February
▪ Protest demonstrations occur in several states aimed at forcing Maduro’s resignation; three killed and more than 20 injured in clashes with pro-government groups. Opposition leaders split over tactics. Maduro calls on the national assembly to form a truth commission to investigate the violent protests and find proof of a coup conspiracy. Three US diplomats are expelled for purportedly fostering the protests; Washington reciprocates. Radical opposition leader Leopoldo López is remanded awaiting trial. ▪ Maduro convokes a ‘national peace conference’ to find solutions to the protests. The opposition MUD coalition refuses to attend unless a set of conditions are met. ▪ Maduro dismisses the director of Sebin (state intelligence), General Manuel Bernal Martínez, on evidence that Sebin agents had fired upon protesters. He is replaced by the former head of Cesppa, General Gustavo González López. ▪ Defence minister Admiral Carmen Meléndez announces that the armed forces will ‘never accept a government which does not emerge through constitutional means.’ ▪ Maduro announces the ‘second phase’ of the ‘economic offensive’ launched with his ‘law of just prices’.March
▪ Maduro completes his first year in the presidency. Anti-Maduro protests continue and are met with police repression and actions by pro-government groups. At least 26 people are killed in protest-related incidents. ▪ Maduro severs diplomatic and trade ties with Panama for having urged the OAS to call an urgent meeting to discuss the violence in Venezuela. Unasur decides to send a commission of foreign affairs ministers to support the ‘national peace conference’ convoked by Maduro. ▪ A second ‘complementary’ foreign currency market, Sicad II, in which interested parties bid for a predetermined amount of dollars offered by the central bank, is launched.April
▪ Six of the nine member-parties of the MUD opposition coalition agree to attend talks with the government mediated by Unasur, restating several demands. Protests continue, but with less intensity. Two inconclusive meetings are held. ▪ Maduro announces a ‘new economic offensive’ with three targets: reactivating domestic production, ensuring local supply of goods and achieving ‘fair prices’.May
▪ Unasur attempts to revive the government-opposition dialogue. More than 100 are arrested in protests. ▪ Elections in two cities where opposition mayors were ousted and jailed San Cristóbal in Táchira and San Diego in Carabobo, are won with large majorities by the wives of the deposed mayors.June
▪ Maduro announces a ‘Pacification Plan’, to be coordinated by Vice-President Jorge Arreaza and the interior minister, General Miguel Rodríguez Torres. ▪ Jorge Giordani is replaced as planning minister by Ricardo Menéndez, hitherto minister for higher education. Giordani accused Maduro of not providing leadership and denounced a ‘power void’ in the presidency. Héctor Navarro, member of the PSUV’s national directorate, is suspended for agreeing publicly with Giordani. ▪ In the runup to the forthcoming congress of the ruling PSUV, Maduro warns of divisions in the Bolivarian Revolution and condemns ‘infidels’ and ‘traitors’. The opposition Voluntad Popular party floats an initiative to campaign for a constituent assembly, while insisting on Maduro’s resignation and early presidential elections under a renovated national electoral council.July
▪ Maduro announces a ‘global restructuring’ of the government to achieve ‘maximum efficiency’. National assembly president Diosdado Cabello says ‘maximum unity’ is necessary. ▪ Maduro defends Ramírez from ‘a brutal campaign [to] morally destroy’ him, and confirms him in his three posts. ▪ In its third-ever congress, the ruling PSUV elects Maduro as party president. Barinas governor Adán Chávez says the PSUV ‘has faced down its toughest challenge since the death of the eternal leader [his late brother Hugo].’ ▪ At the PSUV congress Ramírez says that the current three-tier currency exchange system will probably be unified. He later says that fuel prices will have to be increased.August
▪ Continuing phases of the PSUV congress focus on defining the territorial boundaries of 1,010 ‘circles of popular struggle’ and outline the effort to activate 13,683 Unidades de Batalla Bolívar Chávez (UBCH) in 4,037 of them. The MUD announces the launch of a ‘listening and learning’ campaign to prepare for the mid-term legislative elections due in 2015. ▪ General Vladimir Padrino López, head of the military strategic operational command, deploys 17,000 soldiers to border areas to curb smuggling.September
▪ Maduro completes his eighteenth month in the presidency. Ramírez is removed from his posts as mines & oil minister, president of Pdvsa and Vice-President for the economy, and appointed foreign affairs minister (replacing Elías Jaua) and Vice-President for political sovereignty in charge of state reform. Jaua becomes Vice-President for the development of territorial socialism. General Rodolfo Marco Torres takes over from Ramírez as Vice-President for economy & finance, retaining the finance portfoliEnd of preview - This article contains approximately 805 words.
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