Category Archives: Venezuela

Spain would ’roundly condemn’ use of force in Venezuela

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Spanish foreign minister says Madrid would not support military action to oust Nicolás Maduro

Spain has warned that it will not back any military intervention in Venezuela after the South American country’s opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, urged other nations to consider “all options” to remove the president, Nicolás Maduro, from power.

Guaidó is due to meet the US vice-president, Mike Pence, in Colombia on Monday amid ongoing speculation that the Trump administration could use force to oust Maduro.

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Juan Guaidó: ‘keep all options open’ to remove Venezuela’s Maduro from power

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  • Opposition leader set to meet Vice-President Mike Pence
  • Comments come a day after clashes that left four people dead

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is set to meet US Vice-President Mike Pence on Monday, after asking other countries to consider “all options” to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Related: 'Venezuelan blood is being spilled': tension flares near border with Brazil

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‘Venezuelan blood is being spilled’: tension flares near border with Brazil

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While the world watches supporters of Guaidó and Maduro at the Colombian frontier, a remote region sees days of drama and fear

On Saturday, presidents, music stars and activists backing the Venezuelan opposition’s attempt to break a government blockade and bring food and medical supplies into the country, and most of the journalists covering the showdown, clustered around the border with Colombia.

Related: Juan Guaidó: 'keep all options open' to remove Venezuela's Maduro from power

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Venezuela: at least four dead and hundreds injured in border standoff

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Presidential challenger Juan Guaidó says he will urge foreign leaders to keep ‘all options open’ at a meeting on Monday

At least four people have been killed and hundreds injured in a wave of violence that convulsed Venezuela’s border regions on Saturday, as opposition activists tried to defy a government ban and bring food and medical supplies into the country.

After the failed attempt to breach government blockades, opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared the fight would continue, and said “we must keep all our options open for the liberation of our homeland”.

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Venezuela: police and protesters clash as border tensions rise – video report

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Tensions have been rising at the Venezuelan border with Colombia amid president Nicolás Maduro's ban on aid entering the country.

Dozens of Venezuelans and Colombians gathered at the Simón Bolívar bridge connecting the countries to urge authorities to allow humanitarian aid to enter Venezuela, while in other areas on the border Venezuelan soldiers defected and violent protests broke out between police and demonstrators

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Venezuela: national guard and protesters clash as border tensions rise – live

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Video shows Venezuelan security forces using tear gas against volunteers and opposition politicians who are trying to get the aid shipments across the border from Colombia, on the Simon Bolivar bridge.

1:10 pm. PNB dispara lacrimógenas contra voluntarios y diputados en el Puente Simón Bolívar. #23Feb Vía VPI pic.twitter.com/URqU8xcyoG

Venezuelans near the border with Brazil are holding flags as they await the hoped-for arrival of trucks carrying food and medicine.

1:00 pm| Foto cortesía. Aunque hay fuerte represión en el pueblo, hasta ahora, en la línea fronteriza todo transcurre en paz tras la llegada de un camión que, aseguran, lleva comida y medicinas. #FronteraConBrasil #ayudahumanitaria pic.twitter.com/rFPPJ94J9W

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US condemns Venezuela military over border killings as aid showdown looms

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Country braced for violence after clashes early on Friday leave two dead and 15 injured

The US has condemned Venezuela’s military after soldiers shot dead two people and injured 15 others trying to keep the country’s border with Brazil open for aid deliveries.

The White House warned in a statement: “Egregious violation of human rights by [President Nicolás] Maduro and those who are following his orders will not go unpunished.”

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Venezuela crisis threatens disease epidemic across continent – experts

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Collapse of Venezuela’s healthcare system could fuel spread of malaria and other diseases across region

Experts have warned of an epidemic of diseases such as malaria and dengue on an unprecedented scale in Latin America following the collapse of the healthcare system in Venezuela.

Continent-wide public health gains of the last 18 years could be undone if Venezuela does not accept help to control the spreading outbreaks of malaria, Zika, dengue and other illnesses that are afflicting its people, experts have warned in a report published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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Maduro orders closure of Venezuelan border with Brazil

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Move comes days before opposition leaders planned to bring in foreign aid

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has ordered the vast border with Brazil to be closed, just days before opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid he has refused to accept.

Maduro said he’s also weighing up shutting the border with Colombia. He made the announcement on state TV on Thursday, surrounded by military commanders.

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‘I came to Peru to survive’: the Venezuelans migrating for HIV drugs | Dan Collyns

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Darwin Zerpa is among those who have fled to Peru to get the antiretrovirals he needs. Now he counsels others with the virus

By day it is one of Lima’s grandest squares. By night the Plaza San Martín becomes a magnet for nightclubbers and bag-snatchers, as well as a haunt for male sex workers and their clients.

