Tag: Venezuela

Venezuela reopens Colombia, Brazil border crossings

by Sonia Vivas, with Esteban Rojas in Caracas Agence France Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Thousands of Venezuelans crossed into Colombia on Tuesday to buy food and medicine after their government partially reopened the border following a messy crackdown on what it called currency hoarders. The border with Brazil was also partially reopened, officials in Brasilia said. “Thank God the border is open again,” one 29-year-old, Christian Sanchez, told AFP. “A lot of people have […]

Venezuela bank note chaos prompts looting

Agence France-Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – Desperate Venezuelans looted delivery trucks and clashed with police Friday as protests broke out in anger at chaotic efforts to change the country’s banknotes, officials and locals said. The authorities took the largest-denomination note out of circulation but failed to release the bigger bills supposed to replace it in time, leaving citizens with no way of buying food. “There is attempted looting in various parts of the country,” tweeted […]

Venezuela opposition figure denies talks agreed with govt

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — A top Venezuelan opposition leader Monday dismissed the government’s claim that it was ready for talks to settle the country’s political crisis after Pope Francis weighed in on the dispute. Henrique Capriles, a top figure in the opposition MUD coalition, said the announcement of talks was a ploy by President Nicolas Maduro to keep resisting the opposition’s efforts to remove him from power. Vatican envoy Emil Paul Tscherrig said earlier in […]

Venezuelan assembly declares ‘coup’ by Maduro govt

by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s opposition-majority legislature declared Sunday that President Nicolas Maduro’s government had committed a coup d’etat by blocking a referendum on removing him from power, vowing mass protests and international pressure. Furious over the electoral authorities’ decision to suspend the process of organizing a recall vote, opposition lawmakers passed a resolution declaring “the breakdown of constitutional order” and “a coup d’etat committed by the Nicolas Maduro regime.” The […]

Rival demos fill Venezuela streets in test of power

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators crowded the streets of volatile Venezuela Thursday in a test of strength between its government and opponents seeking a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro. Police deployed in their hundreds to keep apart anti-government protesters angry at food and medicine shortages from Maduro’s supporters who vowed to defend his “socialist revolution.” Demonstrators dressed in white marched in the east of the capital, […]

Venezuela to sack officials who backed Maduro recall

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – Venezuelan civil servants who signed a petition for a referendum on removing President Nicolas Maduro from power must be sacked within 48 hours, a top aide to the president said. Five ministries have been given lists of employees in managerial posts who signed the petition in favor of a recall vote against Maduro, said Jorge Rodriguez, the embattled leftist leader’s designated aide to monitor the opposition’s referendum drive. “They have 48 […]

Citibank to close key Venezuela payment account: Maduro

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) by Alexander MARTINEZ Citibank plans to close the account Venezuela uses to make international payments, President Nicolas Maduro said Monday, accusing the US-based bank of mounting a “financial blockade.” “Citibank, with no warning or communication, says that it is going to close the Central Bank and Bank Of Venezuela account. That is what you call a financial blockade,” the embattled president said in televised remarks. He said the move amounted to an […]

Massive food imports arrive in Venezuela from Trinidad and Tobago

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (AFP) — Trinidad and Tobago sent approximately 68 tonnes of food and commodities to crisis-hit Venezuela Thursday, with hundreds more tonnes set to arrive in the coming days, a Venezuelan official said. Venezuela, which is enduring severe shortages of food and other basic commodities, will receive 600 tonnes of goods from Trinidad and Tobago under a trade agreement. The embattled South American country is grappling with an economic crisis […]

Kids, teachers ditch school as crisis engulfs Venezuela

(Reuters) Mariangel Caceres’ teachers, whose salaries do not buy enough food to live on, stopped showing up for classes early this year. The state school in the verdant Andean state of Tachira in Venezuela also had to cut back on providing meals due to nationwide food shortages. So when the leftist government in April decreed Friday school closings to save electricity, it was the last straw. “I left school a week after Easter,” said Caceres, […]

Venezuela opposition courts international pressure on Maduro

CARACAS Venezuela (AFP) – by Maria Isabel Sanchez and Marc Burleigh Venezuela’s opposition leader met with foreign mediators in Caracas on Thursday in a bid to up the pressure for a recall referendum against embattled President Nicolas Maduro. The closed-door meeting between Henrique Capriles and former leaders of Spain and Panama came after Maduro threatened to strengthen a state of emergency imposed this week following anti-government protests. The demonstrations that took place in two dozen […]

Venezuela enters critical stage in political crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – by Alexander Martinez Venezuela braced Monday for more upheaval as President Nicolas Maduro prepared to unveil the scope of a new emergency decree and the opposition readied protests against what it calls a bid to cling to power. The leftist leader has so far given few details on the state of emergency he declared Friday, beyond vowing to seize factories he claims have been paralyzed by the “bourgeoisie” in order to exacerbate […]

Venezuela to ration electricity in power crisis

CARACAS,Venezuela (AFP) — Recession-wracked Venezuela is to ration electricity in 10 of its most populous and industrialized states, including metropolitan Caracas, the socialist government said Wednesday. It is the latest drastic measure to alleviate a severe electricity crisis which President Nicolas Maduro and his government blame on the El Nino weather phenomenon that causes drought. Critics say it’s the result of years of economic mismanagement. Luis Motta Dominguez, minister for electric power, made the announcement […]