Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced he had canceled a planned trip to Rome and Vatican during which he was due to meet Pope Francis, because he is sick with flu. Analysts believe the 'diplomatic' flu spell could be linked to protests in Rome and the Vatican bringing up the issue of political prisoners, following on several letters sent to the Holy See.
Former Spanish prime minister Felipe González has arrived in Venezuela, where he intends to help lawyers defending imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, who is under house arrest.
Venezuelan parliament chief Diosdado Cabello said in an interview on Sunday that he plans to file lawsuits in Spain and the United States following media reports that link him and other top officials to cocaine trafficking and money laundering.
Jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has declared himself on hunger strike and called for a protest march next weekend against Venezuela's populist government. Lopez, the best-known opposition activist in custody, was jailed more than a year ago for his role in instigating street protests against President Nicolas Maduro that led to violence killing 43 people and injuring hundreds more.
Barely one week after Venezuela’s President of the National Assembly of Venezuela Diosdado Cabello filed a defamation suit against 22 media executives and editors for publishing reports linking him to an international drug-trafficking, another high-level minister announced they would be filing suit against opposition leader Henrique Capriles for making “false allegations.”
Venezuela will hold parliamentary elections in the last quarter of this year and the exact date will be announced soon, the head of the National Electoral Council (CNE) said on Sunday. The elected lawmakers will be inaugurated for five years on 2016.
Venezuela says it will cut the working day for public sector workers to five-and-a-half hours to conserve energy, down from eight to nine hours. The initiative is part of a nationwide electricity rationing plan.
China has awarded Venezuela 5 billion dollars for unspecified “development plans,” President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, approximately three months after an official visit to China. According to published reports, the loan is part of a 10 billion deal to be completed in the following months.
Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is attending the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama City where she is expected on Saturday to strongly criticize the United Kingdom over the 'militarization' of the Falklands/Malvinas and revelations of massive espionage of Argentina by London.