International

Venezuelan opposition asks for the “alarming situation” in Argentine residence in Caracas to be resolved

Venezuela’s largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), asked the international community on Friday to “join efforts” to achieve a “prompt solution” for the five anti-Chavistas taken in the residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, who have been denouncing the “police siege” since November 2024.

Through a statement, the ConVzla Command – the PUD’s organization team – reiterated its call for safe-conducts to be granted “as soon as possible” and for refugees to be able to leave Venezuela.

The asylum seers in the Argentine Embassy are Magalli Meda, Claudia Macero, Omar González, Pedro Urruchurtu and Humberto Villalobos, all collaborators of the opposition leader María Corina Machado and accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of the alleged crimes of conspiracy and treason.

Until last December 19, former minister Fernando Martínez Mottola, who was an advisor to the PUD, also remained in asylum, and, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, presented himself “voluntarily” at the main headquarters of the institution in Caracas, to testify about “serious violent, conspiratorial and destabilizing facts organized” from the residence “after the celebration of the presidential elections” in July.

The coalition denounced that “every day the conditions” of the asylum seekers are aggravated, who – according to the bloc – have remained for 83 days without electricity service, after the state electricity company – details the communication – took the fuses from the residence.

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“These five people today depend on an electric generator enabled for emergency cases, and whose use they ration to be able to guarantee the minimum necessary connectivity, in view of the repeated refusal to restore the electricity service,” said the PUD.

Added to this, the anti-Thavista alliance continued, “restrictions on access to essential services and products”, among which he mentioned “water, medicines and food”.

The entry of these products,” he added, “depends on the arbitrary orders of the regime’s repressive bodies, whose troops have also been besieged in the diplomatic compound since November 23.”

The PUD indicated that, in the last two weeks, the entry of tanker trucks that supply drinking water to the residence, which no longer “has water” has been “continuously” refused.

On the other hand, the bloc denounced a “permanent immordation” to “any person” who brings “any product or food to the embassy.”

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“Not satisfied with not authorizing entry, they detain them for up to two hours and then return them, not without first threatening them. This makes it very difficult to provide and feasible the supply of inputs, given the risk it implies for those who dare to approach,” he said.

Faced with this situation, the alliance said that they have sent private communications to “several members of the accredited diplomatic corps” in Venezuela, but – he admitted – “there has been no success.”

“Today, we reiterate the invitation to these diplomats to check the state in which the asylum seekers are, denying the versions of the regime with which they intend to minimize the situation that, under their own orders, they have created,” insisted the PUD.

Brazil assumed the protection of the Argentine Embassy in August 2024, after the Administration of Nicolás Maduro expelled the diplomatic corps from that country, but a month later Venezuela revoked this authorization.

However, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry reported that it will remain with the “custody and defense of the interests” of Argentina until the southern country “designates another acceptable state” for the Maduro Administration, in order to carry out those functions.

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International

Maduro urges UN to intervene for venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador

Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term in January following his controversial re-election, urged United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to intervene on behalf of Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador after being deported from the United States.

During a broadcast on the state-run Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Maduro claimed these Venezuelans were “kidnapped”, forcibly disappeared, and held in “concentration camps.”

He also criticized U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for failing to release the list of migrants deported on March 16, who were allegedly accused of belonging to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which originated in a Venezuelan prison.

“Reports say there are 238 Venezuelans kidnapped in prisons, in concentration camps, in El Salvador. A week after they were taken and thrown into these camps, neither the U.S. government nor Nayib Bukele have published the list of those they have kidnapped in El Salvador,” Maduro stated, calling it a “forced disappearance.”

International

Canada updates U.S. travel advisory amid immigration policy changes

In a coordinated action with several European allies, Canada has updated its travel advisory for citizens visiting the United States, citing changes in immigration policies and law enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland have issued similar warnings, highlighting stricter border screenings, tighter visa restrictions, and new federal guidelines that particularly affect transgender and non-binary travelers.

These advisories reflect growing diplomatic concerns over how the recent U.S. policy shifts are impacting foreign visitors, especially tourists and long-term travelers. Additionally, this marks a rare instance in which multiple NATO allies publicly warn their citizens about travel to the United States.

International

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to meet with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on friday

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum next Friday.

According to statements made to Fox News, the Trump administration official will travel this week to El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico.

On Wednesday, Noem is scheduled to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, with whom she will tour the mega-prison built to detain gang members in the country.

On Thursday, she will visit Colombia, where she will hold talks with President Gustavo Petro and top law enforcement officials.

On Friday, Noem will be in Mexico, where she is expected to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente.