The third presidential inauguration of

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

President of Venezuela The president of Venezuela (), officially known as the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is the executive head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The president leads the National Executive of the Venezuelan go ...

took place on 10 January 2025. The ceremony involves the swearing-in of the president for a period of six years (2025–2031). The event took place amid domestic and international criticism of the 2024 election process, of which Maduro was declared the winner by the government-controlled Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, which have not released detailed tallies confirming his victory. Only two chiefs of state, those of Cuba's and Nicaragua's authoritarian governments, attended the ceremony.

Election

The elections for the Venezuelan presidential term 2025–2031 were held on July 28, 2024, following the signing of the

Barbados Agreement The Partial Agreement on the Promotion of Political Rights and Electoral Guarantees for All (in Spanish: Acuerdo parcial sobre la promoción de derechos políticos y garantías electorales para todos), most commonly known simply as the Barbados Agre ...

, which sought to provide certain guarantees for a democratic electoral process. International monitors called the election neither free nor fair, and reported that the incumbent Maduro administration repressed the

political opposition In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of a city, region, state, coun ...

before, during, and after the election. Widely viewed as having won the election, the opposition candidate

Edmundo González Edmundo González Urrutia (born 29 August 1949) is a Venezuelan politician, analyst, and diplomat. A member of the Unitary Platform political alliance, González was its candidate in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. A national and i ...

fled to asylum in Spain amid repression of dissent and a national and international political crisis that resulted when Venezuelan electoral authorities announced—without presenting any evidence—that

had won.

Inauguration

The venue for the president's swearing-in was the Federal Legislative Palace in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. Although the ceremony was scheduled for 12 pm, Maduro arrived at 10:30 to begin the swearing-in 90 minutes early. Authorities implemented closures of Venezuela's

land border Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

and airspace with

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

prior to the inauguration, citing security considerations. Among the guests was MEP Diana Șoșoacă.

Reactions

The day of the inauguration, the United States, European Union (E.U.), United Kingdom and Canada placed new sanctions on Venezuelan individuals. The U.S. also increased the reward for Maduro's arrest to $25 million. U.S. Secretary of State

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

stated that the U.S. "does not recognize Nicolas Maduro as the president of Venezuela" and a

U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

Under Secretary, Bradley Smith, added that the U.S. stood with its "likeminded partners" in "solidarity with the people's vote for new leadership and rejects Maduro's fraudulent claim of victory". Maduro replied that the "outgoing government of the United States doesn't know how to take revenge on us". The E.U., in coordination with the U.K., applied new sanctions to 15 new individuals, including the Supreme Tribunal of Justice head and security and military officials held responsible by the E.U. and the U.K. for undermining democracy. Canada applied new sanctions to 14 additional senior Venezuelan officials, stating that they had "engaged in activities that have directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela".

Election

Inauguration

Reactions

References

See also