https://www.scmp.com/rss/523384/feed The latest news and top stories on Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's Minister of Interior Justice and Peace since 2024. With a background in engineering and a military career as a captain, Cabello was Vice President of Venezuela, President of the National Assembly and Governor of Miranda State. He is also Vice-President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved a long-awaited amnesty law that could free hundreds of political prisoners jailed for being government detractors. But the law excludes those who have been prosecuted or convicted of promoting military action against the country - which could include opposition leaders like Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been accused by the ruling party of calling for international intervention like the one that ousted former... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3344082/venezuela-approves-amnesty-law-could-free-hundreds-political-prisoners?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3344082/venezuela-approves-amnesty-law-could-free-hundreds-political-prisoners?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Feb 2026 04:48:47 +0000 Reuters Reuters The top commander overseeing US forces in Latin America, General Francis Donovan, and senior Pentagon official Joseph Humire made a surprise visit to Venezuela on Wednesday for security talks, US officials said. The trip is the first by a US military delegation since US ‌forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in an audacious raid last month and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. The visit was first reported by Reuters. Venezuela’s government said the US military... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3343955/top-us-commander-makes-surprise-visit-venezuela-weeks-after-maduro-capture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3343955/top-us-commander-makes-surprise-visit-venezuela-weeks-after-maduro-capture?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 02:37:23 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Venezuela’s Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado said on Monday that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following ex-leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later that same day that former National Assembly vice-president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3342858/venezuela-frees-several-opposition-members-after-lengthy-politically-motivated-detentions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3342858/venezuela-frees-several-opposition-members-after-lengthy-politically-motivated-detentions?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:39:52 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Venezuela’s interim president will soon visit the United States, a senior US official said Wednesday, further signalling US President Donald Trump’s willingness to embrace the oil-rich country’s new leader. Delcy Rodriguez would be the first sitting Venezuelan president to visit the United States in more than a quarter of a century – aside from presidents attending United Nations meetings in New York. She said on Wednesday that she approached any dialogue with the United States “without... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3340785/us-says-venezuelas-interim-president-visit-relations-shift-post-maduro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3340785/us-says-venezuelas-interim-president-visit-relations-shift-post-maduro?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:15:15 +0000 Brian Y. S. Wong Brian Y. S. Wong For all his bombast, few could have imagined the sound and fury with which Donald Trump has taken to foreign policymaking in his second presidential term. Over the past 12 months, the US president has laid bare American ambitions to lay claim to territories within its near periphery deemed to be of strategic significance. From Greenland – a mineral-rich autonomous territory of Denmark – to Panama, a critical maritime trade choke point, the White House has made its geopolitical appetite... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340443/trumps-blunt-interventions-risk-undermining-us-interests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340443/trumps-blunt-interventions-risk-undermining-us-interests?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Reuters Reuters Trump administration officials had been in discussions with Venezuela’s hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello months before the US operation to seize the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and have been in communication ‌with him since then, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The officials warned Cabello, 62, against using the security services or militant ruling-party supporters overseen by him to target the country’s opposition, four ‍sources said. That security... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3340277/maduros-capture-venezuela-us-spoke-minister-who-his-loyal-ally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3340277/maduros-capture-venezuela-us-spoke-minister-who-his-loyal-ally?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:39:46 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Venezuelans on Saturday scrambled to understand who was in charge of their country after the US military captured President Nicolas Maduro, ousting the strongman who had outlasted a botched coup attempt, several army mutinies, mass protests and economic sanctions in the vast nation of 29 million. “What will happen tomorrow?” asked Juan Pablo Petrone, a resident of Venezuela’s capital of Caracas. As fear gripped the city, streets quickly emptied save for long lines snaking from supermarkets and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3338647/power-vacuum-caracas-venezuelans-wonder-whos-charge-after-maduro-capture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3338647/power-vacuum-caracas-venezuelans-wonder-whos-charge-after-maduro-capture?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jan 2026 02:06:32 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The US military strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore, raising fresh questions as members of Congress are demanding more information about the provocative attack. National security officials acknowledged during a closed briefing this week on Capitol Hill that the boat carrying 11 people, described by the Trump administration as Tren de Aragua gang members, was fired on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3325297/us-military-fired-venezuelan-boat-it-headed-back-shore-sources?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3325297/us-military-fired-venezuelan-boat-it-headed-back-shore-sources?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Sep 2025 05:28:35 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday promised security aid to Ecuador and announced terrorist designations as he vowed to ramp up a regional fight against criminals following a US strike on a boat allegedly linked to Venezuela. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, an emerging ally of US President Donald Trump, has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America’s safest to one of its most dangerous. Rubio, meeting with Noboa in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324392/us-secretary-state-marco-rubio-eyes-tough-security-ally-ecuador?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324392/us-secretary-state-marco-rubio-eyes-tough-security-ally-ecuador?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 16:09:15 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Venezuela has vowed to reinforce security along its border with Colombia as President Donald Trump’s administration sends US warships to the southern Caribbean. President Nicolas Maduro used his weekly television show to confirm he ordered the deployment of 15,000 “well armed and trained” men and women to the states of Zulia and Tachira. He also singled out Trump’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning the US move risked becoming a debacle. “Unfortunately this gentleman, with his... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3323166/venezuela-boosts-border-security-amid-rubios-extremism-us-warship-deployment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3323166/venezuela-boosts-border-security-amid-rubios-extremism-us-warship-deployment?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:02:34 +0000