Venezuela swears in acting president in Maduro's absence

Venezuela's former vice-president Delcy Rodríguez was formally sworn in as acting president in Caracas on 5 January even as she insisted the country's former ruler, Nicolás Maduro, remained the proper president. Maduro and his wife, who were captured by U.S. forces early on 3 January, were meanwhile formally charged with drug-trafficking offences in a New York court on 5 January. They rejected the charges and declared themselves to be the president and first lady of Venezuela, and war captives. Maduro is to reappear in court on 17 March, the website Infobae and agencies reported. Venezuela was for now in a state of External Commotion giving its regime emergency powers and postponing any bid to initiate a transition to democratic and constitutional rule. The United States previously threatened to repeat air strikes should the interim administration refuse to collaborate with U.S. forces, though President Donald J. Trump had insisted it was, without giving details. Late on 5 January, Venezuelan authorities claimed they had fought off hostile or suspect drones flying around the presidential palace. This appeared to be unrelated to Trump's threats.

Venezuelan vice-president becomes acting president.. amid uncertainties

Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice appointed the country's vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, as acting president on 3 January even as the former president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores were to face drug trafficking and organized crime charges in a New York court. The two were nabbed by U.S. forces in a ligthning, pre-dawn operation in Caracas that day. U.S. President Donald J. Trump later announced his administration would run Venezuela through an unspecified transition period, apparently dismissing any idea of handing the country over to opposition politicians. While Delcy Rodríguez was reportedly talking to U.S. officials in private, in public she immediately formed a national Defence Council and demanded her predecessor's immediate release as, she insisted, he remained the "legitimate president." Trump told a press conference in Florida that day that it would be "very tough" for Venezuela's leading opponent and Nobel Peace laureate María Corina Machado to lead the country's transition back to democracy, as she lacked the "support... or respect" needed to do so. Machado did receive an early expression of support for her role in the form of a phone call from the French president. Separately in Colombia, a former conservative vice-president, Francisco Santos, suggested, speaking to the private Colombian broadcaster NTN24, that Rodriguez appeared to be a more docile option for the United States at present, adding "I am absolutely certain Delcy handed Maduro" over to the Americans. "It's going to be harder now for María Corina," he added, commenting on the United States' own objectives and business interests in Venezuela.

Trump reports Nicolás Maduro's arrest..

U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrote online on 3 January that U.S. forces working with U.S. Law Enforcement had captured Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country, following air strikes carried out before dawn that day on sites in Venezuela. The announcement became an immediate headline on news websites.

United States strikes targets in Venezuela

Venezuela's socialist government accused the United States of bombing Venezuelan territory early on 3 January in bid to topple the regime and nab the country's minerals and oil. The charges followed explosions heard and seen in and around the capital Caracas and other states, some of them evidently relating to military installations. The Reuters news agency and U.S. media cited unnamed U.S. officials as confirming that President Donald J. Trump had ordered the strikes. Colombia's President Gustavo Petro listed on X (Twitter) the sites that may have been struck, also reposting the Venezuelan government's statement denouncing the attack as a colonial-style power grab and bid to force regime change. The government declared a state of emergency even as the U.S. military declared Venezuela's airspace a no-flight zone, Miami's El Nuevo Herald reported. The strikes were part of the Trump administration's policy of squeezing the Venezuelan regime though without officially declaring a goal of regime change. 

Trump administration to blockade Venezuelan oil

U.S. President Donald J. Trump ordered a "total blockade" of Venezuelan oil exports using "sanctioned oil tankers" on 16 December, further tightening the screws on the already sanctioned regime of the socialist President Nicolás Maduro. Trump accused "the illegitimate Maduro regime" of stealing "oil, land and other assets" belonging to the United States to finance a range of criminal activities, and declared the regime "a foreign terrorist organization." The United States had in recent months undertaken selective strikes on boats identified as drug-trafficking vessels, but the latest decision, which Venezuela denounced as a "grotesque threat," was being seen as intended to topple Maduro. Practically no Western state recognized his controversial reelection in 2024, and the European Union recently prolonged its own sanctions on the regime over its rights violations and suspected hijacking of the 2024 presidential elections.

