Venezuela orders UN human rights office to close, accusing it of anti-government activity
Venezuela’s government has ordered the local U.N. office on human rights to suspend its operations and has given its staff 72 hours to leave the country, accusing it of promoting opposition to the South American country.
US, Venezuela swap prisoners: Maduro ally for 10 Americans, plus fugitive contractor 'Fat Leonard'
The United States has freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor.
Maduro orders the 'immediate' exploitation of oil, gas and mines in Guyana's Essequibo
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is asking the country’s state-owned companies to “immediately” begin to explore and exploit the oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo region, a territory larger than Greece and rich in oil and minerals that Venezuela claims as its own.
Ex-lawmaker Maria Corina Machado dominates opposition's presidential primary in Venezuela
Former Venezuelan lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, a longtime critic of Venezuela’s government, has dominated the opposition’s presidential primary election, getting more than 1.4 million votes, according to the latest partial results.
UN rights experts report a rise of efforts in Venezuela to squelch democracy ahead of 2024 election
A U.N.-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela says the South American country’s government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment as President Nicolás Maduro faces a re-election contest next year.
Venezuela’s bid to save ‘diplomat’ from US charges takes hit
For two years, Venezuela’s socialist government has been fighting to extricate from the U.S. justice system an insider businessman it claims was on an ultra-secret mission to Iran when he was arrested on a U.S. warrant during a routine fuel stop in Africa.
Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives
Venezuela’s government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions.
US court awards $73 million for Venezuelan opponent's death
A federal judge in Miami has awarded $73 million in damages to the family of a prominent opponent of Venezuela’s socialist government who died while in custody in what he described as a “murder for hire” carried out by a criminal enterprise led by President Nicolás Maduro.
Caribbean storm likely to gain force, hit Central America
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says a storm that has hurled rain on the southern Caribbean and the northern shoulder of South America is expected to hit Central America as a tropical storm over the weekend and eventually develop into a hurricane over the Pacific.
US officials back in Venezuela in a bid to rebuild ties
Senior Biden administration officials have quietly traveled to Caracas in the latest bid to rebuild relations with the South American oil giant as the war in Ukraine drags on, driving higher gas prices and forcing the U.S. to recalibrate other foreign policy objectives.
EU reports improvements, old tactics in Venezuela election
Monitors from the European Union say Venezuela’s regional elections last weekend happened under better conditions compared to the country's elections in recent years but were marred by the use of public funds to benefit pro-government candidates.
US targets graft in Venezuela's flagship food box program
Federal prosecutors have unveiled criminal charges against an alleged corruption ring accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to a top ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to profit from lucrative contracts to import food and medicine at a time of widespread hardship in the South American country.
Maduro ally appears in court to face corruption charges
A businessman who prosecutors say was a major conduit for corruption by Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle has appeared for the first time in Miami federal court after an extradition that has further strained relations between the U.S. and Venezuela’s socialist government.
Venezuelan government seizes headquarters of independent newspaper founded in 1943
The duty of journalists is to keep those who are in power in check. This continues to be difficult in Venezuela where Nicolas Maduro and his supporters harass the Venezuelan editors, writers, reporters, and photojournalists who are doing their job.
Opositor venezolano Leopoldo López: hay que negociar
Leopoldo López, un activista prominente de la oposición venezolana, dijo el miércoles que la reciente oferta de negociación hecha por su movimiento al gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro fue motivada por la crisis humanitaria en el país y el prolongado estancamiento político.
Venezuela gives US oilmen house arrest in gesture to Biden
Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges have been granted house arrest in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.
US weighs policy on Venezuela as Maduro signals flexibility
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government is intensifying efforts to court the Biden administration as the new U.S. president weighs whether to risk a political backlash in Florida and ease up on sanctions seeking to isolate the socialist leader.
