Horse owners say theft is becoming an increasingly common crime in nation where many are going hungry
In his prime, the coffee-hued Venezuelan racehorse known as Ocean Bay thundered down tracks and snatched up the nation’s most prestigious titles.
His end this week has outraged many: the stallion was stolen and butchered in what horse owners say it becoming an increasingly common crime in a nation where many are going hungry amid a severe economic contraction.
Continue reading...Top court complains opposition-held congress did not name electoral body authorities in time
Venezuela’s government-friendly supreme court has said the opposition-held congress did not name rectors to the South American country’s electoral authority in time, a move denounced by the opposition as an attempt to derail election plans.
The court declared the national assembly’s decisions null and void shortly after the opposition won control of the body in late 2015. With new legislative elections due by the end of 2020, the decision marked a setback to efforts between the two sides to agree on conditions for the vote.
Continue reading...UK recognises Juan Guaidó as country’s interim president, arguing president Nicolas Maduro rigged 2018 election
A court in London has said that it will need to decide which of Venezuela’s duelling political factions to recognise before ruling on president Nicolas Maduro’s request for the Bank of England to hand over gold the country has in its vaults.
For decades, Venezuela has stored gold that makes up part of its central bank reserves in the vaults of foreign financial institutions including the Bank of England, which provides gold custodian services to developing countries. But since 2018, the bank has refused to transfer the funds to Maduro’s government, which Britain does not recognise.
Continue reading...Iran’s president had earlier warned the US not to try to stop the flotilla of five tankers sent to ease Venezuela’s fuel shortage
The first of five tankers loaded with gasoline sent from Iran has reached Venezuelan waters, expected to temporarily ease the South American nation’s fuel crunch while defying Trump administration sanctions targeting the two US foes.
The oil tanker Fortune encountered no signs of US interference as it eased through Caribbean waters toward the Venezuelan coast late on Saturday. Venezuelan officials celebrated the arrival.
Continue reading...Caracas has accused Colombia and US of plotting to overthrow president Maduro; says military found abandoned vessels in Orinoco river
Venezuela’s military says it has seized three abandoned Colombian light combat vessels that soldiers found while patrolling the Orinoco river on Saturday, several days after the government accused its neighbour of aiding a failed invasion plot.
In a statement, the defence ministry said the boats were equipped with machine guns and ammunition, but had no crew, adding they were discovered as part of a nationwide operation to guarantee Venezuela’s “freedom and sovereignty”.
Continue reading...Deeply flawed from the start, the audacious plan to overthrow Nicolás Maduro unravelled spectacularly
As get-rich-quick schemes go it was unusually complicated. Invade a foreign country you know little about. Abduct its president to the US. Collect a $15m bounty from the US government – and maybe an even bigger payoff from the people who then seize power.
The plan to overthrow Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and bundle him off to Florida to face drug trafficking charges seemed foolproof to a former US army staff sergeant, Jordan Goudreau, as he mapped it out in a luxury Miami apartment in late 2019. The 43-year-old Canadian-American was certain his years as a green beret in Iraq and Afghanistan had prepared him for the task.
Continue reading...Airan Berry, captured by security forces, says group aimed to haul Maduro away ‘however necessary’
An American soldier of fortune captured during a botched attempt to seize Venezuela’s leader has claimed his group had plotted to raid Nicolás Maduro’s presidential palace before spiriting him away “however necessary”.
Airan Berry, 41, was one of two US mercenaries captured by Venezuelan security forces this week after what appears to have been a catastrophically executed attempt to topple Maduro by sneaking into the South American country in a pair of weather-beaten fishing boats.
Continue reading...President Nicolás Maduro has called for the extradition of a US security contractor after an alleged incursion into the country to abduct him failed.
Luke Denman, one of two US citizens captured during the incident, said he was contracted to a private security firm run by Jordan Goudreau, in an an interview televised in Venezuela. While the US government has denied any role in the alleged raid, Maduro has called for Goudreau to be extradited to Venezuela
Luke Denman is shown on Venezuelan TV after being arrested. Denman was one of two American mercenaries apprehended after a failed attempt to topple Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Denman claimed he was on a mission to seize control of Venezuela’s main airport in order to abduct its authoritarian leader – and he alleged that he was acting under the command of Donald Trump.
