While Cuba and Bolivia were accepted into the BRICS bloc as associate states, the Bolivarian regimen of President Nicolás Maduro blamed Brazil for Venezuela's exclusion.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro landed late Friday in Kazan, Russia, for a guest appearance at the BRICS Summit as he intends to have his country join the bloc shortly. Upon arriving alongside First Lady and Congresswoman Cilia Flores, he was welcomed by local authorities. Also at the airport were Venezuela's Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Yván Gil, who got to Kazan the day before.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reported to have been very active Monday at the Alvorada Palace following Saturday's domestic accident that prevented him from traveling to the BRICS Summit starting Tuesday in Kazan, Russia.
Retired Venezuelan diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, whom many consider to be president-elect after the July 28 polls in which Caracas' National Electoral Committee (CNE) said without producing any corroborating evidence that the incumbent Nicolás Maduro had been the winner for the 2025-2031 period, suffered a fall this past weekend while he was in exile in Spain, for which he was treated by a countryman physician also fleeing the Bolivarian regime.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has categorically denied President Nicolás Maduro’s claims that she has fled the country and sought refuge in Spain. For days, Maduro had been pushing the narrative that Machado had left Venezuela, allegedly following the path of fellow opposition figure Edmundo González Urrutia, who sought asylum in Spain. On Wednesday, however, Machado dispelled these rumors, asserting in a televised interview, “Venezuelans know that I am still here, and Nicolás Maduro knows it too. They are desperate to know where I am, but I am protecting myself and caring for myself. I am not going to give them that pleasure.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said his country would be seeking reparations from Spain for what happened during the colonialism years. In the Chavista leader's view, the European kingdom has never asked for forgiveness and instead took shelter in the ideology of negationism.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros announced Monday that he was keeping Vladimir Padrino López as Defense Minister but was otherwise making a major reshuffle within the Bolivarian Armed Forces' brass, including the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin). Padrino López has been Defense Minister since October 2014.
The Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) on Friday declared “inadmissible” an appeal filed by former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez to review the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement that incumbent Nicolás Maduro Moros had won the July 28 election and would govern the South American country until 2031.
Opposition leader Edmundo González, widely recognized by the international community as the winner of Venezuela's July 28 elections, has reaffirmed his commitment to returning to his country before January 10, the date set for the presidential inauguration. Speaking at the La Toja Atlantic Forum in Galicia, González stated, I will return to Venezuela as soon as possible, when we restore democracy in our country.
President Nicolás Maduro Thursday said Venezuela would be helping Lebanon through the current crisis due to Israel's offensive. During a meeting with Beirut's Ambassador in Caracas Elías Lebbos at the Miraflores Palace, the Chavista leader said that humanitarian brigades would be sent to the war-torn area and ratified the South American nation's support to Beirut against Tel Aviv.