It is here just before midnight that 29-year-old Darwin Zerpa and other volunteers set up shop. Pulling up in an out-of-service ambulance and folding out a table on the pavement, they mark out a spot where passersby can get HIV finger-prick test results in less than 10 minutes.

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Trump has turned foreign aid into shabby political theatre | Peter Beaumont

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Stalled relief supplies for Venezuela at the Colombian border are a stark illustration of Trump’s crudely transactional approach to aid

In their grey livery, the US Air Force C-17s shuttling into Camilo Daza airport in Cúcuta, Colombia, look more belligerent than friendly – which is, perhaps, the point.

In the city itself, the planes’ cargo – boxes labelled USAid and intended for distribution by the Venezuelan opposition just across the border – are accumulating in the town’s warehouses.

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Roger Waters condemns Richard Branson’s Venezuela aid concert

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Virgin says event ‘is not a political statement and the US is not involved’

The Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has criticised an upcoming Live Aid-style concert to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Venezuela, by claiming it is a US-backed effort to tarnish the socialist government.

Related: Maduro government and Richard Branson to hold rival Venezuela concerts

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Venezuelan opposition plans delivery of aid

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Guaidó calls for volunteers to carry stockpiled US aid over the border on Saturday

Members of Venezuela’s opposition are gathering in Cúcuta, Colombia, where they are frantically planning to shift stockpiled US aid to their homeland this weekend, in defiance of their country’s embattled president Nicolás Maduro.

“Saturday will be a day that goes down in our history,” said Omar Lares, the former mayor of Campo Elías in western Venezuela, who has been living in exile in the border city for two years and is now helping coordinate Saturday’s planned delivery of aid.

“We’re working overtime to get the food and medicine that people so desperately need,” Lares said, speaking in the lobby of the Casino Internacional hotel, which has become one of the opposition’s impromptu bases of operations over the last month.

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Donald Trump’s direct appeal to Venezuelan military to back Juan Guaidó – video

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Donald Trump has used a speech in Miami, Florida, to issue a direct appeal to members of the Venezuelan military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The influential Venezuelan military has so far remained largely loyal to current president,  Nicolás Maduro. The US president told the crowd: 'We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open'

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Panama Papers ‘tightened the noose’ on offshore assets of Maduro’s inner circle

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In the wake of the scandal, it became harder to launder money through investment in Panamanian real estate for Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections

On Avenida Balboa, Panama City’s premier seafront avenue, the 50 story tower blocks form a near continuous wall of glass to the Pacific Ocean. At night, however, most of the luxury apartments remain in darkness and the basement casinos are eerily deserted.

Panamanian real estate was a favourite investment of the boliburgues, Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections to the late president Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro.

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US aid for Venezuela arrives in Colombia, but delivery uncertain

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Juan Guaidó calls on military to let supplies in, but President Maduro denies any crisis

A US military transport plane carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuela has landed in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, where food and medicine is being stored amid uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed.

The shipment on Saturday is the second arrival of large-scale US and international aid for Venezuelans, many of whom have scant access to food and medicine, since the opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president last month in defiance of the socialist president, Nicolás Maduro.

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Mike Pence rebukes European powers over Iran and Venezuela – video

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The US vice-president rebuked European powers over Iran and Venezuela on Saturday, in a renewed attack on traditional US allies, rejecting a call by Germany’s chancellor to include Russia in global cooperation efforts. Describing the results of Donald Trump’s presidency as 'remarkable' and 'extraordinary', Pence told senior European and Asian officials that the European Union should follow the US in quitting the Iran nuclear deal and recognising the head of Venezuela’s congress, Juan Guaidó, as president

Pence hails 'remarkable, extraordinary' Trump tenure in attack on US allies

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The Breadmaker: on the frontline of Venezuela’s bakery wars – video

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In the midst of Venezuela’s spiralling economic crisis, Natalia and fellow members of a Chavista collective have stepped in to take over production at a local bakery, La Minka. Authorities had suspended operations when the owners were accused of overpricing their loaves and hoarding flour. In March 2017, with the tacit support of the government, the collective began selling affordable bread. This is the story of their fight to safeguard the bakery’s future and keep the Chavista dream alive

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Venezuela: Juan Guaidó denies bid to unseat Maduro has failed

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Opposition leader believes movement for change in the country is irreversible

The Venezuelan opposition leader spearheading efforts to unseat Nicolás Maduro has rejected his rival’s claim that his campaign has failed but admitted the “trickle” of military defections to his side had so far been insufficient to force change.

In an interview with the Guardian, Juan Guaidó – now recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president by more than 50 governments – insisted his country’s march into a new political era was unstoppable and Maduro’s “cruel dictatorship” doomed.

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