US recognizes opposition candidate Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election

US recognizes opposition candidate Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election
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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (C-left) and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (C-right) greet supporters during a rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas on July 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 August 2024
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US recognizes opposition candidate Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election

US recognizes opposition candidate Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election
  • Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have called on Venezuela’s electoral authority to show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification
  • President Nicolas Maduro’s officials had earlier threatened to arrest opposition leaders for calling for mass protests against the election commission’s partiality

CARACAS, Venezuela: The stakes grew higher for Venezuela’s electoral authority to show proof backing its decision to declare President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the country’s presidential election after the United States on Thursday recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the victor, discrediting the official results of the highly anticipated vote.

The US Department of State announcement followed calls from multiple governments, including close allies of Maduro, for Venezuela’s National Electoral Council to release detailed vote counts, as it has done during previous elections.

The electoral body declared Maduro the winner Monday, but the main opposition coalition revealed hours later that it had evidence to the contrary in the form of more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed.

“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The US government announcement came amid diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro to release vote tallies from the election and increasing calls for an independent review of the results, according to officials from Brazil and México.

Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Maduro’s administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday.

The officials have told Venezuela’s government that showing the data is the only way to dispel any doubt about the results, said the Brazilian official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the diplomatic efforts and requested anonymity.

A Mexican official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, confirmed the three governments have been discussing the issue with Venezuela but did not provide details.

Earlier, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said he planned to speak with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and that his government believes it is important that the electoral tallies be made public.

Later Thursday, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela’s electoral authorities “to move forward expeditiously and publicly release” detailed voting data, but they did not confirm any backroom diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro’s government to publish the vote tallies.

“The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results,” they said in the statement.

On Monday, after the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the election, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets. The government said it arrested hundreds of protesters and Venezuela-based human rights organization Foro Penal said 11 people were killed. Dozens more were arrested the following day, including a former opposition candidate, Freddy Superlano.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado — who was barred from running for president — and Gonzalez addressed a huge rally of their supporters in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday, but they have not been seen in public since. Later that day, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, called for their arrest, calling them criminals and fascists.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, Machado said she is “hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom, and that of my fellow countrymen.” She reasserted that the opposition has physical evidence that Maduro lost the election and urged the international community to intervene.

“We have voted Mr. Maduro out,” she wrote. “Now it is up to the international community to decide whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government.”

Government repression over the years has pushed opposition leaders into exile. After the op-ed was published, Machado’s team told the AP that she was “sheltering.” Machado later posted a video on social media calling on supporters to gather Saturday across the country.

The Gonzalez campaign had no comment on the op-ed.

On Wednesday, Maduro asked Venezuela’s highest court to conduct an audit of the election, but that request drew almost immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.

Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice is closely aligned with Maduro’s government. The court’s justices are nominated by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro sympathizers.

On Thursday, the court accepted Maduro’s request for an audit and ordered him, Gonzalez and the eight other candidates who participated in the presidential election to appear before the justices Friday.

Gonzalez and Machado say they obtained more than two-thirds of the tally sheets printed from electronic voting machine after the polls closed. They said the release of the data on those tallies would prove Maduro lost.

Asked why electoral authorities have not released detailed vote counts, Maduro said the National Electoral Council has come under attack, including cyber-attacks, without elaborating.

The presidents of Colombia and Brazil — both close allies of the Venezuelan government — have urged Maduro to release detailed vote counts.

The Brazilian official said the diplomatic efforts are only intended to promote dialogue among Venezuelan stakeholders to negotiate a solution to the disputed election. The official said this would include the release of voting data and allowing independent verification.

López Obrador said Mexico hopes the will of Venezuela’s people will be respected and that there’s no violence. He added that Mexico expects “that the evidence, the electoral results records, be presented.”

Pressure has been building on the president since the election.

The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine, as it did in past elections. It did, however, report that Maduro received 5.1 million votes, versus more than 4.4 million for Gonzalez. But Machado, the opposition leader, has said vote tallies show Gonzalez received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Maduro.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but it entered into free fall after Maduro took the helm in 2013. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared past 130,000 percent led to social unrest and mass emigration.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.


Shipping on Rhine river in Germany back to normal after rain raises water level

Shipping on Rhine river in Germany back to normal after rain raises water level
Updated 52 min 48 sec ago
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Shipping on Rhine river in Germany back to normal after rain raises water level

Shipping on Rhine river in Germany back to normal after rain raises water level
  • Dry weather and a heatwave in June and July meant the river became too shallow for vessels to sail
  • Rain in past days means the last northern river sections where shipping was hindered by shallow water

HAMBURG: Repeated rain in past days has raised water levels on all of the river Rhine in Germany to normal levels allowing cargo vessels to sail with full loads, commodity traders said on Tuesday.