Luke Denman was one of two US citizens seized this week after what appears to have been a bungled bid to overthrow Maduro
An American mercenary captured after a bungled attempt to topple Nicolás Maduro has claimed he was on a mission to seize control of Venezuela’s main airport in order to abduct its leader – and he alleged that was acting under the command of Donald Trump.
Luke Denman was one of two US citizens seized by Venezuelan security forces this week after what appears to have been a catastrophically conceived bid to overthrow Maduro by sneaking into the South American country in a fleet of battered fishing boats.
Continue reading...Thirteen men were arrested in Venezuela, of which two are believed to be US citizens after what the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, described a failed armed incursion plot coordinated with Washington to enter the country via the Caribbean coast and oust him.
Eight people were killed during the incursion attempt on Sunday, Venezuelan authorities said. Donald Trump has denied any involvement by the US government
Continue reading...Donald Trump has denied any involvement by the US government in what Venezuelan officials have called a failed armed incursion in the South American country that led to the capture of two American “mercenaries”.
The president made the comment to reporters at the White House after Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, announced that authorities there had detained two US citizens working with a US military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.
Continue reading...Jordan Goudreau, who was linked to plot to topple Maduro, said his troops are still in action as government said it foiled ‘invasion’
A former US special forces soldier linked to a murky and apparently bungled attempt to topple Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, has insisted his troops are still in action after launching “a daring amphibious raid” into the country.
In a video released late on Sunday – hours after Maduro’s government claimed it had foiled a United States-backed sea “invasion” near Venezuela’s main international airport – Jordan Goudreau claimed the battle was not over.
Continue reading...The violence at Llanos penitentiary started when prisoners demanded relatives be allowed to deliver food
A riot erupted at a prison in central Venezuela, leaving at least 40 people dead and 50 more injured, including a national guard officer who was wounded by an explosion and the warden, who suffered a knife wound, authorities said.
The upheaval at the Llanos penitentiary on Friday started with an inmate protest demanding that their relatives be allowed to deliver them food. An armed confrontation then broke out between inmates and guards, lawmaker María Beatriz Martínez said.
Continue reading...Exploratory talks emerged from concerns over Covid-19 spread, hyperinflation and growing fuel shortages
Allies of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his bitter foe, the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, have secretly begun exploratory talks as concerns grow about the possible impact of the spread of the coronavirus, according to sources on both sides.
The discussions emerged from concerns about Covid-19, hyperinflation and growing fuel shortages – as well as worries among some members of the ruling Socialist party about how to ensure their political survival under a possible change of government as Washington tightens sanctions, the sources said.
Continue reading...Families struggle to maintain coronavirus restrictions as they seek to stay afloat: ‘My fear is my children going hungry’
Leaders across Latin America have ordered their citizens indoors as they struggle to tame the coronavirus.
But for Liliana Pérez, an Argentinian single mother of six, staying at home is a pipe dream.
Continue reading...Migrants who lost their jobs in Colombia’s pandemic lockdown have been shocked by their confinement in a border town
When Jhoel Brito headed back to Venezuela last week he sought safe haven from an epoch-making global health emergency that has paralyzed scores of countries and claimed more than 120,000 lives.
After losing his job as a butcher in Colombia, the 25-year-old Venezuelan migrant believed he would be safer waiting out the coronavirus storm back home.
Continue reading...With many South American countries under lockdown of some sort, exiles are taking to the road – but still only a fraction of the 4.5m who left Venezuela
Jenny Salazar fled her native Venezuela last year, trudging hundreds of miles down a motorway to Colombia’s capital with only a suitcase and her nine-year-old daughter in tow.
“It was tough, walking up and down those mountains. But it was the only way we could survive. Staying in Venezuela meant we would die,” the 34-year-old street vendor said of her economically ruined homeland.
Continue reading...Josep Borrell backs UN call for global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on pandemic
Sanctions should not stop the delivery of medical equipment and supplies to countries trying to contain outbreaks of coronavirus, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, made his comments in a declaration on Friday in which he backed the UN’s call for an immediate global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on the pandemic.
Continue reading...The US has proposed a political transition plan for Venezuela, offering to lift sanctions if the president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent, Juan Guaidó, step aside and pass power to an interim government made up of their supporters.
Related: Coronavirus live news: rise in Italy, US and France deaths takes global confirmed toll past 40,000
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