Maduro Vows to Block US Aid

Geo-Political Realignments Over Venezuela

On the heels of the hard-line anti-Maduro Lima Group meeting in Ottawa, countries favoring a negotiated solution, including Uruguay, Mexico, and Bolivia, met in Montevideo on Thursday. The final declaration, however, compromises Venezuela's sovereignty, according to Bolivia. We discuss the outcome with Miguel Tinker Salas and Greg Wilpert

Maduro Issues Threat to Jail Venezuela’s Opposition Leader

THE GUARDIAN: Incumbent asks how long Juan Guaidó will persist with his ‘virtual presidential term’

Nicolás Maduro has issued a thinly veiled threat to the young opposition leader trying to force him from power, hinting that Juan Guaidó could soon be imprisoned as a result of his challenge.

Addressing a meeting of supporters on Monday night, Maduro questioned how long Guaidó – who declared himself Venezuela’s rightful interim president on 23 January – would persist with his “virtual term”.

“Until 2025, too?” Maduro said, referring to the six-year term he recently assumed to a storm of international condemnation. “Or until he ends up in jail by order of the supreme court of justice.” » | Tom Phillips in Caracas | Tuesday, February 5, 2019

A Coup in Progress? Venezuelan Foreign Minister Decries US & Brazil-backed Effort to Oust Maduro

Read the article here »

Trump's Venezuela Fiasco

Trump will regret listening to the neocons on Venezuela.

Can the US Force Maduro to Step Down? l Inside Story

Venezuela’s economy has been in crisis for years. Hyperinflation is skyrocketing and millions of people have left the country. And the president hasn’t been able to fix it.

Now the US is hitting Nicolas Maduro even harder where it hurts, in a bid to get him out of office. It’s imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company blocking seven billion dollars in assets and is recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.

Washington’s called on the military, which is so far standing by Maduro, to accept a peaceful transfer of power… and warned otherwise there could be consequences. How far will Washington go to change the government in Caracas?

Presenter: Richelle Carey | Guests: Jairo A Lugo-Ocando, Director of Executive Education and Graduate Studies at Northwestern University in Qatar; Charles Shapiro, Former US Ambassador to Venezuela; Diego Moya-Ocampos, principal analyst for Country Risk at IHS Markit in the Americas team.

How to Solve the Political Crisis in Venezuela? | Inside Story

After years of turmoil, Venezuela's political crisis has escalated dramatically over the past few days.

The head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly declared himself the interim President after the biggest protests against Nicolás Maduro in two years. The US, Canada and much of Latin America quickly threw their support behind Juan Guaidó.

But Maduro says he's not going anywhere, and has ordered US diplomats to leave the country by Sunday. So what will this mean for Venezuela's deep economic and political crisis?

Presenter: Laura Kyle | Guests: Paul Dobson - Journalist for www.venezuelanalysis.com; Leopoldo Martinez - Former Venezuelan Congressman and President of The Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas; Christopher Sabatini - Executive Director of the Think Tank Global Americans and Editor of the news and opinion website www.latinamericagoesglobal.org/

A Coup in Progress? Trump Moves to Oust Maduro & Install Pro-US Leader in Oil-Rich Venezuela

The Venezuelan government is accusing the United States of staging a coup, after President Trump announced that the U.S. would recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s new leader. Trump made the announcement shortly after Guaidó, the new head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself president during a large opposition protest. The European Union and the Lima Group have joined the U.S. in recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president. Mexico is the one dissenting nation in the Lima Group to still recognize Maduro. We speak with Miguel Tinker Salas, professor at Pomona College, who says, “This is unprecedented not only in Venezuelan history, but in Latin America.” He is the author of “The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela” and “Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

Venezuela: Trump Recognises Opposition Leader as President

THE GUARDIAN: Juan Guaidó, 35, seeks to oust ‘usurper’ Nicolás Maduro / Move is dramatic escalation of crisis in South American country

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president, in a dramatic escalation of efforts to force out President Nicolás Maduro who has overseen the country’s slide into authoritarianism and economic ruin.

