2018 protests in Venezuela began in the first days of January as a result of high levels of hunger by desperate Venezuelans.
Within the first two weeks of the year, hundreds of protests and looting incidents occurred throughout the country.
[1] By late-February, protests against the Venezuelan presidential elections occurred after several opposition leaders were banned from participating.
Into March, the Maduro government began to crack down on military dissent, arresting dozens of high-ranking officials including former SEBIN director Miguel Rodríguez Torres.
[2] The NGO Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict (OVCS) reported that there were 12,715 registered protests in Venezuela in 2018.