Since 1994, Belarus has been ruled by Alexander Lukashenko. For nearly three decades, he has established near-total control over Belarus’ law enforcement, judiciary, and political system, turning the country into one of the most repressive states on the planet. In August 2020, after failing to address the COVID-19 pandemic, falsifying the results of the presidential elections, and committing egregious human rights abuses, Lukashenko faced nationwide protests.

On Feb. 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and began launching missile strikes on major cities, shelling military and civilian infrastructure, and advancing across the country with the goal of overthrowing the democratically elected Ukrainian government.

In a historic feat, on July 28, 2024, more than seven million Venezuelans voted to elect democratic opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia — Maria Corina Machado’s Unitary Platform replacement — as the new president of Venezuela, rejecting 25 years of authoritarian rule by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela; PSUV), first headed by Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chávez and, since 2014, by dictator Nicolás Maduro.