
The number of victims from the twin earthquake that struck north-central Venezuela rose to at least 164 dead and 971 injured, acting President Delcy Rodríguez reported on Thursday, warning that the figure would keep rising as rescue work progressed. The quakes, of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, hit on Wednesday afternoon and left dozens of buildings collapsed across several regions of the country.

Governments from across the Americas and other regions of the world expressed solidarity with Venezuela and offered assistance after the twin earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck the north-central part of the country on Wednesday and that, according to the first official toll, left at least 32 dead and more than 700 injured. Several countries announced the dispatch of rescue teams, while acting President Delcy Rodríguez thanked them for the shows of support.

The twin earthquake that struck north-central Venezuela has become the first major test of US assistance to the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, installed after the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation in January. Washington mobilized rescue teams and supplies for a country with which, until half a year ago, it maintained no cooperative relations.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.