Venezolanos en Colombia denuncian maltrato en su país
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. En Caracas, el presidente de la Asamblea Nacional, Jorge Rodríguez, rechazó el jueves en un comunicado los hechos de violencia registrados en territorio venezolano, limítrofe con Colombia, y advirtió que Venezuela no permitirá que “grupos armados delincuenciales” del vecino país atenten en contra de su país. El documento agregaba que esos hechos “son resultado del conflicto armado interno que Colombia no ha sabido responder, causando daños bilaterales”. ARAUQUITA – “Nosotros salimos porque como a una cuadra de mi casa explotaron unos artefactos. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.
Fiscalía Venezuela abre nuevo proceso a opositor Juan Guaidó
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - MARCH 12: Opposition leader and Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido speaks during a demonstration against the blackout and the Nicolás Maduro government on March 12, 2019 in Caracas, Venezuela. Juan Guaido, declared interim president by the National assembly and accepted by many members of the international community called a demonstration to protest against the blackout which is affecting Venezuela. According to his words, it a consequence of a corruption and mismanagement of the government of Nicolas Maduro. (Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)
Orquesta sinfónica móvil busca sanar el alma de venezolanos
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. Este material no puede ser publicado, difundido, reescrito o redistribuido sin permiso. “En medio de una pandemia, Suramérica propone una vacuna artística”, dijo Sánchez a The Associated Press antes de comenzar el recorrido en Barquisimeto, ciudad ubicada a unos 270 kilómetros al oeste de Caracas. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reservedIf you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526.
Chief European Union diplomat in Venezuela leaves country
European Union Ambassador to Venezuela Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa leaves a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza where she was given a letter of "persona non grata" and given 72 hours to leave the country, at Arreaza's office in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)CARACAS – The chief European Union diplomat in Venezuela left the country on Tuesday, a week after the government of Nicolás Maduro ordered her expulsion following the EU's decision to impose sanctions on several Venezuelan officials accused of undermining democracy or violating human rights. AdThe move marked the second time in almost eight months that Brilhante Pedrosa was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Venezuela. Both cases were related to the European Union sanctions against officials and allies of Maduro. Last June, Brilhante Pedrosa was able to remain in Venezuela after the European Union high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza agreed on the need to maintain diplomatic relations.
Government-owned hotel stands as evidence of deepening class divide in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela – The Hotel Humboldt in Venezuela is the project of an extravagant military dictator’s use of oil royalties in the 1950s. Now it stands as irrefutable evidence of the country’s deepening class divide. Former President Hugo Chávez started to restore the 14-floor tower in 2012, and despite shortages of food and medications, President Nicolas Maduro completed the project in 2018. He shared the video on social media and talked about the hotel’s casino on national radio. Related social mediaWeddle reported from Bogota, Colombia and Torres contributed to this report from Miami.
Venezuelan economy increasingly depends on bartering and dollars
CARACAS, Venezuela – At 21 years old, David Soho trades plantains in the streets of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. Soho barters plantains for items like soap, butter, and rice, which he resells in bulk to a local market. Photo by Guillermo Legaria/Getty ImagesWith hyperinflation, President Nicolas Maduro replaced the bolivar for the bolivar soberano in 2018. Each bolivar soberano was worth about 100,000 bolivares. It became so worthless, street vendors started to use it as craft paper to make art.
Stunts in the streets for Venezuelan motorcycle virtuoso
Stuntman Pedro Aldana performs a wheelie on his motorcycle during an exhibition in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. The motorcycle trick rider and adrenalin junkie who prefers the nickname "Crazy Pedro," draws masses of Venezuelans starved for entertainment to his shows across the country. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)CARACAS – If police aren't shutting down his street shows for lack of permits, Venezuelan motorcycle trick rider Pedro Aldana is battling coronavirus quarantines or the tropical rains that turn the asphalt slick and send fans running for cover. For the last decade, he's been travelling across Venezuela to put on shows drawing up to 7,000 spectators. Aldana says he’s worked official channels in the past to get permission, but has been frustrated by bureaucrats demanding bribes.