The move was immediately welcomed by the US, Canadian and a dozen Latin American governments. Donald Trump said he would use the “full weight” of US economic and diplomatic power to push for the restoration of Venezuela’s democracy.

Thousands of protesters clogged the streets of the capital, Caracas, as Guaidó, the head of the opposition-run national assembly, raised his right hand and said: “I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation”. » | Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá and Mariana Zúñiga in Caracas | Wednesday, January 23, 2019

THE GUARDIAN: Venezuela: who is Juan Guaidó, the man who declared himself president? »

Why Venezuela Still Looks Like This? – BBC News

People in Venezuela are continuing to take to the streets in their thousands to protest against the government. The situation is becoming increasingly violent as riot police confront the demonstrators. Over the past month nearly 40 people have been killed. Vladimir Hernandez has spent a day out on the streets of the capital Caracas.

"Maduro Has Turned Venezuela into a Narco State" - Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado

Maria Corina Machado speaks to France 24 about the escalation of Venezuela's political and economic crisis

Venezuela Protests Are Sign That US Wants Our Oil, Says Nicolás Maduro

THE GUARDIAN: In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Venezuela's president claims the Obama administration is fomenting unrest with the aim of provoking a Ukraine-style 'slow-motion' coup


Read the Guardian article and comment here | Seumas Milne and Jonathan Watts in Caracas | Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Venezuela: Maduro wirft den USA Umsturzpläne vor

Präsident Maduro: Anschuldigungen gegen US-Außenminister Kerry

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Der Ton zwischen Caracas und Washington verschärft sich. Venezuelas linker Staatschef Nicolás Maduro wirft der US-Regierung vor, gezielt seinen Sturz zu betreiben. Nun will er mehr Polizei gegen die regierungsfeindlichen Demonstranten einsetzen.

Caracas - Die Proteste gegen Präsident Nicolás Maduro dauern an. Jetzt will die venezolanische Regierung härter durchgreifen. Der Linksnationalist Maduro kündigte in Caracas eine höhere Polizeipräsenz in der Hauptstadt Caracas, San Cristóbal, dem Ausgangspunkt der Bewegung im Zentrum des Landes, und Valencia im Norden an. Dort waren am Mittwoch drei Menschen an Schussverletzungen gestorben: zwei Zivilisten und ein Nationalgardist. Es gehe darum, die Straßen von Barrikaden und Blockierern zu befreien, sagte der Staatschef. » | ler/AFP/dpa | Samstag, 15. März 2014

What’s Next for Venezuela’s Opposition?

CNN: Venezuela tells CNN journalists to ;get out’ » | CNN Staff | Friday, February 21, 2014

Venezuela: Maduro fürchtet den Staatsputsch

Venezuelas Präsident Nicolas Maduro

ZEIT ONLINE: Wie sein Vorgänger Hugo Chávez wittert Venezuelas Präsident Maduro Verschwörung von allen Seiten. Die Opposition demonstriert, ihr Anführer stellte sich nun der Polizei.

Nicolas Maduro kämpft um seine Präsidentschaft. Venezuelas Staatschef hätte das Land aus der Krise führen müssen, in die sein Vorgänger Hugo Chávez es in seiner 14-jährigen Amtszeit gesteuert hatte. Stattdessen ging es in den vergangenen Monaten wirtschaftlich weiter rapide bergab.

Es kann daher kaum verwundern, dass sich die Unzufriedenheit in der Bevölkerung jetzt auf der Straße zeigt. Für den heutigen Dienstag ist eine weitere Großkundgebung in der Hauptstadt Caracas angekündigt. Nach dem Willen von Oppositionsführer Leopoldo López soll diese friedlich bleiben.Dass dies jedoch keinesfalls garantiert ist, beweisen die Proteste der vergangenen Woche, bei denen zwei Studenten sowie ein regierungsfreundlicher Aktivist getötet wurden. » | Von Sybille Klormann | Dienstag, 18. Februar 2014

Venezuela's Congress Grants Nicolás Maduro Power to Rule by Decree

Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Decree powers will strengthen the embattled leader's hand as he goes after businesses the government accuses of sabotaging Latin America's biggest oil economy

Venezuelan MPs have granted President Nicolas Maduro year[-]long decree powers that he says are essential to regulate the economy and stamp out corruption but adversaries view as a thinly veiled power grab.

