
The president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, asked on Saturday his diplomatic representative in the US, Carlos Vecchio, to meet with the leaders of the Southern Command of that country to coordinate possible military cooperation in the face of the Venezuelan crisis. Meanwhile, the minister of defense of the administration of Nicolás Maduro, Vladimir Padrino López, warned on the same day a provocation of a US Coast Guard vessel that sailed 20 kilometers away from La Guaira, the main port of Venezuela.

The Trump administration on Friday expanded the scope of its Venezuela sanctions to the defense and security services sectors to try to crank up economic pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Venezuelan government is seeking to ease the country's isolation, reopening borders with Aruba and Brazil after shutting off sea and land access in February to block the opposition from delivering humanitarian aid.

Developers have presented more than 150 proposals for power plants ahead of an auction this month to supply electricity to the Brazilian state of Roraima, which has struggled with a rash of blackouts due to reliance on the shaky Venezuelan power grid.

The intelligence of Nicolás Maduro's regime detained Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, on Wednesday, after having supported the military uprising on April 30 against the authoritarian mandatory in the framework of the final phase of Operation Freedom, led by Parliament’s president, Juan Guaidó.

The US has lifted sanctions on a Venezuelan general who broke ranks from the Nicolás Maduro regime, saying it hoped it would push others to follow. Vice-President Mike Pence on Tuesday said the US would “consider sanctions relief for all those who step up”.

Five people died and 233 were arrested in protests sparked by a failed military uprising against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro last week, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Monday. “All those cases are being investigated,” Mr Saab said in a television interview.

US vice-president Mike Pence is set on Tuesday to offer new incentives to Venezuela's military to turn against President Nicolas Maduro, responding to an attempted uprising that fizzled out last week, a senior administration official told Reuters.
![I think President [Donald] Trump's position is very firm, which we appreciate, as does the entire world, Juan Guaidó told the BBC](/data/cache/noticias/70200/260x165/guaido-trump.jpg)
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has said he is considering asking the US to launch a military intervention in the embattled country. Speaking to the BBC's Nick Bryant, he said he would “evaluate all options” to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the crisis in oil-rich Venezuela, where Washington has thrown its weight behind a campaign to oust the Moscow-backed socialist president.