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[Inter-American Court hears case over the April 11, 2002 killings in Caracas]]> The only people convicted over the events were Metropolitan Police officers, released this year, and police commissioner Iván Simonovis, who escaped house arrest in 2019 and lives in exile The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held this week in San José, Costa Rica, the first public hearing in the case over the killings of April 11, 2002 in Caracas, when an opposition march came under gunfire near the Miraflores Palace. Nineteen people died and dozens were wounded that day, in the run-up to the coup that removed then-president Hugo Chávez from power for two days.

]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2026 09:59:00 GMT <![CDATA[US lifts sanctions on Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly]]> The US Treasury Department on Wednesday removed from its sanctions list Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez. The Treasury did not explain the reasons for the decision.

]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2026 22:02:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lubetkin warns Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”]]> “It is not easy to leave Mercosur. There are too many interrelated agreements in the business sphere, and that would cause major losses for the Brazilian economy,” Lubetkin said Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin has warned Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”, in response to his criticism of the bloc during the campaign for the October 25 runoff. In the same interview, with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, he said Uruguay would not restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela while Delcy Rodríguez governs.

]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:52:00 GMT <![CDATA[US charges Maduro and Cilia Flores with torture and repression in Venezuela]]> Maduro and Flores, held since January 3 following a US operation in Caracas and detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, have pleaded not guilty to all charges US federal prosecutors on Thursday brought new torture and repression charges against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, adding to the drug trafficking and narco-terrorism case both face in a New York court. The same day, the judge denied a request by Flores for house arrest on health grounds.

]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:35:00 GMT <![CDATA[Former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice says she was coerced into barring Machado]]> “My relatives' lives were used to force me to sign key decisions that affected the democratic course of the country,” said César Siero Former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice Bárbara César Siero has alleged that the detention of two of her brothers and her sister-in-law in late 2023 was used to force her to sign the rulings that kept opposition leader María Corina Machado barred from office. She made the claims in a 43-minute video posted on YouTube on Tuesday.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:11:00 GMT <![CDATA[Delcy Rodríguez tells the UN there will be elections in Venezuela, without setting a date]]> It was the first address by a Venezuelan head of state to the body's plenary since 2018, when Nicolás Maduro spoke Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced on Wednesday before the United Nations General Assembly that her country will hold elections, without specifying when, and thanked US President Donald Trump for "his willingness to return to the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation".

]]> Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:47:00 GMT <![CDATA[Machado's team says three attempts to return to Venezuela failed in 24 hours]]> Asked about the matter, Trump denied having told her not to return, saying he had said nothing to her about it The circle around Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said this week that three attempts to return to Venezuela from Panama, by sea and by air, were thwarted within roughly 24 hours. One was recorded in a flight manifest placing her among the passengers of an aircraft that never took off; the document does not establish why.

]]> Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:11:00 GMT <![CDATA[Delcy Rodríguez calls her meeting with Trump "historic" and thanks him for his support]]> Hours earlier, in his address to the General Assembly, Trump had called Maduro an “outlaw dictator” and said hundreds of political prisoners had been freed since his capture in January Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, described her first meeting with US President Donald Trump as "historic". The encounter took place on Tuesday evening in New York behind closed doors and with no press access. Her post on the social network X is the only available account of what was discussed: the White House confirmed the meeting and those present but released no agenda or outcomes.

]]> Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:55:00 GMT <![CDATA[Delcy Rodríguez arrives in New York for UN General Assembly, ahead of meeting with Trump]]> Her address to the General Assembly is scheduled for Thursday, September 24 Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, arrived in New York in the early hours of Monday to take part in the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, days ahead of a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:15:00 GMT <![CDATA[US investigates ICE shooting of Venezuelan delivery driver in Austin]]> An ICE agent got out of an unmarked truck, rammed Garcés Pérez's vehicle, then exited and fired at least five times An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man on Sunday in Austin, Texas, while he was making a delivery for DoorDash, in an incident the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it is investigating alongside the FBI and which prompted calls for an independent investigation from local officials.

]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:44:00 GMT