Trump pardons jailed former Honduran leader

U.S. President Donald J. Trump issued a "full and complete pardon" on 1 December for the jailed former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving time in the United States following a drug trafficking conviction. Hernández, a "tough on crime" conservative who was president from 2014 to 2022, was extradited that year by the Democratic Biden administration and convicted in 2024 of conniving in large-scale drug trafficking toward the United States. Trump wrote online on 28 November that he had been treated "very harshly and unfairly." Observers including media outlets and some U.S. lawmakers immediately derided the pardon as contradicting Trump's current war on drugs and specifically, pressures being exerted on Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, precisely for aiding drug trafficking into the United States. Colombia's President Gustavo Petro wrote on X (Twitter) that it was "demoralizing" to all those risking their lives to fight trafficking to see a "drug trafficker pardoned." Another critic was the Liberal Party presidential candidate in Honduras, Salvador Nasralla, who was awaiting a recount of votes cast in the general election of 30 November. He said Hernández could expect to be tried in Honduras should he return. Hernández and his wife thanked Trump for the pardon but were not planning an immediate return home due to security concerns, according to the Agence France-Presse.

Venezuelan opponent given Nobel peace prize

The conservative Venezuelan politician and leading opponent of the country's socialist regime, María Corina Machado, was awarded the 2025 Nobel peace prize on 10 October, for her "tireless work promoting democratic rights" for Venezuelans and efforts toward a "just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Machado was banned from running for the presidency in 2024, but recognized as the country's leading opponent and political force behind the liberal presidential candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. Maduro declared himself winner in those elections, facing down international skepticism, later prompting González to flee the country and Machado to go into hiding. She might have taken refuge in the U.S. embassy in Caracas. World media had speculated on whether or not the prize would be given to the U.S. President Donald J. Trump, especially given his eagerness to receive it. The White House reacted saying the Nobel committee's decision was politicized, praising Trump as a relentless peacemaker with "the heart of a humanitarian." There were also criticisms on the Left: in Spain, the leftist politician and founder of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, wrote online that the committee had degraded the prize and might as well have given it to "Trump or even Hitler." He called Machado a "coupmonger," Spain's ABC reported on 10 October.

Cuba's Fidel Castro dies

Cuba's veteran revolutionary leader and former communist president, Fidel Castro Ruz, died in Havana late on 25 November, at the age of 90. His brother, President Raúl Castro, informed Cubans of the death speaking on state television, and the State Council declared nine days of mourning until 4 December, when Castro's remains would be buried in Santiago de Cuba. Cuba's socialist allies were among the first world leaders to praise one of the 20th century's iconic political figures, much like his former companion-in-arms Ernesto Che Guevara. Hundreds of Cuban exiles in Miami however, came onto the streets to celebrate the end of a man whose revolution forced many to leave their homes and flee, when possible, to the United States. President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said Castro was heading for "immortality," and inevitably reminded Venezuelans of their own late leader, Hugo Chávez, for the "deep friendship" they had forged and for leading "two revolutions harassed by the empire," meaning the United States. Bolivia's Evo Morales told the Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur that the best homage was to keep the "unity between peoples" and "never forget" Castro's "anti-imperialist struggle." Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto called Castro a "friend of Mexico" and "promoter" of bilateral ties based on "respect and solidarity." As a young man, Castro took refuge in Mexico before returning to take power in 1959, and the two countries maintained good working ties whenever Peña Nieto's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party governed Mexico. Profiles and obituaries of Castro appeared early in several news outlets on 26 November, including Spain's national broadcaster RTVE, Britain's The Guardian and Le Figaro.

Colombia and communist rebels announce "final" deal to end 50 years of fighting

Colombian media and the public hailed the announcement on 24 August that the government and envoys of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had ended their talks in Havana and agreed on an accord to end some 50 years of civil war in Colombia. Negotiators announced on 24 August that an agreement had been reached on six principal points after almost four years of talks, namely: on a comprehensive rural development policy, the peacetime political role of the FARC, the mechanics of ending fighting, curbing illegal drug production, compensation for victims and verification of peace and its approval with a referendum, Bogotá's Radio Santa Fe reported. Peace between the two sides was to be signed formally in early September, while President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón cited 2 October as the date of a national vote allowing Colombians to approve or reject it, Spain's RTVE reported. Colombians, he stated, would have the "last word" on the agreement. He thanked the countries that had accompanied the talks - Norway, Venezuela, Chile and the host Cuba - and the European Union for its support. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro congratulated Colombians and reiterated his country's "full support for building peace." The head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, also congratulated both sides for the "historic step." In Bogotá, people, from local residents to students and politicians, began celebrating the imminent accord late on 23 August. People gathered swiftly in the "hippies park" in the middle-class district of Chapinero, soon after networking websites reported the conclusion of talks that evening, El Espectador reported.

