sputniknews (2021-04-29). Three Colombians Charged Over Cocaine-Packed Submarine Operating Within Caribbean Waters. sputniknews.com Puerto Rico is a popular transit way to nearby Caribbean nations, making it a target destination for international business and pleasure. On April 4, the US Coast Guard intercepted a semi-submersible vessel off the coast of Yabucoa.

Dave DeCamp (2021-04-29). Veteran Interventionist Samantha Power Confirmed to Head USAID. news.antiwar.com On Wednesday, From her post on Obama's National Security Council, Power pushed hard for the US to intervene in Libya

Stansfield Smith (2021-04-28). World police: Washington seeks to imprison foreign businesspeople for violating illegal US sanctions. thegrayzone.com In violation of international law, the US is seeking to extradite and imprison foreign businesspeople for circumventing its unilateral sanctions. Washington's targets include Venezuelan national Alex Saab, North Korean Mun Chol Myong, and Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. The United States uses economic sanctions as a weapon against states which choose a development path independent of US global domination. Sanctions can take the form of blocking a nation's financial and trade transactions, not allowing financial institutions to process them. The …

teleSUR (2021-04-28). Venezuela's Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz Died At 74. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz on Tuesday night passed away at 74 after an open-heart surgery. | RELATED: | Vice President Delcy Rodriguez spread the news of the death of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) leader on social networks. | "We mourn the death of our professor, fighter of this Homeland to which he dedicated his life. He accompanied us until the last moment with a hopeful smile. Our condol…

Editor2 (2021-04-28). Special Economic Zones: Venezuela's Strategy for Breaking the US Encirclement. orinocotribune.com The Venezuelan government is fine-tuning the legal framework to strengthen the special economic zones (SEZs) already existing in its territory and to open space for foreign direct investment in a production scheme favorable to the Bolivarian nation. | Although the experiences of foreign investment have left little to Venezuela, the national Executive observes the recent changes in the global financial order in which the BRICS are gaining space and considers this an opportunity for the industrial development of the country. | There are eight SEZs in Venezuela that will be redefined with the new legal framework. Th…

Staff (2021-04-28). Commander Ceballos: Venezuela Continues to Strengthen Military Presence in Apure. orinocotribune.com The Strategic Operational Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (CEOFANB), Admiral Remigio Ceballos, highlighted this Tuesday, April 27, that the Venezuelan Army (FANB) will continue to increase the deployment of forces in Apure state to expel Colombian narco-paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and terrorists, to whom they have dealt heavy blows. Ceballos confirmed that the FANB will continue combat operations until they are all expelled from Venezuelan territory. | Through his Twitter account @CeballosIchaso, Admiral Remigio Ceballos wrote that the security of the nation, and the defense of all Vene…

Staff (2021-04-28). Venezuela Boosts Gasoline Production Again. orinocotribune.com Caracas (Sputnik) — Amid the siege suffered by the oil industry, the Venezuelan government has recovered both gasoline production in the country and the capacities of its main refineries, an expert in public policies for energy, David Paravisini, told Sputnik. | "Last year at this date all the gasoline was imported, and a year later all the gasoline consumed in the country is produced here," said Paravisini, professor of public energy policies at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, in conversation with Sputnik. "The refineries were scrap in 2020. Today, the El Palito refinery [in Carabobo, in the cent…

José Luis Granados Ceja (2021-04-28). Renewed Clashes in Colombo-Venezuelan Border Region Leave Several Dead. venezuelanalysis.com President Nicolás Maduro ordered the largest military operation in decades aimed at defending Venezuela's territorial sovereignty this past March.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-04-28). Colombia on Strike against the Far-Right and Neoliberalism. libya360.wordpress.com Tanya Wadhwa Banner reading "The narco-paramilitary state will fall" hung from a bridge in Bogotá on the morning of April 28. Photo: Congreso de los Pueblos Organizations reject Duque's neoliberal tax reform which seeks to make Colombia's working class pay for the fiscal deficit incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic Colombian citizens, members of trade…

Tanya Wadhwa (2021-04-28). Colombia on strike against the far-right and neoliberalism. peoplesdispatch.org Colombian citizens, members of trade unions, social movements and opposition political parties are participating in a national strike in cities and towns across the country today, on April 28. The protest actions have been called in rejection of the Sustainable Solidarity bill, a new tax reform bill presented to the Congress by the far-right government of president Iván Duque to finance the economic crisis or compensate for the fiscal deficit incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | The marches, demanding the withdrawal of the reform, will begin at 9: 00 local time in the main cities of the country. In the capital…

teleSUR (2021-04-28). Colombian Police Repress Workers On Strike Against Tax Reform. telesurenglish.net Colombia's National Strike Committee (CNP) on Wednesday rejected police repression against marches and mobilizations taking place nationwide against the tax reform presented by President Ivan Duque's administration. | RELATED: | "The Mobile Anti-riot Squadron (ESMAD) is cracking down on peaceful protesters with blows and tear gas bombs. The government must stop police brutality and respect the people's right to demonstrate," Senator Ivan Cepe…

teleSUR (2021-04-28). Colombia's National Strike Against Tax Reform Moves Forward. telesurenglish.net Despite a ban on marches, Colombians took to the streets to stage the 24-hour national strike against President Ivan Duque's tax reform. | RELATED: | On Wednesday, authorities registered blockades and rallies at over 50 sites in Bogota, including the National University, Monument to the Fallen Heroes, Mayor Shopping Center, Hippies Park, Transmilenio Portals, National Park, University of Cundinamarca, District Plane…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-04-28). Apure: Transition to a Conventional War? libya360.wordpress.com Anahi Arizmendi The situation in the state of Apure is part of a strategy to measure the operational capacity of the FANB, to destabilize the central states of the country, and advance in the preparation of the military forces of the United States and Colombia for a regular war against Venezuela, as analyzed by Congressman…

