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Venezuela
CNN says Venezuela has revoked the accreditation of its Caracas-based reporter, Osmary Hernandez.
Two journalists who had been sent to Venezuela to cover the current crisis had their working permits cancelled.
President Nicolas Maduro had vowed to expel CNN unless it “rectified” its coverage of recent opposition marches.
Eight people have been killed in the protests, according to the government.
Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz said 137 people had been injured in the current series of protests, which began earlier this month.
Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who called for the marches, was detained on Tuesday during a protest in Caracas.
The government accused him of inciting violence as part of a right-wing coup plot.
CNN says Venezuela has revoked the accreditation of its Caracas-based reporter
CNN is one of several media organizations complaining that their freedom of expression had been restricted by the Venezuelan government.
Last week, the government removed Colombian TV news channel NTN24 from channels offered by Venezuelan cable operators.
On Thursday, during a live broadcast, Nicolas Maduro threatened to “take action” against CNN unless it ceased what he described as “hostile coverage” of events in Venezuela.
“Enough war propaganda, I won’t accept war propaganda against Venezuela. If they don’t rectify themselves, out of Venezuela, CNN, out,” he said.
“They want to say to the world that there’s a civil war in Venezuela.”
CNN says Venezuelan officials asked the two journalists who had their work permits cancelled – Angela Janiot and Rafael Romo – when they would leave the country.
In a statement, CNN said it was still negotiating with the authorities.
“We hope the government reconsiders its decision. Meanwhile, we will carry on covering events in Venezuela in a fair, accurate and balanced manner,” read the statement.
On Sunday, Nicolas Maduro ordered the expulsion of three US diplomats. He accused them of meeting student leaders to conspire against his government.
The three diplomats deny the allegations.
A former union leader and close ally of the late president, Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro was elected by a narrow margin last April.
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President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to expel the CNN staff from Venezuela over its reporting of recent protests there.
Nicolas Maduro said he would take action if CNN did not “rectify its coverage”.
Earlier, Nicolas Maduro said he was sending troops to the western state of Tachira, where there has been continuing unrest.
With tensions running high, the leader of the opposition, Henrique Capriles, has called for a fresh, peaceful anti-government march on Saturday.
There were reports of further clashes in the state of Tachira and in districts of the capital, Caracas.
At a news conference, Henrique Capriles rejected violence and said he was ready for dialogue, but claimed the government was not willing to listen.
Nicolas Maduro has threatened to expel the CNN staff from Venezuela over its reporting of recent protests there
“In this turbulent hour, we call on the students and on those on the streets not to fall into the trap of violence,” Henrique Capriles said before showing several videos allegedly containing evidence of abuses by the security forces.
On national television, President Nicolas Maduro accused his opponents of promoting violence.
He vowed to take the perpetrators of attacks against the Caracas metro, who were allegedly also caught on video, to court.
Nicolas Maduro also lashed out against the coverage of the protests by foreign news organizations.
“Enough war propaganda, I won’t accept war propaganda against Venezuela. If they don’t rectify themselves, out of Venezuela, CNN, out,” he said.
Last week, the government removed Colombian TV news channel NTN24 from channels offered by Venezuelan cable operators.
Nicolas Maduro also ordered the expulsion of three US diplomats this week.
Earlier on Thursday, a Venezuelan court ordered that detained opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez remains in custody pending further hearings.
Leopoldo Lopez of the opposition Popular Will party handed himself over to the authorities on Tuesday.
The government is charging Leopoldo Lopez with intentional arson, inciting violence, damage to public property and conspiracy.
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Venezuela is expelling three US consular officials, accusing them of meeting students involved in anti-government protests.
The country has seen growing political tension and rallies, with three protesters dying in clashes last week.
An arrest warrant has been issued for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has pledged to lead a march in the capital Caracas on Tuesday.
The US has expressed concern about arrests of opposition protesters.
President Nicolas Maduro did not name the US officials being expelled, when he made the announcement in a national TV broadcast, but said the foreign ministry would give details later.
“It’s a group of US functionaries who are in the universities. We’ve been watching them having meetings in the private universities for two months. They work in visas,” the president said.
“Venezuela doesn’t take orders from anyone!” he added.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement expressing concern about the rising tensions in Venezuela.
Venezuela is expelling three US consular officials, accusing them of meeting students involved in anti-government protests
“We are particularly alarmed by reports that the Venezuelan government has arrested or detained scores of anti-government protestors and issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez,” read the statement.
The main opposition grievances are high inflation, crime and the shortage of some staples.
The government has blamed the shortages on “saboteurs” and “profit-hungry corrupt businessmen”.
Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was last seen on Wednesday, when three men were shot dead at the end of opposition protests in the capital.
President Nicolas Maduro says an arrest warrant was issued against Leopoldo Lopez shortly after the incidents.
Nicolas Maduro has accused Leopoldo Lopez of inciting violence as part of a coup plot against his left-wing government.
The opposition says they were killed by pro-government militias known as “colectivos”.
Leopoldo Lopez, 42, is a former mayor of Chacao district, in eastern Caracas. He organized the recent protests against the government.
On Sunday morning, Venezuelan police searched the houses of Leopoldo Lopez and his parents.
Hours later, he posted a new message on Twitter and a three-minute long video. He said he had not committed any crime and challenged the authorities to arrest him at the next protest.
