Haiti in disarray as anti-government protests lead to prison breakout

Demonstrations over missing $4bn in development funds leave police overstretched, allowing 78 inmates to escape

The impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, hit by days of violent demonstrations that have claimed four lives, has suffered a mass prison breakout after 78 inmates escaped while police were dealing with protesters.

The demonstrations, the culmination of months of anti-corruption protests over the fate of almost $4bn (£3.1bn) in missing funds earmarked for social development – delivered via a controversial deal for Venezuelan petrol – have swelled in recent days under the slogan: “Kot kòb Petrocaribe a?” (“Where’s the Petrocaribe money?”).

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Nicolás Maduro claims foes ‘totally failed’ to topple him as efforts falter

The US conceded it was ‘impossible to predict’ how long Maduro will remain in power

Venezuela’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro, has claimed he has seen off a dramatic opposition challenge to his rule, as those efforts appeared to falter and the United States conceded it was “impossible to predict” how long he might remain in power.

In an interview with Euronews, Maduro boasted that his political foes had “failed totally” in their quest to topple him. Opponents “could march every single day of their lives” and achieve nothing, Maduro said.

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‘Venezuela doesn’t want you’: protesters intensify mutiny against Maduro

Thousands of demonstrators marched across the country as rebellion enters its fourth week and Maduro clings to power

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have poured back on to the streets of Caracas and towns and cities across Venezuela to intensify their mutiny against Nicolás Maduro.

Related: ‘Maduro, our amigo’: loyalists in Venezuela cling to their man

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Venezuela: Nicolás Maduro’s demise is ‘irreversible’, Trump adviser says

Top Latin America adviser claims ‘there is not a single scenario’ in which Maduro and his ‘cronies’ are able to retain power

Donald Trump’s top Latin America adviser has claimed “there is not a single scenario” in which Nicolás Maduro and his “cronies” are able to retain power in Venezuela.

The revolt against Maduro’s regime is entering its fourth week, with the Venezuelan strongman showing no sign of relinquishing power despite a startling and largely unforeseen challenge from a previously obscure opposition leader called Juan Guaidó.

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Venezuelan troops blockade border crossing as Maduro tries to woo security forces – video

Venezuelan soldiers have blocked the border crossing with Colombia ahead of a humanitarian aid delivery from the US arranged by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself interim president. 'We have been threatened by the US empire, by the President of the United States of America, Mr Donald Trump', declared Venezuela's embattled president, Nicolás Maduro.  The aid blockade could sway the loyalties of the military who may disobey Maduro's orders and allow the much-needed aid to pass. International pressure is growing on Maduro to step down after major European Union nations this week joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognising Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader


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Leopoldo López: scion of Venezuelan elite dedicated to burying Chavismo

The opposition leader behind Juan Guaidó’s rise has been under house arrest since 2017, but is an experienced schemer

Leopoldo López has been under house arrest since 2017, but he played a key role in Juan Guaidó’s sudden ascent from the political margin to Venezuela’s would-be president.

López claims to be distant relative of Simón Bolívar, the general who liberated Venezuela from Spanish rule in the 19th century. Like many members of the Venezuelan elite, he was educated in the United States, at a boarding school in New Jersey, and later at Harvard, where he attended the Kennedy school of government.

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Venezuelan troops blockade bridge to stop aid from Colombia

Opposition uses humanitarian shipment to test army’s loyalty but government sees it as prelude to military intervention

Venezuelan troops have barricaded a bridge on the country’s western border with Colombia in an apparent attempt to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid sent by opposition leaders trying to force Nicolás Maduro from power.

On Wednesday at lunchtime, a fuel tanker and two shipping containers blocked the Tienditas international bridge, which connects the two countries and has become a staging ground for the planned relief effort. Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian national guard could also be seen at the bridge.

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Recognising Juan Guaidó risks a bloody civil war in Venezuela | Temir Porras Ponceleon

Maduro’s rule has created a crisis but he still has millions of supporters. The country needs democratic dialogue, not sanctions
• Temir Porras Ponceleon is a former chief of staff to Nicolás Maduro

The latest troubling events in Venezuela are the most recent episode in a political crisis that has been festering since the death of Hugo Chávez six years ago. Following President Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration for a disputed second term in January, the speaker of the opposition-dominated parliament, Juan Guaidó, declared himself “interim president” of the country. Guaidó was immediately recognised by the US, Canada and a group of Latin American conservative governments, who called upon the Venezuelan military to rise up against Maduro. And today the UK, France, Spain, Germany and other European countries recognised Guaidó after Maduro refused their demand to call fresh elections.

Since Guaidó’s declaration, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on Maduro’s government, seized billions-worth of Venezuelan oil-related assets on US soil, and started making barely veiled threats of military intervention. Few would disagree that the country is in a disastrous economic and social situation, but before other governments take similar actions that could exacerbate Venezuela’s political polarisationand end up provoking a bloody civil war, we should first understand how it reached this state of crisis.

