Russia, China, Egypt and Bolivia boycotted an informal public United Nations Security Council meeting on Venezuela on Monday organized by the United States, saying the 15-member body should not be involved in the situation.
Venezuela's foreign debt renegotiation committee will meet with creditors at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Monday at the government's White Palace in downtown Caracas, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine.
Venezuela's Opposition appeared close to disintegration this week after a key leader ditched the main coalition opposed to President Nicolas Maduro, bolstering the socialist leader ahead of elections due next year.
Opposition leaders in Venezuela have alleged fraud after electoral authorities claimed that Nicolás Maduro’s socialist party won 17 of 24 governorships in Sunday’s regional elections. On Sunday evening, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena announced that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had won 17 out of 24 governorships and 54 percent of the votes. Turnout was reportedly at 61%.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government won a landslide victory in closely watched regional elections in Venezuela, according to official results that the opposition said were “suspicious” and rejected results. Maduro’s party on Sunday apparently won governorships of 17 of the 23 states with the opposition Democratic Union Roundtable (MUD) coalition taking only five, according to the results announced by the National Elections Council.
Canada will impose targeted sanctions against 40 Venezuelan senior officials, including President Nicolás Maduro, to punish them for “anti-democratic behavior,” the foreign ministry announced. Canada’s move, which followed a similar decision by the United States, came after months of protests against Maduro’s government in which at least 130 people have been killed.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.
Venezuela published the price of its oil and fuel in Chinese currency on Friday in what it called an effort to free the socialist-run country from the “tyranny of the dollar,” echoing a plan recently announced by President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela temporarily suspended the sale of U.S. dollars through its Dicom auction system, following an announcement last week that it was moving away from the greenback in response to U.S. sanctions. The United States in August prohibited dealings in new debt from Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA in response to the creation of a new legislative super-body that critics call the consolidation of a dictatorship.