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    Venezuela celebra elecciones para el Esequibo, territorio de otro país

    La mayoría de los países y los habitantes de esta región están de acuerdo: pertenece a Guyana. El presidente de Venezuela Nicolás Maduro convocó elecciones para este territorio rico en petróleo.El domingo, Venezuela tiene previsto celebrar elecciones a gobernador y legisladores para representar al Esequibo, un territorio escasamente poblado y rico en petróleo.Pero hay un problema. El Esequibo está reconocido internacionalmente como parte de Guyana, el país vecino, no de Venezuela.La mayoría de los países y las 125.000 personas que viven en el Esequibo están de acuerdo: pertenece a Guyana, nación de unos 800.000 habitantes, y no a Venezuela, de unos 28 millones.Al convocar elecciones legislativas y regionales el domingo, incluidas las del Esequibo, el presidente autocrático de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, según los analistas, pretende legitimar su gobierno en el extranjero y también dentro de su nación, profundamente insatisfecha, donde, al parecer, la lealtad de los militares se está resquebrajando.El año pasado, Maduro declaró la victoria en las elecciones presidenciales, pero no aportó ninguna prueba que respaldara su afirmación. En su lugar, los escrutinios recogidos por los observadores electorales mostraron que su oponente había ganado de forma aplastante. Muchos países, incluido Estados Unidos, no reconocieron a Maduro como vencedor.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    U.S. Says Tren de Aragua Charges Will ‘Devastate’ Its Infrastructure

    Federal prosecutors charged six members of the Venezuelan gang and 21 members of a violent splinter group.New York City’s mayor and police commissioner and a top White House immigration official announced on Tuesday two indictments charging 27 people they said were linked to Tren de Aragua, a gang that the Trump administration has said poses a unique threat to America.“Tren de Aragua is not just a street gang — it is a highly structured terrorist organization that has destroyed American families with brutal violence,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release touting the charges, adding that the arrests “will devastate TdA’s infrastructure” in three states.Six defendants were named as members or associates of Tren, which the Trump administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The other 21 people, prosecutors said, had broken away to join a violent splinter group called anti-Tren.Still, officials argued, in displaying dozens of seized handguns and rifles, the existence of both groups showed Tren de Aragua’s singular harm. Members of the gangs had engaged in murders and assaults, sex trafficking and human smuggling, according to the indictments.At a news conference, Thomas D. Homan, whom President Trump appointed as “border czar,” said the indictments showed the necessity of his immigration policies.“New York City — you’re a sanctuary city, you’re sanctuary for criminals,” said Mr. Homan, the so-called border czar.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Bukele Proposes Deal That Would Free Deported Venezuelans

    El Salvador’s president proposed on Sunday repatriating Venezuelan detainees sent to his country from the United States in exchange for the release of prisoners by Venezuela, including key figures in the Venezuelan opposition.“I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100 percent of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold,” President Nayib Bukele wrote in an X post directed at President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.Since March, the U.S. government has sent Venezuelans and Salvadorans accused of being affiliated with the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador, where Mr. Bukele agreed to hold convicted criminals for the United States, for a fee. Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, demanded the immediate release of the Venezuelans held in El Salvador late Sunday in a statement responding to Mr. Bukele. Mr. Saab didn’t whether the Venezuelan government would consider the proposal.The first flights to arrive in El Salvador carried 238 Venezuelans, many of whom were found not to have criminal records. Mr. Maduro responded explosively to the detention of Venezuelans by El Salvador’s government, telling Mr. Bukele not to be “an accomplice in this kidnapping.”Among the political prisoners in Venezuela named in Mr. Bukele’s post were several people detained by the Maduro government in a crackdown last year.He also said that as part of the swap, he would require Mr. Maduro to release “nearly 50 detained citizens of other nationalities,” including Americans.As of last month, at least 68 foreign passport holders were wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela, according to a Venezuelan watchdog group, Foro Penal. They are detained alongside roughly 900 Venezuelan political prisoners. The United Nations and independent watchdog groups have documented a pattern of human rights abuses by the Venezuelan government.The detention of critics and other politically useful figures comes as Mr. Maduro has lost support at home and abroad and has sought new forms of leverage. His goals include pushing the United States to renegotiate sanctions on his government.“Unlike you, who holds political prisoners,” Mr. Bukele wrote, “we do not have political prisoners. All the Venezuelans we have in custody were detained as part of an operation against gangs like Tren de Aragua in the United States.”Mr. Bukele said his government would send “the formal correspondence” and ended his message saying, “God bless the people of Venezuela.”Mr. Saab said that the Venezuelan government would be pressing El Salvador’s attorney general and Supreme Court for a list of the names of those who were detained, along with “proof of life and a medical report for each one.”Isayen Herrera More

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    Trump Administration Pushes Back Against Judge’s Orders on Deportations

    The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dissolve the orders he put in place this weekend barring it from deporting suspected members of a Venezuelan street gang from the country under a rarely invoked wartime statute called the Alien Enemies Act.The Justice Department also doubled down on its efforts to avoid giving the judge, James E. Boasberg, the detailed information he had requested about the deportations, asking the federal appeals court that sits over him to intervene and put the case on hold.Taken together, the twin moves — made in separate sets of court papers filed late on Monday — marked a continuation of the Trump’s administration’s aggressive attempts to push back against Judge Boasberg, the chief judge of the Federal District Court in Washington, who temporarily halted one of President Trump’s signature deportation policies.The Justice Department has now effectively opened up two fronts in the battle: one challenging the underlying orders that paused, for now, the deportation flights and another seeking to avoid disclosing any information about the flights that could indicate they took place after the judge’s orders stopping them were imposed.Mr. Trump attacked Judge Boasberg in a social media post on Tuesday morning, albeit without naming him, as “a troublemaker and agitator,” and called for his impeachment. Mr. Trump’s remarks came days after he declared during a speech at the Justice Department that criticizing judges should be illegal.The late night filings and Mr. Trump’s verbal assault followed a day of extraordinary tension between the Trump administration and Judge Boasberg, both inside and outside the courtroom.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Con Edmundo González asilado en España, las esperanzas de democracia se reducen en Venezuela

