Venezuela’s Maduro starts another disputed term in office more isolated than ever
CNN
Venezuelans once again watched as Nicolás Maduro was sworn into office on Friday, donning the executive sash and declaring himself president despite irregularities and questions around his election.
Venezuelans once again watched as Nicolás Maduro was sworn into office on Friday, donning the executive sash and declaring himself president despite irregularities and questions around his election. He repeated his attacks against the United States and any foreign leaders who did not recognize his return to power and vowed to squash all of those who oppose him. “I come from the people. The power I represent belongs to the people and I owe it to the people,” Maduro told allies and supporters in his inauguration speech. For many Venezuelans, there will have been a sense of déjà vu as Maduro assumed his third six-year term in office following the contested July 28 election. The country’s National Electoral Council, the body responsible for supervising and certifying the vote, which is stacked with some of his closest loyalists, had declared Maduro the winner without providing detailed evidence or data to support his victory. But the opposition disputed the claim, releasing tens of thousands of voting tallies from around the country claiming that their candidate, Edmundo González, had actually won with 67% against Maduro’s 30%.
Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro during a US military operation in Venezuela, the command of the South American country has fallen into the hands of a woman: Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.
The detailed timeline and the revelation that a CIA team has been operating inside Venezuela for so long sheds new light on the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro for the past several months.
Embattled Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of obstruction last month for helping an immigrant evade federal officers, has sent her resignation letter to the governor.
More than two decades ago, on January 24, 2004, I landed in Baghdad as a legal adviser, assigned an office in what was then known as the Green Zone. It was raining and cold, and my duffle bag was thrown into a puddle off the C-130 aircraft that had just done a corkscrew dive to reach the runway without risk of ground fire. Young American soldiers greeted me as we piled into a vehicle, sped out of the airport complex and then along a road called the “Highway of Death” due to car bombs and snipers.
CNN’s David Culver sees massive crowds building up in Doral, Florida, outside of Miami, a place where there are a lot of Venezuelans celebrating President Nicolas Maduro’s capture Saturday.
On November 2, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that land strikes in Venezuela would require the approval of Congress. She said that if Trump “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then (we’d need) Congress.”
A federal judge in Kentucky has dismissed Louisville’s proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over police reforms after the department withdrew its support of the plan earlier this year.
In the days since the Trump administration announced it would freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota amid an alleged fraud investigation, fear and confusion have spread almost as fast as the viral video that launched the scandal.
President Donald Trump wants to tamp down on public debates about his health.
A US appeals court ruled on Friday that California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state was unconstitutional.
A CNN team witnessed several explosions on Saturday night in Caracas, and reported that some areas of the city were without electricity. Follow for live updates.
Thousands of people gathered for a New Year’s Eve celebration in Seattle this week, anticipating the annual fireworks show at one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, when a man stopped on a lawn and opened his coat to reveal a loaded shotgun, police said, alarming witnesses and an officer nearby.
The US Coast Guard announced Friday night it has suspended its search for people in the water after US strikes on alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean earlier this week.