In the shadow of the situation that has unfolded and is still on-going in Ukraine, anti-government protesters in Venezuela have been demonstrating in the streets of the country’s major cities for over a month. The demonstrators, most of them students, say that they are protesting, among other things, increased crime, poor economic conditions and government corruption.

According to the Associated Press, inflation hit 56 percent last year, and the country continues to deal with an extremely high rate of crime. The unrest, which started at the beginning of last month, continues even as the country remembers the life of former President Hugo Chavez, who died a year ago last week. Chavez was a controversial figure in the country and around the world given his socialist-leaning ideology, known as chavismo, which nationalized various industries and focused on alleviating poverty.

“That caused a lot of tension with the people who used to be in power in Venezuela, the rich, or oligarchs as Chavez called them, who were always trying to gain back that power,” DePaul professor H. Peter Steeves, an expert on Venezuelan politics who lived in the country for a time, said. “And when Chavez died, because he was such a powerful figure, things started to deteriorate, and it wasn’t clear how the future was going to be. And so we end up with a situation like we have today.”

Current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took over when Chavez died and was subsequently elected to a full term by a 1.5 percent margin. This close margin has been the subject to scrutiny from the opposition given the corruption that plagues the Venezuelan government.

“Even though Maduro is in charge and I think in general that he’s doing the right sorts of things and his policies are in general good, he doesn’t have the force of that image of standing for the Bolivarian revolution like Chavez did, so it’s a difficult transitional time for Venezuela,” Steeves said. “And I think the opposition sees this as an opportunity to seize power.”

The opposition, led by Leopoldo Lopez, is seeking the ouster of the president and several reforms that would address the grievances they have. According to Steeves, the question at hand is one of ideology. Prior to the policies of Chavez and Maduro, Venezuela was a capitalist country and a rich country, yet poverty was widespread. He credits many of the policies enacted by the aforementioned leaders to have alleviated that problem.

“There are real problems in Venezuela with inflation, there are problems with scarcity, and although there are those particular problems, you can’t ignore the fact that even last year, poverty continued to drop,” Steeves said.

And while the international community is looking at possible ways to non-militarily intervene in Ukraine, many believe that it would be best to leave the Venezuelans to figure out the problem themselves.

According to the Associated Press, Maduro stated, “We don’t accept the interventionism of anyone, because our international policy is a policy of peace, of cooperation, of respect, of the anti-imperialist Latin American union.”

“There are sometimes where we need to pull together and do things; this is not one of those times,” Steeves said. Many leaders in Latin America have expressed support for Maduro’s government, decrying the violence they believe was instigated by the protesters.

However, opposition leader Lopez has been arrested and remains imprisoned as the government uses tear gas and rubber bullets to put down the protests. Even with both sides crying foul, Steeves believes that if cool heads could prevail, a peaceful outcome is possible.

“This is an opportunity. I think even the Maduro government should look at this as an opportunity to try and say that now is the moment where it’s this bad, where if we could all just calm down, that there are ways of everybody succeeding,” Steeves said.