VENEZUALA, Dec 14: At least 16 people died and six more were seriously injured after a fiery 17-vehicle pile-up on a highway in Venezuela, officials said Wednesday.

CARACAS, Jan 6: Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party on Tuesday inaugurated a parliament controlled by allies of President Nicolas Maduro, while the opposition convened a rival committee of legislators in a virtual session, following disputed elections on Dec. 6.

CARACAS, Sept 17: A minority group of opposition parties in Venezuela agreed Monday to enter negotiations with President Nicolas Maduro’s government without the participation of U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, eroding his efforts to hold together a coalition to confront the socialist administration.

CARACAS, Aug 21: Dr. Saturnina Clemente pulls up to the small clinic in the impoverished Caucaguita neighborhood armed with one of Venezuela’s most sought-after commodities: Hormonal implants to prevent pregnancy.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

BOGOTA, Aug 19: The U.S. has made secret contact with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as close allies of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face prosecution for alleged abuses and crimes if they cede to growing demands to remove him, according to a senior Trump administration official.

CARACAS, Aug 12: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Sunday President Nicolas Maduro’s government is preparing to dissolve the opposition-run legislature and call new legislative elections, potentially escalating Venezuela’s political crisis.

CARACAS, July 23: The lights went out across much of Venezuela, reviving fears of the blackouts that plunged the country into chaos a few months ago

CARACAS, July 17: Authorities in Venezuela on Tuesday released from prison a young musician who was jailed six weeks ago after taking to social media to vent her frustration against President Nicolás Maduro’s government

ATHENS, July 12: Greece’s new government says it is recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, saying this would align Greece with the European Union’s joint position.

CARACAS/PUNTO FIJO, July 2: Four days before Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido launched a military uprising in a bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro, he told supporters at a rally outside the capital, Caracas: “In the next few days, we’ll decide our destiny.”

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 29: Argentina can look forward to a mouthwatering Copa America semi-final clash with Brazil after delivering a much-improved display to beat Venezuela 2-0 in the quarter-finals in their first game at the Maracana since losing the 2014 World Cup final.

BOGOTA, June 14: Sweden is hosting talks between major global powers with stakes in dealing with Venezuela’s political turmoil, the latest effort to jumpstart flagging attempts to find a peaceful solution to the country’s crisis.

BOGOTA, June 9:  Hollywood star Angelina Jolie on Saturday urged the international community to provide more support to three South American countries with the most migrants from crisis-hit Venezuela, saying 20,000 Venezuelan children are at risk of being without basic citizenship rights.

NEW YORK, June 7: U.S. stockpiles of Venezuelan cocoa swelled in May to levels not seen in at least five years, a Reuters analysis showed, as exporters in the crisis-hit country hit by U.S. sanctions scramble to raise cash however they can.

ACARIGUA, May 25: Twenty-nine detainees were killed and 19 police officers were wounded in a confrontation in a cellblock in central Venezuela in what a state official called a failed escape attempt, but human rights groups described as a massacre.

CARACAS, May 21: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday proposed early elections for the National Assembly, which is headed by opposition leader Juan Guaido and is the sole body recognized as democratically legitimate by most Western nations.

CARACAS, May 12: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he’s instructed his political envoy in Washington to immediately open relations with the U.S. military in a bid to bring more pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to resign.

CARACAS, May 9: Venezuelan intelligence agents detained opposition leader Juan Guaido’s congressional deputy on Wednesday, using a tow truck to drag his vehicle away with him inside, prompting the U.S. government to warn of “consequences” if he was not released.

Soaring seven-figure Inflation, almost four in 10 people out of work, high government debt and dwindling foreign reserves has left oil-rich Venezuela as the world’s most miserable economy. U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector are “a game changer,” according to Diego Moya-Ocampos, principal analyst with the Americas Country Risk team at IHS Markit.

CARACAS, May 5: Seven Venezuelan military officers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter crashed while heading to a state where President Nicolás Maduro appeared alongside troops, days after the opposition called in vain for a military uprising.

The United States and more than 50 other countries have recognised Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

CARACAS, May 3: After days of upheaval, Venezuela is sinking back into political stalemate.

CARACAS, May 1: Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday for what opposition leader Juan Guaido pledged would be the “largest march” in the country’s history, a day after he called for the military to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

CARACAS, May 1: Opposition leader Juan Guaidó took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.

