Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro’s Cabinet Chair: Peter Derrah 1 Table of Contents 3. Letter from Chair 4. Members of Committee 5. Committee Background A.Solving the Economic Crisis B.Solving the Presidential Crisis 2 Dear LYMUN delegates, Hi, my name is Peter Derrah and I am a senior at Lyons Township High School. I have done MUN for all my four years of high school, and I was a vice chair at the previous LYMUN conference. LYMUN is a well run conference and I hope that you all will have a good experience here. In this committee you all will be representing high level political figures in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as you deal with an incomprehensible level of inflation and general economic collapse, as well as internal political disputes with opposition candidates, the National Assembly, and massive protests and general civil unrest. This should be a very interesting committee, as these ongoing issues are very serious, urgent, and have shaped geopolitics recently. I know a lot of these issues are extremely complex and so I suggest that you do enough research to have at least a basic understanding of them and solutions which could solve them. For this reason I highly suggest you read the background. It is important to remember the ​ ​ individual background for your figure (though this may be difficult for lower level politicians) as well as the political ideology of the ruling coalition and the power dynamics of Venezuela’s current government. I hope that you all will put in good effort into preparation, write position papers, actively speak and participate in moderated and unmoderated caucus, and come up with creative and informed solutions to these pressing issues. These are roughly the metrics the vice chairs and I will use to give out awards. Just as a reminder, this is a crisis committee not a general assembly, which I expect to make this committee more engaging and interesting. I hope you all will have a good time, develop your MUN skills, learn a lot, and I wish you all good luck. Email me at [email protected] if you need help or have any questions. These crisis are ongoing and ​ subject to change so keep a brief attention to any major news regarding the current situation in Venezuela. Peter Derrah, 3 Members in Committee: 1. Nicolas Maduro, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 2. Diosdado Cabello, President of the Constituent Assembly 3. Delcy Rodriguez, Vice President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 4. Francisco Torrealba, Minority Leader of the National Assembly 5. Jorge Arreaza, Minister of Foriegn Affairs 6. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, Minister of Defence 7. Tareck El Aissami, Former Vice President, current Minister of Petroleum, and current Minister of National Production 8. Aristobulo Isturiz, Former Vice President and current Minister of Education 9. Jorge Rodriguez, Former Vice President and current Minister of Communication 10. Eneida Laya Lugo, Minister of Commerce 11. Simon Zerpa, Minister of Economics and Finance 12. Wilmar Castro Soltedo, Minister of Agriculture 13. Nestor Reverol, Minister of the Interior 14. Hipolito Abreu, Minister of Transportation 15. Carlos Gonzales, Minister of Health 16. Cilia Flores, First Lady of Venezuela and member of the Constituent Assembly 4 A Brief History of contemporary Venezuela: Pre-Bolivarian Era: Venezuela was blessed with something its South American neighbors lacked, the largest oil reserves in the world. This oil money propelled 20th century Venezuela into being the wealthiest and most prosperous nation in South America, but Venezuela still suffered from many of the same problems as its neighbors: crime, high levels of poverty, inequality, and corruption. In the late 80s and early 90s, a combination of failing oil prices, controversial IMF supported neoliberal economic reforms, and general dissatisfaction led to massive riots in the capital Caracas and a destabilized political environment, which was an opportunity for a young ambitious military officer named Hugo Chavez. After his disillusionment with the economic and political structures in Venezuela, he became inspired by historical Venezuelans such as the legendary general Simon Bolivar, and formed revolutionary cells within the military in order to revolt against the political and economic elite, and put himself and his supporters in power. In 1992, he and his sympathizers in the army launched a coup d'etat, which ultimately failed due to a lack of popular support and landed Chavez in jail. The next president Caldera later pardoned him, which was a very fateful decision. 