weapons importing country in 2011 according to the Russian Centre for the Analysis of the Arms Trade, surpassing Turkey and Pakistan. As of 2012, Venezuela had about US$7.2 billion in debt for the purchase of weapons from Russia. Nicolás Maduro President Maduro was formally inaugurated as President of Venezuela on 19 April 2013, after the election commission had promised a full audit of the election results. In October 2013, Maduro requested an enabling law to rule by decree in order to fight corruption and to also fight what he called an 'economic war'. On 24 October, he also announced the creation of a new agency, the Vice Ministry for the Supreme Social Happiness of the Venezuelan People, to coordinate all social programmes. In November 2013, weeks before the local elections, President Maduro used his special decree powers and ordered the military to take over appliance stores. Analysts said that the move amounted to a "cannibalizing" of the economy and that it might lead to even more shortages in the future. An article by The Guardian noted that a "significant proportion" of the subsidized basic goods in short supply were being smuggled into Colombia and sold for far higher prices. In February 2014, the government said it had confiscated more than 3,500 tons of contraband on the border with Colombia—food and fuel which, it said, was intended for "smuggling" or "speculation." The president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, said that the confiscated food should be given to the Venezuelan people, and should not be "in the hands of these gangsters." On 28 March 2017, the Venezuelan Supreme Court removed the immunity for parliamentary assembly members, the majority of whom were anti-Maduro. On 30 March 2017, the Venezuelan Supreme Court took over law making powers from the National Assembly, but this decision was reversed on 1 April 2017. The process and results of the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election were widely disputed. The opposition-majority National Assembly declared Maduro's presidency illegitimate on the day of his second inauguration, citing the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela enacted under Hugo Chávez, Maduro's predecessor. The body declared that his reelection was invalid, and declared its president, Juan Guaidó, to be acting president of the country. The pro-Maduro Supreme Tribunal of Justice said the National Assembly's declaration was unconstitutional. Since January there has been a presidential crisis in Venezuela. References Sources Roberto Briceño León et al., "La