Dry weather and a heatwave in June and July meant the river became too shallow for vessels to sail fully loaded. Ship operators imposed surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels sailing partly empty, increasing costs for cargo owners.

Rain in past days means the last northern river sections where shipping was hindered by shallow water, including around Duisburg and Cologne, have been raised to levels allowing full loads.

Rain had raised other sections of the river, including the chokepoint at Kaub, to normal levels over the weekend.

The impact of the heatwave had been stronger than expected as fields were especially dry which drain into smaller streams and rivers feeding into the Rhine.

The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities such as grains, minerals, ores, chemicals, coal and oil products, including heating oil.

German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in summer 2022 after a drought led to unusually low water levels on the river.


Unrest in Angolan capital after 4 killed in fuel hike protests

Unrest in Angolan capital after 4 killed in fuel hike protests
Updated 29 July 2025
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Unrest in Angolan capital after 4 killed in fuel hike protests

Unrest in Angolan capital after 4 killed in fuel hike protests
  • Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops
  • Police reported “a few isolated incidents of disorder” early Tuesday and said people involved “were repelled and continue to be repelled“

LUANDA: Shots rang out as Angola’s capital was gripped by a second day of looting Tuesday, after at least four people were killed and scores arrested when violence erupted during a strike against a fuel price hike.

Transport in Luanda remained suspended and shops closed after massive looting on Monday, the first day of the taxi drivers’ strike to condemn the July 1 price rise, which had already led to several protests.

Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops, an AFP reporter said.

Images shared on social media showed clashes in the Rocha Pinto suburb near the airport and security forces deploying to a street where burning rubbish bins barricaded a road in the Prenda area.

The government’s decision to raise heavily subsidised fuel prices from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a liter in July has caused anger in Angola, one of Africa’s top oil producers where many people live in poverty.

“We are tired ... they must announce something for things to change ... for us to live in better conditions,” a protester told Angola’s TV Nzinga.

“Why do you make us suffer like this? How will we feed our children? The prices have to go down,” a woman said, addressing President Joao Lourenco.

Police reported “a few isolated incidents of disorder” early Tuesday and said people involved “were repelled and continue to be repelled.”

“We currently report four deaths,” Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues told reporters in a briefing about Monday’s violence. He did not specify how they occurred.

Police rounded up 400 people overnight for suspected involvement in the unrest after arresting 100 on Monday, he said.

About 45 shops were vandalized, while 25 private vehicles and 20 public buses were damaged, he said. Banks were also targeted.

“We continue to stress that our forces are on the streets, equipped with the necessary resources based on the threat level, responding where order has been restored to maintain it, and intervening where there are still disturbances to reestablish public order and peace,” he said.

AFP photographs on Monday showed people running off with items looted from shops, while images posted on social media showed large crowds of protesters and, separately, police pushing back groups of people.

Local media reports said security forces had used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.

A journalist in the city of Huambo, around 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Luanda, said there had also been looting and rioting there.

The New Alliance of Taxi Drivers Association (ANATA) distanced itself from Monday’s violence but said the three-day strike would continue.

It “has become clear that the voice of the taxi drivers reflects the outcry of the Angolan people,” the association said in a statement Tuesday.

Around 2,000 people demonstrated against the fuel hike on Saturday, with protests also held the previous two weekends.

Human Rights Watch said police had used excessive force in the July 12 protest, including firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

In a joint statement on Monday, civil society groups condemned the July 19 arrest of one of the organizers of the protests, Osvaldo Sergio Correia Caholo.

He was a “victim of the oppression in Angola, where freedoms and fundamental guarantees are constantly being trampled upon,” they said.

The protests were a “direct consequence” of the government’s failure to address unemployment, high living costs and a decline in public services, the Uyele civic group said.

It is “urgent to understand that we are facing a serious symptom: the social exhaustion of a youth with no alternatives,” it said in a statement.

Lourenco’s MPLA party has ruled Angola, which has a population of around 33 million, since its independence from Portugal in 1975.


Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage

Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage
Updated 29 July 2025
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Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage

Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage
  • One person has been convicted, while the others are in custody awaiting trial,
  • The group includes a Pole, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians

WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday said authorities have detained 32 people suspected of coordinating with Russia to engage in acts of sabotage, according to Polish news agency PAP.

One person has been convicted, while the others are in custody awaiting trial, PAP reported.

The group includes a Pole, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, PAP reported, as well as a 27-year-old Colombian man who is accused of two arson attacks in Poland last year at Russia’s behest.

The Polish Internal Security Agency in a statement Tuesday said he faces up to 10 years to life in prison in connection with the arson attacks on two construction warehouses in May 2024.



