Venezuela, which is the country with the largest documented oil reserves in the world, has been plunged into a political, economic and social crisis for several years, struggling with recession and multi-digit inflation. In the second half of the second decade of the 21st century, the country’s economic and political situation deteriorated. Over a million Venezuelans have already migrated from their country, where there is a lack of basic everyday products, including food, medicines and hygiene products. In relation to this state, part of a discussion is not only the political or economic crisis, but also the humanitarian one. Venezuela’s internal problems also affect security throughout the Latin American region. International institutions and regional organizations are trying to undertake activities aimed at ending the dictatorial rule of President Nicolás Maduro and restoring the country’s democracy and the rule of law.

The purpose of the article is to draw attention to the functioning of constitutional guarantees of human rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The author addresses the issue of human rights protection, including the development of institutions guaranteeing their protection in the context of the authoritarian model of governance in Venezuela. The paper is a theoretical attempt to present the problem of the functioning of human rights institutions in Venezuela at the constitutional level after the seizure of power by President Nicolas Maduro. It also attempts to determine to what extent the Chavista camp suspended constitutional guarantees of protection of human rights and freedoms in Venezuela. At the same time, the article describes how the petrification of the system of power by Nicolas Maduro affects the state of human rights protection in the country.

This article aims to define the role played by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in the political system of contemporary Venezuela and determine the extent of the executive branch’s influence on the judiciary. The research problem formulated by the author concerns the determination of the fundamental importance of the Tribunal in keeping the Chavistas in power. The paper compares the substantive legal competencies of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice with the political realities of recent years and shows why the Tribunal’s activities undertaken in recent years have raised so much controversy. It has been pointed out that the Chavistas’ control of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice is a significant factor enabling the supporters of Nicolas Maduro to exercise both judicial and extrajudicial control over the institutions of the judiciary and to influence the legislature, vide the deprivation of legislative powers already accomplished.

For Venezuela, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit a country that already has been in a multidimensional crisis for years in circumstances of economic and social devastation, and authoritarian rule. However, the pandemic accelerated Venezuela’s transformation into a police state by introducing unsubstantiated pandemic restrictions that were enforced by the state security apparatus and abusive armed forces. The aim of the article is to show the instrumentalization of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area of radicalization of the Maduro regime and to answer the questions in which areas of the state’s functioning and in what dimension the Nicolás Maduro regime used the pandemic and the related restrictions on civil rights to strengthen its authoritarian power, radicalize the activities of the security services, violate human rights, and to transform Venezuela into a police state.

The aim of this article is to define the role played by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in the political system of contemporary Venezuela and determine the extent of the executive branch’s actual influence on the judiciary. The research problem formulated by the author concerns the determination of the actual importance of the Tribunal in keeping the Chavistas in power. The paper compares the substantive legal competences of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice with the political realities of the recent years and shows the main reasons why the Tribunal’s activities undertaken in recent years have raised so much controversy. It has been pointed out that the Chavistas’ control of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice is a meaningful factor enabling the supporters of Nicolas Maduro to exercise judicial and extrajudicial control over the institutions of the judiciary and influence the legislature