International
Venezuela’s Maduro says Mexico to host talks with opposition

AFP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday that Mexico will host talks between his government and the opposition, but insisted he will only take part if international sanctions are lifted and he is protected from any plots to oust him.
Maduro’s re-election in 2018 has not been recognized by either the opposition at home or by around 60 other countries — including the European Union and the United States.
Washington in particular has ramped up sanctions against Venezuela and its regime, putting huge pressure on a country that has plunged deeper into political, economic and humanitarian crisis.
“Norway has been promoting an international dialogue based in Mexico, and very well, we agree,” Maduro said at a meeting with lawmakers at the presidential palace in Caracas.
“What we do not agree with is that some people who say they want to participate in the dialogue are preparing coups, financing criminals, terrorist attacks, and are planning assassinations,” added the president.
Maduro’s comments come after the arrest of opposition leader Freddy Guevara, who was detained Monday by the secret police and will be charged with terrorism and treason, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Guevara has been accused in the past of encouraging violence in protests that called for Maduro’s departure, although the lawmaker was pardoned by the president last year.
Without referring to Guevara directly, Maduro said on Monday that some of those who have been pardoned “go free and immediately join in looking for criminals, paying for violent groups and preparing assassinations.”
The US and EU have said they are willing to review sanctions if negotiations in favor of “credible” elections advance.
Maduro insisted his participation in Mexico depended on whether the measures, which include an oil embargo by the US, were lifted.
“We have proposed three conditions to go to Mexico,” Maduro told lawmakers. “One, that the United States and the European Union lift all sanctions.
“Two, that all political sectors, by sitting down, recognize the validity and functioning of public powers and constitutionality of the country and its legitimate authorities.
“Three, that all sectors renounce violent plans with criminals, coups, assassination and other avenues of violence.”
Regional elections are taking place in Venezuela in November, and Maduro has promised to respect the results should his opponents triumph in the mayoral and gubernatorial contests.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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