The EU’s foreign policy chief yesterday condemned the expulsion of the EU’s ambassador to Venezuela ordered by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and said that the bloc would reciprocate.
“We condemn and reject the expulsion of our ambassador in Caracas. We will take the usual necessary reciprocal measures,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter.
Maduro on Monday gave Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, the head of the EU mission in Caracas, 72 hours to leave the country after the bloc announced sanctions against 11 Venezuelan officials.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Who are they to try to impose themselves with threats?” Maduro said. “We will sort it out in 72 hours ... she will be given a plane to leave, but we will arrange our things with the European Union.”
Venezuela’s airspace is closed to commercial airplanes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maduro also accused the EU of getting down on its “knees” to US President Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line against the leftist leader, and copying “erratic policies” against the Latin American nation.
Relations have been tense since 2017, when Venezuela became the first Latin American country to receive sanctions from the EU, including an arms embargo.
Among the officials sanctioned on Monday was Maduro-backed opposition lawmaker Luis Parra, who is contesting the leadership of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly with its president, Juan Guaido.
Guaido used his position as head of parliament to challenge Maduro’s authority in January last year by declaring himself acting president after the National Assembly deemed the socialist leader a usurper over his controversial re-election in 2018 in a poll widely branded fraudulent.
Guaido is recognized as his country’s interim president by more than 50 nations, including the US and much of the EU.
However, Parra declared himself National Assembly president in January, while security forces loyal to Maduro prevented Guaido from entering the building for a re-election vote he was widely expected to win.
“Only a negotiated solution between Venezuelans will allow the country to emerge from its deep crisis,” Borrell added in his tweet.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
RSS