What Happened Last Week in Venezuela? 👍 The Unitary Platform Detaches UNT and MPV
The Unitary Platform moves apart from two of its member parties, Capriles says he is surprised his ban was lifted and Ecoanalítica expects a 4% GDP contraction in 2025.
Politics
The Unitary Platform detaches Un Nuevo Tiempo and Movimiento por Venezuela as electoral opacity persists
The opposition Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) distributed an internal memo distancing itself from its members, Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) and Movimiento Por Venezuela (MPV), stating that both parties "have taken a different course" than the rest of the coalition. The PUD clarified that it is not a "disciplinary body," but asked its members to "resize calls, groups, activities, and the development of our work plan" for only the remaining eight parties in the coalition.
Meanwhile, as Primero Justicia (PJ) expels members who decided to participate in the parliamentary and regional elections on May 25, former congresswoman Marialbert Barrios announced her resignation from the party, arguing that the PJ she knew "no longer exists." In a lengthy thread on social media, Barrios took a position on the current political situation and criticized the direction her organization has taken.
Meanwhile, the May 25 electoral process remains marked by opacity. The National Electoral Council (CNE) maintains virtually no institutional voice, has not regularly activated its website beyond specific links, and has not officially published the process's events and documents. The electoral schedule has not been released, and only an unofficial PDF is circulating, which has been modified several times. There was no special registration day in the Electoral Registry (RE), nor were the preliminary closing date or the mechanisms for appeals published.
Also, the May 25th card will include 36 parties, of which 16 have been intervened judicially (44%). Among the traditional parties, only the PSUV and UNT have not been intervened. Also making its debut is the new party card of Henrique Capriles and his followers: Unión y Cambio.
Capriles confirms his eligibility and candidacy for lawmaker: "It was quite a surprise for me."
Two-time opposition presidential candidate and former governor of Miranda, Henrique Capriles, confirmed this Thursday the lifting of the political ban that the Comptroller General's Office had placed against him since 2017, as well as his candidacy for national lawmaker for the legislative and regional elections on May 25. "After eight years of being disqualified, this political order is being lifted. The person who can answer the reasons why I am disqualified is the one who gives the order to disqualify me. For me, the lifting of my ban was quite surprising," Capriles said in a virtual meeting with the press. When asked if there had been negotiations with the Chavistas, he responded that "we must ask Maduro what the reason is" for his ban, although he expressed his support for a "grandiose negotiation process" between the government and the opposition.
Previously, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado stated that opposition politicians who are supporting participation in the May 25 elections "betrayed the cause, because for one reason or another, they surrendered or gave up."
Machado considers Trump's sanctions fracture Maduro's structure
María Corina Machado stated on Fox News that the actions of Donald Trump's administration, such as oil sanctions and the appointment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, are fracturing Nicolás Maduro's government. "As you begin to cut off that flow, the regime begins to strain and fracture," she said. Machado asserted that Trump's message has been "unequivocal" and has unleashed "all kinds of reactions" within the "criminal structure of the regime."
The United States deports 316 Venezuelans, as reports of disappearances and abuses grow
Conviasa airline plane from Mexico City landed Thursday at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía carrying 316 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States, including 142 minors. With this operation, the total number of migrants deported to Venezuela in recent months from the United States and neighboring countries has risen to 3,047, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, in the United States, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the Donald Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of "Cristian," a 20-year-old Venezuelan man who had requested asylum and was deported on March 15 to the CECOT prison in El Salvador. The case is part of a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 by minors who arrived in the US unaccompanied, whose deportation had been suspended until their asylum applications were resolved. Judge Stephanie Gallagher affirmed that Cristian's asylum application must be resolved and prohibited further deportations of the members of this settlement agreement. In response to the Department of Homeland Security's claims that the court lacked jurisdiction, Gallagher countered that "this argument is without merit."
Meanwhile, Venezuela's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab , reported that the Public Ministry appointed a specialized prosecutor's office to investigate the forced disappearance of Ricardo Prada, a Venezuelan who worked as a delivery man in Detroit and was deported from the United States earlier this year. According to the Public Ministry, Prada was being held in a maximum-security center in Texas until late March, when his trail disappeared. A report by The New York Times warned that Prada does not appear registered among those deported to the CECOT in El Salvador.
