 on 5 July 1811, when the area was included in the Republic of Gran Colombia, with Ecuador, Panama and New Granada. Venezuela seceded from Gran Colombia in 1830.
System of government
Venezuela is a federal republic, made up of 23 states, one Capital District (Caracas) and the Federal Dependencies (Venezuela's islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela).
Under the 1999 Constitution, the Venezuelan government consists of a democratically elected representative system with a strong executive. The president, who is head of state and head of government, is elected for a period of six years (previously five).
Venezuela has a unicameral parliament known as the National Assembly and is comprised of 165 seats, with members elected for five-year terms. In 2009, the Venezuelan constitution was amended by national referendum to remove term limits on all elected officials, including the presidency.
Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela for a third six-year term in October 2012. After winning 55 per cent of the vote and defeating the main opposition contender, Henrique Capriles, President Chávez was subsequently hospitalised in Cuba for cancer treatment, and was not able to attend the formal inauguration scheduled to take place in Caracas on 10 January. He passed away on 5 March 2013. New presidential elections took place on 14 April 2013. President Chávez’s preferred successor, Nicolás Maduro, ran as the candidate for the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) against Capriles, and won by a narrow margin (50.7 per cent to Capriles’ 49.1 per cent). Maduro was inaugurated on 19 April 2013, amidst calls for a recount by the opposition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática party. However, the result has been verified by Venezuela’s electoral authority (Consejo Nacional Electoral) and accepted by the international community.
Large anti-government protests occurred between February and June in 2014 over grievances surrounding President Maduro’s government, record high inflation, shortages of basic goods, soaring crime rates and detention of opposition figures. The United States announcement of sanctions and a ‘Special State of Emergency’ with regard to the situation in Venezuela in March 2015 led to intense reactions in Venezuela.
The foreign policy settings under the Maduro government have shown strong continuity with the previous administration. President Chávez identified with the ‘global south'. favouring a fundamental shift in international political economy and the re-emergence of a multipolar world in order to constrain the United States, which still remains as Venezuela's main trading partner.
President Chávez strengthened relations with many of Latin America's left-leaning administrations, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba, through the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). It was proposed by President Chávez as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), based on cooperation through social, political and economic integration of these like-minded countries. Venezuela has extended its relations with select Latin American and Caribbean countries through the 2005 signing of an Energy Cooperation Agreement called Petrocaribe. Through the agreement Venezuela provided the 17 additional signatories preferential arrangements to access heavily discounted Venezuelan produced oil.
President Chávez also sought to deepen Venezuela's foreign and strategic relations with states not allied to the United States, such as China, Russia, Vietnam, and Iran. Evidence of this includes Venezuela's offer of support to Russia during its 2008 war against Georgia in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. China has been an important source of financial capital for Venezuela. President Chávez also publicly supported Iran's nuclear program, by claiming that Venezuela would ‘not be indifferent' should a pre-emptive attack be launched against Tehran.
In addition to closer political ties, Venezuela has materially benefited from its strategic relationship with Russia. Russian-Venezuel