Venezuela hired Democratic Party donor for $6 million
(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)MIAMI – Newly filed lobbying records show Venezuela’s socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic Party donor for $6 million at the same time it was lobbying to discourage the U.S. from imposing sanctions on the oil-rich nation. Federal prosecutors in Miami are also investigating whether the Republican broke foreign lobbying rules. Payments came from a little-known, Delaware-registered subsidiary, PDV USA, which provided shareholder services to PDVSA independent of Citgo's oil operations. “Wiss was engaged to provide PDV USA and its affiliates with legal services only,” she wrote in an e-mailed response to questions. PDV USA said Wiss provided updates on disputes involving PDVSA and advice on immigration, insurance, and cryptocurrency.
Maduro's 'miracle' treatment for COVID-19 draws skeptics
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the judicial year at the Supreme Court in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. “Ten drops under the tongue every four hours and the miracle is done,” Maduro said in a televised appearance on Sunday. Other leaders too have embraced solutions dismissed by scientific studies. Maduro said the treatment, which he called carvativir, has been under testing for nine months among Venezuelans ill with the coronavirus. She said colleagues at a local health center and some neighbors have died from COVID-19.
Venezuela's Maduro sends oxygen to Brazil amid virus spike
Maduro approved departure for a convoy of six tanker trucks loaded with oxygen in a national broadcast Sunday on state TV. “Let this oxygen arrive quickly to the people of Brazil," Maduro said. It didn’t immediately comment on whether it was involved in this shipment of oxygen from Venezuela to Manaus. A second coronavirus wave in Brazil has overflowed hospitals in Manaus, exhausting oxygen supplies. The Venezuelan trucks were expected to reach Manaus as early as Monday night, according to the Amazonas health secretariat's statement.
AP EXCLUSIVE: Maduro ally presses for dialogue with Biden
National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez gives an interview at Congress in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. It’s unclear if the Biden administration will accept the overture or continue with the hardline policy of regime change it inherits. Past attempts at government dialogue with the opposition have failed to end the country’s stalemate and Maduro has tightened his grip on power. As National Assembly president, Rodriguez is second in the line of presidential succession, behind his younger sister, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. Analysts say Biden has limited options to undo crippling oil sanctions imposed as part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
AP EXCLUSIVE: Maduro ally presses for dialogue with Biden
National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez gives an interview at Congress in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. It’s unclear if the Biden administration will accept the overture or continue with the hardline policy of regime change it inherits. Past attempts at government dialogue with the opposition have failed to end the country’s stalemate and Maduro has tightened his grip on power. As National Assembly president, Rodriguez is second in the line of presidential succession, behind his younger sister, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. Analysts say Biden has limited options to undo crippling oil sanctions imposed as part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
Venezuela's socialists take control of once-defiant congress
The ruling socialist party assumed the leadership of Venezuela's congress on Tuesday, the last institution in the country it didn't already control. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)CARACAS – Parading giant portraits of Hugo Chavez and independence hero Simon Bolivar, allies of President Nicolas Maduro retook control of Venezuela's congress Tuesday, the last institution in the country it didn’t already control. “They are trying to annihilate Venezuela’s democratic force,” Guaidó said in his online address, which was overshadowed by the government’s celebratory session in the legislature downtown. Rodriguez emphasized that urgent work would be needed to mitigate the fallout from U.S. sanctions, which have exacerbated Venezuela's many homespun economic problems. He also reiterated a desire for dialogue with the opposition at the same time that Maduro and others have threatened arrest for Guaidó.
