Succeeding Hugo Chavez in 2013, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in today for a third six-year term despite opposition protests, has managed to hold on to power by ruling the oil-rich country with an iron fist.
A tall man with a proud mustache, the 62-year-old former bus driver often mentions his origins and likes to project his image as a simple, down-to-earth man of the people.
He likes to talk about common sense, mispronounce words in English, talk about baseball or have dinners in front of the TV with his wife, Chilia Flores, a former prosecutor who is an omnipresent presence in Venezuelan politics. scene.
"This is a genre he chose himself. As for English, he was foreign minister for many years (2006-2013). It is hard to believe that he does not have a perfect command of it," a diplomatic source told AFP.
Declaring him his successor in 2012, a year before his death, Hugo Chavez described Maduro as "one of the most capable young leaders in Venezuela".
Many underestimated him. Initially considered an insignificant unionist, he managed to prevail over his rivals within the socialist party of which he is president, and to maneuver during the protests that followed the opposition-contested 2018 elections. and 2024, relying on the police and judicial apparatus at his fingertips.
Nicolas Maduro has also managed to survive an unprecedented economic crisis, international sanctions, a pandemic and billion-dollar corruption scandals, playing out conspiracies, real and imaginary, which he supposedly regularly exposes.
"Super Mustache"
His propaganda machine dedicates a comic book to him in which he is presented as "Super Mustache" - "indestructible" a superhero who, like Superman, protects Venezuela from monsters and villains such as the United States or its "sabotaging opponents".
He does not have the charisma or eloquence of Chavez, but he is covered for hours on television or on social networks, thanks to his well-oiled communication machine.
Combining effective political speech, sometimes harsh jokes and personal banter, he knows how to keep the crowd in raptures.
He builds a sympathetic image for himself, which, however, does not correspond to the way he governs Venezuela, relying largely on the army and the security apparatus. The opposition accuses him of being a "dictator".
Faced with the economic crisis and behind the socialist discourse, Nicolás Maduro has reduced all social spending, eliminated import duties to allow supplies to the country, which lacks everything, and allowed dollarization to reduce hyperinflation.
Marxist and Christian
Although he is uncompromising in his anti-American rhetoric, he is also a good negotiator.
In this way, he managed to achieve the lifting of US sanctions from November 2023 to April 2024.
Nicolás Maduro also managed to get two nephews of Chilia Flores, convicted of drug trafficking in the United States, out of prison. As well as securing the release of Alex Saab, considered one of Venezuela's main middlemen, imprisoned in the US for money laundering.
Although he continues to claim to be a Marxist, in 2021 he supported the beatification by the Catholic Church of Venezuelan doctor José Gregorio, called "The Doctor of the Poor".
However, Maduro has made a turn mainly towards evangelical churches. Some believe this is a maneuver to attract voters, while others believe that he is truly a believer.
"I am a child of our Lord Jesus Christ and I know why He protects me. (My enemies - ed. note) cannot reach me, because Christ is with us," Maduro says.
Nicolas Maduro summarizes himself as follows: "(Simon) Bolivar (born in Venezuela and an emblematic figure in the liberation of the Spanish colonies in South America), Marxist and Christian".
Translated from French: Atanasi Petrov, BTA