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On 13 May 2016 a state of emergency was declared in Venezuela by President Nicolás Maduro. The details of this emergency condition were not explained by Maduro but he mentioned conspiracy within the country and from an OPEC country and the United States to overthrow the Caracas government. The last state of emergency happened last year due to issues near the Colombian border, resulting in the suspension of constitutional guarantees and the Venezuela–Colombia migrant crisis.
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Rationale
Maduro accused the United States of fomenting a hidden coup against his government. On May 13, Friday night, state television broadcast statements by Maduro saying: "Washington is activating measures at the request of Venezuela’s fascist right, who are emboldened by the coup in Brazil." According to Maduro's opinion, the impeachment process against Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is a sign that shows he is the next one. In a meeting with the Council of Ministers Maduro stated that the state of emergency decree is directed against "oligarchical parasites and speculators".
United States statements
In the lead up to the declaration, United States intelligence officials announced that Washington was worried about an economic and political crisis in Venezuela, predicting that Maduro would not complete his presidency. The officials added: "You can hear the ice cracking. You know there's a crisis coming."
Venezuela's opposition statements
Venezuelan opposition want to recall Maduro as president and this demand has been associated with bad conditions such as food and medicine shortages, power cuts, looting and increasing of inflation rate, summing the allegations of corruption, drug trafficking and human rights violation. Tomás Guanipa, opposition lawmaker, said: "Today Maduro has again violated the constitution. Why? Because he is scared of being recalled."