Poverty and scarcity are so extended in Venezuela that people now sell and buy food by the spoonful in a desperate attempt to overcome a situation that has worsened as the economy has entered into a growing hyperinflationary cycle.
Venezuela’s former attorney general urged the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into alleged abuses of murder and torture by the leaders of the crisis-hit country. President “Nicolas Maduro and his government must pay for this, for these crimes against humanity,” said Luisa Ortega, after handing over to the tribunal in The Hague a dossier containing 1,000 pieces of evidence.
The ousted mayor of Caracas pledged to spread his protest against Venezuela's socialist government across the world as he arrived in Spain on Saturday, a day after escaping from house arrest and slipping past Venezuelan security forces into Colombia.
Russia and Venezuela signed a debt restructuring deal on Wednesday allowing Caracas to make minimal payments to Moscow in the next six years to help it meet obligations to other creditors, the Russian Finance Ministry said. Under the deal, Venezuela will pay Russia back a total of US$ 3.15 billion over a 10-year period, the ministry said.
Venezuela hosted a brief meeting of creditors on Monday as the struggling yet oil-rich country sought to stave off a default seen as inevitable by experts, while the EU stepped up the pressure with new sanctions on Caracas.
Russia, China, Egypt and Bolivia boycotted an informal public United Nations Security Council meeting on Venezuela on Monday organized by the United States, saying the 15-member body should not be involved in the situation.
Venezuela's foreign debt renegotiation committee will meet with creditors at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Monday at the government's White Palace in downtown Caracas, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA began making a major bond payment, easing short-term worries about default but leaving the populist government with less cash to attend to food shortages and economic depression.
Venezuela's Opposition appeared close to disintegration this week after a key leader ditched the main coalition opposed to President Nicolas Maduro, bolstering the socialist leader ahead of elections due next year.