Finally, Saab also reported that this Wednesday, April 23, the extradition from El Salvador of the alleged criminal Richard Billings Cardozo Urribarri, a member of the Structured Group of Organized Crime "El Yiyi " and accused of participating in the grenade attack against the Tu Finca Express butcher shop in Maracaibo, in 2023, where one person died and three were injured, was finalized.
Provea denounces the forced disappearance of relatives of an exiled soldier
The human rights NGO Provea reported that five relatives of Lieutenant José Ángel Rodríguez Araña are allegedly subject to forced disappearance and arbitrary detention, including the soldier's parents, who are in exile. Provea warned that these events are part of a pattern of persecution and reprisals against Rodríguez Araña's entourage, who has been persecuted since 2017 and is currently in exile. On April 12, Neida Araña, 51, had denounced in a video that both she and her husband, José Rodríguez, 71, were being "surveilled," and requested the intervention of the Attorney General's Office.
Maduro announces the start of operations of the Russian GLONASS system in Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro announced that this week a GLONASS station, the Russian alternative to GPS, will begin operating in Venezuela as part of an agreement signed in 2022 with Vladimir Putin. The station, installed by Roscosmos and the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, seeks to optimize navigation, transportation, agricultural, and industrial monitoring services. According to the government, data from the system—which operates with 31 satellites in orbit—will be freely accessible to consumers in Venezuela and will be used for "peaceful" purposes.
The GPS system was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and is currently operated by the U.S. Space Force. Venezuela is seeking to decouple itself from strategic tools controlled by Washington and protect itself from potential pressure measures by adopting the Russian alternative.
Economy
Maduro claims economic growth of 4.5% without publishing official data
Nicolás Maduro stated this Thursday that "we have achieved economic growth above 4.5% during the first quarter of the year," despite the lack of recent official data from the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), which has not released quarterly economic activity figures since the second quarter of 2024.
However, independent measurements contradict this claim. The Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF) reported this Thursday a 2.7% contraction of the economy in the first quarter of 2025, while the liberal think tank CEDICE’s indicator shows a growth of only 1.4% in the same period.
Environment
Zulia ranchers warn of flood risk due to weak retaining wall
The Association of Ranchers and Farmers of the Colón Municipality (Aganaco) in Zulia warned this Sunday about the serious risk of the Zulia River overflowing its banks at kilometer 43 of El Guayabo, Catatumbo, due to the lack of a solid retaining wall. They warned that the current small wall could collapse with the arrival of the rainy season, threatening the nearby population. "The retaining wall is located a few meters from the population and is about to collapse," warned Aganaco, recalling that a similar incident three years ago left severe human and economic damage. They asked the national government to immediately address the emergency, stating that, without state support, "it is very difficult to overcome these threats." Meanwhile, authorities are keeping Vargas, Mérida, and Trujillo on alert due to the continued rains, although no emergencies have been reported.
SOS Orinoco warns of illegal mining expansion in Canaima National Park
The environmental NGO SOS Orinoco denounced the expansion of intensive mining on an island in the Caroní River, within Canaima National Park. According to its report, between February 2023 and February 2025, illegal mining has occupied 56.96 hectares of the island, generating sediment that could affect the storage capacity of the Guri reservoir, the main electricity generator in Venezuela.
Culture and society
More than 70% of high school students fail math and verbal skills in Venezuela
More than 70% of students from sixth grade of primary school to fifth year of high school in Venezuela are failing in mathematics and verbal skills, with averages just above 7 points out of 20. This is revealed in the latest report from the Online Knowledge Assessment System (SECEL) of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), based on nearly 10,000 exams administered to students in public and private schools between October 2023 and November 2024.
The study, coordinated by the UCAB School of Education, was presented to the Ministry of Education and confirms that there were no improvements in the quality of school education during the last academic year. The results reflect a lack of minimum competencies in key areas of the official curriculum, a trend that has continued since previous editions of the SECEL.
In verbal skills, students averaged a score of 7.84/20, while in mathematics they achieved 7.51/20. Verbal skills scores also dropped by more than one point compared to the previous year. For the first time, the report included a section on reading comprehension, in which the overall score was 7.61/20.
