An explosive device went off late Saturday at Venezuela's consulate in Lisbon. Nobody was injured because at the time of the attack which local media said consisted of a Molotov cocktail, the offices were closed. “The Portuguese government strongly condemns the attack on the Venezuelan consulate in Lisbon,” Portugal's Foreign Ministry posted on X.
Isaías Rodríguez, Venezuela's first vice president as per the 1999 Constitution under Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez, passed away Sunday at the age of 82, President Nicolás Maduro announced in Caracas. Rodríguez also served as Venezuela's Attorney General as well as Ambassador to Italy, and vice president of the Constituent Assembly.
Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil were reported Friday to have spoken on the telephone with Veenezuela's Nicolás Maduro to persuade him to resume talks with the opposition after being inaugurated for a third consecutive six-year term following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections.
Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, for many the legitimate winner of the July 28, 2024, elections even after Nicolás Maduro's inauguration for a new six-year term, said he was close to return to the country and called on the Armed Forces to disregard illegal orders from the Bolivarian de facto regime.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Nicolás Maduro carried out a coup d'état by swearing in as President on Friday instead of Edmundo González Urrrutia who failed to return to Caracas for the occasion as he had promised.
The British Government Friday slapped additional sanctions on 15 members of Nicolás Maduro's regime in a move to encourage Venezuelan officials to respect democratic principles, to comply with international human rights law, and to respect human rights, the Foreign Office announced. London also denounced the Bolivarian leader's illegitimate claim to the presidency following the fraudulent July 28, 2024, elections.
Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday for the 2025-2031 term after being declared the winner of the controversial July 28, 2024, elections. During a ceremony at the Elliptical Hall of the Federal Legislative Palace, Maduro took his oath upon a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution signed by the late Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez.
Uruguay's Foreign Ministry issued a statement this week advising against traveling to Venezuela, where “arbitrary detentions and kidnappings” by authorities and paramilitary groups are known to have been occurring. There is even a Uruguayan national among those missing, Montevideo insisted.
Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, was intercepted and detained this Thursday in Caracas in the middle of a demonstration called by the opposition on the eve of the inauguration for the 2025-2031 term of Nicolás Maduro, even though there is no evidence to support his victory in the July 28 Presidential elections. However, the situation surrounding Machado remains unclear after the circulation of different versions that ratify her freedom after the violent episode.
Guyanese authorities expressed their regret this week that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro intends to hold elections for the position of Governor of the disputed territory of Guyana Essequiba because the move would be in violation of what was arranged between the two countries in the Dec. 14, 2023, Argyle Agreement.