President of Venezuela

President of Venezuela, Presidente de Venezuela, is both the head of state and also the head of government of Venezuela. The current presidential term is for six years with the constitutionally guaranteed recourse of holding a popular recall referendum anytime within the last three years of a presidential term. On 15 February 2009, a referendum removed the previous restrictions which limited the President to two terms.The current president of Venezuela is Hugo Chávez.

The designation "Presidente" encompasses only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Venezuela following Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spanish colonial rule, which took effect on July 5, 1811. The first president, taking office on July 5, 1811, was actually the president of a triumvirate that rotated the presidency weekly. The person serving as president during the week of July 5 was one of the three signatories of the Declaration of Independence: Cristóbal Mendoza. Mendoza shared the triumvirate with Juan Escalona and Baltasar Padrón.

Owing to the profound confusion of the Venezuelan War of Independence and the period of Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this page has gaps between 1814 and 1819. The Congress of Angostura appointed Simón Bolívar "Jefe Supremo de la República de Venezuela" (Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela) from 1819 until 1830. The list below includes interim 'caretaker' as well as regular serving presidents, and democratically installed presidents as well as those installed by other means (e.g.; Marcos Pérez Jiménez).

Comments on presidential ordering

The second numbering column reflects the number of the presidency. Since its creation as a republic in 1811, Venezuela has had a total to date of 75 presidencies: a single person serving a single term beginning with Cristóbal Mendoza. The second column reflects uninterrupted time in office served by a single person. For example, Juan Crisóstomo Falcón served two consecutive terms and is counted in the first column as both 24th presidency and 25th presidency, but this is counted in the second column as the 20th presidential office. The third column lists the actual numbering of distinct individual presidents. Many of the men listed below became President on a provisional basis as they waited for the arrival of the elected or regular president, such as commonly occurs in the aftermath of a civil war, rebellion, or coup d'état. As a consequence, other Venezuelan presidential rosters may not choose to include the terms below, citing the extreme brevity of certain terms, unusual circumstances that may have surrounded a president's ascendancy into office, and other factors. The colors shaded about each president indicate the political party affiliation of each President