Hundreds of supporters of the ruling Socialist Party cheered outside the National Assembly as the so-called Enabling Law was passed, while a recording of Mr Maduro's late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, singing Venezuela's anthem rang out inside the hall.

Though winning the decree powers hands Mr Maduro a political victory in the runup to Dec. 8 municipal elections, he still faces a severely distorted economy with embarrassing product shortages and inflation surging to nearly 55 percent.

"With this Enabling Law we are following an order by President Chavez," said Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly and a staunch supporter of Mr Maduro.

"He told us to pass all the laws necessary to wring the necks of the speculators and the money launderers." » | Reuters | Wednesday, November 20, 2013

As Socialist Dream Crumbles, Venezuelans Find Nicolas Maduro 'A Bad Copy' Of Chavez

Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of Venezuela

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Amid food shortages, rampant inflation and widespread electricity blackouts, many Venezuelans are wondering if Chavez chose the right heir to his revolution

The army has been sent into toilet paper factories, fights for basic foodstuffs have resulted in several deaths and new, multi-million dollar oil tankers are sitting idle in dock. And, despite sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela’s socialist government can’t quite manage to keep the lights on.

Now many in Venezuela are wondering how much longer President Nicolas Maduro, the anointed successor of the country’s firebrand Leftist leader Hugo Chavez, can keep hold of the reins of its crumbling socialist revolution.

Last week Mr Maduro was forced to turn to a well-worn answer for his country’s woes, blaming a US plot to “sabotage the electrical system and the Venezuelan economy” and kicking out Washington’s envoy to the South American country. “Out of Venezuela!” he railed on state television, adding in English: “Yankees go home!”

It was a move copied straight from the playbook of Chavez, the vocal anti-imperialist who passed away in February, and one which killed off any hopes of rapprochement with the US following years of thorny relations.

If that wasn’t enough, Mr Maduro then accused the US Drug Enforcement Agency of orchestrating the presence of 1.3 tons of cocaine seized last month from an Air France plane flying out of Caracas. With the government long accused by Washington of complicity in the drug trade - counter-narcotics officials say some 50 per cent of cocaine in Britain is now trafficked through Venezuela - the bust was likely a US plot using mafias to brand the country a “narco-state”, he said. » | Alasdair Baverstock in Caracas and Hannah Strange | Sunday, October 06, 2013

Hat er oder hat er nicht? Abermals Verwirrung um Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden hat einen Asylantrag in Venezuela gestellt. Das bestätigte Präsident Maduro. Und betonte, Snowden müsse jetzt «entscheiden, ob er herkommen will». Das hat Snowden offenbar noch nicht getan. Eine anders lautende Meldung auf Twitter wurde am Abend dementiert – ebenfalls auf Twitter.

Den Artikel hier lesen | SRF4 News 02.00 Uhr; sda/eglc/fasc;basn | Dienstag, 09. Juli 2013

President Nicolás Maduro Offers Edward Snowden Asylum

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro offers US whistleblower Edward Snowden "humanitarian asylum".

Read the Telegraph article here | Saturday, July 06, 2013

Venezuela President Offers Asylum to Snowden

AL JAZEERA: Nicolas Maduro offers "humanitarian asylum" to ex-US intelligence contractor who leaked surveillance programme details.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he had decided to offer asylum to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden who is believed to be waiting in transit at a Moscow airport.

Snowden, who leaked US intelligence documents revealing a vast phone and internet surveillance programme, has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington.

"As head of state of the Boliviarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world," Maduro said on Friday.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua has said it could accept an asylum request from Snowden "if circumstances permit". » | Source: Agencies | Saturday, July 05, 2013