From city bus driver to Venezuelan president: Who is Nicolas Maduro?

Since then, he has not left his seat and both the policies he implemented and his lifestyle with his wife have always been at the center of discussions. The fact that he could not take adequate measures in the face of the economic crisis in his country, the constitutional and social crisis remained unsolved, and the harsh policies of the opposition led to the questioning of the legitimacy of the Maduro administration in the international arena.

Active politician from high school years

Maduro was actively involved in politics during his high school years. Maduro, whose father was a union leader, became student union president at José Avalos High School in El Valle, a suburb of Caracas.

Classmates at the time remember Maduro as mild-mannered, easy to compromise, and open to negotiation.

He dropped out of high school in his senior year. He briefly played in a rock band. He then went to Cuba to complete his education.

When he returned to Venezuela, he got a job as a bus driver in the Municipality of Caracas, joined the Socialist Party of Venezuela. He became a union representative and joined the MBR-200, the civilian wing of the left-wing opposition group Chavez founded in the army in the early 1990s.

The turning point of his life was meeting his wife, Cilia Flores, in the same period. Flores was part of Chavez's defense team, who was arrested and imprisoned after the failed coup attempt in 1992.

Chavez's escape from prison and his victory in the 1998 presidential election also started the rise of Maduro and Flores.

Flores held a number of roles over time as deputy, speaker of parliament, and minister of justice, while Maduro was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which would write the new constitution. The two, who have been together since the 1990s, got married shortly after Maduro became president.

Maduro's rise paralleled Chávez's consolidation of power. He served as the Speaker of the Assembly in 2005-06 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs after 2006. He was appointed vice president by Chavez in 2012, and was announced as his "successor" the same year.

He blamed foreign powers for the economic crisis.

Maduro, described as polite and calm by Western diplomats, was not successful in holding power tightly like his predecessor, despite being elected president in accordance with Chavez's will.

He narrowly won the 2013 elections, and in the parliamentary elections held two years later, the majority of the parliament passed into the hands of opposition groups.

While the negative effects of the decline in oil prices on the economy were felt, the inability of the Maduro administration to take effective steps in the face of the crisis caused social problems to increase and the people to take to the streets.

Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, and 95 percent of its export revenues come from oil. However, the sharp fall in oil prices led to a decrease in revenues and foreign exchange inflows.

Problems began to be experienced in the supply of imported goods. This caused prices to skyrocket.

The government, on the other hand, had difficulty in developing an effective policy in the face of these events. While trying to suppress price increases, it also printed large amounts of money and launched it. This created a cycle in which inflation continued to rise and the currency depreciated.

Economic difficulties also led to the deterioration of the services provided in the field of education and health, which formed the backbone of the "socialist revolution", which was Chavez's ideal.

Despite the government's constant increase in the minimum wage in order to maintain social balances, the value of money decreased due to inflation and the budget deficit grew. The average salary of a doctor is around 100 TL.

According to the estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy has shrunk by around 25 percent in the last five years. The IMF also says it expects inflation to reach 10 million percent this year.

The United Nations also states that the number of people who have left the country for economic reasons since 2014 is 3 million.

Maduro, on the other hand, blamed "external forces" in the face of this economic crisis. He described the events as a Western conspiracy and intervened harshly against the protesters who took to the streets due to economic problems.

Maduro described US President Donald Trump as the "emperor" and said it was derived from the economic crisis. Maduro called on Western states, especially the USA, to "get their hands off" from Latin America.

In 2017, the powers of the National Assembly, which was in the hands of the opposition, were taken away and elections were held to create a Constituent Assembly for the writing of a new constitution. However, the opposition boycotted these elections.

Maduro won the presidential election in May 2018, held in the shadow of the corruption controversy, and was sworn in on January 10, beginning a new six-year term.

Wife and controversies

Many people think that the main force behind Maduro is his wife, Cilia Flores. Self-proclaimed "First Revolutionary Warrior", Flores is currently a member of parliament. However, she is among the names that Canada and the United States have imposed sanctions on because of what happened in Venezuela.

Maduro and Flores survived an attempted assassination with explosive-laden drones during a military parade in August.

He prefers to pretend that he has not lost his joy during all these troubles that his country and himself are facing. He still hosts the radio show and continues to make cheery announcements like "It's salsa time" from time to time.

In September, at a time when the economic crisis was in full swing, Maduro's dinner with his wife at a luxury restaurant called Nusr-Et in Istanbul garnered a great reaction.

The latest developments are also a sign that a new page full of uncertainties has opened for Maduro, 56, who said in an interview with the Guardian in 2014 that there is a 'hippie' in him, and that he is a fan of John Lennon and Led Zepplin, and his country, Venezuela.

There are serious economic problems, Venezuela is the country that gives the most economic refugees in the world. Hyperinflation, power outages, shortages of food and medicine are just some of the problems the country is facing.