https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif http://en.mercopress.com/ US President Donald Trump announced on Friday night that his country's Southern Command had killed, in a “swift and lethal” strike, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero, whom he described as the leader of Tren de Aragua, “one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations on the planet.” Venezuela's government confirmed hours later the death of the criminal boss, which occurred in Bolívar state, in the country's southeast.

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 19:02:00 GMT Venezuela on Thursday granted the British company Shell a license for a first phase of exploration and exploitation of the Loran gas field, which has seven reservoirs, six of them transboundary with Trinidad and Tobago. The signing was led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez at Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan government.

]]> Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:12:00 GMT Venezuela's Interior, Justice and Peace Minister and secretary general of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, on Monday ruled out any political negotiation with opposition leader María Corina Machado and with the Democratic Unitary Platform, days after the opposition made an unprecedented offer to sit down for talks with chavismo. "There is nothing on the table with them, and even less with her," he said.

]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2026 06:59:00 GMT Venezuela's National Assembly gave initial approval to a reform of the electricity law that opens the sector to private investment through long-term concessions, in an effort to reverse the collapse of a service battered by blackouts for two decades. The measure ends the monopoly held for more than 15 years by the state-owned National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec), though it still requires a second debate and final ratification in the coming days.

]]> Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:28:00 GMT Uruguayan-Venezuelan citizen José Breijo, 70, on Wednesday recovered the apartment that had been confiscated during his imprisonment in Caracas, after spending several days sleeping in the building's hallway because one of the police officers who had arrested him in 2023 was occupying his home. The case, documented by the AFP news agency, illustrates the pattern of home confiscations denounced by Venezuelan political prisoners and exiled opposition figures during recent years.

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 07:51:00 GMT Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado on Monday closed her visit to Panama with a tribute to the more than half a million Venezuelan migrants who over the past decade crossed the Darién jungle on their way to North America, in a speech before the National Assembly of Panama and during the presentation of the key to Panama City by the municipal authorities. The visit was also marked by the confirmation of her presidential candidacy as part of the democratic transition plan set out by the United States following the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.

]]> Tue, 26 May 2026 14:08:00 GMT The Spanish National Police's Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF) considers that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero may have exercised "non-visible leadership" in an alleged influence network that facilitated the EUR 53 million bailout of airline Plus Ultra during the covid-19 pandemic. The report, comprising more than 300 pages and submitted to National Court judge José Luis Calama, was disclosed on Saturday by the outlet Infobae España and forms part of the judicial file investigating the maneuvers to obtain the public aid from the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) in 2021.

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 01:06:00 GMT The Venezuelan government on Thursday authorized the holding, on Saturday 23 May, of an evacuation drill requested by the US Embassy in Caracas, which will include the controlled overflight of two aircraft over the Venezuelan capital and landing operations at the premises of the diplomatic compound. The activity, announced in an official statement by the Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Affairs, was framed by the administration of acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of "the regular protocols of diplomatic security and protection."

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 03:20:00 GMT Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, regarded for years as the main financial frontman of former president Nicolás Maduro, appeared on Monday before a federal court in Miami, where he was formally charged with one count of money laundering linked to a bribery scheme used to enrich himself through contracts of Venezuela's state food import program. The hearing took place two days after acting President Delcy Rodríguez handed him over to the United States in what the Venezuelan government described as a deportation but which, in legal terms, amounts to an extradition.

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 01:37:00 GMT Carmen Teresa Navas, 83, the mother of Venezuelan political prisoner Víctor Hugo Quero, died on Sunday in Caracas, days after she had identified the exhumed body of her son, who had been buried in secret nine months earlier. The octogenarian, who had been hospitalized in recent days, was seen this same week alongside her relatives at the large memorial mass for her son. Physicians have not officially reported the clinical causes of her death. Her passing closes one of the most disturbing episodes in the country's recent human rights record.

]]> Mon, 18 May 2026 02:57:00 GMT