In the past few days, Spanish airline Iberia has resumed landing in Caracas, and American Airlines has also announced plans to return to Venezuela .

Paraguay , meanwhile, is building support to reverse the suspension of Venezuela's membership in the South American trade bloc Mercosur . "This is one of the initiatives we'd like to advance during Paraguay's pro-tempore presidency," Marco Riquelme, Paraguay's new minister of industry and commerce, said at a press conference in late March.

Should the initiative succeed, this would also impact the European Union , which recently closed a wide-ranging free trade agreement with Mercosur that's slated to go into effect on a provisional basis on May 1.

Not even four months after then-president Nicolas Maduro was removed from power in a controversial military operation by the US, Venezuela has seen economic conditions shift dramatically .

Oil industry a decisive factor

Venezuela is the most oil-rich country in the world based on proven oil reserves.…