MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Venezuela's government and opposition agree to renew the Supreme Court and claim the London gold]]> National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez and Dinorah Figuera, who heads the delegated committee of the assembly elected in 2015 The government of acting president Delcy Rodríguez and a section of Venezuela's opposition closed the first round of negotiations in Caracas on Wednesday with two agreements: restarting from scratch the renewal of the Supreme Court of Justice, and acting jointly to recover Venezuelan gold reserves held at the Bank of England.

]]> Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:59:00 GMT <![CDATA[Colombia and Venezuela quakes are unconnected despite similar magnitude, experts say]]> “The Venezuelan earthquakes are shallower and involve a different mechanism, a strike-slip mechanism. This one is deeper, a subduction earthquake,” a seismologist stressed The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western and central Colombia on Monday has a different tectonic origin from the earthquakes recorded in Venezuela in June, despite comparable magnitudes, said Viviana Dionisio, a seismologist with Colombia's National Seismological Network.

]]> Tue, 11 Aug 2026 10:11:00 GMT <![CDATA[Machado congratulates De la Espriella and says Venezuela will soon follow suit]]> “As sister peoples, united by a common history and culture, we know that our future is also inseparably linked,” she wrote Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado congratulated Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, and said Venezuela would "very soon" undertake a process of institutional and democratic strengthening similar to the one she said is beginning in the neighboring country. The Colombian president replied on Sunday thanking her for the support.

]]> Sun, 09 Aug 2026 20:05:00 GMT <![CDATA[Venezuelan government and opposition open US-backed talks]]> The government and opposition delegations during the first meeting at the La Carlota Convention Center in Caracas Delegations from the Venezuelan government and one sector of the opposition met on Thursday in Caracas to open negotiations backed by the United States, in the first face-to-face encounter since Nicolás Maduro's detention by US forces on January 3.

]]> Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:17:00 GMT <![CDATA[World Bank estimates $19.6 billion in earthquake damage in Venezuela]]> The disaster struck a country with a poverty rate above 76% and an economy that contracted sharply over the past decade, in a period marked by US sanctions The twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24 caused an estimated $19.6 billion in direct physical damage, according to a preliminary assessment published on Thursday by the World Bank. The figure is equivalent to about 18% of the country's gross domestic product, based on International Monetary Fund data.

]]> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 22:37:00 GMT <![CDATA[New York judge sets June 2027 for the start of Maduro and Cilia Flores's trial]]> Maduro, 63, is charged with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, cocaine importation, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein set June 1, 2027, as the preliminary start date for the trial of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the narcoterrorism case they face in the United States. The decision came on Wednesday during the case's third hearing before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, which lasted only a few minutes.

]]> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:34:00 GMT <![CDATA[Rubio says talks on Venezuela's democratic transition will begin in early August]]> “I believe the first official conversations will begin the first week of August,” Rubio said at a news conference at Andrews Air Force Base U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that talks to begin a democratic transition in Venezuela will start in early August. Rubio, who leads Washington's relationship with Caracas, said a group representing the National Assembly elected in 2015 —the last one the United States recognizes as legitimate— met with the interim government and agreed to establish a forum for reconciliation talks and to begin the transition process.

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:51:00 GMT <![CDATA[Venezuela raises official death toll from June double earthquake above 5,000]]> The true scale of the disaster remains surrounded by uncertainty The official death toll from the double earthquake that struck northern Venezuela on June 24 rose on Friday to 5,069, after 139 new fatalities were added, according to the president of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez. The tally, released via Telegram, keeps the number of injured at 16,740 and of people left homeless at 17,907. Authorities present these figures as provisional, more than three weeks after the disaster.

]]> Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:25:00 GMT <![CDATA[Miami ruling links Maduro to "hostage diplomacy," orders $314 million in damages]]> Judge Darrin P. Gayles issued a default judgment on Tuesday against Nicolás Maduro, Saab, five other Venezuelan officials, and the so-called Cartel of the Suns A federal judge in Miami ordered $314 million in damages to be paid to three US citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela, where they said they were tortured by intelligence services before being freed in a 2023 exchange with Washington for Colombian businessman Alex Saab.

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[US-backed talks between Venezuela's two parliaments to begin August 1]]> The talks will bring together the National Assembly elected in 2015, with an opposition majority and headed by Figuera, and the 2026 Assembly, controlled by Chavismo and led by Jorge Rodríguez The two legislative bodies vying for legitimacy in Venezuela will begin a joint working agenda on August 1, promoted by the United States, with the stated aim of moving toward a democratic reinstitutionalization of the country, more than six months after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro.

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2026 22:07:00 GMT