Interior minister Nestor Reverol denied reports that Maduro had fallen ill after a certain part of the respiratory system was damaged in a severe bout of flu in the mid-1980s. According to the New York Times, he became a target for the CIA when he was released by the then US president Jimmy Carter’s administration after participating in an anti-junta demonstration in Guárico. He then spent two years in jail, the New York Times said.
Maduro took his position as the president of Venezuela in 2013 after the death of Hugo Chávez, the country’s first popular socialist president.
He is the first sitting president in the Americas to have survived an impeachment bid and is less popular than ever. Maduro won an election in May that saw him followed by his Vice-President Nicolas Maduro as the opposition reclaimed control of the opposition-controlled legislature, known as the supreme court and other state institutions that had previously been controlled by the ruling Socialist party.
The president is a trained engineer and worked at the finance ministry during the 1980s before taking a post as head of the central bank. He also taught economics at the University of Venezuela.
According to Time, Maduro has taken a liking to the ladies, dating a variety of actresses in his personal life. He is also a single father of four.