2020 in Venezuela

Incumbents

• President: Nicolás Maduro, Juan Guaidó
• Vice President: Delcy Rodríguez

  Events

January to March

• 5 January – The 2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Delegated Committee election
• 21 January - The USS Detroit conducted freedom of navigation and intelligence-gathering operations off the coast of Caracas.
• 23 January – A fire occurred in Cagua, with eleven people confirmed dead.
• 17 March – The International Monetary Fund turns down Venezuela's request for a US$5 billion loan to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela.
• 26 March – The United States accused President Nicolás Maduro of narcoterrorism and offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest. In response, Maduro called US President Donald Trump a “racist cowboy”.
• 28 March – The Russian oil company Rosneft sells its stock in Venezuela to the Russian government.
• 30 March – Attorney General Tarek William Saab summons opposition leader Juan Guaido for questioning for an alleged "attempted coup d'etat" and attempted assassination. A weapons cache was recently found in Colombia.
• 31 March – United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that sanctions did not apply to humanitarian aid during the health emergency and that the United States would lift all sanctions if Maduro agreed to organize elections that did not include Maduro in a period of six to twelve months. Pompeo reiterated U.S. support for Juan Guaidó.

  April

• 1 April – U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he is stepping up pressure on President Maduro. Trump sends Navy ships and AWACS planes to the region near Venezuela in the largest military build-up in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega from power.
• 2 April – The government releases journalist Darvinson Rojas, arrested 21 March.
• 3 April
• *The European Union announces its support of the Trump plan for a transitional government in Venezuela.
• *Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants return from Colombia.
• *The National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela prepare artillery for a possible attack by the United States.
• *The Venezuelan patrol boat Naiguata rams the Portuguese-flagged RCGS Resolute, which was accused of piracy. The Naiguata sinks.
• 16 April – The 30-ton ″Kueka stone″ is returned to the Pemon people, 34 years after it was taken to Berlin, Germany. The stone represents the story of star-cross lovers, each turned to stone by a deity as punishment for marrying a member of another tribe.
• 17 April
• *Venezuela suffers its worst crisis since Maduro took office. The U.S. has a price on Madur′os head, a fleet of warships patrols the waters around the country, the coronavirus pandemic rages, gasoline shortages threaten food supplies, and a lack of liquidity makes it nearly impossible to resolve the crisis. Venezuela is caught in the middle of an international power play by the United States, Russia, and China.
• *The National Assembly, which is controlled by Juan Guaido, authorizes the transfer of US $342 million at an account in Citibank to an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Guaido had earlier seized control of Venezuelan government assets held in the United States, including Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. ten-most-wanted list.
• April 29 – 500 Venezuela migrants living in Colombia block a highway in protest of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia. They say the makes it impossible for them to work. There are 1.8 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia.
• 30 April – Maduro refuses to bow to pressure from Brazil to remove its diplomatic personal by May 2.

  May

• 1 May
• *Labour Day
• *A riot and attempted escape attempt leaves 17 dead and 9 injured in the Centro Penitenciario de los Llanos in Guanare, Portuguesa State.
• 4 May – Eight dissidents were killed and seventeen were captured after a failed beach landing in Macuto, Vargas state, including the two Americans, organized by the private security company Silvercorp USA and headed by Jordan Goudreau in the codenamed Operation Gideon.
• 12 May – Passenger flights are banned for thirty days.
• 13 May – Criminal charges are filed against the prison warden and five guards following the riot in Guanare that left 47 inmates dead and dozens more injured.
• 14 May – Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino tells state television that its troops captured 39 army deserters on the Colombian border.
• 19 May – The government sends the military to put down protests in Barquisimeto, Iribarren Municipality. Five arrested.
• 20 May – The Maduro government sues the Bank of England, accusing it of stealing 31 tons of gold. Maduro said, "It is the colonial war against Venezuela!"
• 25 May – Dozens of people from Sucre Municipality, Miranda protest because they have not had water for 57 days.

  June

• 13 June – Authorities in Cape Verde arrest Alex Saab, a businessman accused by the U.S. of corrupt dealings with President Nicolás Maduro’s government, while en route to Iran.
• 15 June – The conservative Spanish newspaper ′′ABC′′ reported on June 15 that then-Foreign Minister of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro paid Gianroberto Casaleggio €3.5 million in 2010 to finance an ″anticapitalist, leftist movement in the Italian Republic,″ which makes up the Italian political party Five Star Movement today. Casaleggio's son, Davide Casaleggio said this was fake news that had already surfaced in 2016.

  July

• July 13 – Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson plans to travel this week to Venezuela to urge President Nicolás Maduro to free two American mercenaries and six jailed oil executives as a goodwill gesture aimed at easing tensions with the U.S.
• July 15
• *COVID-19 pandemic: Miranda and Caracas join Zulia in quarantine.
• *Federico Villegas, Argentine ambassador, expresses his concerns about human rights in Venezuela and demands free elections.

  Planned and scheduled events

• 2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election

  Deaths

• 22 January – Addy Valero, politician.
• 27 January – Alberto Naranjo, musician.
• 16 April –, 72, comedian, singer and screenwriter, lung cancer.
• 24 May – Jorge Spiteri, 69, rock musician; cancer
• 12 June – Ocean Bay, prize-winning racehorse; butchered
• 7 July – Hernán Alemán, 65, politician, Deputy and mayor of Cabimas ; COVID-19.
• 8 July – Daniel Alvarado, 70, actor ; fall.
• 14 July – Hernán Alemán, 65, opposition politician; COVID-19.
• 25 July – Flor Isava Fonseca, 99, Venezuelan journalist and sports executive.