The Trump administration has tightened the screws on Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, announcing sanctions against the country’s state-owned oil giant PDVSA in what the US national security adviser admitted was partly an attempt to counter strategic threats from Cuba and Iran.
Related: Juan Guaidó: Venezuela has chance to leave chaos behind
Continue reading...Minas Gerais locals recall another dam collapse involving mining firm Vale as hunt continues for 292 people still missing
The dirt road which once led to the Nova Estância guesthouse and a handful of nearby farms now ends in a slew of sticky, acrid sludge that stretches as far as the eye can see, a deep red gash across the green of the rolling Brazilian countryside.
The road, a small bridge it once crossed, the guesthouse and hundreds of people were all swallowed by mud when a tailings dam at the Córrego de Feijão mine collapsed on Friday, unleashing a torrent of liquid waste.
Continue reading...Bolsonaro’s move allowing more people to own firearms is causing unease in a society where domestic violence is rife
A pledge to make it easier for “good citizens” to buy guns for self-defence helped sweep Jair Bolsonaro to power. But there is alarm that the Brazilian president’s decree loosening firearms laws will make pervasive violence against women even worse – and more deadly.
“I believe this is a very negative measure that will lead more women to be threatened by violence,” said Maria da Penha, the women’s rights activist whose case changed Brazil’s domestic violence laws. “This decree should be reviewed.”
Continue reading...Self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó tells troops they have ‘a guarantee of protection’
Members of Venezuela’s opposition canvassed military bases across the embattled nation on Sunday, offering amnesty to troops and police officers who defect from the South American nation’s embattled president Nicolás Maduro.
The bold attempt to dent Maduro’s grip on the military – long seen as the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela – was led by Juan Guaidó, the leader of the opposition-held national assembly, who last Wednesday declared himself interim president until fresh elections are held.
Continue reading...Exclusive: self-declared interim president tells the Guardian he is set on forcing out Nicolás Maduro
The opposition leader who last week declared himself Venezuela’s rightful interim president has played down fears of a possible armed conflict and claimed his economically devastated nation was living through an “almost magical moment” in its newly revived quest for democracy.
In one of his first interviews since last Wednesday’s surprise move, Juan Guaidó told the Guardian he was set on “getting the job done” to force Nicolás Maduro from power and ending a humanitarian emergency which has fuelled the largest exodus in modern Latin American history.
Continue reading...European leaders toughen stance on Venezuela as hawkish US steps up rhetoric
The UK government’s decision to swing behind calls by the EU and US for the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro to call elections within a week, and to join efforts to switch off Maduro’s finances, is evidence of a three-fold strategy.
The government wants to maximise pressure on Maduro to allow elections while keeping the EU united; protect its remaining UK diplomats in Venezuela; and repeatedly point out the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s associations with the governments of Maduro and of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
Continue reading...People evacuated after high water level warning at another Vale mining dam in Brumadinho
An alarm warning of an imminent mining dam rupture was issued early on Sunday near Brumadinho, the same Brazilian community where the collapse of a dam killed 34 and left hundreds more feared dead.
The alarm, warning of dangerously-high water levels at a dam that is part of the Córrego do Feijão mining complex in south-east Brazil went off at 5:30 am, a statement by the mining company Vale said.
Continue reading...Venezuela’s generals did not immediately announce where they stood when Juan Guaidó, a young parliamentarian, was sworn in as “interim president” in front of a huge crowd in the streets of Caracas.
It was a largely symbolic assumption of office, since Guaidó has no power to enforce any decisions. But the new champion of the opposition was recognised as “legitimate president” by the administration of Donald Trump and other American and European powers, including the UK.
Continue reading...Juan Guaidó welcomes support from Washington attache, who urges other officers to recognise the ‘only legitimate president’
Venezuela’s top military envoy to the United States has defected from the government of Nicolás Maduro as the South American nation’s political crisis deepened.
Days after opposition leader Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself interim president amid social and economic chaos, Col Jose Luis Silva released a video on Saturday calling on other military officers to back the pretender.
Continue reading...It was Friday lunchtime in Venezuela’s crumbling capital and Omar Mejías – for years a disciple of the comandante Hugo Chávez – had come to a plaza in the city’s east for what he hoped might be a glimpse of a brighter future.
On stage before him stood Juan Guaidó, a fresh-faced and until recently little-known politician, catapulted into the spotlight last week by the decision of the United States – and then a succession of other world powers – to recognise him, and not the incumbent Nicolás Maduro, as the legitimate president of this oil-rich but economically ravaged South American nation.