Venezuelan village mourns 23 drownings, seeks those missing
The travelers were all from Güiria, a town of about 40,000 people that is only a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride away from Trinidad and Tobago. The fatal trip highlights a worsening migration problem that has increased tensions between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, with government officials and opposition leaders blaming each other. At least 23 people died in the attempt in early December, and more than a dozen remain missing. Bodies were found at sea or washed up on nearby beaches, and the search continues for those missing. More than 5.4 million people have fled Venezuela in recent years, the equivalent of 18% of the country’s population of 30 million.
Maduro opponents claim big turnout in Venezuelan protest
That includes the 5 million Venezuelans who have fled the nation’s hyperinflation and lack of basic services such as reliable running water, electricity and gasoline, they said. The Trump administration took the lead, imposing sanctions on Maduro, dozens of his political allies and the state-run oil firm PDVSA. On Jan. 5, the term of the current opposition-dominated National Assembly ends and Maduro’s political allies take over the last governmental body not controlled by the president’s socialist party. Guaidó and his political allies vow to continue fighting. Democracy must return to Venezuela.”Support among Venezuelans for the opposition has waned amid growing frustrations over Maduro remaining in power.
Venezuela's Guaidó: Time to revise international sanctions
“We must review these mechanisms at the international level to exert pressure on this dictatorship and find a solution,” Guaidó said. Maduro said taking the National Assembly back will help him end opposition-led violence in Venezuela’s streets fomented by Guaidó as well deflect crushing international sanctions. “One thing I can guarantee is that I’m staying in Caracas,” Guaidó said. Guaidó declined to say whether he's made contact with Biden's incoming administration, but he said there's a need to revise U.S. financial sanctions and support from world leaders. But Guaidó said it is time to revisit the sanctions, which have not forced out Maduro.
Legislative election leaves Venezuela in political standoff
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)CARACAS – President Nicolás Maduro has cemented formal control over all major institutions of power in Venezuela with authorities reporting Monday that his political alliance easily won a majority in congress. Yet he remains a pariah to much of the world following an election critics called deeply undemocratic. “The results of the election show a discouraged, tired people, the vast majority doing everything possible to survive,” Shifter said. The U.S., Panama, Canada and Germany have repeated their condemnation of the the election by Maduro's government following announcement of the results. "The international community now has to decide whether it wants to live with that or restore the democratic path for Venezuela.
Venezuela vote likely to give Congress to Maduro's party
The vote, championed by President Nicolas Maduro, is rejected as fraud by the nation's most influential opposition politicians. Critics say he's guaranteed that by rigging the system to smother the last remnants of democracy in Venezuela. The European Union, the U.S. and several other nations have already declared the vote a sham. “I came to vote, and in less than half a second I have voted, quickly,” Caracas resident Rafael Espinoza said. “I don’t feel like wasting my time, giving these people the opportunity, so I simply don’t vote,” she said.
Family of jailed oil exec asks for Venezuelan leader's mercy
(Courtesy of John Pereira via AP)CARACAS – The family of a Houston-based Citgo oil executive convicted and ordered to prison in Venezuela alongside five others appealed directly to President Nicolás Maduro on Friday for mercy. “Our purpose for this letter is not to enter into legal tirades about the case,” the letter says. The so-called Citgo 6 are employees of Houston-based Citgo refining company, which is owned by Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. Judge Lorena Cornielles, who oversaw the trial, did not respond to a letter from The Associated Press seeking permission to observe. Pereira's family said in the letter that he suffers from at least seven chronic health problems including diabetes and back trouble that requires surgery.
Venezuela judge convicts 6 American oil execs, orders prison
Jesus Loreto, an attorney representing Tomeu Vadell, one of six U.S. oil executives jailed for three years in Venezuela, shows a letter written by Vadell, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. The so-called Citgo 6 are employees of Houston-based Citgo refining company, which is owned by Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. Despite his circumstances, Vadell held out hope. With encouragement from his family, Vadell broke his silence, taking a risk relatives said was necessary. During his 35-year career with PDVSA and Citgo, Vadell ended up running a refinery in Lake Charles and then became vice president of refining.