Nicolás Maduro biography

Synopsis

Early Political Career

Born on November 23, 1962, in Caracas, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros worked as a bus driver before becoming politically active in the early 1990s. Maduro was introduced to future Venezeulan President Hugo Chávez in 1992, after Chávez and other disenchanted members of the military were imprisoned for an attempted coup and Maduro began campaigning for  Chávez's release. (Chávez was released in 1994 and won election to the presidency four years later.)

Nicolás Maduro officially entered politics in the late '90s. He was elected to the National Constituent Assembly in 1999, and later won election to the National Assembly. In 2005, he became speaker of the Assembly.

The following year, in August 2006, Maduro was named foreign minister of Venezeula. Following his new appointment, his wife, Cilia Flores, an attorney, took over as Assembly speaker.

Vice Presidency

After President Chávez won a third term in October 2012, he selected Maduro to serve as vice president. Maduro worked alongside the outspoken president, serving as one of his closest advisers as well as a loyal spokesman, until Chávez's death on March 5, 2013, at the age of 58, from cancer. Prior to his passing, in December 2012, Chávez named Maduro his preferred successor.

Soon after news of Chávez's death broke in March 2013, reports outlined speculation that the differing political styles of Nicolás Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello could prove problematic for Venezuela, following Maduro's ascension to the presidency.

Elected to the Presidency

During his 2013 presidential campaign, Maduro pledged to complete the socialist transformation of Venezuela begun by Chavez, to increase gun control in the country's impoverished areas, and to increase the nation's minimum wage by 30 to 40 percent.

In April 2013, Maduro won a close election against presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, winning by a less than two percentage point margin. Of the narrow election results, Maduro told The Washington Post, "Yesterday and today I said it—I win with one vote, I win. If I lose with one vote, I turn over [power] immediately. The electoral authorities said what the people wanted." He later added, "These are the people of Chavez. This is Chavez's place. Chavez continues as an example for us! I am ensuring the legacy of my commander, Chavez, the eternal father."