Thousands of anti-government protesters once again took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday (June 24), as international pressure mounted on President Nicolas Maduro to hold free elections...READ MORE

By buying bonds issued by the country's oil company, Goldman Sachs is enabling an odious and brutal leader...READ MORE

Last week, Goldman Sachs acquired $2.8 billion worth of bonds issued by Venezuela's state oil company at just 31 cents on the dollar, paying $865 million for the securities. Now Venezuela is looking even more desperate, offering $5 billion worth of bonds at 20 cents on the dollar through a Chinese brokerage, according to the Wall Street Journal, whose reporters have been tracking the country’s attempts to secure emergency cash...READ MORE

The New York-based investment bank came under fire from Venezuelan politicians and protesters in New York opposed to Maduro, who said the deal provided the cash-strapped government hundreds of millions of dollars in badly-needed hard currency. The deal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, made Goldman complicit in alleged human rights abuses under the government, they said...READ MORE

"It is apparent Goldman Sachs decided to make a quick buck off the suffering of the Venezuelan people," Julio Borges, the leader of the opposition-controlled Congress, said in a letter to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein."Given the irregular nature of this transaction and the absurd financial terms involved that are to the detriment of Venezuela and its people, the National Assembly will soon launch an investigation into the matter. I also intend to recommend to any future democratic government of Venezuela not to recognize or pay on these bonds," Borges wrote...READ MORE

"Goldman Sachs' financial lifeline to the regime will serve to strengthen the brutal repression unleashed against the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans peacefully protesting for political change in the country"...READ MORE

In the mountains above Caracas, two government officials often stand watch over the antennas of TV news network Globovision, poised to take it off air if regulators object to coverage of anti-government protests, according to two station employees. They said that the 24-hour Venezuelan news station receives regular warnings from state telecom regulator Conatel against showing live footage of clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces, or broadcasting terms such as “dictatorship” and “repression”. “It’s a daily threat,” said one of the employees, citing information from station managers and asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals. “Conatel is making decisions about coverage.”...READ MORE

At first glance, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s proposals for a new assembly to rewrite the Constitution may seem unworthy of even being taken seriously. To begin with, it is evidently another ploy to perpetuate Venezuela’s Bolivarian or socialist regime by overriding the most basic democratic of principles. Perhaps also because inside the country, and privately even among the most fanatical of Chavistas or government supporters, Maduro is a veritable disgrace and a comical figure history has so cruelly selected for this tragedy...READ MORE

Thousands in Venezuela took to the streets, again, late Tuesday and throughout Wednesday in the capital, Caracas, to protest dictator Nicolás Maduro’s call to discard the Constitution and convene a “Constituents’ Assembly” to write a new one more favorable to his socialist government...READ MORE ​

​Minutes after Venezuelan lawmakers led off thousands on a march Wednesday to protest President Nicolas Maduro's plan to rewrite the nation's constitution, government security forces stopped them short with clouds of tear gas and other demonstrations of force...READ MORE

​The Venezuelan opposition does not recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s decision to call a constituent assembly and regards the step as “killing the constitution,” opposition leader Henrique Capriles said.... READ MORE