The European Union on Tuesday named Uruguayan former banker and diplomat Enrique Iglesias as its point man to help end the crisis in Venezuela, part of an intensification of diplomatic efforts to seek new elections.
Talks between Venezuela's government and opposition on ending months of the crisis were underway in Norway, sources said on Tuesday, but Washington insisted that the only item for discussion should be President Nicolas Maduro's removal.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Sunday played down the prospects for success at a new round of mediation with the government to be hosted by Norway next week, saying protests would continue until President Nicolas Maduro resigned.
Norway's Foreign Ministry Saturday announced both parties in the Venezuelan crisis will return to Oslo's negotiating table next week.
Venezuelan security forces prevented opposition lawmakers from entering the parliament building for a session on Tuesday, a week after the top court stripped several lawmakers of their immunity amid a political crisis in the South American country.
Venezuela’s armed forces will either depose President Nicolas Maduro and lead a transition to democratic rule or face divisions that risk a civil war, the Brazilian government’s top security adviser said on Tuesday.
Venezuela reacted with outrage on Monday after the opposition openly courted US military support, with the regime denouncing what it called a “repugnant” attempt to plot an armed intervention in the crisis-torn country.
The president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, asked on Saturday his diplomatic representative in the US, Carlos Vecchio, to meet with the leaders of the Southern Command of that country to coordinate possible military cooperation in the face of the Venezuelan crisis. Meanwhile, the minister of defense of the administration of Nicolás Maduro, Vladimir Padrino López, warned on the same day a provocation of a US Coast Guard vessel that sailed 20 kilometers away from La Guaira, the main port of Venezuela.
The Trump administration on Friday expanded the scope of its Venezuela sanctions to the defense and security services sectors to try to crank up economic pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The intelligence of Nicolás Maduro's regime detained Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, on Wednesday, after having supported the military uprising on April 30 against the authoritarian mandatory in the framework of the final phase of Operation Freedom, led by Parliament’s president, Juan Guaidó.