Continue reading...John McCallum had said Meng Wanzhou could make a strong argument against being sent to the US
In an unprecedented move, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said he had fired his ambassador to China, who had prompted a political furor with comments about Huawei’s high-profile extradition case.
Related: 'I misspoke': Canada ambassador to China regrets saying Huawei chief had 'strong case'
Continue reading...Mike Pompeo urged countries to disconnect from Maduro’s government financially as Britain issued eight-day ultimatum
Britain has issued the embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, a stark ultimatum, warning him it would throw its weight behind the country’s self-declared interim leader unless he called an election within the next eight days – as the US government called on the world to “pick a side” in the crisis.
Echoing calls from Berlin, Paris and Madrid, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said on Saturday it was clear Maduro was no longer the legitimate leader of the Latin American country after last year’s “deeply flawed” election.
Continue reading...Homicides in Tijuana have skyrocketed recently, returning the city to levels of hyper-violence it last saw a decade ago
This week, the Trump administration pushed ahead with its plan to return asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases are considered, moving the first group through San Diego’s San Ysidro crossing late on Friday.
Related: 'The US can't dump people in Mexico': Trump asylum policy in doubt
Continue reading...Burst of tailings dam at iron ore mine releases wave of red sludge, with chance of finding survivors ‘minimal’
Seven bodies have been found and more than a hundred people remain missing after a dam operated by the mining giant Vale collapsed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, releasing a wave of red iron ore waste and raising fears of widespread contamination.
Fire chief Col Edgar Estevão said there were seven dead, nine wounded and 100 people had been rescued from the sea of mud released by the dam, according to the G1 news site. The fire brigade believe around 150 are missing, he said.
Continue reading...At least 58 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds remain missing after Friday’s dam collapse and mudslide in Minas Gerais state. The search was paused because of concerns that another dam operated by the same firm, Vale, was also at risk of rupturing, and authorities began evacuating several neighbourhoods in the city of Brumadinho
Continue reading...Opposition leader Juan Guaidó is seeking to oust Nicolás Maduro by declaring himself interim president – but how did we get here?
Venezuela’s current plight can be traced to a revolution that went terribly wrong.
Continue reading...Guaidó made his first public appearance since declaring himself Venezuela’s interim president in place of Nicolás Maduro
The leader of Venezuela’s newly energized opposition, Juan Guaidó, has summoned fresh street protests and reached out to China and Russia as he intensified his campaign to force Nicolás Maduro and his “arrogant” dictatorship from power.
In his first public appearance since declaring himself Venezuela’s interim president on Wednesday, the 35-year-old politician urged citizens to take to the streets and step up their battle against the man he dubbed “El Usurpador” (The Usurper).
Continue reading...Juan Guaidó can save my country from ruin, but if the US intervenes, we could see it turn into another Afghanistan
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and his Russian ally Vladimir Putin are predictably claiming that the swearing-in of Juan Guaidó as acting president is a coup organised by Donald Trump. Those of us who want a democratic – and as peaceful as possible – end to Maduro’s dictatorship must ignore the anti-American rhetoric and throw our full support behind the president of the country’s national assembly.
Guaidó must not be allowed to fail. No one within the opposition is better suited to steer Venezuela back towards democracy. Following years of seeing former president Hugo Chávez abuse the rules of democracy, an increasing number of Venezuelans has lost faith in politics and the power of the vote. They are understandably angry, and they seem to believe that the only way out is to take the fight to the streets. Guaidó, who cut his teeth in the 2007 protests against Chávez, has enough credibility to convince this group that a democratic transition is still possible.
Continue reading...The problem for Juan Guaidó and his foreign backers is how to convert assets abroad to real power inside Venezuela
The day after Donald Trump took the bold step of recognising the Venezuelan opposition leader as the country’s head of state, it is unclear how the administration hopes to turn its intentions into regime change.
After Nicolás Maduro refused to give up the presidency, and the military high command stuck by him, the White House kept up the mantra that “all options are on the table”. But it was far from clear whether any of those options would succeed in transferring real power to Juan Guaidó and the opposition-led national assembly.
Continue reading...Defence minister Vladimir Padrino accuses opposition, US and regional allies of launching attempted coup against Maduro
The US state department has urged its citizens to “strongly consider” leaving Venezuela and ordered out non-emergency government staff as the head of the country’s armed forces warned of a civil war sparked by a US-backed “criminal plan” to unseat Nicolás Maduro.
In a live address to the nation on Thursday, the defence minister, Vladimir Padrino, accused the Venezuelan opposition led by Juan Guaidó, the United States and regional allies such as Brazil of launching an attempted coup against Maduro that risked bringing “chaos and anarchy” to the country.
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