5 Chavez Era: After continuing economic decline, an increasingly disillusioned Venezuelan populace voted in the same man who tried to overthrow the government less than a decade ago. In the 1998 Venezuelan elections, Hugo Chavez represented the socialist Fifth Republic Movement party and won with 56% of the vote, after running a populist campaign focusing on anti-poverty measures and changing the stagnant political arena. From the beginning, Chavez’s autocratic tendencies were showing as he sought to radically change Venezuela. In 1999 a new Constitution created by his party was passed in a referendum, which changed the Republic of Venezuela into the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (named after revolutionary Simon Bolivar). This created a unicameral legislature, and centralized the country among other alterations. To legitimize his new changes and to increase his political control, he called for new elections in 2000, which saw Chavez win the presidency with 59% and major victories in the National Assembly and local municipalities. His initial economic policies were not considerably radical, as he sought to improve foreign investment while funding welfare programs and increasing the state-run oil company PDVSA’s share of Venezuela’s reserves. However, his friendship with Communist Cuba and his authoritarian tendencies were off-putting to much of Venezuela's population, and his nepotistic appointments to government positions were unpopular. His radical rhetoric and centralization of power made Chavez a lot of enemies, and in 2002 a coup d'etat was attempted. Though the coup was supported by many groups including public workers, the business community, and opposition parties, ultimately it failed. The coup’s 6 unintentional consequences were drastic, as it pushed Chavez from his ideas of moderate economic reform and conciliatory stance towards business into increased radicalization, and his retaliatory firings of PDVSA employees and leadership permanently damaged the crown jewel of Venezuela. Chavez continued his agenda, using increasing oil profits to go towards social programs. Though the programs were unsustainable as they put serious financial pressure on the PDVSA, they were successful, at least in the short-term. His “Bolivarian Missions” social programs ​ ​ reduced extreme poverty in half from around 20% to 10%, and bolstered his support among working class people. In 2006 he won another presidential election with 63%. With Latin America’s leftist Pink Tide, Chavez had many friends in the regions and rising oil costs brought increased government revenue, putting him in a secure position and made him popular domestically. Despite this, Chavez suffered his first major defeat in a close 2007 referendum where 51% of voters rejected his plan to make Venezuela into a ‘socialist state’. Some issues were becoming apparent in Venezuela by the late 2000s. Crime was rising heavily and despite the successes of his social programs, his poorly managed price control policies created shortages that were becoming more and more prevalent every year. The economic issues were exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis, with volatility in the oil markets hurting Venezuela’s subsidized imports and inflation increasing. Corruption and the incompetence of appointments ruined the potential of various state run corporations. The cult of personality that Chavez promoted worried many who saw him as increasingly autocratic. Though these issues decreased Chavez’s popularity, they were not serious enough to vote him out of office. In 2012 he was reelected by 55%, though his health issues prevented him from continuing his presidency, shortly after in 2013 he died after a heart attack. He chose his long time protege Nicolas Maduro to succeed him. 7 Maduro Era: In a 2013 Presidential Election, which was called after the death of President Chavez, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s candidate Nicolas Maduro won a very close election with 50.6% of the vote. Almost immediately, an economic crisis was created with the sharp drop in oil prices. Chavez’s and Maduro’s overreliance on oil profits and hostile attitude towards business made failing oil prices a catastrophic economic disaster waiting to happen. Venezuela’s social programs had no funding, neither did their state-run corporations, and the poorest people who depended on subsided goods to meet their basic needs lost it all. This was all correlated with inflation, which skyrocketed with the general economic collapse and brought down the private sector with it. Maduro’s decision to rule by decree to combat these issues made him essentially a dictator, and his forceful action did not really solve any of these issues. He applied that philosophy to dealing with massive unrest and protests, which only made him more unpopular and brought the ire of the international community over his human rights abuses, including sanctions from the US and the EU. In 2015, the PSUV lost the legislative assembly election to a united opposition, winning only 40%. Though a thorn in the side of the Maduro presidency, he basically overrode any legislative powers the National Assembly with the formation of the Constitutive Assembly, a consultative group assembled with the de jure purpose of changing or drafting a new constitution. Stacked with Maduro loyalists, they gave themselves legislative powers, essentially creating an alternative National Assembly while voiding any of the National Assembly’s powers.