When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

EL NACIONAL
One of Venezuela's most read daily newspapers, El Nacional was created in 1943 and is owned by Miguel Henrique Otero. It is headquartered in Caracas and tends to be very critical of late President Hugo Chavez and of the new government led by Nicolas Maduro.
Anti-government protesters last month in Valencia, Venezuela
Venezuela
Alidad Vassigh

Venezuela, Maduro's Greatest Threat May Be Old Friends

-Analysis-

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is still in charge — that much we know. What is less clear is whether he has a stronger or weaker grasp on power after the murky late-night helicopter shooting at the Supreme Court building, and a mob attack on parliament this past week.

The brazen assaults on power may help Maduro justify a clamp down on the opposition, but they might also hasten a coup or all-out civil war. Caracas-based daily El Nacionalreports that several former loyalists are currently undermining the ruling government's authority far more than longtime opponents to Maduro, including several who are in prison.

One is the former interior minister, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, whom Maduro has insinuated was involved in Tuesday night's helicopter assault. Rodríguez scoffed at the accuracy of the president's intelligence reports, stating he had nothing to do with the fugitive pilot, Óscar Pérez, who is also an actor.

The most notable opposition figure to emerge in recent months is Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz, a former Maduro loyalist. In March she denounced as illegal the bungled attempt by the president and the Supreme Court to simply "cancel" parliament, and has opposed the touted Constituent Assembly and vowed to defend with her life the Bolivarian constitution laid down by the late president Hugo Chávez. On Wednesday, she ridiculed Maduro's declarations about a "terrorist attack" on the Supreme Court, saying he was seeing terrorism everywhere.

The political maneuvering at the top changes little about the dire state of daily life for millions of Venezuelans.

Despite support building for Ortega, as evidenced in recent footage of bystanders applauding her in a Caracas bakery, authorities have frozen her accounts and prevented her from leaving Venezuela. She is to appear in court next week for questioning.

The political maneuvering at the top changes little about the dire state of daily life for millions of Venezuelans. Some have noted that people have now mastered the routine of combining anti-government protests with searching for food and consumer products that are hard to come by.

But Maduro's determination to hold on to power at any cost may well push the country into civil war. On Tuesday, government supporters briefly besieged parliament, preventing legislators from leaving, while the Speaker, Julio Borges, was separately shown being pushed out of the parliamentary building by a National Guard colonel.

Ortega is breaking ranks — Photo: Wikipedia

Fatalities after three months of protests have now reached 80, and the opposition is planning another major anti-government protest in Caracas. But El Universal daily also reports that army vehicles are now increasingly visible and mobile in the capital.

With longtime opposition figures jailed, attention is increasingly focused on Ortega, who must walk a fine line of vigorously countering Maduro with calls to remain within the law — she is, after all, the Attorney General. Denouncing "state terrorism" on Wednesday, she told the press in Caracas that "we are facing barbaric actions. They are promoting violence ... inciting an armed insurrection. It's like they are desperate for a military uprising. I call on all Venezuelans to abide by the Constitution and the law."

Venezuela

Extra! Venezuelan 'Brutal Repression,' Growing Isolation

El Nacional — April 27, 2017

CARACAS — The embattled government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has raised the stakes on both the domestic and foreign front.

At home, the death count continued to climb as the state responded to anti-government protests, a scenario Caracas-based daily El Nacional"s Thursday edition characterized as "Brutal Repression." Most sources cited 29 deaths in the past four weeks of clashes and demonstrations.

On the foreign policy front, the government decided to pull Venezuela out of the Organization of American States (OAS), which it says is "meddling" in the domestic affairs of the country in response to the opposition protests.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez announced the decision Wednesay after a meeting at the group's Washington headquarters in which its permanent council voted in favor of holding a special session to evaluate Venezuela's crisis, the El Nacional reports.

International pressure has been mounting for Maduro to schedule delayed elections and free jailed members of the opposition. You can read more in English from the Associated Press.

Venezuela

In Venezuela, 'Blackmailing Through Their Stomachs'

[rebelmouse-image 27090260 alt="""" original_size="750x1109" expand=1]

El Nacional, June 9, 2016

Venezuelan daily El Nacional on Thursday features front-page clashes linked to the country's ongoing food shortages. "Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) will control 70% of food staples," reads the lead headline of the Caracas daily that is close to the opposition.

The headline refers to the policy touted by Food Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres to have supplies distributed through local government committees to fight what President Nicolas Maduro has called the "economic war" gripping Venezuela. The government has blamed contraband for empty supermarket shelves, and has taken on the delivery to Venezuelans of a bag every 21 days filled with staple products such as rice, milk and beans.

But daily protests over food shortage have continued. The opposition says the government is "trying to create an absolute monopoly on the distribution of food" and that it is "blackmailing the people through their stomach."

Venezuela already has the highest inflation rate in the world, with 180.9% in 2015, and could reach 700% this year according to the International Monetary Fund.