International

Venezuela shows evidence of fraud in primary event

Photo: @Asamblea_Ven

October 27 |

The president of the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, met in Caracas with representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in the country and exposed details of the agreements assumed by the National Government and a sector of the opposition to contextualize the evidence of the fraudulent primary event that took place last October 22.

He referred that recently the National Government signed in the capital of Barbados with representatives of the oppositions two agreements: one related to the political and electoral conditions, with a view to the presidential election of 2024, and the other which expressed the firm intention to defend the territorial integrity of Venezuela and to defend the Venezuelan patrimony and assets that are abroad.

He pointed out that the first of them seeks that the results of that election be shared by all and that they may be fair, verifiable and supported by the goodness and strengths of the national electoral system, considered one of the most reliable, efficient and fast in the world. All this was embodied in this agreement, he emphasized.

He reminded that it is a robust and reliable automated system, and throughout it there are 18 audits (including the inspection by experts of the machines, the software, the electoral registry, the machine set to zero on the day of the elections and the voting records, among many others).

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He explained that in one of its paragraphs, the agreement on the elections makes it clear that these conditions will be applied to the rest of the electoral processes to be carried out in the country.

He emphasized that political parties in Venezuela are subject to public scrutiny and to the provisions of the Constitution and electoral laws, such as the Organic Law of Electoral Processes, the Comptrollership Law and others. He made clear that these parties “are not secret brotherhoods, they are not private companies, they are not anonymous companies” and must adhere to the mandate of the law.

In addition to these standards, during the signing of the agreements it was defined that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is the only entity legally vested in the country to summon, organize and carry out elections of any kind and thus avoid any irregularity.

He added that on two occasions the NEC communicated with the organizations with political purposes which conform the so called Unitary Platform and on both occasions this sector refused to allow the NEC to organize the election.

He questioned the refusal of this sector to use the voting centers and tables, the electronic machines and all the support usually provided by the CNE. He assured that this could only be explained because a fraud of incalculable proportions had been organized.

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He denounced that there were no voting centers and people did not know where to go to vote. Very few were known to exist and with very vague coordinates. On the other hand, 30 percent of the voting centers were inside private residences.

He commented that then began to appear denunciations of candidates and resignations of members of the boards of this primary event in the states, among them the vice-president of the national commission of the event, who claimed the participation of the CNE in this process.

She said that the resignations of candidates prevented the election from being participatory. How can an election be competitive if there is only one candidate left with possibilities, since two others resigned, she asked. He assured that what happened on Sunday, October 22 cannot be considered an election. It does not have any quality or verifiability.

He commented that another candidate explained that there were no voting centers, it was not known who the witnesses were and the audited electoral material had not arrived, among other irregularities. He said that weeks before the primary event, a private company called Súmate -owned by María Corina Machado- hijacked the primary event and, for example, created mega voting centers -with 6,000, 10,000 voters, for example- which prevented thousands of voters from voting.

He affirmed that 25 percent of the 5,000 voting tables were never installed. He emphasized that the objective of all this was to create agglomeration and irritation among his own followers, in addition to trying to mediatically implant an opinion matrix favorable to anxiety and to politically annihilate the parties that signed the agreements in Barbados.

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There is no election if you cannot present medium or minimally reliable results, said Rodriguez.

International

Dominican court postpones hearing in deadly nightclub collapse case

10 reported dead after explosion in Dominican Republic

A Dominican court on Monday postponed until March a preliminary hearing against the owners of a nightclub that collapsed last year, killing more than 200 people.

The roof of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed in the early hours of April 8, 2025, during a concert by popular merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who died along with 235 other people.

Jet Set owner and manager Antonio Espaillat and his sister Maribel, who served as the club’s administrator, were arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter but were later released on bail after posting approximately $842,500.

Both appeared at the Palace of Justice, where they were met by a small protest from relatives and friends of the victims.

“Thirty years in prison is not enough” and “President, we want JUSTICE,” read signs held by demonstrators.

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The preliminary hearing determines whether there is sufficient evidence to send the case to trial. The court decided to reschedule the hearing for March 16.

“We don’t want money and we’re not demanding anything else, only justice for those who died,” said Secundino Pérez, a 75-year-old shopkeeper who lost 12 friends in the Jet Set tragedy.

“Antonio and his family celebrated Christmas sitting at a table, celebrating their freedom,” said Edgar Gómez, who lost his daughter in the collapse.

The Dominican Republic’s Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the defendants “significantly altered” the structure of the nightclub. Prosecutors filed formal charges in November and requested that the case proceed to trial.

The charge of involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of three months to two years in prison.

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“May your conscience never let you sleep. I lost my son,” a woman shouted through tears before the hearing, while others chanted, “Murderers, murderers, murderers.”

International

Venezuelan opposition leader dedicates Nobel Prize to Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that he was “eager” to welcome the opposition leader, who left Venezuela clandestinely with U.S. assistance, to receive her Nobel Prize in Oslo.

Machado dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump, who nevertheless showed a very cautious attitude toward including her in any potential political transition in Venezuela.

The opposition leader said on Monday, after an audience with Pope Leo XIV, that “the defeat of evil is closer” in Venezuela following the U.S. military operation that overthrew and removed President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from the country.

Trump has claimed that he is now in control of the South American nation, stating that the primary objective at this stage is to stabilize the country before considering elections.

Venezuelan oil is Washington’s main objective, Trump added after Maduro’s overthrow.

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International

Police hunt gunmen after fatal shooting in Corsica

A man was shot dead on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, local media reported. The victim was identified as Alain Orsoni, former president of local football club AC Ajaccio, according to sources close to the investigation cited by French news channel BFMTV.

Orsoni, 71, was killed in the town of Vero, near Ajaccio, the island’s capital, while attending his mother’s funeral.

He was also a former member of the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), a nationalist organization that has long sought independence for the island, reports said.

BFMTV reported that the gunmen fled the scene and remain at large. Local police have opened an investigation into the shooting.