US Southern Command chief meets Venezuela's president weeks after Maduro's capture
ABC News
The top U.S. military commander for Latin America has met with Venezuela’s acting president in Caracas as both sides discuss security and policy goals
CARACAS, Venezuela -- The head of U.S. military operations in Latin America met with Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and members of her cabinet during an hourslong visit Wednesday to the South American country's capital.
Rodríguez's government and U.S. Southern Command announced the visit separately on social media. Rodríguez's press office said Marine Gen. Francis Donovan met with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
The meeting comes weeks after the U.S. military captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in a stunning raid in Caracas and brought him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
“During this meeting, both countries agreed to work on developing a bilateral cooperation agenda to combat illicit drug trafficking in our region, terrorism, and migration,” according to a post on X from Rodríguez’s press office. “The meeting reaffirms that diplomacy should be the mechanism for resolving differences and addressing issues of binational and regional interest, of interest to all parties.”
Donovan was joined by Laura Dogu, the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, and Joseph Humire, U.S. acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and the Americas.
Another opposition Conservative lawmaker in Canada has defected to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s governing Liberals
British police forces are working together to assess potential crimes revealed in documents from the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Gabon has suspended access to social media and digital platforms throughout the central African nation until further notice as critics accuse the country’s leader of crackdown on dissent
Greece is working with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark to set up deportation hubs outside the European Union for migrants denied asylum
Bulgarian President Iliana Yotova has appointed a caretaker government ahead of snap parliamentary elections in April
Paris prosecutors have opened two new investigations tied to Jeffrey Epstein, and they call on possible victims in France to come forward
Australia’s government has banned an Australian with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group from returning from a detention camp in Syria
Japan has reported its exports surged nearly 17% in January from a year earlier, on strong shipments to China and other Asian markets
Indonesia is tightening state control over its globally important nickel industry after years of betting that the metal would anchor a homegrown electric-vehicle industry
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last week won a landslide election that gave her a strong public mandate
Peru’s Congress has voted to remove interim President José Jerí from office as he faces corruption allegations
Peru's Congress votes to remove interim President José Jerí as prosecutors look into corruption allegations against him
Peru’s Congress is moving to remove interim President José Jerí after prosecutors opened a preliminary corruption probe over unreported meetings with two Chinese businessmen