“I want to invite all of you to join me on a march on Tuesday from Venezuela Square [in central Caracas] towards the Justice Ministry building, which has become a symbol of repression, torture and lies,” Leopoldo Lopez said on the video.
He called on his supporters to dress in white, “to reaffirm our commitment to peace”.
“I will be there to show my face. I have nothing to fear. I have not committed any crime. If there is any order to illegally arrest me, well, I will be there,” added Leopoldo Lopez.
For his part, President Nicolas Maduro called on oil workers from the state company PDVSA to march to the presidential palace on Tuesday.
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Opponents and supporters of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro have taken to the streets of Caracas in rival marches.
The demonstrations come at a time of growing political tension in Venezuela.
Three people were killed during anti-government protests on Wednesday, and some 100 students were arrested.
President Nicolas Maduro accused the opposition of stirring up trouble as part of a coup plot and urged his supporters to march for peace on Saturday.
Government supporters began arriving at Venezuela Square, in central Caracas, in the morning.
They were dressed predominantly in red or in Venezuela’s national colors – blue, yellow and red.
Hours later Nicolas Maduro addressed thousands of his supporters in Bolivar Avenue. The march was broadcast live on national television.
“I call all the people to the streets in order to defend peace,” he said.
Nicolas Maduro warned that his government would not give in to those he described as “fascists,” including former president of neighboring Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.
Nicolas Maduro addressed thousands of his supporters in Bolivar Avenue
“Alvaro Uribe is behind this, financing and directing these fascist movements.”
“He intended to use a Venezuelan television channel [NTN24] to do the same they did on 11 April 2002,” Nicolas Maduro said, referring to a failed military coup against the late President, Hugo Chavez.
Alvaro Uribe, a centre-right politician, was a fierce enemy of Hugo Chavez and accused the late president of supporting Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc.
Nicolas Maduro said police had been looking for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, accused of ordering “all these violent kids, which he trained, to destroy half of Caracas to then go into hiding”.
Leopoldo Lopez has not been seen in public since an arrest warrant was issued for him on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a statement expressing concern by the rising tensions in Venezuela.
Opposition demonstrators, including a movement known as Mothers in White, gathered at Las Mercedes neighborhood in eastern Caracas.
Thousands of people, mostly wearing white, marched towards the Courts of Justice building and stopped for a memorial ceremony to the three demonstrators killed on Wednesday: Bassil da Costa, Juan Montoya and Robert Redman.
Student leader Enrique Altimari said the main aim of their “peaceful protest” was to “pay tribute to the victims”.
He said the march would end before night fell, to avoid a repeat of the incidents of Wednesday.
The three victims were shot dead by unknown gunmen as the opposition marches came to an end.
The opposition march ended before dusk with clashes between police, who fired tear gas in attempts to disperse the crowd, and demonstrators who hurled stones.
Reports say three people were injured.
The main opposition grievances are high inflation, crime and the shortage of some staples.
Venezuela’s government has blamed the shortages on “saboteurs” and “profit-hungry corrupt businessmen”.
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Venezuela’s government has announced measures to address the country’s foreign currency crisis and boost the economy.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez says Venezuelans travelling abroad will no longer be allowed to obtain foreign exchange at the official rate of 6.3 bolivars per US dollar.
They will have to pay a higher rate, determined by weekly currency auctions.
The official rate will be used only for essential goods, such as medicine, industrial supplies and food.
“The big discussion here is whether we give dollars to travelers or we import food,” said Rafael Ramirez.
Venezuela’s government has announced measures to address the country’s foreign currency crisis and boost the economy
The weekly dollar auctions will be increased to $220 million a week to benefit private companies that have been struggling to import raw materials and other supplies.
Rafael Ramirez, who is also the president of state-owned oil company PDVSA, promised to unveil further details of the new multi-tier currency system.
Despite its oil wealth, Venezuela has faced a shortage of staple goods, such as sugar, cooking oil and toilet paper.
Many businessmen say the shortages are due to the mismanagement of the economy, including the tough currency controls introduced in 2003 by the late president, Hugo Chavez.
But his successor President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused “unscrupulous businessmen” of manufacturing the crisis to undermine his left-wing policies.
In his state of the nation address before the National Assembly last week Nicolas Maduro vowed to introduce tougher penalties for “sabotage and speculation”.
On the black market, dollars can be bought and sold at 10 times the official 6.3 exchange rate.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro accuses the “telenovelas” (TV soap operas) of spreading “anti-values” to young people by glamorizing violence, guns and drugs.
The criticism follows attacks last year by Nicolas Maduro on violent video games and the Hollywood movie Spider-man.
On Monday night, his vice president, Jorge Arreaza, met with broadcast and pay TV operators to review the prime time lineup, warning that they could be in violation of a 2004 law mandating “socially responsible” programming. The two sides will meet in a week with the aim of drafting an agreement on meeting those obligations.
It’s unclear whether the government will take steps to restrict programming or impose harsher rules on telenovelas, which are hugely popular across Latin America.
Analysts say arm-twisting is unlikely to reduce Venezuela’s high homicide rate, which the UN ranks as the fifth worst globally, and they warn that Nicolas Maduro’s campaign could be used as an excuse to further gag media criticism of the government.
