International
EU prioritises Venezuela elections over Guaido ties

AFP
The EU on Friday made clear it is prioritising its approach towards regional elections in Venezuela next month over its stance towards opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is against the polls.
Brussels plans to send an election observer mission to Venezuela to monitor the November 21 vote in the impoverished South American country.
Guaido — whom more than 50 countries, including the United States and much of Latin America regard as the acting president of Venezuela — has come out against both the elections and the EU observer mission, along with another high-profile opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez.
But, said an EU official on condition of anonymity, “you have to look at what influence Guaido and Lopez have”.
The official noted that most of Venezuela’s opposition parties have opted to compete in the regional polls, breaking with their past strategy of boycotting elections called by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s government.
That, despite the opposition accusing Maduro of fraudulent re-election in 2018.
“We respect their (Guaido and Lopez’s) point of view, but their own party is in favour of participating in the elections and the mission,” the official said.
The EU mission is headed by a Portuguese MEP, Isabel Santos, and counts around 100 election experts who are to start arriving in Caracas over the coming days.
On Wednesday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the elections were “unprecedented”, involving “the majority of political forces for the first time in recent years”.
No EU member states has raised objections to the mission, though some have voiced worries that it could be used by Maduro’s regime to assert legitimacy.
The EU official said that “even in the US there is a pragmatic tilt. The atmosphere has changed. The aim is to find a negotiated solution to the crisis in that country (Venezuela).”
The EU, US and Canada have said they would be prepared to review their sanctions against Maduro’s government if there is “significant progress” in political talks between it and the opposition taking place in Mexico City.
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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