Venezuela's Bolivarian ruler Nicolás Maduro is pushing for a Constitutional reform, which, among other changes, would provide for harsher penalties against individuals threatening the government's authority, it was reported this weekend in Caracas. The current Carta Magna dates back to 1999 when it was promoted by the late Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), who had it modified in 2009 to be reelected indefinitely.
Uruguay’s outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou has refused to sign invitations for representatives from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba to attend the inauguration of President-elect Yamandú Orsi on March 1. This decision, which follows Lacalle Pou’s longstanding stance against what he calls “dictatorial governments,” highlights a political divide between Uruguay’s current administration and the incoming leftist government.
Two state-owned Conviasa planes departed from El Paso, Texas, on Monday, carrying the first group of Venezuelan deportees under the agreement between United States President Donald Trump and his counterpart, Nicolás Maduro. The operation comes just two weeks after Maduro met with Trump’s envoy, Richard Grenell, in Caracas—a meeting marked by the U.S. flag flying once again at Miraflores Palace.
After meeting with Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump's envoy to Caracas Richard Grenell boarded his flight back home alongside six Americans who had been held hostage by the Bolivarian regime.
Richard Grenell, the special envoy appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the Presidential Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Friday. During the meeting, Grenell conveyed a non-negotiable message from White House official Mauricio Claver-Carone: Maduro must “receive back the Venezuelan criminals that have been sent to the United States.”
US career diplomat Richard Grenell landed Friday in Caracas presumably to participate in the return of a group of Venezuelan deportees in exchange for US nationals detained by the Bolivarian regime in the South American country. However, neither government has made any agenda public so the full scope of Washington's former Ambassador to Germany is mostly media speculation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Guyanese President Dr. Irfaan Ali held a telephone conversation earlier this week during which the new Republican administration of President Donald Trump ratified its steadfast support of Guyana’s territorial integrity “in the face of Nicolás Maduro and his cronies’ bellicose actions” regarding sovereignty over the Essequibo region, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed. They also reviewed the ongoing illegal migration crisis.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro discussed with Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro the possibility of tackling drug trafficking together on the border between the two countries, particularly in the Catatumbo River where a joint action plan is under development given the security crisis stemming from activities by the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
US President Donald Trump added Cuba once again to the list of nations sponsoring terrorism and announced tougher measures against Venezuela's Bolivarian regime which stayed in power past Jan. 10 despite half the world not recognizing Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 28, 2024, elections.
Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, for many the legitimate winner of the July 28, 2024, elections even after Nicolás Maduro's inauguration for a new six-year term, said he was close to return to the country and called on the Armed Forces to disregard illegal orders from the Bolivarian de facto regime.