Venezuela

By Bárbara Saa ‘27

Overview 

Venezuela, a country located in the northern end of South America, is populated by roughly 28.8 million people and is bordered by three countries: Brazil in its southern border, Colombia in its western border, and Guyana in its eastern border. The center of modern political and economic disputes, being unique in its modern political revolutions and catastrophic development patterns that have shaped the course of its economic stability and demographic growth. This country poses significant questions regarding the importance of the incorporation of a judicial system that maintains a balance between democracy and justice. Venezuela will be explored in several ways to identify the nature of this country’s legal system. 

Venezuela’s governmental changes across its history have brought significant changes over time to its polity, economic and societal structures. A country known for its unique migration policies, being known as the country “of immigrants” by both historians and political scientists in their designated fields. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “About two-thirds of the population is mestizo (of mixed European and indigenous [Amerindian] ancestry) or mulatto-mestizo (African, European, and indigenous); about one-fifth of Venezuelans are of European lineage, and one-tenth have mainly African ancestry. The indigenous population is statistically small.” Its demographics are found to be diverse, migration patterns have shifted the population of the country after catastrophes that have shaped the country’s polity’s structure, such as the hyperinflation period during the 2016 economic cycle. 

History

Venezuela is filled with rich history. As many South American countries experienced during the age of exploration, Venezuela was visited by Christopher Colombus in 1498, eventually being colonized by the Spanish in 1521. Headed by historic leader Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary movement led to the declaration of independence from Spanish rule in 1811, eventually forming the first federal states republic in Ibero-America, a constitution that was both modeled and promulgated after the American Constitution. Apart from its origins, Venezuela’s history is rich in its natural resources, where in 1908, under dictator Juan Vicente Gomez, Venezuela became the world’s largest oil exporter. This oil-exporting country benefited in 1973 by massively extracting oil and taking part in the oil boom leading to currency peaks against the US dollar. Throughout the 1980s, Venezuela benefited from the oil market, becoming the lead South American nation and reaching world-class status in its currency. From 1993 to 1996, President Perez was impeached under corruption charges leading to a protest movement against the government and leading to the rise of Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez was eventually elected president in 1998 bringing with him a new socialist constitution, populist economy and social welfare politics funded by high oil prices. Throughout the early 2000s, the rise of Chavez apart from bringing constitutional changes, also brought changes of economic and political concentration leading to abolishing of term limits for the executive, massive state oil monopoly, land reforms to eliminate private property, and media regulations to prevent free-press. In 2010, President Chavez devalued the Bolivar currency to boost revenue from oil exports after the economy shrank 5.8%, this precedent led to the economic hardships that continued in the 2010s.

In 2013, President Chavez died from Cancer, leaving in office his chosen successor Nicolas Maduro. In November of 2016, Venezuela went through a hyperinflation period that exceeded 50% for a month straight, the inflation remained stable until 2017, as a consequence of inept public policy that led to the overprinting of money. Since 2017, Venezuela has lived through constant controversies that underline humanitarian crises without precedent in the country’s history. In 2024, Venezuela had its ongoing six-year term election cycle, where Maduro was once again elected. According to the Carter Center, Venezuela’s 2024 presidential elections “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic” since the “election took place in an environment of restricted freedoms for political actors, civil society organizations, and the media. Throughout the electoral process, the CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral - National Electoral Council) demonstrated a clear bias in favor of the incumbent.” The congressional research service concedes with the Carter Center in these ideas, demonstrating flawed legality and democratic principles in the elections. Overall, Venezuela’s history provides insight into a nation that was originally funded under democratic ideals but failed to maintain the order and stability within its constitutional bases.

Government and Sources of Law

Venezuela’s political and governmental structure can be considered to be precarious, as outlined by political scientists due to its constant change and corruptive tendencies. Its 1811 constitution was originally patterned after the American constitution. History has shown evolutionary change regarding the composition of its polity, as outlined in the historic breakdown, where Venezuela became a federal republic after the collapse of a virtual monarchy to then becoming a representative, republican and federal form of democratic government, to as of 2025 an authoritarian regime. As mentioned prior, the Venezuelan Constitution, though controversial for its distinctive changes, was heavily influenced by the United States Constitution by modeling the bicameral legislature and the checks and balances system. Separated by five powers, unlike federal branches of the United States, of government: Judicial, Executive, Legislative, Citizen and Electoral. Venezuela is considered to be a federal republic that is composed of 23 states, two federal territories, one capital district and 11 federal dependencies (groups of islands). Government officials are considered to be representatives of the people who are elected by direct vote.

The constitution is the source and origin of all the laws in Venezuela, unlike the United States where both common and statutory law serve as sources of law, Venezuela’s law source is purely written. The 1864 charter established the federal form of government, and ever since its independence in 1811, there have been 29 constitutions. Since then, all the constitutions have kept its basic structure of independence granted to states and federal entities. The 1999 constitution, still used now, added two additional branches of government apart from the three basic: the Citizen power and the Electoral power. These two branches bring about with them an active government that has a “moral obligation” to promote civil, political, cultural and economic rights. The national constitution delegates a number of governmental powers and bureaucratic functions to the states, allowing them to be independent and maintain their own constitution in order to maintain the balance of power. This federal scheme allows each state to have its own governor who acts as the head of its unique executive power, and a legislative power that has its own political, administrative and tax systems.

The Executive 

The 1999 Constitution outlines the extensive powers vested in the executive branch. Unlike the United States, in Venezuela the executive power dominates the other powers of government, and the supreme power is concentrated in the president, head of government and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, followed by the vice-president, sectorial vice-presidents and the council of ministers. The presidential term in office is six years, and presidents may be re-elected an unlimited number of terms.

