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.
Brazilian authorities confirmed that a total of 194,331 migrants arrived in South America's largest country last year, according to the 8th edition of the Migration Bulletin, published by the National Justice Secretariat (Senajus) Monday. Venezuelans topped the list with 94,726 people. As for refugees, ”Venezuela remains the main country of origin of recognized refugees (12,726), followed by Afghanistan (283) and Colombia (121),” the bulletin stated.
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.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar Thursday told Venezuelan opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado that the Middle East country had its South American counterpart's freedom in mind: “Venezuela shall be free,” Sa'ar insisted during a telephone conversation. He also invited the man most Western nations recognize as the legitimate winner of the controversial July 28, 2024, elections to visit Israel shortly.
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.
Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa said her country's government had launched an investigation into the attack against Venezuela's Embassy in La Paz. From the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia we strongly repudiate these vandalism acts that violate the rights and immunities of Venezuelan diplomats, she stressed in a statement published on social media.
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.
Venezuelan opposition leaders were told by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Donald Trump administration would hold Edmundo González Urrutia as the truthful President of Venezuela following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won based only on a declaration from the National Electoral Council (CNE) later upheld by the Supreme Court, both of which are under the control of the Chavista regime.