The late Hugo Chávez, who was president of Venezuela for 14 years from February 1999 until his death of cancer in March 2013, had a major impact on the politics of his own country and on the wider Latin American region. He founded a brand of left-wing nationalism known as chavismo, eventually articulated through a dominant political party, the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV). After this death, leadership of the country and the party passed to his hand-picked successor, Nicolás Maduro. The first three years of Maduro’s six-year term in office have seen an intensifying economic, social, and political crisis, and there are serious doubts as to his ability to complete his term. The international media has portrayed Venezuela as a country on the brink of spectacular and possibly violent collapse. The question that this report seeks to address is whether the current upheavals in Venezuela do in fact signal the collapse of chavismo as a political force.End of preview - This article contains approximately 277 words.
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