“It’s a smoke screen to distract attention away from the real causes” of violence and crime, said Roberto Briceno Leon of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, which estimates Venezuela’s murder rate has quadrupled in 15 years of socialist rule.
President Nicolas Maduro accuses the telenovelas of spreading anti-values to young people by glamorizing violence, guns and drugs
Pressure on the government to crack down on crime heated up this month after former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her ex-husband were shot to death by robbers, with their 5-year-old daughter looking on.
The double slaying shocked even Venezuelans hardened by rampant bloodshed and put the government on the defensive on an issue that surveys say is the biggest concern among voters.
In his state of the union speech last week, Nicolas Maduro took aim at a popular soap opera, De todas maneras Rosa, produced by Venevision.
He accused the nation’s biggest broadcaster of profiting from violence by celebrating the crimes of one of the melodrama’s lead characters, Andreina Vallejo, a psychopathic former beauty queen who fatally poisons her own mother to hide the paternity of her son.
“Mama, everybody in the world knows that the relationship between parents and their children is completely accidental,” Andreina Vallejo says as her mother gasps for breath in her daughter’s arms.
Alberto Barrera Tyszka, the creator of several soap operas, said television only reflects the alarming levels of violence present in society and is already tightly regulated for content deemed unsuitable for minors. He said Nicolas Maduro should turn his attention to the root causes of crime instead.
Venezuela’s government disputes those findings, but has blocked access to official crime statistics in recent years. Officials say the rate last year was 39 per 100,000 people — a level that’s still the highest in South America and eight times the US rate.
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Venezuela’s Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres has given out his personal mobile phone number on live television, and urged police officers to call him directly to report cases of corruption within the force.
Miguel Rodriguez Torres said rooting out corruption was the only way for the police to regain public trust.
Police corruption is seen as one reason why Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
His comments come amid public anger after the murder of former beauty queen Monica Spear.
Monica Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, were gunned down in their car in front of their five-year-old daughter, who was wounded.
Monica Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, were gunned down in their car
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the crime.
“New police officers will always have some great superiors, well-prepared ones,” Miguel Rodriguez Torres said at an official ceremony in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
“But they also are going to get some bad eggs. Report them fearlessly because their (corruption) undermines police authority for the Venezuelan people.”
“Just give me the information right away, and we will rip the head off that immoral police superior,” the minister warned, after giving the officers his mobile number.
The murder of Monica Spear, thought to have been a botched robbery, has reignited debate about insecurity in Venezuela.
Experts often cite police corruption as part of the crime crisis; most homicides go unpunished.
Last year, nearly 25,000 people were killed in the South American country, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a non-governmental organization.
Monica Spear and her former partner were buried on Friday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro suggested Wednesday that the murder of former beauty queen Monica Spear and her ex-husband Thomas Berry was a targeted hit and not a random robbery gone wrong.
“That assassination seems more like a contract killing,” Nicolas Maduro said.
“We have identified those involved in this assassination and we are going to look for them.”
Nicolas Maduro provided no evidence that that Monica Spear was the victim of a murder-for-hire. Police had earlier described the Monday night shooting as a botched highway heist and said they were questioning five people.
The high-profile shooting — which left Monica Spear’s 5-year-old daughter wounded — has sparked outrage over violent crime in Venezuela, which had more than 24,000 homicides last year.
Protesters, including some celebrities, held a march to demand better public safety on Wednesday.
After winning the title of Miss Venezuela and competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Monica Spear appeared in a half-dozen Spanish language soap operas
President Nicolas Maduro called a security meeting with all the country’s governors and the mayors of 79 cities with high crime rates.
“If there’s any sense to this pain, it has to be so that we all wake up,” he said of Monica Spear’s death.
Monica Spear’s ex-husband, Thomas Henry Berry, 39, an adventure tour operator, moved to the US about 15 years ago after being shot, but returned to Venezuela in 2006.
Although the couple split about two years ago, they remained closed and spent holidays and vacations together with their daughter, Maya, friends and relatives said.
They had spent the New Year on an idyllic road trip that took them from scenic Merida to the beach and to the plains, where Monica Spear, 29, who was raised on a ranch, rode horses. A video she posted to Instagram showed her blowing kisses to the camera on horseback.
After winning the title of Miss Venezuela and competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Monica Spear appeared in a half-dozen Spanish language soap operas, most recently Pasion Prohibida and Flor Salvaje on Telemundo.
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Monica Spear and her Irish husband Thomas Berry have been shot dead in their car in Venezuela.
Their five-year-old daughter, who was injured in the incident, is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Police have launched an investigation into the killing, which happened on the highway leading from Valencia to Puerto Cabello.
Monica Spear, 29, became Miss Venezuela in 2004, and also acted in soap operas.
Monica Spear and her Irish husband Thomas Berry have been shot dead in their car in Venezuela
Local media reported that Monica Spear and her husband had stopped by the roadside because their car had broken down.
The gunmen opened fire in what police said might have been a robbery gone wrong.
Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and armed robberies and kidnappings are not unusual.
President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree controlling the price of new and second-hand cars in Venezuela.
New cars are currently hard to find, and Venezuelans often have to pay very high prices for an used car.
Nicolas Maduro, who previously legislated on the prices of electronics, toys and clothes, has accused criminal gangs of creating artificially high prices in the used car market.
The legislation says old cars cannot be sold at prices higher than new cars.
More details will be available when the legislation (decree number 625) is published on Thursday.
Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree controlling the price of new and second-hand cars in Venezuela
People will be “expressly forbidden to speculate on the prices of second-hand vehicles as though they were new,” Nicolas Maduro told the official Agencia Venezoelana de Noticias.
Those who break the new law will face jail sentences of six to 12 years, Nicolas Maduro said.
The government hopes that the regulations will put a halt to a popular loophole used by Venezuelans to guard against one of the world’s highest inflation rates (21.1% in 2012).
But critics say government intervention will encourage the black market.
They blame the government’s left-wing policies for keeping foreign investment away and hurting the economy.
Nicolas Maduro was elected in March by a narrow margin, succeeding the late President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer after 14 years in office.
Last month, Nicolas Maduro requested special powers to rule by decree for a year to deal with the economic crisis.
This is the third decree Nicolas Maduro has signed since he was granted the controversial special powers.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has said he has proof that Monday’s massive power cut in the capital Caracas and other cities was caused by “right-wing” saboteurs.
Appearing on state TV, Nicolas Maduro showed a picture of what looked like a cut conductor cable.
He said the saboteurs’ aim was to destabilize the country ahead of local elections scheduled for this weekend.
Caracas’ metro ground to a halt and people had to be led out of shops and offices – but power was later restored.
Government opponents say poor maintenance was the likely cause of the blackout.
Power cuts are common in Venezuela, especially in the inland states, but they rarely affect the capital.
Speaking on state TV, Nicolas Maduro said that “we always face these attacks by the right-wing fascists”.
Nicolas Maduro has said he has proof that massive power cut in Caracas and other cities was caused by “right-wing” saboteurs
“They wanted to make me, as president of the republic, decree a state of emergency and suspend the elections.
“Whoever made this criminal attack wanted to leave our Venezuela without electricity for 24 to 48 hours… thinking that would convince people not to continue with the revolution.”
Nicolas Maduro promised to give more details on Wednesday.
He earlier tweeted that the outage had been triggered in the same place as a blackout in September.
The power cut plunged Caracas into darkness after 20:00 on Monday as Nicolas Maduro was addressing the nation on television.
The blackouts did not affect Venezuela’s oil refineries, which are powered by separate generator plants.
Sometimes after the outage, Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon said power had been restored to most of Caracas. He said the blackout had originated in central Venezuela.
The opposition says the governments of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have failed to maintain the power grid to meet growing demand, instead resorting to conspiracy theories to divert attention from mismanagement.
Correspondents said that while Caracas was in darkness, people could be heard banging pots – a frequent means of protest.
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Venezuela’s National Assembly has helped President Nicolas Maduro to move closer to decree powers.
Under the new measures Venezuela’s president would be able to govern by decree for 12 months.
The bill still needs to be revised by a special commission and debated for a second time, but correspondents do not expect significant changes to be made.
Nicolas Maduro says he will use it to tackle corruption and the economic crisis. However, critics fear he may use it to silence the opposition.
The approval of the first reading of the bill comes after a member of parliament, Maria Aranguren, who defected to the opposition was stripped of her parliamentary immunity on Tuesday, being replaced by a government loyalist.
This provided the one remaining vote that the government was missing to achieve the 99 votes needed for the approval of the “Ley Habilitante”, or Enabling Act.
Nicolas Maduro says he will use the special powers to tackle corruption and the economic crisis
The vote did not come as a surprise, but the opposition has openly criticized the move saying the government will use it to clamp down on opponents ahead of local elections in December.
“The only objective of this enacting is to persecute government critical voices in society, the NGOs and the political parties with different views,” opposition parliamentary Eduardo Gomez Sigala told EFE news agency.
Nicolas Maduro first asked parliament in October to grant him special powers to fight corruption and what he called “economic sabotage”.
The country is facing shortages of food and essential goods, power cuts and around 54% annual inflation.
The government recently seized many high street shops selling its merchandise at reduced prices, because they were allegedly overcharging consumers.
Venezuela also imposed strict controls over the sale of foreign currency to combat the growing black market of dollars.
Former President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer in March, resorted to Enabling Acts four times during his 14 years in power.
Nicolas Maduro has pledged to continue his policies but does not command the same support enjoyed by Hugo Chavez.
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President Nicolas Maduro announced the Christmas season would come early in Venezuela and holiday bonuses would be issued in November.
Nicolas Maduro said state workers will receive the first two-thirds of their Christmas bonuses and pensions on November 10-11 instead of December this year in what the president said was an effort to lift people’s spirits, NPR reported last week.
“We made Christmas earlier because happiness and The Nativity and waiting for the arrival of the baby Jesus, it is the best medicine,” Nicolas Maduro said at the Socialist Christmas Fair in Caracas.
During his visit to the so-called Socialist Christmas Fair 2013, organized by the government in a central area of Caracas, Nicolas Maduro exchanged a few words with actors posing as the Three Kings, sang traditional Venezuelan Christmas songs and witnessed the sale of typical holiday food and items.
President Nicolas Maduro announced the Christmas season would come early in Venezuela and holiday bonuses would be issued in November
Last weekend Nicolas Maduro lit the Nativity lights at the Presidential Palace of Miraflores and said that the last two months of the year should be premonitory of what 2014 will be.
“Merry Christmas 2013, Christmas early, early victory, early happiness for the whole family,” Nicolas Maduro said.
