1908-1935 – Under the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuela becomes the world’s largest oil exporter.
(1945 – A coup d’état establishes a civilian government after decades of military rule.
1948 – Venezuela’s first democratically elected leader, President Rómulo Gallegos, is overthrown within eight months by a military coup led by Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
1958 – Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal ousts Marcos Pérez Jimenez and leftist Rómulo Betancourt of the Democratic Action Party (AD) wins the presidential elections.
1964 – Raul Leoni is elected president, marking the first time in Venezuela that the presidency is transferred from one civilian to another.
1973 – Venezuela benefits from an oil boom, its currency reaches record highs against the US dollar, and the oil and steel industries are nationalized.
1989 – Amid an economic downturn, Carlos Andrés Pérez is elected president and institutes IMF-financed austerity measures, sparking riots, martial law and general strikes, leaving hundreds dead in street violence.
1992 – Colonel Hugo Chavez and his supporters stage two failed coup attempts, killing around 120 people in the crushing coups and imprisoning Chavez for two years before receiving a pardon.
1998 – Disillusioned with the existing political parties, Hugo Chavez is elected president and launches the “Bolivarian Revolution.” He adopts socialist, populist economic and social policies funded by soaring oil prices, as well as a vociferously anti-American foreign policy.
In 2005, Chavez introduced land reform to end Venezuela’s large farms and benefit the rural poor, which ranchers say was an attack on private property.
2006 – Venezuela signs a $3 billion arms deal with Russia and weans itself off U.S. arms supplies. Chavez wins his third presidential election.
2012 – The government expands price controls on basic goods to combat inflation. Venezuela becomes a full member of regional trade bloc Mercosur. President Chavez is inaugurated for a fourth term.
2013 – President Chavez dies at age 58 after a battle with cancer. His chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, is narrowly elected president amid a collapsing economy and a divided nation.
2018 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decides that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will consider Venezuela’s long-standing argument that an 1899 ruling on the Venezuela-Guyana border is invalid.
2019 – Opposition leader Juan Guaido declares himself interim president and asks the military to oust President Maduro, claiming that the 2018 election was fraudulent. The EU, US and most Latin American countries recognize Guaido.
2020 – The opposition boycotts parliamentary elections, which are won by President Maduro’s party and its allies.
2023 – The United Nations says more than 7 million Venezuelans have fled the country.
The International Court of Justice has rejected Venezuela’s objection that it is not the right forum to rule on the long-running border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo Islands, and said it will rule on the matter in the future.
In a referendum, Venezuelans overwhelmingly supported the country’s claim to Essequibo and approved the creation of a new Venezuelan state in the territory.
2024 – President Maduro is declared the winner of the presidential election. The opposition claims that their candidate was the true winner.