UNITED NATIONS, April 30: The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Monday that at least 327,000 children from Venezuela are living as migrants and refugees in Colombia, warning that their health, education, protection, and well-being will be in jeopardy without increased support.

BOGOTA, April 15: The United States will use all economic and political tools at its disposal to hold Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accountable for his country’s crisis and will make clear to Cuba and Russia they will pay a price for supporting him, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday.

CARACAS/MARACAIBO, April 14: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday ordered an expansion of civilian militia by nearly one million members as opposition leader Juan Guaido toured western Zulia state, which has been hard hit by electricity blackouts.

CARACAS, April 7: Rival political factions took to the streets across Venezuela on Saturday in a mounting struggle for control of the crisis-wracked nation, where U.S.- backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó is attempting to oust socialist President Nicólas Maduro.

CARACAS, April 7: After weeks of power cuts and limited access to water, tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Saturday to back opposition leader Juan Guaido and protest against President Nicolas Maduro, who they accuse of wrecking the economy.

SINGAPORE, March 25: Oil prices slipped on Monday, with concerns of a sharp economic slowdown outweighing supply disruptions from OPEC’s production cutbacks and from U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

CARACAS, March 22: Venezuelan authorities detained opposition leader Juan Guaido’s chief of staff on Thursday in a pre-dawn raid, an escalating crackdown by President Nicolas Maduro against his opponents that the White House said would “not go unanswered.”

Western non-intervention killed Spanish democracy in the 1930s. Venezuela must not be next

WASHINGTON, March 19: As the United States makes its biggest diplomatic push in Latin America in years to try to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the U.S. military is zeroing in on a byproduct of the crisis: a strengthening of Colombian rebels on both sides of Venezuela’s border.

As part of the crisis in Venezuela, the country’s GDP took a big hit. While the gross domestic product was at more than US$330 billion when current president Nicolás Maduro took office in April 2013, it swiftly declined thereafter and is expected to hit US$68 billion in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund.

BEIJING, March 13: China offered on Wednesday to help Venezuela restore its power grid, after President Nicolas Maduro accused U.S. counterpart Donald Trump of cyber “sabotage” that plunged the South American country into its worst blackout on record.

The United States is to withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela this week, the U.S. State Department announced late on Thursday.

CARACAS, March 10: The Venezuelan opposition and government loyalists held rival demonstrations in Caracas on Saturday, as both sides prepared for what some fear could be a protracted power struggle.

CARACAS, March 8: Much of Venezuela remained engulfed by darkness into early Friday amid one of the largest power outages in years, raising tensions in a country already on edge from ongoing political turmoil.

The Kremlin is now actively competing with the US to influence the course of events in Venezuela

MOSCOW, March 3: Russia is ready to take part in bilateral talks with the United States over the issue of Venezuela, Russia’s foreign minister told his U.S. counterpart late on Saturday.

BOGOTA, Feb 26: The United States targeted Venezuela’s government with new sanctions on Monday and called on allies to freeze the assets of its state-owned oil company PDVSA after deadly violence blocked humanitarian aid from reaching the country over the weekend.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and other means to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation after a weekend effort failed to deliver aid.

CUCUTA, Feb 24:  A U.S.-backed drive to deliver foreign aid to Venezuela met strong resistance as troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro blocked the convoys at the border and fired tear gas on protesters in clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured.

CUCUTA, Feb 23: Venezuela’s National Guard fired tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia on Saturday, heightening tensions over blocked humanitarian aid that opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to bring into the country over objections from President Nicolas Maduro.

KUMARAKAPAY, Feb 23: Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on indigenous people near the border with Brazil on Friday, killing two, as President Nicolas Maduro sought to block U.S.-backed efforts to bring aid into his economically devastated nation.

CARACAS, Feb 21: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido made plans to head for the border with Colombia to personally bring in US-supplied food and medicine in defiance of the military-backed government, raising fears of possible weekend confrontations.

It is as if the country has been waging total war on itself. Vital operational centers are malfunctioning because routine maintenance has been neglected and investment discouraged

CUCUTA, Feb 17: The U.S. military airlifted tons of humanitarian aid to a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border Saturday as part of an effort meant to undermine socialist President Nicolas Maduro and back his rival for the leadership of the South American nation.

CARACAS, Feb 15: President Nicolas Maduro said in an AP interview Thursday that his foreign minister recently held secret talks in New York with the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, even as the Trump administration was publicly backing an effort to unseat the Venezuelan president.