Venezuela:: Constitutional choices to the institutional crisis.

Abstract

The economic, political and social crisis in Venezuela has deepened under the presidency of Nicolás Maduro in 2016. This paper analyzes the different ways that the Venezuelan Constitution and the Venezuelan normative system offer to solve the crisis of governability when the main problem is the president´s legitimacy. The recognized causes of the president´s absolute absence are, among others, resignation, dismissal, physical or mental inability, abandonment of office, recall. Among the available options, the most important one in this case is the recall, as it was the most feasible way that the opposition found to remove the president. However, many obstacles were put in place to make it fail. The present work constitutes a study of the tools and mechanisms that the Venezuelan Constitution grants to overcome the presidential crises and analyzes the actions that the diverse political actors undertook in facing the conjuncture of 2016.