CARACAS

Juan Guaidó said Venezuela’s regime deals with the opposition with torture, murder, exile, threats, and division — just as dictators in Nicaragua and Cuba do.

Hundreds of people from 11 countries are gathered in Venezuela to participate in boxing, swimming, gymnastics and other events.

Russia and Venezuela have reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and several other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats.

Dozens of obscure brokers are at the center of a new crackdown in Venezuela on corruption in the state-run oil industry that has government insiders scurrying for cover.

There's a special chance this week to see five planets lined up in the night sky.

Venezuela’s attorney general says 21 people, including senior officials in President Nicolás Maduro's government and business leaders, have been arrested in connection with a corruption scheme involving international oil sales.

A generation of children in Venezuela have only known a country in crisis, plagued over the last decade or more by shortages, inflation and desperation.

Venezuela’s government has released a former spy chief for the late President Hugo Chavez who spent nearly five years in prison for spearheading a movement of disgruntled leftists that defied President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.

People worldwide are more gloomy about their economic prospects than ever before and trust business far more than governments, nonprofits and the media in an increasingly divided world.

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.

Rescue workers in Venezuela are clearing rocks and mud from the streets of a north-central city that was hit by a massive landslide three days earlier.

Delegates of Colombia’s government and the nation’s largest remaining guerrilla group announced that they will restart peace talks that were suspended in 2018.

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.

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.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has offered a broad accounting of millions of dollars under his control and took credit for social programs benefiting people across the troubled South American country.

Por primera vez en más de tres años un embajador de Colombia es aceptado por Venezuela, dando un paso fundamental en el restablecimiento de las relaciones diplomáticas de los países vecinos.

At least three Venezuelan ride-sharing apps launched during the pandemic. They’ve taken advantage of a de facto switch of currencies from the Venezuelan bolivar to the U.S. dollar.

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.

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.

The Venezuelan opposition group backed by the United States will file a formal complaint with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the physical attack its leader suffered over the weekend during a visit to a rural community.

Venezuela's auto mechanics are increasingly busy these days, trying to coax a little more life out of aging vehicles.

The United States government is moving to ease a few economic sanctions on Venezuela in a gesture meant to encourage resumed negotiations between the U.S.-backed opposition and the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela’s government is seeking private investors to pump funds into vital but crippled state-run companies, decades after seizing them in the name of socialism.

Maybel Sequera and Juan González recently shared for lunch a plate of noodles and beans at their home in a low-income neighborhood west of Venezuela’s capital.

The ground shook as the voice of Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez collided with the cheers of fans at his first Venezuelan concert in over a decade.

The Venezuelan opposition was re-energized recently by an unexpected gubernatorial victory in the home state of the late President Hugo Chavez.

Venezuelan authorities touted this week that a powerful criminal organization that had ruled marginalized squatter settlements on the hills of southwestern Caracas had taken a hit.

Gladys Rosales, a retired nurse in Caracas, said she has trouble making ends meet. She has to rely on the bolivar despite the ongoing dollarization in Venezuela.

Venezuelans are getting a chance on to demand a recall of President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says he has spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about cooperation between the two countries.

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Richard Rogers, the lauded British architect who was one of the forces behind the Pompidou Center in Paris and later designed London’s Millennium Dome has died.

The developer of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine says it will work on adapting it to the new omicron COVID-19 variant.

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.

Venezuela's elections have come to a close, with Maduro's party taking 20 of the 23 governorships in the country.

Zoe Martano is no stranger to misery.

A businessman accused of siphoning off millions in state contracts from Venezuela has pleaded not guilty in a high profile case that’s strained relations between Washington and Caracas.

The International Criminal Court is opening a formal investigation into crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.

Knowledgeable sources and message exchanges reveal that Venezuela’s government quietly offered last year to release imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S. letting go a key financier of President Nicolás Maduro.

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.

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.

Venezuela’s socialist government said it would suspend negotiations with its opponents in retaliation for the extradition to the U.S. of a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro to face money laundering charges.

A new currency with six fewer zeros is debuting in Venezuela, whose currency has been made nearly worthless by years of the world’s worst inflation.

Venezuelan opposition parties say they will participate in the regional and municipal elections scheduled for November, a reversal from their boycotts of recent balloting.

Scott Smith, a correspondent for The Associated Press who traveled across Venezuela to document personal stories of desperation and hope in the troubled country, has died.

Yosmar Sanguino says she struggles to put food on the table for for her two daughters and three grandchildren in a low-income neighborhood of Venezuela’s capital.

Two decades of governments that see the press as an enemy have pushed Venezuelan journalists to find alternative ways to keep citizens informed.

Three days of conflicts between Nicolas Maduro’s regime and gangs have led to 26 deaths in Venezuela, sparking crackdowns in the country.

As the coronavirus pandemic is raging in Venezuela, Alida De Guidi, 76, said she woke up at dawn and waited in line in Caracas for a vaccine against COVID-19.

Some Venezuelan politicians who oppose Nicolas Maduro and his socialist party are already campaigning to run in gubernatorial and municipal elections set for Nov. 21st.

The World Health Organization has issued an emergency use listing for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinovac in adults 18 and over.

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.

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.

El líder opositor venezolano Juan Guaidó propone procurar un acuerdo mediante negociaciones con el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro y sus aliados, organizaciones de oposición y la comunidad internacional.

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.

A man revered by millions of Venezuelans as the “doctor of the poor” is one step away from sainthood.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is hurting the most vulnerable in Venezuela and Colombia where the vaccination campaigns are progressing at a painfully slow pace and officials are implementing lockdown measures.

Brazil’s health regulator has rejected a request from several states to import almost 30 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, citing safety concerns.

En las últimas dos semanas, Maduro aceptó las antiguas demandas de Estados Unidos de que se permita al Programa Mundial de Alimentos establecerse en el país en un momento de creciente hambre.

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.

For a second time this month, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reached an agreement with the sort of global aid agencies he has often shunned to bring help to his country’s people.

Venezuela y el Programa Mundial de Alimentos de las Naciones Unidas suscriben acuerdo para comenzar operaciones en el país sudamericano para atender a la población infantil más vulnerable, en particular a los escolares.

El Colegio Nacional de Periodistas de Venezuela aseguró que los reporteros Rafael Hernández y Luis Gonzalo Pérez, así como los activistas Juan Carlos Salazar y Diógenes Tirado, fueron liberados en la ciudad de Guasdualito, estado Apure.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

(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.

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.

(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.

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.

Luego evolucionaron a figuras y símbolos que evocan personajes o elementos que no necesitan mayor explicación. El uso como marco de las vallas de paradas de autobuses, en su mayoría en ruinas, tampoco es casual. Esas estructuras simbolizan los restos de un orden ciudadano que quedó en el olvido. Applewhite regresó a buscar una de sus piezas y la colgó con nailon sobre el marco. Para Applewhite el rescate de los espacios públicos es una forma de combatir la criminalidad y motivar a las personas a retomar las calles para su esparcimiento.

Maduro tasked El Aissami, who later became Venezuela's Oil Minister, with restructuring their nation's oil giant PDVSA in February 2020. The president also said two foreigners tied to extremist groups were detained a day prior to the incident with plans to kill Venezuelan leaders. Maduro did not identify the them, give their nationality or explain whether they had ties to the refinery attack. Venezuela was once a wealthy oil nation, but its broken refineries fail to produce enough fuel for drivers to fuel up their cars. “It seems like a very good idea to buy missiles from Iran,” Maduro said.

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez with his wife Lilian Tintori and their son and daughter pose for a photo after a news conference in Madrid on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. Sánchez's partner in the government, the far-left United We Can party, has in the past had connections with the socialist movement governing Venezuela. In a statement, it also accused Spain of helping the “terrorist” López to get away. “We are going to return to Venezuela to liberate Venezuela and to build the best Venezuela," López said. Repeatedly questioned about how he planned to remain relevant in Venezuelan politics, the opposition leader said he would focus on helping Guaidó gain more international support.