Carlos Arellán (2021-04-28). New York Times' New Onslaught Against Venezuela—Propaganda or Journalism? orinocotribune.com On Monday, April 26, US newspaper and propaganda outlet Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza denounced this alleged report as part of a campaign aimed at portraying Venezuela as a land in chaos, where there is no authority "in large areas of the country." | The top Venezuelan diplomat pointed to the piece as "another smear campaign again…

Staff (2021-04-28). Venezuelan National Assembly Presents Final List of 103 Candidates Eligible for CNE's Board. orinocotribune.com Deputy "We are a collegiate body made up of 11 deputies and 10 members of civil society, from all sectors," he explained. In addition, the president of…

Staff (2021-04-28). Padrino López: The Violence They Intend to Sow in Venezuela Has its Spokesperson in the US. orinocotribune.com The Minister of the armed forces, the Popular Power for Defense, Vladimir Padrino López reacted, via Twitter, to the public confession made by, fugitive from justice Iván Simonovis, highlighting that the violent acts that they are trying to provoke in our country, so as to generate chaos, are all part of a deliberate strategy with an official spokesperson found in Washington. | Padrino López wrote: "The violence that is intended to sow 'chaos' in Venezuela has its plan and its official spokesperson in Washington. He is none other than the comandante de café [coffee-house Commander], the special super commissioner…

teleSUR (2021-04-28). Venezuela: Jose Gregorio Hernandez To Be Beatified This Friday. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's ecclesiastical authorities on Wednesday informed that Caracas' La Salle-La Colina school is getting ready for the beatification ceremony of Jose Gregorio Hernandez (1864-1919), "the Doctor of the Poor." | RELATED: | "The relics of the future blessed are ready. After the beatification ceremony, they will be delivered to the different churches nationwide, so Jose Gregorio Hernandez can be venerated by all…

Staff (2021-04-27). Timing of Apure Clashes & Cota 905 Incidents Not a Coincidence: CIA's Simonovis Reveals the Plan (Video). orinocotribune.com A former Venezuelan police officer linked for decades to the CIA and Israeli intelligence, and also a fugitive from Venezuelan justice, Iván Simonovis, recently confessed through a video that the terrorist events in Apure state—where Venezuelan soldiers died due to terrorist violence promoted by Colombian paramilitary—and the recent violence unleashed by the Coqui gang in Cota 905 in Caracas, "are not coincidence and are part of the same plan" to make Venezuela collapse. | The accomplice of former deputy Guaidó confessed in a video he shared on his Twitter account that "the common denominator between…

The Associated Press (2021-04-27). US Weighs Policy on Venezuela as Maduro Signals Flexibility. latinorebels.com MIAMI (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government is intensifying efforts to court the Biden administration as the new U.S. president weighs whether to risk a political backlash in Florida and ease up on sanctions seeking to isolate the socialist leader.

Staff (2021-04-27). 'Bloody Clashes' in Apure Leave Several Casualties from Venezuelan Army & Colombian Narco-Terrorists. orinocotribune.com Through a statement issued this Monday, April 26, Venezuela's Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) reported that in the last 72 hours, bloody clashes have been taking place against Colombian armed paramilitary groups, specifically in unpopulated sectors around the west of La Victoria, in the Páez municipality of Apure state, as part of Operation Bolivarian Shield 2021 that began on March 21. | The results | The military forces reported that confrontations resulted in a significant number of casualties among irregular armed groups from Colombia. | The destruction of temporary facilities that they intended to use…

Staff (2021-04-27). How the Lima Group and Prosur were Weakened by the Pandemic. orinocotribune.com The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of internal Colombian problems have exposed the absence of a regional forum to address these difficulties and generate coordinated solutions among the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean. | In the prior decade—South America's golden age—the region had UNASUR, an organization that fostered increased coordination between governments regardless of their political ideology, to resolve myriad and unpredictable international challenges. | Dismantling of UNASUR | This vacuum arose after the rise of right-wing governments in the region…

Pasqualina Curcio (2021-04-27). El sector privado en Venezuela. globalizacion.ca Hay muchos mitos sobre el sector privado en Venezuela, el más conocido es aquel que se refiere a su incuestionable eficiencia. Son parte de esta mitología las siguientes frases: "a diferencia del sector público que es ineficiente y corrupto, el…

Luis Britto García (2021-04-27). Venezuela — Doscientos años de Carabobo. globalizacion.ca 1 | Tras sangrienta campaña de once años, Venezuela consagra su Independencia el 24 de junio de 1821 en la Batalla de Carabobo. Esta batalla no termina todavía; culmina una resistencia de tres siglos y abre otra que llega hasta nuestros…

Staff (2021-04-27). Marketing, Elections and Anti-Chavismo Unity: PUSCI is Born. orinocotribune.com Venezuelan opposition announced the launch of a new unity platform. So far in political history, this is the fifth attempt by the bench to work together, but does this new initiative have the possibility of functioning? | Political unity is one of the most complex propositions. Finding common ground and not betraying each other is a challenge that requires maturity and respect for those alongside whom you must work. | In recent years, the Venezuelan opposition has undergone several attempts to present itself as a single bloc against Chavismo, but the efforts have been unsuccessful. | To date, we can mention: | 1-…