“We wanted to declare the arrival of Christmas because we want happiness for everyone,” he added.
Political experts, though, said the move may be an effort by Nicolas Maduro to get votes for municipal elections on December 8, NPR reported.
Nicolas Maduro won by a slim margin in the spring, and Venezuela’s economy has been suffering, with 45% inflation and a shortage of toys in retail stores for the holiday season.
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President Nicolas Maduro has ordered their seizure of Daka chain of shops in Venezuela.
Hundreds of bargain hunters flocked to Daka shops hoping to find electronic goods at much-reduced prices.
President Nicolas Maduro accused the Daka chain of charging exorbitant prices for the goods and said it would now be forced to have “fair prices”.
But the opposition blames government mismanagement of the economy for high inflation.
On a speech on Friday night, President Nicolas Maduro promised to sell off Daka’s stock of plasma televisions, washing machines and other merchandise.
“We’re doing this for the good of the nation. Leave nothing on the shelves, nothing in the warehouses!” he said.
Bargain hunters were quick to join overnight queues to buy the merchandise, some of it at a quarter of the price listed earlier in the week.
Nicolas Maduro said government inspectors had found goods that were overpriced by as much as 1,000%.
President Nicolas Maduro has ordered their seizure of Daka chain of shops
He said a small air-conditioning unit was selling for 36,000 bolivars ($5,730) at Daka, while the same unit cost 7,000 bolivars ($1,113) in state shops.
Daka’s owners have not responded to the allegations.
Goods at state shops are often very difficult to find and sell very quickly when available.
State shops buy dollars to pay for imported goods at the official rate of around 6.3 bolivars per dollar. But private importers often complain official dollars are not readily available and that they must buy dollars on the black market at rates about seven times higher.
The move against Daka comes after weeks of government warnings against pre-Christmas price rises.
President Nicolas Maduro often accuses wealthy businessmen of hoarding goods in order to push up prices.
But critics of his government say economic mismanagement, rather than unscrupulous retailers, is responsible for inflation and shortages of basic goods such as milk and toilet paper.
Correspondents say inflation, now running at 54%, has become an important issue in next month’s local elections.
Growing economic problems in the oil-producing nation have dented Nicolas Maduro’s popularity.
With municipal elections due across Venezuela on December 8, recent opinion polls have shown the president’s ratings have declined by about 10% in recent months.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles – who was narrowly defeated by Nicolas Maduro in presidential elections last April – wants next month’s vote to become a quasi-referendum on the president.
Venezuela has announced two light aircrafts have been shot down after entering the country’s airspace over the weekend.
These were the first mid-air attacks by fighter jets since a bill authorizing such action against illegal planes was approved earlier this month, the Bolivarian Armed Forces said.
The aircraft were allegedly smuggling drugs from Central America and refused to follow the military pilots’ orders.
Another 11 unauthorized planes have been disabled on the ground this year.
Venezuelan security forces say more than 35 tonnes of drugs have been found this year.
Two light aircrafts have been shot down after entering Venezuela’s airspace over the weekend
The head of Venezuela’s Strategic Operational Centre, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, told the country’s state television that a plane had been targeted after “all other means of persuasion had been exhausted” in the early hours of Saturday.
“This was the first plane shot mid-air in the country since the approval of the Law and Control Regulation for the Integral Defense of the National Airspace, following the orders of our commander-in-chief, President Nicolas Maduro,” Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez said.
Another plane allegedly tried to evade the authorities by trying to land on an illegal airstrip in the jungle and was also shot down.
“These are drug trafficking mafias which intend to use our country as a platform for drug distribution, trespassing our airspace,” the head of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, Alejandro Keleris Bucarito said, after posting a photo of the destroyed plane on Twitter.
After the approval of the airspace bill, earlier in October, President Nicolas Maduro threatened “international narco-traffickers”.
“Any plane entering Venezuela is going to be obliged to land in peace. If not, it will be brought down by our Sukhoi jets, our F-16s and by all of the Venezuelan military aviation,” he said.
During the late President Hugo Chavez’s period in power, the US Drug Enforcement Administration was expelled from the country provoking criticism from Washington that the Venezuelan authorities weren’t doing enough to tackle drug cartels operating in the country.
Venezuela has denied reports that rescue teams have retrieved the remains of Italian fashion heir Vittorio Missoni and four other people from the Caribbean.
The group was in a small plane carrying six people that plunged into the sea shortly after taking off from the Los Roques islands in January.
The wreckage was found in June at a depth of 230ft.
Rescue teams have been carrying out searches in the area for several days.
Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega issued a statement saying that she was going to meet relatives arriving in Caracas to update them on the rescue mission.
El Universal newspaper, Italian media and news agencies reported on Thursday that the bodies of the four passengers and the co-pilot, Juan Carlos Ferrer, had been found.
Vittorio Missoni and Maurizia Castiglioni died in a plane crash alongside two Italian friends who were holidaying with them
They are still looking for the remains of the Venezuelan pilot, German Marchant, according to those reports.
But El Universal has now said that rescue teams working north of Los Roques have not yet retrieved the bodies.
Vittorio Missoni and his partner, Maurizia Castiglioni died in the crash alongside two Italian friends who were holidaying with them in the Venezuelan archipelago, Guido Foresti and Elda Scalvenzi.