FILE - In this May 2, 2019 file photo, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez smiles during a press conference at the gate of the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas, Venezuela. Lopez left the residence where he had been a guest since April 30, 2019 and is leaving Venezuela people close to the opposition leader said on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)

FILE - In this May 2, 2019 file photo, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez smiles during a press conference at the gate of the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)MEDELLIN – Prominent opposition activist Leopoldo López has abandoned the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas and left Venezuela after years of frustrated efforts to oust the nation's socialist president, his party said Saturday. It is unclear how López left the ambassador's residence, given the heavy state security presence permanently stationed outside the property. The putsch was easily quashed and López took refuge in the ambassador’s residence. Even as his whereabouts remained unknown, some opposition leaders were praising López’s decision to flee.

(Michigan Office of the Governor via AP, File)LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan’s health department issued a mask requirement and other coronavirus restrictions Monday, just days after the state Supreme Court invalidated a 75-year-old emergency powers law that underpinned Gov. ___FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Now that he’s become infected with the coronavirus, President Donald Trump needs to set a “better example” during the pandemic, and he should start by always wearing a mask in public, Kentucky Gov. The Democratic governor said these changes to his coronavirus restrictions will be included in the latest emergency order he intends to release later this week. “Upon learning of the president’s positive COVID-19 test, we immediately enacted a 14-day quarantine for all staff who worked the party. Hancock’s statement came after the weekend disclosure that a total of 15,841 virus cases weren’t tabulated from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)CARACAS – The second of three ships loaded with gasoline from Iran approached fuel-starved Venezuela on Wednesday amid simmering social unrest over a lack of goods and services that's sparked protests across the South American nation. Despite each being relatively small, they have raised concern among Venezuelan authorities, who have responded forcefully, sending in soldiers and local police, activists and residents told The Associated Press. The latest shipment of Iranian fuel didn't impress residents of a small farming town of Urachiche in Yaracuy state. It was the site of protests among fed-up residents in the streets last week for five straight days. Venezuelan authorities have rejected the report, claiming it is full of “falsehoods” and that it was written at the behest of Washington in its ongoing attacks against Venezuela.

A beauty pageant contestant, wearing a protective face mask issued by the Miss Venezuela beauty pageant, watches as her hair is styled in a Venevision television station dressing room, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. The storied beauty contest - Miss Venezuela has produced seven Miss Universe winners, six Miss Worlds and seven Miss Internationals - has endured corruption and sex scandals, as well as lawsuits, in recent years. The crowning of the new Miss Venezuela and the two finalists will take place the next day in another recorded program. They've looked at the examples of others for ideas on how to put on a beauty pageant in the middle of a pandemic. “Our objective has always been to put on Miss Venezuela,” she said.

(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___UMass says it will play football this fall, reversing an August decision to postpone the season until the spring. One of few independents in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the school says it will start in mid-October. Games still need to be scheduled, which could be a challenge because most leagues are playing a limited number of nonconference games, if any. UMass was an occasional power in Division I-AA, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision, winning it all in 1998 and returning to the title game eight years later. Results show that “a number of our first-team squad have tested positive for COVID-19.”Those who tested positive will follow government self-isolation guidelines.

