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

Florida judge sets 2027 trial in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against BBC

A federal judge in Florida has scheduled February 2027 for the trial in the lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump against the BBC, in which he is seeking $10 billion in damages for defamation.

Trump accuses the British broadcaster of airing a misleading edit of a speech he delivered on January 6, 2021, which, he says, made it appear that he explicitly urged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The president filed the suit in December in federal court in Florida, alleging defamation and violations of a law governing business practices when the program was broadcast ahead of the 2024 election.

Trump is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the two claims.

Lawyers for the BBC unsuccessfully asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Trump had not suffered a “legally recognizable harm,” since the investigative program Panorama, which included the edited footage, aired outside the United States.

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International

Head-of-state diplomacy key to guiding China–U.S. ties, Beijing says

Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China–United States relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday during a regular press briefing, when asked about high-level exchanges between the two sides.

Lin added that in a recent phone call, U.S. President Donald Trump once again expressed his intention to visit China in April, while Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his invitation.

Both sides remain in communication regarding the matter, the spokesperson said.

Lin noted that the essence of China–U.S. economic and trade ties lies in mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

“Both parties should work together to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, injecting greater certainty and stability into China–U.S. economic and trade cooperation, as well as into the global economy,” he said.

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International

Trump administration to end special immigration operation in Minnesota

The administration of Donald Trump is bringing to a close its special operation targeting illegal immigration in the northern state of Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday, following weeks of unrest and the fatal shootings of two activists by federal agents.

Thousands of federal officers had been deployed to Minnesota in December to carry out large-scale raids against undocumented immigrants.

The operations triggered strong reactions from residents and advocacy groups, leading to daily confrontations and the deaths of two people who were shot by federal agents.

“I proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this special operation should end in Minnesota,” Homan said during a press conference in the state capital, Minneapolis.

“A significant drawdown began this week and will continue into next week,” he added.

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Homan indicated that similar enforcement efforts could be launched in other cities.

“Next week we will redeploy the agents currently here back to their home stations or to other parts of the country where they are needed. But we will continue to enforce immigration laws,” he said.