The twin-engine aircraft disappeared on 4 January.
Vittorio Missoni was the son of the late founder of the Italian Missoni fashion house, Ottavio Missoni, and co-owned the firm with his siblings.
A piece of luggage from the aircraft was found off the Dutch island of Curacao, about 200 miles west of Los Roques, later that month.
Los Roques, an archipelago made up of dozens of islands some 95 miles off Venezuela’s coast, is one of the area’s most popular holiday destinations.
Venezuela has announced it will use fingerprint checks at its borders to prevent a popular travel scam.
Venezuelans travelling abroad are entitled to a foreign currency allowance at a cheaper rate.
But amidst the economic crisis, some are only buying travel tickets to sell dollars on the black market and making a profit of nearly 700%.
Credit cards will be activated abroad only after checking that the person has left the country, authorities say.
Venezuela has been going through an economic crisis, with rising inflation and shortages of basic products, such as milk and toilet paper.
Some Venezuelans are reportedly passing their credit cards to friends or family to use them abroad and then send the money back.
Officials say there are even gangs operating the scam, known as “el raspao” or “the scrape”, which is hurting the economy.
Venezuela has announced it will use fingerprint checks at its borders to prevent a popular travel scam
“These dollars acquired through illicit operations, scraping credit cards, come back to Venezuela and are sold at a high price, which causes an overvaluation of the dollar,” Juan Carlos Dugarte, director-general of Venezuela’s Administrative Identification, Migration and Immigration, told Globovision TV channel.
The travelers allowance of up to $3,000 can be sold at nearly seven times the official price in the black market.
Currently, Venezuelans have to present a ticket to a foreign country to get the approval for their foreign currency allowance.
But many never use the tickets to travel, according to reports in the local media.
Flights are getting fully booked with months in advance, which has reportedly led to an increase in fare prices.
But the number of “no-shows” is also said to be on the rise.
The government says it is already testing the new fingerprinting scheme.
Police controls at airports, ports and border checkpoints would then confirm the exit of the passenger, authorizing credit card use in foreign currency.
Critics say the scheme will make life unfairly harder for honest travelers.
The Venezuelan opposition blames President Nicolas Maduro’s policies for the economic crisis the country is facing.
The government says there is an orchestrated attempt, led by the opposition, to sabotage the economy.
Venezuela has taken over Manpa toilet paper factory to avoid any shortage of the product.
The National Guard has taken control of the plant, and officers will monitor production and distribution.
Earlier this year officials ordered millions of toilet rolls to be imported to counter a chronic shortage.
Venezuela has taken over Manpa toilet paper factory to avoid any shortage
Last week President Nicolas Maduro created a special committee to tackle the problem, which the government blames on unscrupulous traders.
The government ordered the temporary occupation of the Manpa plant in the northern state of Aragua, state-run Radio AVN reported.
In a tweet on Thursday, Venezuela’s Vice President, Jorge Arreaza, said authorities would “not permit hoarding of essential commodities, or any faults in the production and distribution process.”
The Minister of Trade, Alexander Fleming, said the factory occupation complied with Venezuelan law.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has called on the police to act against gangs that are stealing women’s hair.
The thieves sell the hair – sometimes stolen at gunpoint – to salons where it is used for extensions and wigs.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has called on the police to act against gangs that are stealing women’s hair
Attacks appear to be on the rise, especially in the country’s second largest city Maracaibo, local media report.
Nicolas Maduro used strong language against what he called “mafias that cut girls’ hair”.
Speaking at the inauguration of a train station in the capital Caracas, he said the government would guarantee that the thieves would be caught.
Several women have reportedly been targeted, being asked to tie their hair into ponytails so that gang members can easily cut it off.
However, authorities are yet to receive any formal complaints.
One victim told a local newspaper that she refused to report the case to the police because she feared being teased.
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Venezuela’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by opposition leader Henrique Capriles against April’s contested presidential election result.
The Supreme Court of Justice described the appeal as “inadmissible”.
After the ruling Henrique Capriles tweeted that there was a “lack of justice” in Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor, won the election by less than 1.5 percentage points – about 200,000 votes.
The opposition alleged that the vote had been marred by fraud.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has rejected Henrique Capriles’ appeal against April’s contested presidential election result
In June the Venezuelan National Electoral Commission (CNE) confirmed President Nicolas Maduro’s victory in an audit on millions of votes, but Henrique Capriles denounced the audit as “a fake”.
In her ruling on Wednesday, Justice Gladys Gutierrez said the opposition had not offered “sufficient proof” to back up their allegations.
The 10-point appeal had been lodged by Henrique Capriles, the opposition coalition and several citizens.
On Tuesday, Henrique Capriles criticized the court’s delay in making a ruling and said that he would take the case to “international bodies”.
April’s election was called after the death of Hugo Chavez on March 5 following a long battle against cancer.
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Venezuela is holding a week-long festivities honoring late Hugo Chavez’s birthday, almost five months since his death on March 5.
Hugo Chavez, who dominated Venezuela’s political scene from the moment he took office in 1999 to his death on March 5, would have turned 59 on Sunday.
President Nicolas Maduro is marking the occasion with public dances and concerts. He even plans to go house-to-house in some neighborhoods bearing gifts and a message from the “supreme comandante.”
Hugo Chavez’s legacy however has divided the country, with about half the population blaming him or Nicolas Maduro for the country’s miserable economy and sky-high crime rate.
