The Persistent Crisis in Venezuela

On January 23, 2019, Juan Guaidó, an unknown member of the National Assembly from the Voluntad Popular party, was sworn in before thousands of Venezuelan citizens as the provisional president. Guaidó had been appointed the president of the legislative on January 6, and his appointment as president was based on an interpretation of the Venezuelan Constitution. The argument was that the May 2018 elections, in which Nicolás Maduro had been reelected, were fraudulent. Since Maduro’s constitutional period had begun in 2013, it would end in January 2019. Maduro would have ceased to be president after that date, and any attempt to continue in office was considered an usurpation. Thus, there was a “power vacuum,” an acephalia of the presidency, and in this case, the Venezuelan Constitution indicates that the president of the National Assembly must take over the presidency on an ad‐interim basis until elections are held.