Venezuelan cabinet reshuffled, parliament orders Chávez portraits removed

The broadcaster Globovisión listed on 7 January the names of the new Venezuelan cabinet formally sworne in the day before before President Nicolás Maduro. The reshuffle was in response to the socialist government's defeat in the 6 December parliamentary elections, but also a bid to address the country's economic problems. A former Caracas mayor and state governor Aristóbulo Isturiz was named Executive Vice-President. One newly-elected opposition parliamentarian criticized the addition of four ministries to the government "bandwagon," at a time of dire economic conditions for ordinary Venezuelans and reduced government revenues. The newly elected, opposition-dominated parliament in turn began its legislative term to 2021 on 5 January. The assembly formalized its roster of members with 112 opposition members and 54 pro-government parliamentarians, in spite of court action by the government to have disqualified three opposition MPs, allegedly for their fraudulent election. Removing the three would reduce the size of the opposition's majority and could curb its legislative powers. The new Speaker of parliament, Henry Ramos Allup, insisted on Twitter that the opposition was standing firm against this challenge whose outcome was not yet clear. His predecessor, the socialist legislator Diosdado Cabello, effecively accused the new majority of breaking the laws and "doing what they want," by holding onto the three seats. The country's Supreme Court - which the opposition denounces as obedient to the president - had ordered the seats provisionally suspended on 30 December. Parliament caused a stir with one of its first acts on 6 January, the removal of portraits of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez Frías, and a computerized portrait of the 19th century revolutionary Simón Bolívar from the building. The latter was a "reconstruction" of Bolívar's face, which Chávez had made and printed out in 2012.

Venezuela's new parliamentarians set on passing an amnesty law

Venezuelan politicians opposed to the government of President Nicolás Maduro were insisting he could not block an amnesty law the opposition intends to approve in the next parliament, as he threatened to on 8 December. The president's comments were an early indication he was disinclined to cooperate with the opposition-dominated parliament, due to start working on 5 January. But Delsa Solórzano, a member-elect from Un Nuevo Tiempo, one of the parties in the opposition coalition, said the law would be approved soon after parliament starts working, the online daily TalCual reported on 10 December. She said the constitution allowed parliament - where the opposition will have a two-thirds majority - to promulgate laws rejected by the president. The amnesty, she said, would affect 80 detainees and was part of her coalition's bid to bring "reconciliation" to Venezuela; she insisted there would be careful vetting to ensure felons were not freed. The daily cited a leading government opponent, the governor of the state of Miranda Henrique Capriles as saying that the president "could not" block the law. President Maduro maintained in turn his defiant discourse. He declared on 9 December that there would be no "surrender" to the Right, and the "revolution is not over... they are threatening to deprive the people of its benefits. We are going to end this... economic war," state television reported. He also said prosecutors must investigate allegations of vote buying by the opposition, "because there is proof for it." The evidence cited was a tape recording of an opposition politician discussing money for votes with an unnamed individual, dubbed pollo (chicken). Maduro earlier accused the opposition of using "economic warfare" to win the elections, "like the bad guys."

Opposition wins decisive majority in Venezuelan parliament

Venezuela's opposition coalition Table of Democratic Unity (MUD) attributed to itself 112 of the 167 seats in parliament following its victory in the legislative elections of 6 December, though the figure had yet to be definitively confirmed. It indicated in any case an opposition victory far greater than many had dared hope for, or feared, and would in theory give MUD enough seats to vote in laws to change the Venezuelan polity. After initially accepting the opposition's victory, President Nicolás Maduro announced he would reject any law to free jailed dissidents, an initiative likely to be one of the new parliament's legislative priorities. The newspaper El Universal cited MUD's executive secretary, Jesús Torrealba as saying on 7 or 8 December that the electoral authority was confusing people by giving MUD only 107 seats, when three "indigenous" seats and two other, indeterminate seats were clearly with MUD. The opposition separately stated that its intention to pass a law to free political detainees was not just for politicians like Leopoldo López, but also indigenous and trade union personalities believed jailed for criticizing the socialist government. President Maduro said on 8 December he would oppose any such a law, saying those allegedly behind the February 2014 demonstrations had to do jail time for the harm done. "Let me say as head of state... I won't accept any Amnesty Law, because they violated human rights... they can send me a thousand laws, but those who kill the people must be judged and must pay," he said on the state-run Venezolana de Televisión.

Venezuelan regime arrests Caracas mayor, for "subversion"

Venezuelan security forces arrested on 19 February one of the country's leading opponents, the mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, whom President Nicolás Maduro accused immediately of involvement in subversive plots. A "massive" group of policemen and security agents were reported to have broken into Ledezma's office and "hit" him before leading him away without letting him speak, Radio France Internationale cited his wife as saying. President Maduro had in recent days cited arrests in the armed forces for unspecified plotting, and reportedly accused Ledezma of connivence, in the latest of a string of such charges since he became president in 2013. On 19 February he said Mr Ledezma was using his position as mayor to "seek violence, coup plotting and destabilization." He said many opposition politicians did the same - "a mayor here, a governor there or a member of parliament" - to plot against the state and sabotage the economy, and warned subversives would go to court, the official AVN agency reported. The arrest came close to the anniversary of the arrest of another opponent closely connected to Ledezma, Leopoldo López. Two former regional presidents, Sebastián Piñera of Chile and Andrés Pastrana of Colombia, who have sought to have Mr López freed, denounced the latest arrest. Piñera called it "brutal, illegal and abusive," Venezuela's El Nacional reported, citing his Twitter account. A spokesman for the US State Department also rejected Maduro's charges that the United States was sabotating Venezuela's economy; Venezuela's economic problemss were the fruit of its government's policies, CNN quoted spokeswoman Jen Psaki as saying.

Colombians reelect their President

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón was reelected on 15 June as President of Colombia with just under 51 per cent of all votes cast, and vowed to pursue peace talks with the country's two communist guerrilla forces to end decades of civil war. With just over 99.2 per cent of votes counted late that day, the state registry counted 7,776,200 votes for Mr Santos and 6,881,490 for his conservative rival, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, El Colombiano reported. The daily observed that the President won a clear victory in the capital Bogotá and in northern regions on the Caribbean coast. The broadcaster Caracol provided a colour-coded map of the country, indicating the two candidates' respective votes in different departments. While the defeated candidate congratulated the President, his ally and mentor, the former president and Senator-elect Álvaro Uribe, alleged there had been fraud. He said in Medellín that the victory was the result of the "biggest fraud in history" including monies being given out to local officials, mayors and parliamentarians as incentives or to hand out to voters. In unspecified cases Mr Uribe said, communist guerrillas had threatened to kill those voting for Zuluaga, the broadcaster Caracol reported. Like similar electoral fraud claims on the American continent, his claims would be difficult to prove. Foreign dignitaries and heads of state swiftly congratulated the President in any case and wished him well in his efforts to end conflict in Colombia. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, whose government is aiding the Colombian peace talks, said the choice on 15 June had been between "peace and no peace" and Colombians had "clearly taken the path of peace," Caracol reported.