Ground zero for the Chavez worship is the Cuartel de la Montana, an old fort on a Caracas hillside deep within a working-class pro-government neighborhood. Over the years it has housed a military academy, government offices, and a military museum.
Today it is also a mausoleum for the late leader, who died after a long battle with cancer that captivated the nation’s attention for months.
Venezuela is holding a week-long festivities honoring late Hugo Chavez’s birthday
Hugo Chavez’s marble sarcophagus is protected by an honor guard, and every day at 4:25 p.m. a cannon is fired to mark the moment he died.
Nicolas Maduro was at the Cuartel on Sunday, and surrounded by the most senior government and military officials he celebrated Hugo Chavez’s birthday by vowing to continue the late leader’s policies.
The self-declared “first Chavista president”, 50 year-old former bus driver Nicolas Maduro promised to battle crime and corruption, and urged Venezuelans to have faith in the government’s policies.
“There are two models: that of the stateless bourgeoisie and the Chavista and Bolivarian, but only one path – that which Chavez left us,” Nicolas Maduro concluded, amid a burst of fireworks and as musicians began to play Happy Birthday.
Just outside the Cuartel, at the crest of a hill of tightly-packed dwellings adorned with murals of Hugo Chavez, stands a small chapel with painted wood walls and tin roof that overflows with flowers and candles.
At the altar a poster of the “eternal comandante” is placed under a cross and next to a clay bust of the late leader.
Many Venezuelans are still adapting to the post-Chavez world, but as time goes by the shock of his death is giving way to the struggles of everyday life.
Many loyalists, or Chavistas, acknowledge that things are tough and support Nicolas Maduro – but others grumble that Maduro isn’t up to the task.
Critics say Hugo Chavez’s 14 years in power were a disaster, and point to Venezuela’s 25% inflation rate, the erratic availability of goods, and a hair-raising crime rate that resulted in 16,000 murders in 2012.
Henrique Capriles has been careful to avoid offending Hugo Chavez in public and has asked the government to let the late president “rest in peace”. But he has let loose on Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of using the image of his charismatic predecessor to “cover up the problems” of Venezuela – which he claims have worsened since Maduro took office.
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According to a Russian politician, Edward Snowden has accepted an offer of political asylum from Venezuela.
Unofficial spokesman for the Kremlin Alexei Pushkov tweeted today that Edward Snowden, believed to be in Russia and wanted by the US authorities for leaking security secrets, is keen to take up the offer, AP reported.
The tweet was removed a few minutes after it was posted.
Soon after the tweet’s disappearance he sent another message saying his claim was based on a report from the state all-news television channel Vesti.
However, no such information could be found on Vesti’s website and no Russian news agency reported that Vesti had ever said it.
The TV channel could not immediately be reached for comment and the Kremlin declined comment on today’s developments.
Edward Snowden, 30, who revealed details of a US intelligence program to monitor internet activity, went to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on June 23 and was believed to be headed for Cuba.
But he did not board that flight is believed to have been stranded in the airport’s transit lounge ever since.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had already offered asylum to Edward Snowden while Bolivia and Nicaragua said they too would grant asylum to the American fugitive.
Ecuador said it will consider any asylum request.
Nicolas Maduro said it is perhaps the world’s “first collective humanitarian asylum” with various countries saying: “Come here!”
But the United States has cancelled Edward Snowden’s passport and it is unclear if he has travel documents he would need to leave Moscow.
Edward Snowden has accepted an offer of political asylum from Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro said Edward Snowden “will have to decide when he flies here, if he finally wants to travel here”.
On Friday he said: “As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) … persecution from the empire.”
Nicolas Maduro made the offer during a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela’s independence. It was not immediately clear if there were any conditions to Venezuela’s offer.
“In the name of America’s dignity … I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden,” Nicolas Maduro proclaimed during a military parade marking the country’s Independence Day.
“He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world,” Nicolas Maduro said.
But the Obama administration said yesterday that U.S. diplomats are working behind the scenes to make it difficult for Edward Snowden to find safe harbor in any of the nations that have offered him asylum.
Edward Snowden has received a temporary travel document to fly to Caracas, Venezuela, and both Bolivia and Nicaragua have also offered him political asylum, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters during his regular briefing that the United States will do what it can to stop him.
“The United States has been in touch via diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries through which Mr. Snowden might transit or which might serve as final destinations for Mr. Snowden,” Jay Carney said.
U.S. diplomats, he added, have “made very clear that he has been charged with a felony, or with felonies, and, as such, he should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel other than travel that would result in him returning to the United States”.
It’s not clear whether the Obama administration is hoping a Latin American nation will double-cross Snowden and offer him up to Washington after he arrives from Russia.
But the U.S., Jay Carney said, is still working to persuade Moscow to short-circuit the process and turn the fugitive over before he can leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 airport.
Sources say Edward Snowden will not be allowed to board the only Aeroflot plane that offers direct connections to Caracas, a regular service to Cuban capital Havana.
The routing overflies both the EU and the US and there are fears the plane will be denied rights to Western airspace, and forced to land, leading to Edward Snowden’s arrest.
The direct distance from Moscow to Caracas is 6,175 miles but it appeared too far for Edward Snowden.
The escape route for Edward Snowden is fraught with problems.