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Venezuela: Maduro hits back at ‘gringo plot to overthrow revolution’

Address comes after EU countries and US throw weight behind challenger Juan Guaidó

Nicolás Maduro has hit back at the “cowardly” and “disastrous” decision of a succession of European countries to recognise his rival, Juan Guaidó, as interim president, as Venezuela enters what many observers believe could be a critical week in its fast-escalating political crisis.

Addressing a military rally in the northern state of Aragua, Maduro said he was the target of a “gringo” plot to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution he had inherited from his political mentor, Hugo Chávez, after his death in 2013.

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Venezuela’s Maduro ‘leaves voicemail’ for rival Guaidó – video

In interview with reporter, embattled president gives two messages. In the first, he tells Donald Trump he will leave the White House ‘stained with blood’ if he pursues a military intervention in Venezuela. In the second, after the reporter calls Juan Guaidó’s phone and it goes to voicemail, Maduro tells his challenger he ‘should stop this coup-mongering strategy’

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Venezuela: Maduro warns White House will be ‘stained with blood’ if Trump invades

Embattled president signals he has no plans to go and asks if the US would like ‘a repeat of Vietnam’

Venezuela’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro, has warned Donald Trump he will leave the White House “stained with blood” if he insists on pursuing what he called a “dirty” imperialist conspiracy to overthrow him.

“Stop. Stop, Trump! Hold it right there! You are making mistakes that will leave your hands covered in blood and you will leave the presidency stained with blood,” Maduro warned during a combative interview with the Spanish journalist Jordi Évole. “Why would you want a repeat of Vietnam?”

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European nations set to recognise Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s leader

UK among countries set to back Guaidó as interim president unless Nicolas Maduro calls election

The UK, France, Germany and other European countries are expected to recognise Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela on Monday if the current president, Nicolás Maduro, has not set a date for fresh elections by then.

EU leaders, including the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, started expressing their support for Guaidó before the midnight deadline Sunday night.

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Venezuelan opposition leader urges China to abandon Maduro

Call from Juan Guaidó comes after Beijing hints support may not be everlasting

Juan Guaidó, the opposition politician leading the push to topple Nicolás Maduro, has urged one of the Venezuelan president’s key international backers, China, to abandon him.

His remark comes after Beijing said it hoped to continue working with Caracas “no matter how the situation evolves”, suggesting China was now preparing for a future without Maduro.

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Tens of thousands protest in Venezuela to urge Nicolás Maduro to resign – video

Opposition supporters held a nationwide protest on Saturday in a bid to keep up the pressure on president Nicolás Maduro after the international community widely recognised self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president.

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‘We are very close’: Tens of thousands in Venezuela demand Maduro’s exit

Protests take place in cities across the country amid optimism from the opposition, as president speaks to rival march

Tens of thousands of Venezuelan protesters streamed on to the streets of the capital on Saturday for what they described as the final push to force Nicolás Maduro from power.

“I believe [the end] is coming very soon – this week,” said Barbara Angarita, 49, as she and thousands of other demonstrators poured down the Avenida Principal de las Mercedes in Caracas. “We must have a free country, free for all Venezuelans and for our descendants.”

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Only Venezuela can solve its problems – meddling by outsiders isn’t the solution

The whole world waded in after Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, but the global tug-of-war is dangerous and unhelpful

All crises are global, all solutions are local – and Venezuela is the latest case in point. No sooner had the young pretender, Juan Guaidó, declared himself interim president last month, ostensibly supplanting the corrupt old revolutionary, Nicolás Maduro, than the world piled in. The Trump administration insisted all countries must “pick a side” and back the “forces of freedom”. Russia denounced a US-backed “coup”. China, Latin American neighbours, Britain and the EU all scrambled for position, in accordance with their particular interests and prejudices.

In the past week, this international tug-of-war over Venezuela’s future has grown increasingly dangerous – and unhelpful – as protesters and security forces face off on the streets and the political impasse deepens.
John Bolton, the US national security adviser, is threatening “serious consequences” (meaning military intervention) should Guaidó be harmed or opposition supporters attacked. Maduro warns that the US could face a second Vietnam.

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Mass protests to sweep across Venezuela as Maduro clings on

Street demonstrations designed to drive Maduro out of office will be held on Saturday as he insists ‘we are indestructible’

Mass street protests designed to drive Nicolás Maduro out of office and into exile will sweep cities across Venezuela again on Saturday as Hugo Chávez’s successor fights for his political life and the future of their leftist Bolivarian revolution.

Maduro, who was first elected after Chávez’s death in 2013 and returned to office last year in a vote widely regarded as manipulated, has overseen a ruinous slide in the South American country’s fortunes.

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Facebook and Twitter removed hundreds of accounts linked to Iran, Russia and Venezuela

The Facebook accounts had garnered about 2 million followers and researchers say they amplified anti-west views

Facebook and Twitter both announced on Thursday they had taken down hundreds of accounts believed to have been part of coordinated influence operations from Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

Related: Apple cracks down on Facebook after it paid teens for access to their data

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