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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 25th 2026 - 05:13 UTC

Venezuela

  • Thursday, June 25th 2026 - 04:30 UTC

    Two powerful earthquakes strike northern Venezuela and collapse buildings in Caracas

    The USGS described both quakes as a “seismic doublet,” a phenomenon in which two large-magnitude earthquakes occur seconds apart in the same area

    Two powerful earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, about 39 seconds apart, struck north-central Venezuela on Wednesday afternoon, collapsing buildings in the capital, Caracas, and leaving rescue teams working through the rubble, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency, though she did not provide figures for the injured or dead.

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  • Friday, June 19th 2026 - 06:49 UTC

    US-backed opposition figure Figuera returns to Venezuela to negotiate a 'credible' electoral body

    Opposition figure Dinorah Figuera, president of the National Assembly elected in 2015 and exiled in Spain for nearly eight years, returned to Venezuela on Thursday at the invitation of the US State Department to negotiate a “credible” electoral authority with Delcy Rodríguez's interim government. The return is part of Washington's plan for a democratic transition in the country.

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  • Wednesday, June 17th 2026 - 08:31 UTC

    Spain's ex-PM Zapatero testifies as a suspect in the Plus Ultra bailout case

    The magistrate attributes to him the alleged offenses of criminal organization, influence peddling, money laundering and documentary falsification

    Spain's former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared on Wednesday before Judge José Luis Calama, of the Audiencia Nacional, as an investigated person in the Plus Ultra case, in what constitutes an unprecedented event in Spanish democracy: it is the first time a former head of the Executive sits before a magistrate as a suspect. He will answer questions from the judge and his lawyer, but not from the Anti-Corruption prosecutor.

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  • Saturday, June 13th 2026 - 19:02 UTC

    Trump says a US strike killed Niño Guerrero, leader of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang

    Trump said the operation was “coordinated closely” with Venezuela, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held that US forces struck a Tren de Aragua compound

    US President Donald Trump announced on Friday night that his country's Southern Command had killed, in a “swift and lethal” strike, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero, whom he described as the leader of Tren de Aragua, “one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations on the planet.” Venezuela's government confirmed hours later the death of the criminal boss, which occurred in Bolívar state, in the country's southeast.

  • Thursday, June 11th 2026 - 23:12 UTC

    Venezuela hands Shell a license for the cross-border Loran gas field shared with Trinidad

    Rodríguez described the award as a “historic step,” recalling that the field had remained “without development” for 23 years

    Venezuela on Thursday granted the British company Shell a license for a first phase of exploration and exploitation of the Loran gas field, which has seven reservoirs, six of them transboundary with Trinidad and Tobago. The signing was led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez at Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan government.

  • Tuesday, June 9th 2026 - 06:59 UTC

    Venezuela's Cabello rejects Machado's offer of talks with the chavista leadership

    At his customary press conference, Cabello dismissed rumors of a possible dialogue as “idle talk” and denied that “any meeting anywhere in the world” had taken place

    Venezuela's Interior, Justice and Peace Minister and secretary general of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, on Monday ruled out any political negotiation with opposition leader María Corina Machado and with the Democratic Unitary Platform, days after the opposition made an unprecedented offer to sit down for talks with chavismo. “There is nothing on the table with them, and even less with her,” he said.

  • Thursday, June 4th 2026 - 15:28 UTC

    Venezuela moves to open its power sector to private investment after years of blackouts

    The system, which prior to 2007 operated under a mixed and regionalized model, began to deteriorate due to a lack of maintenance and new investment

    Venezuela's National Assembly gave initial approval to a reform of the electricity law that opens the sector to private investment through long-term concessions, in an effort to reverse the collapse of a service battered by blackouts for two decades. The measure ends the monopoly held for more than 15 years by the state-owned National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec), though it still requires a second debate and final ratification in the coming days.

  • Saturday, May 30th 2026 - 07:51 UTC

    Uruguayan released in Venezuela slept in his building's hallway after finding home taken by his captor

    Originally from Uruguay, Breijo arrived in Venezuela in 1979 to work as a cook

    Uruguayan-Venezuelan citizen José Breijo, 70, on Wednesday recovered the apartment that had been confiscated during his imprisonment in Caracas, after spending several days sleeping in the building's hallway because one of the police officers who had arrested him in 2023 was occupying his home. The case, documented by the AFP news agency, illustrates the pattern of home confiscations denounced by Venezuelan political prisoners and exiled opposition figures during recent years.

  • Tuesday, May 26th 2026 - 14:08 UTC

    María Corina Machado closes Panama visit with tribute to Venezuelans who crossed the Darién

    “More than 500,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darién in search of freedom. Many remained on the way,” Machado said during her speech to the plenary of the Panamanian Parliament

    Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado on Monday closed her visit to Panama with a tribute to the more than half a million Venezuelan migrants who over the past decade crossed the Darién jungle on their way to North America, in a speech before the National Assembly of Panama and during the presentation of the key to Panama City by the municipal authorities. The visit was also marked by the confirmation of her presidential candidacy as part of the democratic transition plan set out by the United States following the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.

  • Monday, May 25th 2026 - 01:06 UTC

    Spanish police investigate Plus Ultra bailout scheme, linking Zapatero with Maduro's circle

    The exchange concluded with a characterization of the former Spanish prime minister as “pro-Sánchez” and “pro-Maduro,” and with the phrase “the end justifies the means”

    The Spanish National Police's Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF) considers that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero may have exercised “non-visible leadership” in an alleged influence network that facilitated the EUR 53 million bailout of airline Plus Ultra during the covid-19 pandemic. The report, comprising more than 300 pages and submitted to National Court judge José Luis Calama, was disclosed on Saturday by the outlet Infobae España and forms part of the judicial file investigating the maneuvers to obtain the public aid from the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) in 2021.

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