Venezuela

The Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought award is considered the European Union's highest human rights honour

Jindal is exiting the deal under which it would have overseen one of Petroleos de Venezuela's key installations for producing and processing heavy-crude oil for export

An independent group of election experts that observed Venezuela's July presidential election on Wednesday legitimised the vote tally sheets the opposition has offered as proof of President Nicolas Maduro's defeat, telling the Organization of American States the electronic balloting system worked and the ruling party as well as other stakeholders "know the truth". The assertions from an expert with the US-based Carter Center came during a session convened by members of the regional body to address the dispute that emerged from Venezuela's presidential election. The group was one of the two independent panels that the government invited to observe the vote on July 28, which electoral authorities claimed -- without offering any proof -- favoured Maduro. The dispute has centred on thousands of tally sheets known as actas -- printouts that resemble shopping receipts -- that have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Each of the 30,000 electronic voti

Venezuela's main opposition coalition on Monday called on the US to cancel the licenses that allow Chevron and other energy companies to operate in the South American country to pressure President Nicols Maduro to negotiate a transition from power. The appeal came from an adviser to the campaign of Edmundo Gonzlez Urrutia, who represented the Unitary Platform coalition in the July 28 election, and his main backer, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Gonzlez and Machado claim their campaign won the vote by a wide margin, contradicting the decision of national electoral authorities to declare Maduro the winner. We want them cancelled this is a lifeline to the regime, adviser Rafael de la Cruz said in reference to the licenses during a panel discussion hosted by a Washington-based think tank. We want all the oil companies to go to Venezuela. So, it's not about the companies. It's about the situation that is impoverishing the country so badly that practically the whole population ..

Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro. The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan. The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castaeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens. The US State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a US military member and said it

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado tried to reassure supporters Monday that her coalition still hopes to gain control of the presidency despite the departure into exile of their candidate Edmundo Gonzlez Urrutia. Machado's group maintains that it has evidence that Gonzlez won the July 28 presidential election by a wide margin against Venezuela's authoritarian incumbent president, Nicols Maduro, despite his claim to have won. Machado told an online meeting Monday of opposition leaders, reporters and others that her group still hopes to see Maduro leave office in January, even if for voters those hopes seem increasingly tenuous since Gonzlez's decision to flee into exile to Spain over the weekend. She said the former diplomat could fulfill the role of opposition candidate with much greater protection and security from abroad. She herself has gone into hiding in the weeks since the election, while Maduro's government has arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down o

Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left the South American country after seeking asylum in Spain, according to a senior Venezuelan official. The surprise departure by the candidate who Venezuela's opposition and several foreign governments consider the legitimate winner of July's presidential race is a serious blow to efforts to unseat President Nicols Maduro and comes just days after the government ordered his arrest. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a message posted on Instagram that Gonzalez, who has not been seen since the election, had sought refuge in past days at Spain's embassy in Caracas. She said the government decided to grant Gonzlez safe passage out of the country to help restore the country's political peace and tranquility. Neither Gonzalez nor anyone from Venezuela's opposition has yet to comment. Gonzalez, a 75 year old former diplomat, was a last minute stand in when opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was

A Venezuelan judge on Monday issued an arrest warrant for the opposition's former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzlez as part of a criminal investigation into the results of a disputed election. The warrant was issued at the request of authorities who accuse Gonzlez, a former diplomat, of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. The warrant comes just over a month after election officials declared President Nicols Maduro the winner of an election that his opponents say he lost. Authorities sought the warrant after Gonzlez failed to appear three times to answer questions from prosecutors in a criminal investigation stemming from the disputed election results. Ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor of the July 28 election, hours after polls closed. They did not show any detailed results to back up their claim as they had offered in previous presidential elections. The lack of transparency has drawn internation

Maduro to Zelensky: Here are all the world leaders Elon Musk has clashed with

Sought special licence from US for Venezuela operations, rouble payments to Russia for Sakhalin

The leaders of Brazil and Colombia on Saturday again called on Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro to release voting tallies, days after the country's Supreme Court backed the government's disputed claims that it won elections in July. In a joint statement, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data. The two leaders also warned against repression as the Venezuelan government has jailed thousands and met protests with violence. The governments spoke a day after several other Latin American countries and the U.S. rejected the Venezuelan high court's certification. Many were waiting to see how the two leftist leaders would respond to the court because both are close allies of Maduro and have been working to facilitate talks with both sides. Maduro claims that he won the presidential vote, but so far has refu

