Grammar insight - Ve n e z u e l a - w h a t n e x t?

Rocket School

On 30th January, Donald J Trump, the American president, telephoned Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. He spoke with Juan Guaidó. Mr Trump congratulated him on his assumption of the presidency of Venezuela. The telephone call was im-portant. It confirmed that the USA would support Mr Guaidó in Venezuela’s presi-dential dispute.The dispute began seven days before Mr Trump’s telephone call. Mr Guaidó is an elected member of Venezuela’s as-sembly, or parliament. On 23rd January, he stood in front of a large crowd in Ca-racas. To loud cheering, he declared that he had appointed himself as Venezuela’s interim, or acting president. Mr Guaidó urged Venezuelan people to ‘take to the streets’ and overthrow the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.Mr Maduro has been Venezuela’s president for six years. He was chosen, or hand-picked, by Hugo Chávez, Mr Maduro’s predecessor. Chávez led Ven-ezuela for 14 years. He died of cancer aged 58, in 2013. Mr Maduro won the last presidential election in 2018. Many people in Venezuela and leaders of near-by countries said that the election was fraudulent, or fixed. The next presiden-tial vote is not due until 2023.Venezuela is an oil-rich nation. With some of the world’s largest known oil reserves, it should be a very wealthy country. Yet, Venezuela’s economy has collapsed. There are severe food and medicine shortages. Many people do not have enough to eat. Shops are empty. Trying to buy everyday items, such as shampoo and toilet paper, is almost impossible. Other problems include electricity power cuts, lawlessness, and hyperin-flation. Hyperinflation occurs when a