Nicolás Maduro

 Nicolás Maduro Moros (born 23 November 1962 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan politician and former bus driver who was appointed foreign minister by President Hugo Chávez on 9 August 2006. He is President of Venezuela following the death of Hugo Chávez on March 5, 2013. He won a 6-year term as president in the presidential election April 14, 2013. After loss of popular support he called for appointment by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela of the 2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela which, according to him, displaces the existing government of Venezuela.

Biography
Nicolás Maduro finished high school in the Liceo Avalos, a public high-school west of Caracas during the '80s (El Valle neighborhood), but lacks any university or further education. Maduro is married to Cilia Flores, herself a prominent figure within the MVR. She replaced Maduro as Speaker of assembly.

He began his political career while working as a bus driver by becoming an unofficial trade-unionist representing the workers of the Caracas Metro system in the 1970s and 1980s - a time when unions within the Metro company were not allowed. He is considered one of the founders of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), but his biggest political accomplishment was as activist for the release of Hugo Chávez from prison, and later as one of this regional political coordinators during the 1998 presidential race. Maduro was elected on the MVR ticket to the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies in 1998, to the National Constituent Assembly in 1999, and to the National Assembly in 2000 and 2005, representing the Capital District. The legislature elected him Speaker of the Assembly. He held that position from 2005 until the first half of 2006.

On the 15th of December 2011, it was reported in El Universal that President Hugo Chávez wished to make Maduro the PSUV candidate in the state of Carabobo for governor, which was held by the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable.

On 10 October 2012, three days after the presidential elections, he was appointed Vice President by Hugo Chávez, having taken office on 13 October. He became president following Hugo Chávez's death, but faces an election soon.