Venezuela crisis in brief

Nicolás Maduro has been in power since 2013

Venezuela is engulfed in a political and economic crisis which has led to more than 7.5 million people leaving the country since 2015. How did this oil-rich country become so troubled?

Since 1999, Venezuela has been run by two men from the same party. Hugo Chávez was president from 1999 to his death in 2013 and was succeeded by his right-hand man, Nicolás Maduro.

Their socialist PSUV party has over the past two decades gained control of key institutions, including much of the judiciary, the electoral council and the Supreme Court.

As a result, the role of the president has become much more powerful and the system of checks and balances has been severely weakened.

Not long after Mr Maduro was elected, global oil prices plummeted and Venezuela - which relies almost entirely on oil revenue for its income - went into a seven-year recession.

Inflation skyrocketed and shortages of basic goods became widespread.

Waves of anti-government protests in 2014 and 2017 fizzled out after a police crackdown.

Millions of Venezuelans left the country to escape economic hardship and political repression. Amid growing discontent, Mr Maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a presidential election widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.

Millions of Venezuelans have emigrated, many braving the dangerous Darién Gap, an expanse of jungle between Colombia and Panama

With the executive and the judiciary under the control of the PSUV, Venezuela's divided opposition in January 2019 united behind the only major institution where they were still influential: the National Assembly and its speaker, Juan Guaidó.

Arguing that Mr Maduro's re-election was not valid and the presidency was therefore vacant, Mr Guaidó, with the backing of the National Assembly, declared himself "interim president".

And while more than 50 countries, including the US and the UK, recognised Mr Guaidó as Venezuela's legitimate leader, Venezuela's military stayed loyal to Mr Maduro and - with the continued support of China and Russia - he remained firmly in charge of the country.

But tightened US sanctions made it harder for the Maduro government to sell oil and restricted its access to foreign currency.

With the economy in freefall, Mr Maduro in 2019 relaxed some of the strict foreign currency regulations brought in by Chávez.

Shortages eased as a result and in 2021, the economy started growing. But extreme poverty remains shockingly high and many of those without access to foreign currency continue to struggle.

Disillusioned with the failure of Juan Guaidó to seize control of anything more than some Venezuelan embassies and assets abroad, the majority of opposition parties withdrew their support from him in December 2022 and dissolved his "interim government".

In October 2023, the opposition organised a primary to choose a unity candidate to take on the government candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

Former lawmaker María Corina Machado won by a landslide with more than 90% of the votes, despite having been banned by the Venezuelan authorities from holding public office.

In a deal struck between the government and the opposition at talks in Barbados that same month, the two sides agreed to lay the groundwork for free and fair elections to be held in the second half of 2024.

As part of the agreement, María Corina Machado was allowed to appeal against the 15-year ban. But in January, it was upheld by Venezuela's Supreme Court.

Both sides have since declared the Barbados deal "dead" and the US has threatened to reinstate its oil sanctions unless political progress towards free and fair elections is made.