Tag: Venezuela

Venezuela devalues bolivar, raises fuel price amid crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday (February 17) devalued the currency and raised heavily subsidized fuel prices in an effort to stem a widening economic crisis, though critics of the socialist leader quickly dismissed the moves as insufficient. The measures are meant to help shore up the OPEC nation’s finances as plummeting oil prices and a collapsing state-led economic model have left the country with a severe recession, triple-digit inflation and […]

Continue Reading →

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro slams removal of Hugo Chavez portraits from Congress

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro slammed on Thursday (January 7) the recent removal of images of socialist leader and former president Hugo Chavez from the new opposition-led Congress. Furious after this week’s unceremonious removal of the giant Chavez photos, Maduro berated the president of the National Assembly, Henry Ramos, saying the move was an insult to 19th century independence hero, Simon Bolivar. “That which happened yesterday [in reference to removal of Chavez photos from Congress] is part […]

Continue Reading →

BREAKING NEWS: Venezuela opposition wins majority in legislative elections; Maduro accepts results

Venezuela’s opposition won control of the legislature from the ruling Socialists for the first time in 16 years on Sunday (December 6), giving them a long-sought platform to challenge President Nicolas Maduro. Election board head Tibisay Lucena said the opposition Democratic Unity coalition won 99 seats to the Socialists’ 46 in the 167-national National Assembly with some districts still to be counted. “In nominal mode, the Socialist United Party of Venezuela has 24 nominal representatives, […]

Continue Reading →

Venezuela opposition leader Lopez jailed for 13 years

(Reuters) — Venezuela’s best-known jailed opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez, was jailed for 13 years on Thursday (September 10) on charges of inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiralled into violence killing more than 40 people. After a marathon session at the heavily guarded Palace of Justice, judge Susana Barreiros ruled 44-year-old Lopez, a U.S.-educated hardline opponent of socialist President Nicolas Maduro arrested in February last year, had masterminded the violence. He was ordered to return to […]

Continue Reading →

Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on

By Girish Gupta CARACAS Thu Mar 6, 2014 6:28pm EST (Reuters) – A Venezuelan soldier and a motorcyclist died in a confused melee sparked by the opposition’s barricading of a Caracas street, officials said on Thursday, boosting the death toll from nearly a month of violence to 20. Demonstrators have for weeks staged rallies and set up barricades to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, leading to clashes with security forces and government supporters. […]

Continue Reading →

Venezuela’s Chavez remembered with pomp and protests

(Reuters) – Followers of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez flooded the streets of Venezuela on Wednesday for the anniversary of his death, an emotional but welcome distraction for his successor from violent protests raging for the last month. A year after Chavez succumbed to cancer, his self-proclaimed “son,” President Nicolas Maduro, faces the biggest challenge to his rule from an explosion of anti-government demonstrations that have led to 18 deaths since February. Though the protests […]

Continue Reading →

Beauty queen the latest victim in Venezuela unrest

(Reuters) – A local beauty queen died of a gunshot wound on Wednesday, the fifth fatality from Venezuela’s political unrest, as imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez urged supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government. Tensions have risen in Venezuela since Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, turned himself in to troops on Tuesday after spearheading three weeks of often rowdy protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The latest victims of the unrest […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 19 20 21