Demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela clash with the Bolivarian National Guard during the first protest in 2017 against the government of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president.
Venezuela is steeped in a severe economic and political crisis that began to unfold during Hugo Chávez’s presidency and has intensified under Nicolás Maduro, who took office in 2013. Inflation has exploded, public services are collapsing, and average Venezuelan citizens suffer critical shortages of food, medical supplies, and other basic goods. Meanwhile, opponents of the current government are sometimes brutally suppressed as they protest what they see as an increasingly authoritarian regime. In Venezuela’s most recent election on May 20, 2018, Maduro won a second term, but members of the opposition and critics around the world called the vote a sham.
Horacio Siciliano is the photographer behind some of the most emblematic photos of the Venezuelan crisis. He currently lives exiled in Spain after being followed, threatened, and questioned by government authorities as a result of his photojournalism.