What's going to happen to Venezuela's economy? These 15 facts from the Ecoanalítica forum explain it:
Ecoanalítica held its first outlooks forum of the year. This meeting analyzed economic projections for Venezuela in 2025 and the trends that will shape the business environment in the coming months. Here are some of the key points:
Faced with the economic slowdown and a new round of sanctions, Ecoanalítica projects a GDP contraction of -4.1%, a drop in private consumption of -5.8%, and a return to triple-digit inflation. Essential goods are a winning sector in this context, while retail, construction, and government services are among the losers.
Economic activity has been declining since the last quarter of 2024, after recovering from a sharp contraction in 2023. Despite this, imports have continued to grow since April 2024.
2024 was a year of growth for almost all GDP sectors. In contrast, in 2023, sectors such as electricity and water, transportation, trade and repair, non-oil services, other services, and construction faced sharp declines.
In January, sales in the Caracas Metropolitan Area fell more than 10% year-over-year and nearly 35% compared to December. Although February saw a monthly rebound and March showed improvement compared to the previous year, March again saw a monthly decline of 10%.
Dollarization is losing ground, and payments in bolivars are reaching a five-year high: from 32.9% in October 2021 to 84.2% in April 2025. Zelle payments, which once represented nearly 30% of dollar transactions, now barely reach 9%. Furthermore, the dollar circulation fell 37% between November 2024 and April 2025.
Oil production averaged 900,000 barrels per day in 2024, but Ecoanalítica forecasts that with the license revocations it will fall to 750,000 bpd in 2025. Exports, which exceeded 750,000 bpd, would also fall to around 550,000 bpd.
With the reactivation of the "maximum pressure" strategy, oil revenues could fall from $19.9 billion in 2024 to $15 billion in 2025. In contrast, non-oil revenues—which reached $4.7 billion—could rise slightly.
Around 30% of Venezuelan oil exports go to Europe and the United States. With the revocation of the licenses, this export is likely to be redirected to China, India, and Malaysia. However, secondary tariffs imposed by the United States could play a role in influencing purchases from these countries.
Crab and methanol exports would be the hardest hit if the 15% tariff announced by Donald Trump is activated : more than 60% of Venezuelan crab and more than 50% of Venezuelan methanol are exported to the U.S.
According to Ecoanalítica's Business Situation Survey, the five external factors most disliked by Venezuelan business leaders are the tax system, availability of foreign currency, the political situation, public services, and access to financing.
In the last twelve months, 55.7% of Venezuelan companies increased salaries; only 4.9% reduced them, and the rest maintained them.
Informal employment continues to affect more than 70% of the Venezuelan population, behind only Bolivia and Guatemala, according to Ecoanalítica and the International Labor Organization.
Regarding public services, the central region spends an average of only 7.7 hours a day without electricity. In Zulia and Mérida, the daily average exceeds 19 hours. In Guárico and Falcón, residents travel an average of 3.6 km to get water.
Seventy percent of the country's vehicle fleet is out of service. Only 40 of the Caracas Metro's 124 trains are operational, although that number is improving: just a couple of years ago, only 25 were operating.
conomic activity has continued to rise in the capital region since the end of 2024, but states such as Mérida, Apure, Barinas, and Anzoátegui are experiencing declines. Táchira and Portuguesa are the ones experiencing the largest declines.
Recommendations
The Venezuelan Amazon and Guayana region not only safeguard one of the country's largest forest reserves, but also strategic assets such as the Orinoco River Basin. However, the abandonment and destruction of the network of meteorological stations in this critical region have created an information gap that jeopardizes the capacity to respond to the climate emergency. This report by Reybert Carrillo exposes how illegal mining, lack of maintenance, and the actions of irregular groups have dismantled a vital system for understanding the climate in southern Venezuela.
The recent suspension of oil licenses and the imposition of tariffs by the United States are reshaping Venezuela's trade relations, particularly with China. This report by Transparencia Venezuela in exile offers a detailed analysis of China's role and its sanctions evasion mechanisms for purchasing Venezuelan crude oil.