With Russia getting publicly impatient with Edward Snowden’s presence in its transit zone, his escape route is a logistical nightmare.
“Instead of going west to Venezuela, his obvious option is east to Vladivostok and then across the Pacific to Caracas,” said one source.
It would mean Russia allowing him to formally enter its territory, which so far it has refused to do, unwilling to upset the US.
This would also involve a 14,200 mile detour and a routing that would bring him close to the US state of Hawaii posing a risk to any private plane willing to take him on a route where there are no scheduled services.
One option for the fugitive is to charter a private plane.
Former CIA analyst Allen Thomson said: “A private plane certainly looks like the best bet to me.”
“It has the advantage of simplicity and minimum involvement by the Russian government,” Mother Jones reported.
As Allen Thomson told Foreign Policy, Edward Snowden could avoid US-influenced airspace by flying north to the Barents Sea, through the Denmark Strait, head soutwhile avoiding Canada’s Newfoundland, until getting to the east of the Windward Islands, then squeezing through between islands.
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Venezuela emerged today as the country most likely to shelter NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden from US justice.
President Nicolás Maduro said he was “willing in principle” to grant Edward Snowden asylum, declaring: “He didn’t kill anyone or plant a bomb.”
Nicolás Maduro said that the NSA whistleblower had not made a formal application for refuge but that he deserved protection under international law.
But the Venezuelan president, who is in Russia on a state visit, batted down speculation that he could spirit the data analyst away to Venezuelan capital Caracas on his presidential jet when he leaves Russia tonight.
Edward Snowden, 30, has so far applied for asylum in 21 countries but faces a thinning list of options after Finland, India, Ecuador and Poland rejected his plea and a number of others said applications can only be made in person on their home soil.
President Nicolás Maduro said he was “willing in principle” to grant Edward Snowden asylum
In the most positive news yet for Edward Snowden, Nicolás Maduro said: “He did not kill anyone and he did not plant a bomb… He only said a big truth to prevent wars.”
His comments came after Edward Snowden has abandoned his bid for asylum in Russia, hours after president Vladimir Putin said he would only be welcome if he stopped leaking the secrets of “our American partners”.
WikiLeaks today revealed Edward Snowden has begged 21 countries to take him in as he fights extradition to the US where he faces charges of espionage after leaking top-secret documents on US surveillance schemes.
The list includes Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Finland, France, Spain, Germany and Ireland.
“Snowden really asked to remain in Russia,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said.
“Learning yesterday of Russia’s position… he abandoned his intentions and his request to get the possibility to stay in Russia.”
Earlier, Vladimir Putin made it clear Russia would only consider his request if he stops “attacking our American partners” in an unusual gesture of solidarity with the US.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” said the Kremlin leader, defying a specific U.S. request.
“If he [Edward Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
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Officials in Venezuela say they have found a plane that disappeared carrying Vittorio Missoni, the boss of Italian fashion house, in January.
Vittorio Missoni, 58, and his wife were among six people on board the flight from Los Roques islands to Caracas.
Interior Ministry spokesman Jorge Galindo announced the discovery of the plane on Twitter.
Officials said it was found 230 ft under water, north of Los Roques islands in the Caribbean.
Following the plane’s disappearance on January 4, investigators from the Italian Agency for Air Safety (ANSV) said the company that owned the small plane was not fully licensed to operate.
A piece of luggage from the aircraft was found off the Dutch island of Curacao, about 200 miles west of Los Roques, later that month.
Vittorio Missoni was the son of the fashion brand’s founder, Ottavio Missoni, and co-owned the firm with his siblings
Vittorio Missoni was the son of the fashion brand’s founder, Ottavio Missoni, and co-owned the firm with his siblings.
He was returning from a Christmas and New Year holiday with his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, and two friends – Elda Scalvenzi and Guido Foresti.
Two Venezuelan pilots were also on board the BN-2 Islander plane.
Minutes after take-off, one of the pilots reported that the plane was at 5,000ft and 10 nautical miles from Los Roques airport, Italy’s air safety agency has said.
The last radar report showed the aircraft accelerating at 5,400ft before it rapidly lost altitude and speed, veering to the right until it disappeared from the radar.
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Venezuela’s National Assembly has backed the country’s plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage.
Lawmakers voted to approve a $79 million credit for the country’s ministry of commerce, which will also be used to buy toothpaste and soap.
The products are currently in short supply in Venezuelan shops.
The oil-rich nation relies on imports, but currency controls have restricted its ability to pay for foreign goods.
President Nicolas Maduro, who won a narrow majority in April’s presidential elections, maintains that the country’s periodic shortages of basic goods are the result of a conspiracy campaign by the opposition and rich sectors of society.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has backed the country’s plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage
Nicolas Maduro has vowed to uphold the legacy of his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, whose “21st-Century socialism” involved sweeping nationalization and extensive social programmes.
Analysts say that the government’s attempts to impose state control on the economy have created huge imbalances that have led to the shortages.
“Price controls, for example, act as a disincentive to local producers, forcing them to cut output,” says the survey organization Consensus Economics.
“The resulting scarcity forces up inflation, defeating the entire purpose of price controls in the first place.”
Venezuela’s inflation is the highest in Latin America and is currently running at about 25%.
The Venezuelan currency, bolivar, has been devalued repeatedly in recent years, most recently by 32% in February.
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