    La decisión del candidato opositor de solicitar asilo en España y el antagonismo del líder autocrático, Nicolás Maduro, hacia las potencias regionales reducen las posibilidades de una transición política.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]La noticia de que Edmundo González, candidato de la oposición venezolana, había huido del país en un avión de la Fuerza Aérea Española este fin de semana tomó al país, y al mundo, por sorpresa.El año pasado estuvo marcado por meses de represión que desembocaron en unas disputadas elecciones presidenciales. A la votación siguió una brutal represión por parte del gobierno autoritario de Nicolás Maduro.Aun así, muchos venezolanos mantenían la esperanza de que, mediante una salida negociada, el gobierno de inspiración socialista pudiera hacerse a un lado y dejar que González, un exdiplomático de voz suave, asumiera el poder.Su partida el sábado redujo aun más esa remota posibilidad. Y se produjo mientras las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas rodeaban la residencia diplomática argentina en Caracas, donde seis altos dirigentes de la oposición se han refugiado desde marzo.Según algunos analistas, Maduro se ha afianzado en el poder, aunque muchos venezolanos y gobiernos de todo el mundo no han reconocido su afirmación de que fue reelegido para la presidencia en los comicios del 28 de julio.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Edmundo González Flees Venezuela for Spain, and Hopes for Democracy Dim

    The opposition candidate’s decision to seek asylum in Spain and the autocratic leader’s antagonism toward regional powers lessen the chances of a political transition.The news that Edmundo González, Venezuela’s opposition candidate, had fled the country on a Spanish Air Force plane this weekend took the country, and the world, by surprise.The past year has been marked by months of repression leading up to a disputed presidential election. The vote was followed by a brutal crackdown by the authoritarian government of President Nicolás Maduro.Still, many Venezuelans held out hope that through a negotiated exit the socialist-inspired administration might step aside and let Mr. González, a soft-spoken former diplomat, assume power.His departure on Saturday narrowed that slim possibility even further. And it came as Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine diplomatic residence in Caracas where six top opposition leaders have been taking shelter since March.Mr. Maduro has solidified his hold on power, some analysts say, even if many Venezuelans and governments around the world have not recognized his claim that he was re-elected to the presidency in the July 28 election.Efforts by countries in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, to broker a resolution to the conflict have gone nowhere, and the opposition, which has called on the global community to rally behind it, has seemingly few options.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Protestas en Venezuela: nuevo informe vincula a las fuerzas de seguridad con 6 muertes

    Un informe de Human Rights Watch es el primer esfuerzo de una importante organización internacional por verificar algunas de las dos decenas de muertes registradas en las protestas desde las controvertidas elecciones presidenciales de Venezuela.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas y grupos armados afines al Gobierno cometieron actos de violencia generalizados contra manifestantes y mataron a algunos de ellos tras las disputadas elecciones presidenciales del país, según un informe publicado el miércoles por Human Rights Watch.Organizaciones y medios de comunicación venezolanos denunciaron 24 asesinatos durante las manifestaciones, pero el reporte es el primer esfuerzo de una organización internacional por verificar algunos de ellos.El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, ha enfrentado una amplia condena nacional e internacional por su afirmación de que ganó las elecciones presidenciales del 28 de julio, y la consiguiente represión violenta de las manifestaciones de protesta contra esa afirmación.El gobierno aún no ha publicado ningún recuento de votos que demuestre la victoria de Maduro. Los recuentos de los observadores electorales publicados por la oposición muestran que perdió de manera contundente.El informe de Human Rights Watch, una organización de investigación y defensa sin fines de lucro con sede en Nueva York, detalla los casos de seis personas que murieron durante las protestas a manos de las fuerzas de seguridad del Estado o de lo que parecían ser grupos de milicias armadas llamados colectivos.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    U.S. Seized an Airplane Owned by Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro

    The Biden administration said the airplane had been illegally exported for Mr. Maduro. U.S. officials accuse him of undermining the results of a presidential election he lost.The U.S. government has seized an airplane linked to Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, and brought it to Florida on Monday because it was bought in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a Justice Department statement.The Biden administration is trying to put more pressure on Mr. Maduro because of his attempts to undermine the results of the recent presidential election in his country, White House officials said.The Justice Department said in its statement that it had seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX owned and operated by Mr. Maduro and his partners after it had been brought to the Dominican Republic for maintenance work. The department then had the plane flown to Florida. The plane had been purchased in the United States for $13 million through a shell company and “smuggled” out of the country “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies,” Merrick B. Garland, the U.S. attorney general, said in the statement.The Homeland Security Department helped the Justice Department lead the operation, one U.S. official said. The Commerce Department was involved as well.“Let this seizure send a clear message: Aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” Matthew S. Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, said in a written statement.Video footage broadcast by CNN on Monday showed the airplane, a sleek white jet with red stripes, sitting on a tarmac in Florida.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More