Three Venezuelan generals held over "coup" plans, opposition mayor jailed

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro said in Caracas on 25 March that three air force generals were arrested the night before, suspected of plotting an "uprising" against the Government. He revealed this at a meeting with foreign ministers of the regional association UNASUR, adding that the officers were "linked to the opposition," Europa Press reported. Colleagues reportedly denounced them, though Mr Maduro said they were being observed for an unspecified period. Separately, Venezuela's Supreme Court sentenced the detained mayor of San Cristóbal in the state of Táchira, Daniel Ceballos, to a year and 15 days in jail and ordered him dismissed for failing to remove protesters' barricades from the streets of San Cristóbal. The mayor is a member of the opposition and San Cristóbal was one of the first centres of anti-Government protests in early February. The court convicted Ceballos after hearing the testimonies of eight witnesses, in a verdict his wife later said was "expected," the newspaper 2001 reported. While Mrs Ceballos said the magistrates were "waiting for a phone call," presumably instructing them to issue a verdict, President Maduro qualified the sentence as "justice." He told a radio program on 25 March that "you fight fascism with justice," referring to his conservative and liberal opponents, the broadcaster NTN24 reported. The socialist majority in Venezuela's parliament also voted on 25 March to confirm the expulsion of the conservative member María Corina Machado, a day after its praesidium accused her of breaking the law over a recent trip to Panama. A representative of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Andrés Eloy Méndez, was cited as warning that she could be prosecuted for treason, now that she lacked parliamentary immunity. He said associating with hostile powers could lead to a 30-year prison term, Europa Press and El Universal reported. Opposition MPs challenged Ms Machado's "overthrow," filing an appeal with the Supreme Court, EFE reported.

Venezuelan opponent held as "peaceful" crowds gather in Caracas

Venezuelan authorities arrested a prominent opponent in Caracas on 18 February over his alleged involvement in violent incidents during recent anti-Government protests, and after he surrendered to troops in one of the capital's public squares, media reported. Leopoldo López, head of the opposition Voluntad Popular party, has rejected all wrongdoing and denounced the country's "unjust" judiciary before a crowd of sympathisers. Pictures by those present indicated that a very large crowd came out to witness the arrest and express support. He was taken away in an armoured van, apparently to a prison outside the capital, Globovisión and the daily El Universal reported. Politicians in the crowd included the former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and the legislator Maria Corina Machado. Mr Capriles said then that the opposition's demands for change were fair and should be expressed through peaceful protests; "let's not allow the Government or infiltrators to...tarnish a just demand," the broadcaster Globovisión showed him saying. El Universal separately reported a postponement of a parliamentary session that day, which was scheduled to debate removing Ms Machado's parliamentary immunity. The daily reported another march that day by Government supporters who headed toward the Miraflores presidential palace, where they were to hear a speech by President Nicolás Maduro.

Over 200 killed in Caracas in fortnight

The principal morgue in Caracas was reported to have received 210 bodies in 2014 up to midday on 16 January, or roughly 12 a day and including seven policemen, Venezuela's El Universal reported, confirming the city's reputation as one of the world's deadliest. Caracas was recently cited as the world's second most dangerous city in 2013, with a murder rate of over 134 killings per 100,000 inhabitants. Insecurity has become a chief point of dispute between the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro and liberal opposition forces, and reportedly one of the reasons why many Venezuelans were emigrating. President Maduro urged political actors on 17 January to exclude security from politics, saying it was "criminal" to make "economic and political capital" out of people's grief, El Universal reported. He urged state governors and mayors to join the Government's efforts to curb crime but also to help change a pervasive media culture, which he said "adulated" drugs and violence. The opposition he alleged, had engaged in a policy of "throwing stones" at his government, but he also denounced the "death statistics" or polls that publicised crime rates in the country. The Mexican NGO Citizens Council for Public Security and Penal Justice recently reported 4,364 criminal killings in 2013 in Caracas, which has just under 3.248 million residents.

Parliament gives Venezuelan President extraordinary powers "to fight corruption"

Venezuela's legislature voted in on 19 November an Enabling Law giving the socialist President Nicolás Maduro powers to "dictate decrees with the rank, value and force of law," to fight corruption and defend the economy, El Universal reported on 20 November. The law was to last 12 months from 20 November, and allowed Mr Maduro to impose by decree punitive measures against the "inadecuate use" of public resources, act to prevent capital flight and defend the national currency against "attacks." It effectively gave him greater powers over the economy. Opponents likely saw this as another step toward a communist dictatorship. The opposition MP Maria Corina Machado called it a "shameful day" for Venezuela and the opposition coalition Table of Democratic Unity dubbed the law "fraudulent," Spain's El Mundo reported on 20 November. The leading opponent Henrique Capriles, the Governor of the northern state of Miranda, had urged Venezuelans to ignore its future provisions in October, Europa Press reported on 20 November. According to the agency, the President proposed the law on 8 October but this could not be approved as the Government lacked by one vote the majority needed to pass the law. The problem was resolved when a week before the vote, Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice prevented one opposition parliamentarian from voting after she was accused of corruption. After approval, Mr Maduro announced he would lead from January a "hair-raising offensive" against corruption and hoarding in Venezuela, which has witnessed shortages in a range of consumer goods in recent months. Authorities have blamed shortages on unspecified sabotage or attacks on the socialist economy; Europa Press cited the President as accusing opposition forces of planning a power blackout on 8 December, when municipal elections were to be held.

