2014 Venezuelan protests

In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict price controls. Mass protesting began in earnest in February following the attempted rape of a student on a university campus in San Cristóbal. Subsequent arrests and killings of student protesters spurred their expansion to neighboring cities and the involvement of opposition leaders. The year's early months were characterized by large demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and government forces that resulted in nearly 4,000 arrests and 43 deaths, both supporters and opponents of the government as well as security personnel.

Since Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, he and his political ambitions proved to be controversial.

Under Chávez, oil revenues in the 2000s brought funds not seen in Venezuela since the 1980s, with Chávez's government becoming "semi-authoritarian and hyper-populist", investing heavily in public works which initially benefited Venezuelans. His government failed to save funds earned while oil prices were high and soon after his death, Venezuela's economy became dilapidated. Also under Chávez's tenure, corruption in Venezuela, as well as crime in Venezuela, had greatly increased, causing more frustration among Venezuelans.^[which?]

Frustrations were seen in the polls when during the 2013 Venezuelan presidential election, Nicolas Maduro narrowly won the election with 50.6% of the vote, ahead of the 49.1% of candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, surprisingly close compared to previous elections in the country. The opposition's defeat in the 8 December 2013 municipal elections, which it had framed as a 'plebiscite' on Maduro's presidency, would later ignite an internal debate over strategy. Moderate opposition leaders Henrique Capriles and Henri Falcón argued for 'unity' and dialogue with the government, and attended meetings held by the President to discuss cooperation among the country's mayors and governors. Other opposition leaders, such as Leopoldo López and Marina Corina Machado, opposed dialogue and called for a new strategy to force an immediate change in the government.

According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict (OVCS), 9,286 protests occurred in 2014, the greatest number of protests occurring in Venezuela in decades. The majority of protests, 6,369 demonstrations, occurred during the first six months of 2014 with an average of 35 protests per day. SVCO estimated that 445 protests occurred in January; 2,248 in February; 1,423 in March; 1,131 in April; 633 in May; and 489 in June. The main reason of protest was against President Maduro and the Venezuelan government with 52% of demonstrations and the remaining 42% of protests were due to other difficulties such as labor, utilities, insecurity, education and shortages. Most protesting began in the first week of February, reaching peak numbers in the middle of that month following the call of students and opposition leaders to protest. The number of protests then declined into mid-2014 only to increase slightly in late 2014 into 2015 following the drop in the price of oil and due to the shortages in Venezuela.

Demonstrations against violence in Venezuela began in January 2014 following the murder of actress and former Miss Venezuela Mónica Spear, and continued, when former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles shook the hand of President Maduro; this "gesture... cost him support and helped propel" opposition leader Leopoldo López Mendoza to the forefront.

According to the Associated Press, well before protests began in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas, the attempted rape of a young student on a university campus in San Cristóbal, in the western border state of Táchira, led to protests from students "outraged" at "long-standing complaints about deteriorating security under President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez. But what really set them off was the harsh police response to their initial protest, in which several students were detained and allegedly abused, as well as follow-up demonstrations to call for their release". These protests expanded, attracted non-students, and led to more detentions; eventually, other students joined, and the protests spread to Caracas and other cities, with opposition leaders becoming involved.

Leopoldo López, a leading figure in the opposition to the government, began to lead protests. During events surrounding the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Lopez "orchestrated the public protests against Chávez and he played a central role in the citizen's arrest of Chavez's interior minister", Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, though he later tried to distance himself from the event, López, alongside María Corina Machado launch a campaign on 23 January 2014, named La Salida (The Exit), with an intent to have President Maduro resign through protests.