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U.S. Confrontation With Venezuela

Venezuela Arrests National Guardsmen

  • The defense ministry said twenty-seven members of the National Guard were arrested after stealing weapons yesterday in an attempt to start a rebellion against the government of President Nicolas Maduro (BBC)

Venezuela’s Maduro Blames Opposition for Power Outage

  • President Nicolas Maduro accused his opponents of sabotaging a Caracas hospital’s electrical system “to create a show for the international media” after two people reportedly died at the facility during a weekend power outage (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Opposition Leader Detained by Venezuelan Intelligence

  • Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, was briefly detained by intelligence agents yesterday. Guaido made comments on Friday that were interpreted by some as declaring himself the country’s interim president (Reuters)

Maduro to Be Sworn In for Second Term

  • Thirteen nations across the Americas issued a joint statement saying they will not recognize Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president and called for him not to take office. Maduro, who won an election last year marred by accusations of fraud, came to power in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez (Washington Post)

U.S. Treasury Targets Venezuelan Media Giant

  • The United States announced sanctions on the owner of media company Globovision, as well as several businesspeople with ties to the Venezuelan government, for allegedly making billions of dollars in profit from manipulating the country’s broken currency market (Wall Street Journal)
  • Separately, the opposition-controlled National Assembly condemned new investment deals by state oil firm PDVSA with French firm Maurel & Prom and with U.S. company Erepla, saying lawmakers should have first approved the agreements. The congress, effectively stripped of much of its power since 2016, is unlikely to be able to block the deals from moving ahead (Reuters)

Venezuelan Supreme Court Judge Flees to U.S.

  • Supreme Court Justice Christian Zerpa, formerly an ally of President Nicolas Maduro, fled to the United States, condemning last year’s election as “not free and competitive.” Zerpa said he waited to publicly criticize the government until his family was able to leave the country (BBC)

Doctors Warn of Potential Medical Crisis After Earthquakes

  • The death toll from Venezuela’s earthquakes has risen to 2,295, with over 11,000 injured; doctors said they feared the aftermath of the earthquake could trigger a widening medical crisis as thousands of displaced Venezuelans are sleeping in crowded shelters or outside without access to clean water (AP)