THREE WEEKS OF VIOLENCE

2013 presidential election, is banned from politics for 15 years, preventing him from standing in 2018. The protests escalate over the following days, and the death toll rises.

April 16:

Maduro announces he is deploying the army across the country.

April 17:

Venezuela’s defence minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez declares the army’s “unconditional loyalty” to Maduro.

April 19:

Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets of Caracas and other towns across the country in what the opposition hails as the “mother of all protests.” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Washington is worried the Maduro government “is violating its own constitution.”

April 20-25:

At least 24 people are killed overnight, as riot police and civilian vigilantes fight running battles with protesters. Maduro denounces Washington for giving a “green light [to] a coup.” The opposition meanwhile calls for a nationwide march in silence to the Catholic Church’s episcopal seats on April 22, and anti-government protesters erect roadblocks on April 24 to grind the country to a halt, even as death toll from the deadly crackdown against protests rise.

March 29, 2017:

Venezuela’s high court strips lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution, clearing the way for them to face prosecution.

March 30:

The Supreme Court takes over legislative powers, after ruling the opposition-majority National Assembly is in contempt of court in an ongoing power struggle with President Nicolas Maduro.

March 30:

The international community expresses concern. The US State Department calls the court’s move ‘a serious setback for democracy’. Brazil’s foreign ministry says it is ‘a clear break with constitutional order.’ Peru, Chile and Colombia recall their ambassadors from Caracas. Publicly criticised for the first time from within his own camp, Maduro denies any break with constitutional order. The court later partially reverses the rulings, but keeps in place other measures limiting the assembly’s powers.

April 6:

As tensions rise, a 19-year-old man is shot dead and dozens of Maduro opponents are injured in Caracas during clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

April 7:

Henrique Capriles, a leader of the Venezuelan opposition and runner-up in the