More than 4 million Venezuelans have now fled economic and humanitarian chaos in what the UN’s refugee agency called a “staggering” exodus that has swelled by 1 million people since last November alone.
Related: Venezuela at the crossroads: the who, what and why of the crisis
Continue reading...Elliott Abrams says Russians ‘have not abandoned’ Nicolas Maduro despite US president’s tweet
The US special envoy for Venezuela has said that Moscow has “not abandoned” the regime of Nicolás Maduro and that the Russian presence in the South American country has not significantly changed since the failed uprising in April led by opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Donald Trump tweeted earlier this week that “Russia has informed us that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela”, but the claim was quickly disputed by the Kremlin.
Continue reading...Silvana Trevale left Venezuela in 2011 but has returned to document the ever worsening crisis that has deeply affected families of every economic status. She was selected as the 2018 recipient of the Joan Wakelin Bursary, administrated in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society
Venezuela, a country that once hoped for wealth and a bright future with its oil reserves and natural resources, is falling to pieces. It faces a humanitarian crisis where families struggle daily to find food, medicine and clean water as they live with collapsing public services. Many attend the ongoing protests, which are frequently violently repressed. Though I left my home in 2011 I have returned to Venezuela to document the ever-worsening crisis that has deeply affected families of every economic status.
Continue reading...Authorities say incident in Portuguesa state was a failed escape attempt, but activists call it a massacre
Twenty-nine detainees were killed and 19 police officers were wounded during a confrontation in a police cell block in north-western Venezuela.
The incident, which took place in the town of Acarigua in the state of Portuguesa, was described by state official as a failed escape attempt, but human rights groups have called it a massacre.
Continue reading...Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London
Marcel Duchamp massaged her feet and Leonora Carrington built her kids a house. But the work of the 98-year-old Venezuela-born painter is every bit as extraordinary as her life
For a period while living in Chile with her artist-husband Lee Mullican in the late 1960s, Luchita Hurtado painted inside a walk-in closet, standing there and looking down over her breasts and belly to her feet and the floor below. Sometimes a bar of light came in through the slats of the door. She included this in her painting, too. She looks down at the rug, or into a woven basket, that streak of light picking out the weave of the basket, momentarily brightening the pattern on the Navajo rug.
In one painting she drops a strawberry into a bowl on the floor. It hangs in mid-air in the half-lit gloom. Sometimes there seem to be two, three or even four people in there: eight feet on a gorgeous rug, green apples big as bowling balls, inexplicably huge and vivid against the dyed lozenges of the rug, every nub in the rug’s structure picked-out in paint. The painting evokes the feel of the rough texture against naked feet. In another it is all flat zigzags and pattern, interrupted by naked mellow skin.
Continue reading...Isaías Rodríguez says US sanctions against Caracas means he cannot afford to carry out his duties
The Venezuelan ambassador to Italy has resigned, saying his government’s financial difficulties have made his job impossible.
In a letter addressed directly to President Nicolás Maduro and posted on Twitter, Ambassador Isaías Rodríguez reiterated his “immense respect for Maduro’s battle” but insisted the sanctions imposed by the US mean he cannot carry out his duties.
Continue reading...Conflict in Syria, shocking pink fashion at Cannes, and a seal pup making a splash – the last seven days, as captured by the world’s best photojournalists
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s national security adviser is stoking tensions with North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, in line with decades of taking the most hawkish position on any given issue
The US is now engaged in three major confrontations around the world that have the potential to degrade into war. And in the driving seat on all three fronts is John Bolton, one of the most fervent believers in American military power ever to work in the White House.
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Continue reading...Risk to oil market of three simultaneous disruptions becomes lobbying point for Iran and Libya
In November 2018, Donald Trump tweeted: “Oil prices getting lower … a tax cut for America and the world! Enjoy! $54 … Thank you to Saudi Arabia.”
Five months on, with oil prices more than $70, Trump will be in a less celebratory mood as Opec’s oil ministers and their allies gather in Jeddah on Friday, without Iran. The main agenda item will be the implications for oil of three interconnected American foreign policy crises – in Venezuela, Iran, and Libya. Together these crises, being played out simultaneously, have the potential to scrub as much as 3.5m barrels of oil per day from the markets.
Continue reading...Nicolás Maduro appeared on the brink of being forced from power in an uprising plotted by the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó. But key figures stayed loyal, allowing the president to begin reprisals. Tom Phillips in Caracas has watched it play out. Plus: Owen Jones on public schools and who gets to go to Britain’s elite universities
Juan Guaidó described his attempted uprising last month as the “final phase” of his plan to oust Nicolás Maduro. But after a day of chaos and confusion in which Guaidó’s mentor, Leopoldo López, was sprung from house arrest, the Venezuelan president was still in power and many of the plotters had gone into hiding.