Responding to Biden's remarks later Thursday, Maduro said he "completely and absolutely rejects that the US government intends to become the electoral authority of Venezuela or any other place

Venezuelan opposition leader Mara Corina Machado on Thursday rejected a proposal from Brazil's president that Venezuela hold a new presidential election following the contested results of last month's vote. Her comments came shortly after Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva said that he still doesn't recognize Nicols Maduro as the winner of last month's presidential election in Venezuela, and that his counterpart could call for a new vote if he has good sense". US President Joe Biden also expressed support for new elections. Lula said that Maduro still owes an explanation to Brazilians and the rest of the world. Machado said during a virtual press conference with Argentine media that redoing the election would be an insult to the people, and she asked if second election were held and Maduro still didn't accept the results, "do we go for a third one? Brazil is by far South America's largest nation and shares one of Venezuela's longest land borders. Unlike many other nations

President Nicolas Maduro said he has ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela, accusing the owner Elon Musk of using the social network to promote hatred after the country's disputed presidential election. Associated Press journalists in Caracas found that by Thursday night posts had stopped loading on X on two private telephone services and state-owned Movilnet. Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself, said Maduro in a speech following a march by pro-government groups. Maduro alleged Musk has incited hatred. Maduro also accused the social network of being used by his opponents to create political unrest. Venezuela's president said he had signed a resolution with the proposal made by CONATEL, the National Telecommunications Commission, which has decided to remove the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, from circulation in Venezuela for 10 days so that they can present their documents. Maduro did not provide more ...

Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex, plans to supply naphtha, a refined product, from the US to partly pay for its Venezuelan oil purchases

Venezuela's opposition leaders are calling on the country's armed forces to abandon their support of President Nicols Maduro and stop repressing demonstrators who have come out in force to dispute the leader's claim he prevailed in last Sunday's election. The armed forces are traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela and have been key to Maduro's grip on power ever since he took over the so-called Bolivarian revolution in 2013 from his mentor, the late Hugo Chvez. So far, they've shown no signs of ditching Maduro even in the face of credible evidence presented by the opposition that it trounced the self-proclaimed socialist at the polls by a more than 2-to-1 margin. In a message posted Monday on social media, Edmundo Gonzlez who the U.S. and a half dozen countries have recognized as the victor and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called on rank and file members of the security forces to rethink their loyalty. We appeal to the conscience of the military an

Voices across the globe expressed concern Sunday over the growing number of arrests in Venezuela following last weekend's disputed elections. Pope Francis said Venezuela is "living a critical situation" in his traditional Sunday remarks at the Vatican, adding, I appeal to all parties to seek the truth, to avoid all kinds of violence. The remarks came hours after Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro announced Saturday that the government has arrested 2,000 opponents. At a rally in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, Maduro pledged to detain more people and send them to prison. U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told CBS program Face the Nation Sunday that the Biden administration is worried the arrests could spark wider unrest. We are concerned about the prospect of instability, should there continue to be these detentions, Finer said. And in a statement, the leaders of several European countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy said the rights of all the Venezuela

Thousands of people rallied in the streets of Venezuela's capital Saturday, waving the national flag and singing the national anthem in support of an opposition candidate they believe won the presidential election by a landslide. Authorities have declared President Nicols Maduro the winner of last Sunday's election but have yet to produce voting tallies to prove he won. Instead, the government arrested hundreds of opposition supporters who took to the streets in the days after the disputed poll, and the president and his cadres have threatened to also lock up opposition leader, Mara Corina Machado, and her hand-picked presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzlez. On Saturday, supporters chanted and sang as Machado arrived at the rally in Caracas. Machado, who has been barred by Maduro's government from running for office for 15 years, had been in hiding since Tuesday, saying her life and freedom are at risk. Masked assailants ransacked the opposition's headquarters on Friday, taking ...

The US has said it's clear the opposition won the most votes, a position shared by several countries

The lack of options is stranding Venezuelans who live abroad but returned to vote in the July 28 election