United States Sanctions Venezuelan Officials
- Washington sanctioned seven current and former officials loyal to President Nicolas Maduro who were involved in delaying a recent election in Venezuela’s parliament (State Department)
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U.S. Confrontation With Venezuela
Venezuela’s Maduro Aims to Grant Allies Control of Oil Assets
- President Nicolas Maduro wants allied countries such as Russia to be able to exchange defaulted Venezuelan bonds for stakes in state-backed oil assets, legislators from his Socialist Party said (Reuters)
Venezuela’s Guaido Sworn In as Parliament Speaker
- Opposition leader Juan Guaido was sworn in for a second term as speaker of Venezuela’s parliament after the national guard initially blocked him from entering the building (Agence France-Presse)
Venezuelan Forces Bar Opposition From Key Vote
- Venezuelan security forces barred opposition leader Juan Guaido and his supporters from entering the legislature during a vote to elect its new head of congress. Those present elected a supporter of President Nicolas Maduro, while the opposition denounced the vote as illegitimate (Reuters)
Trump’s Personal Lawyer Attempted Negotiations With Venezuela’s Maduro
- U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani participated in a phone call with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in September 2018, and tried to negotiate Maduro’s exit from power and open Venezuela to foreign business, according to a new report. Giuliani’s efforts contradicted the United States’ official hard-line approach toward Venezuela at the time (Washington Post)
Economic Opening Eases Venezuelan Crisis
- Venezuela’s economic free fall slowed after the removal of some price controls, with its monthly rate of inflation dropping to 35.8 percent in November after reaching a peak of 233.3 percent in September of 2018, according to a report (Washington Post)
Venezuelan Officials Meet With U.S. Creditors
- President Nicolas Maduro and top officials are holding a series of meetings with U.S. creditors in an effort to pay back debts by granting them Venezuelan oil rights, according to a report (Bloomberg)
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Calls for Fresh Protests
- Juan Guaido, who declared himself Venezuela’s president in January, called for a new wave of protests against President Nicolas Maduro during a rally in Caracas that attracted tens of thousands of people. Maduro supporters held a rival rally (Financial Times)
UN Leads Broad Effort to Aid Venezuelan Migrants
- The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration are set to launch a coordinated response plan to support the estimated 6.5 million Venezuelans who will have fled their country by next year. The agencies have called for $1.35 billion in funding (United Nations)
Guatemala’s President-Elect to Cut Ties With Venezuela’s Maduro
- Incoming President Alejandro Giammattei, who takes office in mid-January, told reporters that he will recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s president and cut all diplomatic ties with Nicolas Maduro’s government (Reuters)
Venezuela’s Maduro Raises Minimum Wage
- President Nicolas Maduro raised the minimum wage by 275 percent, the third hike this year amid hyperinflation, and decreed that workers will receive new food bonuses (Bloomberg)
Washington Readies New Cuba Sanctions Over Support for Venezuela’s Maduro
- The United States is preparing fresh sanctions on Cuba over its support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to U.S. special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams. The sanctions will likely target the tourism sector and Venezuelan oil imports (Reuters)
United States Restricts Travel for Venezuelan Officials
- President Donald J. Trump signed a new order that bans senior Venezuelan officials and their families from entering the United States (BBC)
Moscow Backs Venezuela Peace Talks
- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Moscow, where Putin said he supports dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition to bring an end to the political crisis in Venezuela (Reuters)
- Separately, former Venezuelan intelligence chief General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher claims that he personally provided Maduro with details of a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) presence within Venezuela last November (Washington Post)
Latin American Nations Agree on Venezuela Sanctions
- Sixteen countries voted to impose sanctions on members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime to pressure Maduro to leave power. The Lima Group, a multilateral body coordinating a regional response to the Venezuelan crisis, said it does not support the use of military force (Reuters)
Divide Emerges in Venezuelan Opposition
- Several smaller opposition parties have agreed to direct negotiations with President Nicolas Maduro’s government after opposition leader Juan Guaido announced that a Norway-brokered peace process had been exhausted. Guaido called the decision a “maneuver” by Maduro’s regime to split the opposition (Associated Press)
EU to Give Colombia Aid for Venezuelan Migrants
- The European Union will give $33 million for Colombian efforts to support Venezuelans who have fled their country, announced EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (Reuters)
U.S. Increases Aid for Venezuelan Migrants
- The White House announced $120 million in new humanitarian aid for migrants fleeing Venezuela, bringing total U.S. assistance for the crisis to more than $375 million since fiscal year 2017 (U.S. State Department)
United States Opens Venezuelan Affairs Office in Colombia
- The U.S. State Department announced it is opening an office in its embassy in Colombia that will focus on the crisis in Venezuela, signaling support for a diplomatic solution to the political impasse in the country (Financial Times)
Tens of Thousands of Venezuelans Enter Ecuador
- The Colombian government reported that more than eighty-five thousand Venezuelan migrants entered Ecuador from Colombia in the last month, prior to visa restrictions implemented by Ecuador yesterday (Reuters)
- Separately, ten countries have agreed to provide vaccination cards that will be recognized across the region to Venezuelan migrants beginning in October, health officials announced (Reuters)
Ecuador Tightens Entry Requirements for Venezuelans
- Venezuelans will require a visa to enter the country beginning today. Up to three thousand Venezuelan migrants per day entered Ecuador over the past week, the United Nations said (Financial Times)
Maduro Regime Weighs New Elections in U.S. Talks
- Representatives from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime have been holding back-channel talks with U.S. negotiators to discuss the terms of possible new elections, according to reports. Venezuelan officials are reportedly seeking safety guarantees in the case the regime loses power (Wall Street Journal)
United States and Venezuela Confirm Secret Contacts
- U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed that secret talks have been underway to resolve Venezuela’s political crisis (Al Jazeera)
Venezuelan Leaders Say New Elections an Option
- Allies of Venezuela’s socialist government reportedly said that holding a presidential election in the coming months may be considered in order to resolve the country’s political crisis. Separately, opposition leaders will visit the United States this week to meet with U.S. officials (Reuters)
- Finally, the U.S. military announced that it is now planning for “the day after” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leaves power (Associated Press)
United States Reportedly in Contact With Senior Venezuelan Official
- Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the second most powerful person in Venezuela’s socialist government, met in July with someone in close contact with U.S. officials. A second meeting is currently being planned (Associated Press)
- The conversation included a discussion over guarantees for Maduro insiders (Associated Press)
- Separately, the United Nations appealed for increased humanitarian aid for Venezuelan refugees (Reuters)