The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, is in Caracas and describes to Anushka Asthana the sense of defiance among supporters of Maduro, and Guaidó’s mood of optimism in an exclusive Guardian interview.
Continue reading...Formal request for a meeting is the closest the Guaidó camp has come to requesting US military intervention to help oust Maduro
The head of Venezuela’s national assembly, Juan Guaidó, has asked for a meeting with the US military for “strategic and operational planning” in the power struggle between the Guaidó camp and the government of Nicolás Maduro.
In a letter to the head of US Southern Command (SouthCom), Guaidó’s representative in Washingon, Carlos Vecchio, pointed to worsening conditions in Venezuela as the standoff continues and “the impact of the presence of uninvited foreign forces that place our country and others at risk”.
Continue reading...General Manuel Cristopher Figuera, who has fled the country, calls on Venezuelans to rise up and ‘build a new state’
Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused his former spy chief of being a CIA infiltrator who helped mastermind last week’s botched coup attempt.
In a televised address, Maduro claimed General Manuel Cristopher Figuera – the most powerful figure to join Juan Guaidó’s failed 30 April uprising – had been recruited by US intelligence services in 2018.
Continue reading...Political chaos leaves country’s artists playing catch-up just days before art event begins
Switzerland is partying, sequin-clad dancers whirling on a vast screen. Russia is staging an elaborate homage to Rembrandt. But between them – or rather between their national pavilions in the public gardens of Venice – Venezuela is deserted and padlocked shut.
The Venice Biennale, the art world’s most celebrated international event, is due to open to the public on Saturday, and the venues have already thrown open their doors to curators, artists, museum directors, press and collectors. But not Venezuela’s pavilion. Winter leaves are piled up in the courtyard; discarded building materials and rubbish are heaped at the side.
Continue reading...At least nine lawmakers face detention after Edgar Zambrano was arrested on Wednesday, signalling the start of a crackdown
Opposition politicians battling to bring down Venezuela’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro, have vowed to continue their struggle after the detention of one of their movement’s key figures signalled the start of a major crackdown.
Edgar Zambrano, the vice-president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled parliament, was seized by intelligence agents on Wednesday night, and at least nine other lawmakers members are also facing detention on charges relating to last week’s failed uprising.
Continue reading...Intelligence agents surrounded Edgar Zambrano and towed away the car he was in as crackdown widens
The crackdown against politicians involved in last week’s failed uprising against Nicolás Maduro has intensified with secret police seizing the vice president of Venezuela’s opposition-run parliament in Caracas.
“The dictatorship has kidnapped [Edgar Zambrano],” Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who commanded that botched revolt, tweeted, attacking what he called political persecution typical of authoritarian regimes.
Continue reading...Secretary of state meanwhile slammed Russian meddling in the country: ‘We don’t want anyone messing around with Venezuela’
Washington and Moscow traded barbs over Venezuela on Sunday with Russia’s foreign minister urging the United States to abandon its “irresponsible” plan to depose Nicolás Maduro and his US counterpart slamming Russian meddling in the South American country.
Sergey Lavrov made the comments during a visit to Moscow by Venezuela’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza – an apparent bid to stress international support for Maduro following last week’s abortive uprising against him in Caracas.
Continue reading...Despite clarion calls for Venezuelan ‘freedom’ the US has resisted offering Temporary Protected Status to those fearing persecution
As Venezuela slumps further into crisis, White House officials from Donald Trump down have made repeated expressions of support for the country’s people.
But such comments stand in stark contrast to the meager help the US government is giving Venezuelans seeking refuge in the US.
Continue reading...When the coup was hurriedly launched a day early, defections from the regime failed to materialise, Maduro remained in power and the US government looked like it had badly miscalculated
The video that appeared on Tuesday morning had the appearance of history in the making. In the purple light of dawn, it showed a group of armed men and a military vehicle on a road leading to La Carlota airbase in eastern Caracas.
In the foreground, stood Juan Guaidó – the head of the national assembly recognised by most western countries as the rightful leader of Venezuela – declaring the “final phase of Operation Freedom” with oratory seemingly destined for legend.
Continue reading...The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, has said 'the time to fight has come', in a televised address surrounded by his military high command. Maduro gave the warning following clashes in the past two days after the opposition attempted a military insurrection
Continue reading...After a botched attempt to overthrow him, Maduro holds ‘march to reaffirm the absolute loyalty of the armed forces’
Nicolás Maduro has thanked Venezuela’s military for resisting what he branded a treacherous “imperial” plot to topple him this week by sparking a conflict that would justify foreign military intervention.
“Loyalty is a value that you either have or you don’t … I know you will not fail the homeland,” Maduro told troops during an early-morning parade in Caracas that was broadcast on state television.
Continue reading...