List of presidents of Venezuela

As chief of the executive branch and face of the government as a whole, the presidency is the highest political office in the country by influence and recognition.

This list includes only those persons who were sworn into office as president following the establishment of the independent State of Venezuela, which took place on January 13, 1830.

[1] Hugo Chávez served the longest uninterrupted period in office with 11 consecutive years, from his restoration to power in April 2002 until his death in March 2013.

Maduro was elected to his first term in 2013 but received backlash from opposing Venezuelans and some members of the international community especially the United States.

The office remained disputed until December 2022 when opposition parties voted to dissolve the Guaidó government effective as of 5 January 2023.

[3][4] Owing to the profound confusion of the Venezuelan War of Independence and the period of Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this page has gaps between 1813 and 1819.

In 1830, José Antonio Páez declared Venezuela independent from Gran Colombia and became president, taking office on January 13, 1830.

[13][14] After a short period of political instability following Pérez Jiménez's exile in 1958, democracy was restored in the country with the election of Democratic Action leader Rómulo Betancourt as president in 1959.

Chávez's presidency was interrupted shortly in 2002 following a failed coup d'état attempt that put Pedro Carmona in office for a day.

After government-loyal forces ousted Carmona from Miraflores, Vice President Diosdado Cabello assumed executive control for a couple of hours until Chávez could be restored.

Maduro – who has seen a sharp decline in his approval ratings in correlation to the economic collapse, and was the subject of a 2016 recall referendum to remove him from office that was later suspended[15] – has been criticized for what opponents consider to be him backsliding the country towards a full-fledged authoritarian regime; this led to an ongoing constitutional crisis stemming from a March 2017 ruling by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (whose members largely consist of Maduro supporters) that removed immunity for National Assembly members (including those opposing Maduro),[16] which subsequently made a brief assumption of legislative powers from the Assembly,[17][18] and the Constituent Assembly election, which resulted in the formation of a Constituent Assembly intended to rewrite the 1999 constitution.

[25] Maduro's government has accused the United States of organizing a coup d'état to remove him and take control of the country's oil reserves.