The Legislative  

The legislative body is composed solely of the Chamber of Deputies. Deputies serve five-year terms and are allowed to be re-elected an indefinite number of times due to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (2009) removing the cap on the number of possible re-elections (Bergolla, 2022). Apart from the legislative body, the duties outlined by this branch include exclusive powers such as levying taxes, deploying troops and prosecuting ministers, and members of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (the highest court of law in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).

According to the 1999 Constitution, the law-making process is composed of seven steps: initiative, debate, voting, passing, sanction, enactment, and publication. Legislation can be initiated by an enumerated number of political entities, where the executive branch has the most political power with the most influence to commence and approve the passing of bills that eventually become law. The bills are sent to the National Assembly, which is the legislative branch, standing committees for different rounds of scrutiny and then sent to the president for final review and approval. This system does not vastly differ from that of the U.S., where the bills are drafted by a member of Congress, introduced to the House or Senate, referred to a committee for review, sent to the floor for debate and voting and then approved by the president within the executive branch.

The Judicial 

As mentioned above, The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia) is the pinnacle power of the Venezuelan system of courts. The National Assembly elects 32 justices for a single 12-year term. Appointments for judges are made by recommendations from the Committee for Judicial Postulations under the Executive Power, a vast difference between the U.S. system where judges are appointed by the President. The Supreme Tribunal is the court of last resort and deals with issues such as the invalidation of laws, regulations, and other powers of government that conflict with the constitution. The system of lower courts includes district, municipal, trial and appeal courts that deal with both civil and criminal matters. There are specialized courts with jurisdiction in the following areas: civil, commercial, criminal, labor, tax, customs, administrative, juvenile, military, and agrarian.  Within these jurisdictions, courts are placed in hierarchical order and are based on the basis of the amount involved (in civil cases) or the substantial importance of the case.

The Citizen Branch

Unlike the U.S. Constitution with three branches of government, the fourth branch, the citizen branch, is an additional branch of federal jurisdiction that was added in the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution. This branch deals with the prevention of corruptive tendencies by the administrative actors. 

The Electoral Branch

The Electoral Branch is the fifth and final branch of the federal government also added in the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution. This branch is responsible for organizing elections at all levels of government. The National Assembly elects CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral - National Electoral Council) members to seven-year terms.

Legal System

As mentioned above, specialized courts maintain jurisdiction in the following areas: civil, commercial, criminal, labor, tax, customs, administrative, juvenile, military, and agrarian. The Prosecutor General is responsible for opinions in criminal cases, employee misconduct violations, and the constitutional rights of civilians. The Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs supervises prisons and is the dominant force of the Bureau of Intelligence and Prevention services. The National Intelligence Agency of Venezuela investigates crimes. All legal procedures are rendered under the written law in the constitution that is tackled in codes. Key actors in this legal system allow for the conduction of legal procedures. This system has been vastly criticized by democratic entities around the world, as there is a lack of an independent, impartial and transparent judicial system (Due Process of Law Foundation, 2019). The majority of legal procedures tend to be based on the dominant actor’s subjective opinions regarding their interpretation of the law. According to the Due Process of Law Foundation, the recurring convictions of innocent persons, judicial corruption networks, selective political persecution, and official impunity reveal a more complex and deeply rooted problem that has made the Venezuelan justice system wholly incapable of fulfilling its role as guarantor of its citizens’ human rights. In September 2018, a group of six countries (Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, and Peru), later seconded by France, sent a petition to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court to investigate Maduro’s government for crimes against humanity (Due Process of Law Foundation, 2019). Venezuela’s legal system is still under scrutiny and further revisions to its democratic ideals are still being investigated by International Courts. 

Conclusion

Venezuela serves as a case model that showcases the necessary need for a stable and just government that maintains stability across all sectors of society. Its geographic boundaries, history and current events all intertwine to provide a solid foundation in the argument that an anchored constitutional design is necessary to secure democracy in a naturally rich nation.

Bárbara Saa is a freshman majoring in political science.

Sources

Bergolla, L. (2022). An Introduction to Venezuelan Governmental Institutions and Primary Legal Sources. GlobaLex NYU Law. https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/venezuela1.html 

Carter Center Statement on Venezuela Election. (2024). The Carter Center. https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2024/venezuela-073024.html 

Inter-American Development Bank. (2002). Prompt justice - Venezuela. IDB. https://www.iadb.org/en/news/prompt-justice 

Martz, J. D., & Lieuwen, E. (2025). Venezuela | Economy, Map, Capital, Collapse, & Facts. Britannica. Retrieved March 10, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela 

McCoy, J. L., & Martz, J. D. (2025). Venezuela. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela 

Roy, D., & Cheattham, A. (2024). Venezuela: The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis 

Salas, L. (1992). World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems. Florida International University. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/wfbcjsv.pdf 

Tepper, L. (2022). The Legal System of Venezuela. The Justice Journal. https://gwjusticejournal.com/2022/08/10/the-legal-system-of-venezuela/ 

U.S. Department of State. (2017). Venezuela 07/09. https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/venezuela/126384.htm 

Venezuela profile - Timeline. (2019, 02 25). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19652436 

Venezuela: weak legal system threatens democracy. (2014). International Commission of Jurists. https://www.icj.org/resource/venezuela-weak-legal-system-threatens-democracy-and-human-rights-reforms-urgently-needed-new-report-says/