Venezuelan President says "plot" against him hatched in United States

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro insisted on 26 August that the arrest of two Colombians allegedly sent to assassinate him indicated that a plot was being hatched in the United States, and asked President Barack Obama whether he was ignorant of such machinations or involved. Mr Maduro made his remarks after a children's sporting event in Caracas; he said the Government had "coherently" reported on the plot's origins and President Obama would be "the first" not to know about it if he did not, the official AVN news agency reported. "Is President Obama so weak that they take decisions for him...to kill a Latin American head of state without his knowing?" he asked. Or was he too weak to prevent them he asked again, or "has he decided to physically eliminate me?" Officials earlier cited former US diplomats or officials of past Republican administrations, as well as Colombia's former president Álvaro Uribe, as elements allegedly involved in this and previous "plots." Mr Uribe rejected the latest, "infamous" charges; he said "the Venezuelan dictatorship should permit that country to recover democracy and repeat the elections as the last ones were a fraud," Europa Press reported on 27 August, citing comments he made on television. He was referring to Venezuela's April presidential elections. Mr Maduro said killing him would provoke a civil war and that he had observed "extreme nervousness" among the opposition in spite of its bid to "trivialise" the affair. "I have no doubt the main leaders of the fascist Right agree with this type of incident," he said. The country's leading opponent and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles dismissed the allegations as a "tale," speaking in public on 26 August. He also wrote on the website Twitter that this was another "distraction" intended to "cover up for insecurity, the hospital crisis, shortages, inflation, corruption." The President he wrote had a "record" number of such plots; "of the 11 conspiracies Maduro has denounced, four were to assassinate personalities. He does not know how to cover his incompetence," El Universal reported, citing Mr Capriles's comments on Twitter.

Venezuelan opposition scoffs at "another plot" to kill President

As if in the grip of the Cold War, Venezuela's socialist rulers have denounced yet another foreign-backed plot against Venezuela, this time in the form of a plan - foiled in time - to assassinate either the President or the Speaker of Parliament. On 26 August the Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres revealed that two Colombians aged 18 and 22, said to be members of a 10-man squad sent from Colombia, were arrested in a Caracas hotel on 15 August, their hotel room revealing an incriminating paraphernalia of guns, binoculars, army badges and pictures of "targets." The Minister said the plan was to kill President Nicolás Maduro, and failing that the Speaker of Parliament Diosdado Cabello Rondón, Cuba's Prensa Latina agency reported. The country's leading opponent Henrique Capriles Radonsky said the claims were laughable. Not for the first time the detained were linked to Colombia's former conservative president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Mr Uribe, who had precarious ties at best with Venezuela's late leader Hugo Chávez, has become a bête noire for the Maduro administration, which accuses him of conniving with Venezuelan opponents to undermine the regime. Mr Rodríguez suggested Mr Uribe was involved because "he has relations with and is connected to a group of drug traffickers...he is undoubtedly informed of what is happening," Europa Press reported. Mr Capriles told a gathering in Caucagua in the state of Miranda that day that "nobody believes this tale...people merely laugh at these announcements," though he cautioned the incident's "impact" should be observed, Venezuela's El Universal reported. How many times he asked, "have they spoken of plots to kill leaders (magnicidio)...does anyone really believe these lies?" President Maduro in turn thanked "the Government of Colombia for all its cooperation in identifying the gunmen...and the...hired gang," writing on the website Twitter. He added that "the Right's immediate reaction to the gunmen's capture showed these fascist groups' lack of scruples." On 24 August Mr Maduro warned Venezuelans to expect the opposition's "psychological campaign" and "dirty war" ahead of municipal elections set for 8 December, the official AVN news agency reported.