Crisis in Venezuela
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This article is about the socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela. For the ongoing presidential crisis, see Venezuelan presidential crisis. For other crises in Venezuela, see Venezuelan crisis (disambiguation).

The crisis in Venezuela is an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that began in Bolivarian Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has continued since. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation,[6] disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration from the country.[7]

According to economists interviewed by The New York Times, the situation is by far the worst economic crisis in Venezuela's history, and is also the worst facing a country in peace time since the mid-20th century. The crisis is also more severe than that of the United States during the Great Depression, the 1985–1994 Brazilian economic crisis, or the 2008–2009 hyperinflation in Zimbabwe.[8]

Other American writers have also compared aspects of the crisis, such as unemployment and GDP contraction, to that of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, and those in Russia, Cuba and Albania following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[9][10]

On 2 June 2010, Chávez declared an "economic war" due to increasing shortages in Venezuela.[4] The crisis intensified under the Maduro government, growing more severe as a result of low oil prices in early 2015,[11] and a drop in Venezuela's oil production from lack of maintenance and investment.[7] The government failed to cut spending in the face of falling oil revenues, and has dealt with the crisis by denying its existence[12] and violently repressing opposition.[7][13] Extrajudicial killings by the Venezuelan government became common, with the United Nations (UN) reporting 5,287 killings by the Special Action Forces in 2017, with at least another 1,569 killings recorded in the first six months of 2019;

the UN had "reasonable grounds to believe that many of these killings constitute extrajudicial executions" and characterized the security operations as "aimed at neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political opponents and people critical of the government". The UN also stated that the Special Action Forces "would plant arms and drugs and fire their weapons against the walls or in the air to suggest a confrontation and to show the victim had resisted authority" and that some of the killings were "done as a reprisal for [the victims'] participation in anti-government demonstrations."[14]