Venezuela's diplomatically isolated president got a show of support from his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan and Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona on Thursday ahead of a weekend election widely decried as unfair. The United States, the European Union and major Latin American countries have criticized Sunday's vote in which populist President Nicolas Maduro is likely to win re-election to a six-year term.
The United States based cereal maker Kellogg is pulling out of Venezuela because of the economic deterioration in the country. Workers said they were prevented from entering the plant in the central city of Maracay on Tuesday. The announcement comes ahead of Sunday's presidential elections.
US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday urged Venezuela to suspend a divisive May 20 election he denounced as a sham, as Washington slapped fresh sanctions on Nicolas Maduro's regime. In an address to the Organization of American States, Pence slammed the upcoming presidential vote -- boycotted by the opposition and branded illegitimate by much of the international community.
The European Parliament voted on Thursday for the immediate suspension of the presidential elections on May 20 in Venezuela, considering that they do not guarantee any credibility for their lack of transparency and inclusion. In this way, the body and the representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, call for the restructuring of an electoral agenda in which there are no outlawed candidates and the necessary electoral guarantees are fulfilled.
“Ortega and Somoza are the same thing” protesters in Nicaragua yelled last week against the government of Daniel Ortega, after the announcement of a Social Security's reform that unleashed a wave of protests marked by repression and excessive use of force by the authorities. Human rights organizations have announced that at least 30 people have died in the demonstrations, including students, police and a journalist. This surprise wave of civil protests suggests comparing the crisis in the Central American country with the lived in the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro for years.
Miguel Díaz-Canel has been ratified on Thursday by the National Assembly of Cuba as the new president of the Council of State, the country's first leader in practice. The parliament ratified the former vice president with 99.83% of the votes of the deputies present. Diaz-Canel replaces the General Raúl Castro, who retires from power after 12 years at the head of the country. However, the new president clarified that Raúl Castro “will lead the most important decisions” for the country.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra opened on Friday a subdued Summit of the Americas decrying widespread corruption and urging regional leaders to join forces in increasing transparency and boosting civil society. Addressing Western Hemisphere leaders in an auditorium where a number of seats were left notably empty, Peru's new president said that rather than accept corruption as a deep-seated scourge impossible to eliminate, governments should adopt concrete measures that prevent it from ever taking place.
Venezuelan photographer Ronaldo Schemidt received on Thursday the World Press Photo of the year in Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious in photojournalism, for a photograph shot in May 2017 during the protests in Venezuela while working for Agence France-Presse (AFP) . In the photograph a protester appears in flames, in front of a graffiti in which a weapon appears shooting at the word peace.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro along with more than 50 Venezuelan nationals are considered high risk for laundering money and financing terrorism, according to an advisory issued by Panama's economy and finance ministry.
Martin Vizcarra explained he received supporting phone calls from various regional leaders for the April gathering. Maduro's invitation is a matter for the Foreign Ministry to decide.