Venezuela

Washington, Jan 19 (AFP/PTI) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was still comfortably in charge and open to direct negotiations with the US, in an interview published Saturday by The Washington Post.

The interview was Maduro's first with a major US outlet since February of last year, when he abruptly ejected all Univision journalists from Venezuela.

CARACAS, January 19. /TASS/: At least five Venezuelan states experience problems with electricity supply, the international nonprofit monitoring organization NetBlocks tweeted.

"Confirmed: Significant power outage in Venezuela at 9 p.m. local time (04.00 am Moscow time on Sunday) affecting multiple states including Tachira, Zulia, Merida, Carabobo, Falcon," the Organization says. The incident is ongoing, NetBlocks added.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — With two men claiming the presidency for nearly a year, Venezuela’s political landscape has been messy for a while now. But it is set to become flat out chaotic, with confusion over who is in charge of the National Assembly and plans for the opposition-controlled assembly to meet Wednesday in a building just across from where a rival pro-government legislature - the National Constituent Assembly - will be meeting.

CARACAS, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- President of Venezuela's National Assembly Luis Parra on Monday denounced U.S. sanctions against the newly-elected members of the legislative body's board of directors.

"We energetically and categorically reject the sanctions against deputies of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, who represent the people as a whole," Parra said in a statement on Twitter.

"It is unacceptable for foreign governments to presume to determine the actions ... of our legislators," he said.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday called for more protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in the wake of a failed attempt by the ruling Socialist Party to install allied leadership in congress.

Guaido held his first rally since troops six days ago blocked his access to congress long enough for the Socialist Party to declare an allied legislator as head of parliament.

Opposition legislators in a separate session on Jan. 5 re-elected him anyway, and they later returned to the legislative palace to hold session.

8 January 2020; AFP: Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido called Tuesday for three days of protests against President Nicolas Maduro, hours after he was sworn in for another term as National Assembly speaker following a standoff with the armed forces.

Guaido was barred from entering the assembly by the National Guard for around half an hour in dramatic and chaotic scenes, while a rival claimant to the speaker's post occupied the chair.

CARACAS, January 6./TASS/: At a session outside the parliamentary building on Sunday, part of parliamentarians from the Venezuelan National Assembly declared opposition leader Juan Guaido as Speaker, private VPI television channel broadcast.

Juan Pablo Guanipa and Carlos Berrizbeitia were appointed his deputies. The private television said Guaido was supported by 100 out of 167 parliamentarians. The session of opposition parliamentarians took place at the editorial office of El Nacional newspaper.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó was violently blocked Sunday from presiding over a special session of congress where rivals proclaimed a substitute leader — moves opposition officials condemned as a hijacking of the country’s last democratic institution.

Hours later, however, a majority of congress members held an emergency meeting at an opposition newspaper office and voted to reelect Guaidó as their leader.

CARACAS, Jan 4 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Venezuelan Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab said that he had sent an official communiqué to his Brazilian counterpart, Augusto Aras, warning him about the measure adopted by the Brazilian Government regarding five Venezuelan military deserters.

He explained that the five deserters assassinated a Venezuelan soldier and attacked a military unit and as such cannot be considered refugees in that country, and requested their extradition.

TASS, January 3: Venezuela will sell oil and part of the gold it produces for its national petro cryptocurrency, the country’s President Nicolas Maduro said.

"We will sell Venezuelan oil in exchange for petros. We already sell Venezuela’s iron ore and steel for petros. We have already signed contracts for the sale of oil, steel, iron and aluminum, and we will sell part of the gold for petros," El Nacional newspaper quotes him as saying.