Venezuela is not officially classified as a dictatorship in a strict, legal sense, but many scholars and observers argue that it has functioned as a de facto authoritarian or dictatorial regime, especially under Nicolás Maduro since around 2016–2017, following an earlier period of democratic backsliding under Hugo Chávez starting in the 2000s. If the question is “how long has Venezuela been a dictatorship?” in the contemporary sense, many analysts would say roughly a decade, depending on where they mark the transition from flawed democracy to full authoritarian rule.

Modern context: ChĂĄvez to Maduro

  • Venezuela had a competitive, though imperfect, democracy from the fall of the Marcos PĂ©rez JimĂ©nez military dictatorship in 1958 until the late 1990s, when Hugo ChĂĄvez was elected in 1998 and took office in 1999.
  • Under ChĂĄvez, institutions such as the courts, electoral authority, and media were progressively brought under executive control, leading many organizations to classify Venezuela as an “authoritarian” or “hybrid” regime by the late 2000s, even though elections continued.

When many say “dictatorship” starts

  • A common reference point is NicolĂĄs Maduro’s consolidation of power after the opposition won the National Assembly in 2015 and the government used the Supreme Court and a new Constituent Assembly to strip the Assembly of its powers in 2017, effectively nullifying a democratically elected legislature.
  • By this stage, opposition leaders were jailed or barred from office, protests were met with lethal force, and elections were widely described by international observers as neither free nor fair, leading many governments and NGOs to label Maduro’s Venezuela a dictatorship in practice.

Historical dictatorships in Venezuela

  • Venezuela has had explicit dictatorships before: a classic example is the military dictatorship from 1948 to 1958, when a military triumvirate and then Marcos PĂ©rez JimĂ©nez ruled without genuine democracy until overthrown in 1958.
  • Earlier in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Venezuela also experienced long periods of caudillo rule, such as under Juan Vicente GĂłmez (1908–1935), who dominated the country through repression and personalist control.

So, “how long” in practical terms?

Because “dictatorship” is partly a political judgment, answers differ:

  • If counting only the clearly military dictatorship of 1948–1958: 10 years in the 20th century.
  • If counting the contemporary de facto authoritarian period under Maduro, many analysts would place the start of “dictatorship-like” rule around 2016–2017, which would mean roughly 8–10 years as of the mid‑2020s.

In short, Venezuela has a long history of dictators and authoritarian rulers, but in today’s debates, people usually mean that the country has functioned as a dictatorship in practice for about the last decade, after years of democratic erosion under Chávez and full consolidation of power under Maduro.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.