The suspect allegedly received his instructions, including how to make a Molotov cocktail to start the fires, from someone associated with Russian intelligence, the agency said.

Other details about the suspects or the alleged sabotage were not immediately available.


Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online

Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online
Updated 29 July 2025
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Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online

Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trade pushes deals online
  • Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead

KARACHI: Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead.

Many unlicensed exchange shops have been shut since July 22, when the military spy agency summoned representatives of the sector to explain the US dollar’s rising cost in the open market. Soon after, raids were carried out by the Federal Investigation Agency, which tackles financial crime and smuggling.

Since the crackdown began, the rupee has rebounded from a sharp fall against the dollar earlier in July. In the open market, it firmed from 288.6 per dollar on July 19 to about 286 in recent sessions.

But traders and bankers say the trade continues, suggesting the crackdown’s effects could be short-lived.

The black market operates outside official channels and includes unlicensed dealers, personal networks, and digital peer-to-peer exchanges, with customers seeking to skip tax declarations, avoid burdensome paperwork and bypass limits on official currency purchases.

In Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border long known for black market currency deals, many shops in the historic Chowk Yadgar district remain shuttered, though some traders were still operating discreetly in back-alley booths.

“The trade didn’t stop. It just moved,” said Ahmad, a dealer whose family has been in the business for generations. “Now it’s on WhatsApp. If you know someone, the dollars come to your house.”

“The big players have shifted to safer locations and kept going,” said another trader, Gul. Both traders asked not to give their full names.

Even retail buyers are bypassing the formal foreign exchange market. Hassan, a manager at a multinational firm in Karachi, said stricter documentation drove him to an informal forex chat.

“Everyone there is a buyer or seller. No middleman, no commission. Sometimes it’s physical cash, sometimes bank transfers, sometimes crypto,” he said.

STRICTER FX DISCIPLINE

On Monday, Pakistan’s central bank called in bank treasury heads to address pressure on the rupee. Two bankers said they were told to stop buying dollars from exchange companies at above-official rates on the grounds it was skewing the market.

Banks were asked to rely on their own inflows from exports and remittances, but both sources have slowed. Exporters are delaying bringing money home, betting the rupee will weaken. Remittances are also tapering off as banks reduce incentives once offered to attract overseas inflows.

Authorities also pressed banks to keep the gap between the interbank rate and the open market rate narrow, a condition of Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF deal meant to discourage speculation.

“These meetings have been happening for years, but this one was more pointed,” one banker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The central bank is expected to cut rates on Wednesday, easing inflation but risking pressure on the rupee.​


Indonesia to cut Middle East oil imports to meet Trump’s tariff deal

Indonesia to cut Middle East oil imports to meet Trump’s tariff deal
Updated 29 July 2025
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Indonesia to cut Middle East oil imports to meet Trump’s tariff deal

Indonesia to cut Middle East oil imports to meet Trump’s tariff deal
  • Saudi Arabia is among Indonesia’s top oil suppliers
  • US to impose 19% import tariff under new deal

JAKARTA: Indonesia will reduce oil and gas imports from Middle Eastern and Asian countries, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said, as Jakarta moves to implement its $15 billion energy deal with the US under the latest tariff agreement.

Indonesia is among three Southeast Asian countries that have struck deals with Washington so far, following negotiations with US President Donald Trump to lower tariff rates.

Jakarta has agreed to increase its imports from the US by more than $22 billion — including energy products — under the framework trade deal, while US tariffs on Indonesian imports would be set at 19 percent.

“We have agreed to buy $15 billion worth of gasoline, crude oil and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), which we will do in steps by considering its economic viability. The prices must be competitive, and now we’re designing a framework for it,” Lahadalia told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

“We will reduce (imports) from other countries (in) the Middle East and Asia.”

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy’s oil imports were valued at about $36 billion last year.

While the US is among Indonesia’s top oil suppliers, Washington still ranks behind Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

The US deal, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, allows Indonesia to avoid the higher tariff rate of 32 percent threatened earlier by the Trump administration.

“We know that 32 percent (tariff rate) means no trade, which basically means a trade embargo, and that means around 1 million workers in labor-intensive sectors can be impacted,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in a statement.

“What the government is doing through this cooperation with the US is to keep the internal and external balance so that we can maintain our trade balance, keep our economic momentum and ensure job creation.”

The US is Indonesia’s second-largest market after China, with exports valued at over $26 billion in 2024, according to Indonesia’s statistics agency.

Indonesia has consistently posted trade surpluses with the US in the past decade, including $16.8 billion last year.

Under the tariff agreement, Jakarta agreed to drop its tariff on nearly all American imports to zero and scrap all non-tariff barriers facing American firms, while also committing to purchase $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products from the US, including soybeans, wheat and cotton, as well as Boeing aircraft valued at $3.2 billion.