó rejects the characterization of his actions as a coup, saying that his movement is backed by peaceful volunteers.[27] As of June 2019, Guaidó has been recognized as the acting President of Venezuela by 54 countries.[28] Internationally, support has followed traditional geopolitical lines, with allies China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Syria, and Turkey supporting Maduro; and the US, Canada, and most of Western Europe supporting Guaidó as acting president.[29] The United Nations has continued to recognize the Maduro presidency as the legal representative of Venezuela as of December 2019.[30][31]

On 22 December 2022, the Venezuelan opposition held an initial vote to remove Guaidó's interim government from its leadership and on 30 December 2022, three of the four main opposition political parties (Justice First, Democratic Action and A New Era) approved a reform to dissolve the interim government and instead create a commission of five members to manage foreign assets,[2][32] stating the failure of the interim government to achieve the goals it had set.[33] The amendment was voted by the opposition as deputies sought a united strategy ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for 2024 with the reform approved with 72 votes in favor, 29 against and 8 abstentions,[34] thus dissolving the Guaidó government effective as of 5 January 2023.

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Fifth Republic Movement–United Socialist Party (2)
No. [note 1]	Portrait	President (Birth–Death)		State	Term of office	Term [note 2]	Party
45			Hugo Chávez (1954–2013)	Barinas	2 February 1999 – 5 March 2013[note 6]	34 (1998) (2000)	Fifth Republic Movement
						35 (2006) (2012)	United Socialist Party
						36 (2013)
46			Nicolás Maduro (born 1962)	Caracas	5 March 2013 – Incumbent
						37 (2018)