Authorities said cellphones taken from the men when they were arrested last week include images of a large bridge in Zulia state, military installations and dilapidated oil refineries in Falcon state. President Nicolás Maduro announced on Friday that an unnamed suspected U.S. spy had been captured, saying he was a Marine and former CIA operative in Iraq. Venezuela also struggles to provide electricity to residents, especially in Zulia state, once a major hub of the nation's vast oil production. The three Venezuelans accused of conspiring with Heath include a military officer, Saab said, adding that they helped him enter from Colombia. The ex-Green Berets in Goudreau's force — Luke Denman Airan Berry Venezuela — have been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“Restoring constitutional rights that were illegally taken away should not be applauded," the U.S. State Department said in a statement. According to the Caracas-based prisoner rights group Foro Penal, Venezuelan jails hold more than 330 people the opposition considers political prisoners. Maduro in a Tuesday address on state TV accused President Donald Trump of leading a campaign to topple and even kill him. Maduro defended his pardons, saying he assumed full responsibility for the decision done in the spirit of peace and dialogue. The State Department described the pardons as “token actions" and said conditions required for free and fair elections are clear.

CARACAS The Venezuelan government said Monday that it had pardoned more than 100 people, including dozens of political opponents who are in prison, have taken refuge in foreign embassies in Caracas or fled the country. The fact they are openly negotiating in defiance of the U.S. government and Guaid shows that a growing part of Venezuelas opposition has become frustrated with Venezuela's political stalemate, he said. Maduro is not our president and I am no criminal, De Grazia, who lives in Italy, said on Twitter, addressing Maduro. Garca leads ProCitizens, a small political party that is opposed to Maduro but not part of the opposition coalition led by Guaid and Guaids mentor Leopoldo Lpez. I agree that we need as much participation as possible from our political parties, Garca said.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)NEW DELHI India has registered 78,512 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, maintaining an upward surge. The surge has raised the countrys total reported virus cases since the pandemic began to more than 3.6 million. New Zealand reported nine new virus infections Monday, including four among recently returned travelers who are in quarantine. ___SEOUL, South Korea South Korea has counted its 18th straight day of triple-digit daily jumps in coronavirus cases as its health minister warned about an increase in transmissions gone untraced. The 248 new cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday brought the total reported cases since the pandemic began to 19,947, including 324 deaths.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)NEW DELHI India has reported more than 67,000 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, raising the countrys number of reported infections to 3.2 million with 1.5 million reported infections coming this month alone. New reported infections dropped to around 61,000 on Monday and Tuesday, but picked up again in the past 24 hours. ___BEIJING China has suspended a flight from Abu Dhabi to Shanghai for a week after passengers on board tested positive for coronavirus. Oahu has seen a surge in daily positive cases. ___MELBOURNE, Australia Australias hard-hit Victoria state on Wednesday recorded one of its deadliest days of the pandemic despite new COVID-19 infections continuing to trend down.

There is an economic relationship; the murkier aspects have attracted the scrutiny of the U.S. Treasury Department. There is solidarity in their anti-U.S. rhetoric, even if the United States is a key trading partner of Turkey. The alliance was on display Tuesday when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Caracas to sign agreements and mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. We should keep going," the Turkish foreign minister said. In an analysis for the Washington-based Wilson Center, he described the relationship between Turkey and Venezuela as an alliance of convenience."

China confirmed 13 new cases in the northwestern city of Urumqi on Sunday, while South Korea reported less than 40 additional cases for a second straight day. The number of confirmed infections worldwide has passed 14.2 million, out of which 3.7 million are in the United States. Local governments in India continued to reimpose focused lockdowns in several parts of the country following a surge in cases. Iran has the Middle Easts worst outbreak with more than 270,000 confirmed cases. In Bangladesh, confirmed cases surpassed 200,000 but experts say the number is much higher as the country lacks adequate labs for testing.

Vehicles line up near a gas station to fill their tanks, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, May 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)MIAMI U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking to seize four tankers sailing toward Venezuela with gasoline supplied by Iran, the latest attempt to disrupt ever-closer trade ties between the two heavily sanctioned anti-American allies. The Trump administration has been stepping up pressure on ship owners to abide by sanctions against U.S. adversaries like Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. The move followed an auction Wednesday of 100,000 barrels of gasoline seized from a Greek-managed ship whose owner suspected the cargo was heading toward Venezuela. As commercial traders increasingly shun Venezuela, Nicols Maduro's socialist government has been increasingly turning to Iran.