Why It Matters

Latin America and the Caribbean are facing acute political instability: Venezuela's interim government remains fragile under Vice President Delcy Rodríguez following the U.S. military capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in January, Nicaragua's growing authoritarian consolidation through constitutional reform, and Haiti's first elections in nearly a decade (scheduled for December and February) following the shocking assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Together, these developments put political succession, electoral credibility, and institutional stability at the center of the regional outlook.

Political upheaval in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti has prompted a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report updated September 9 on heads of government and electoral schedules across 34 countries. The aim is to offer Congress and the Trump administration a snapshot of political leadership and democratic transitions.

The Big Picture

Venezuela's political transformation began on January 3 when President Trump announced that U.S. military operations culminated in President Maduro's capture alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. The 2024 Venezuelan election results that preceded Maduro's detention had drawn international criticism, with the National Electoral Commission claiming a 51.2 percent victory for Maduro against 44.2 percent for opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, a margin that contradicted preelection polling, exit polls, and opposition-published precinct-level tabulations.

In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega declared on July 19 that there would be no more elections, a statement followed nine days later by the National Assembly president introducing a constitutional reform bill to extend the presidential term from six years to seven years. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned Nicaragua's constitutional reform on August 3, and the U.S. State Department issued a press release titled 'A Call to Action: Addressing the Murillo-Ortega Dictatorship's Vow to Abolish Elections' in July 2026.

Haiti's provisional electoral council set December 13 for the first round of elections and February 21, 2027, for the runoff, marking the country's first electoral cycle in years following Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé's assumption as the de facto head of state.

The Bottom Line

For Congress and the Trump administration, the calendar makes the conduct of upcoming elections and the durability of political transitions the central issues to monitor across the region. That means election administration and institutional checks, rather than schedules alone, will determine whether those transitions hold.

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