Venezuelan assembly approves amnesty bill in principle

Venezuela's National Assembly, a body of legislators loyal to the country's socialist regime, voted unanimously on 5 February to approve in principle a political amnesty bill proposed days earlier by the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. The bill, touted as a gesture of national reconciliation but likely the fruit of pressure from U.S. authorities now involved in running the country, was conditional and had yet to become a law, CNN reported. It was firstly subject to a process of "public consultation" to determine who would be amnestied, before returning to parliament for a second debate. It excluded various offences like "grave human rights violations," murder or drug trafficking. A parliamentary committee of 19 legislators including Nicolás Maduro Guerra, son of the Venezuelan leader currently facing drug charges in the United States, was to prepare the consultation process. Parliamentary Speaker Jorge Rodríguez told its chairman, Jorge Arreaza, to ensure a rigorous consultation process but also move fast, as "we haven't much time." The bill was proposed on 30 January as an Amnesty Law for Democratic Cohabitation (Ley de amnistía para la convivencia democrática), and applicable to the period since 1999 or entire span of of socialist or Chavista rule, CNN reported.

Venezuelan officials, critics differ over release of opponents..

Venezuela's interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said in Caracas on 26 January that 808 detainees - presumably including regime opponents - had been freed since December 2025 as a conciliatory gesture toward society, amid skepticism over how many and which detainees were really being released. The regime said it would free a considerable number on 8 January, though the process has been laborious and conditional. The country's interim presidency has insisted opponents were not being freed under pressure from the United States but on the orders of the last president, Nicolás Maduro, given in December before his capture in January by U.S. forces. The rights group Foro Penal believed the regime had so far freed just 266 politicial detainees since January 8, according to CNN. Cabello insisted UN officials could come and check, as "we have nothing to hide." One hundred or 104 dissidents were reportedly freed on 25 January.

Venezuelan policeman reportedly died in custody

A Venezuelan policeman arrested in 2024 on "treason" charges was reported to have died in jail on 10 January, state prosecutors and local rights groups stated. Stated prosecutors declared that Edison Torres Fernández, a 52-year-old officer convicted of "treason against the fatherland," died from a brain stroke followed by a heart attack in spite of "timely" medical attention, Univisión and the Agence France-Presse reported on 13 January. The death in custody came after a pledge by the interim government to release hundreds of detainees. This was being done but at a laborious pace, further fueling suspicions the regime was fiddling the numbers on how many it had released. One activist separately told CNN on 10 January that those released were in any case, effectively on probation rather than unconditionally free.

Nicaragua releases detainees..

Nicaragua's socialist regime announced on 10 January that it was freeing "dozens of persons" held in the country's prisons, as a conciliatory gesture and to mark the 19th anniversary of the presidency of Daniel Ortega. This seemed to include "more than 20" of some 60 or more jailed opponents," Spain's ABC newspaper reported, citing agencies and Nicaraguan exiles.The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs reacted online, saying Ortega's presidential term, which began in 2007, should have ended some years back. The release was attributed to pressures by the Trump administration and echoed similar developments in Venezuela. There, the regime freed around 24 detainees on 12 January, in addition to 17 it released in recent days also under U.S. pressure, according to Foro Penal, a rights group. The interior ministry claimed in contrast that it had freed over 100 prisoners in recent days, and 187 in December, CNN reported.

Venezuelan regime says it is freeing opponents

Venezuela's interim presidency announced on 8 January that it would release an "important number" of political detainees in a gesture of appeasement it insisted was unrelated to any U.S. pressure. The announcement was made by the Speaker of parliament Jorge Rodríguez (the interim president's brother), who also thanked three intermediaries - Brazil's president, a former Spanish prime minister and the state of Qatar - presumably for their role in the release of foreign detainees. Numbers however were scarce nor was there any loosening of the regime's police-state tactics on the streets. The rights group Foro Penal had counted 806 such prisoners as of 5 January, CNN reported on 8 January, while the few released early on appeared to be foreigners and some politicians. U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrote online on 9 January that the regime was freeing "large numbers of political prisoners," with a collaborative attitude that had avoided further U.S. strikes on the country. 

Colombian government extends native rule over ancestral lands

The Colombian government decreed the formation of eight self-governing territories in the country's Amazonian regions, to be run in part by native authorities in line with the country's 1991 constitution. These would be the first Indigenous Territorial Entities and enact constitutional provisions on native communities exercising partial control of their ancestral territories, the Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said in Bogotá on 18 December. There was an historical debt to those communities whose traditional authorities constituted legitimate governments in their own rights, she said. The Colombian state would thus deal with them on a "government to government" basis, and collaborate in safeguarding cultural rights and the rainforest, the public broadcaster RTVC reported. Their powers would encompass administration, planning but also direct receipt and management of funds including foreign aid funds. The government has stressed this was no concession but the enforcement of existing constitutional rights. The government was separately taking steps to legally restore the rights of particular native and Afrocaribbean communities to live in and utilize 294,000 hectares (2,940 square kilometers) of lands from which they had been expelled in past decades, RTVC reported on 22 December.

FARC, Colombia sign ceasefire deal hailed as step to final peace

Negotiators of the Colombian government and the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed an agreement on 23 June on a bilateral ceasefire and the FARC's programmed disarmament, in a deal hailed worldwide as a crucial step toward a definitive end to decades of civil war. The draft agreement was signed in Havana, where the two sides have been negotiating over peace since 2012, by President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón and the FARC's supreme leader, Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri (aka Timoleón Jiménez or Timochenko), as hundreds watched on a giant screen put up in central Bogotá, Agence France-Presse reported. It cited President Santos as suggesting that a final treaty could be signed by 20 July, after which the sides would begin implementing the deal. Its provisions included concentrating some 7,000 FARC guerrillas in 20-23 sub-districts for disarmament and demobilization, but also a commitment on the state's part to clamp down on criminal gangs the FARC insist are revived versions of right-wing paramilitary groups. Their targets are usually left-wing activists and politicians and human rights or environmental activists - and might plausibly include members of the FARC once they return to civilian life. Former president and current Senator Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who has opposed the peace talks, observed that the government was effectively allowing the "drug cartel" FARC to avoid punishment for its crimes and even turning them into semi-official (paraestatal) crime-fighters or vigilantes. Colombians were hoping the deal would bring peace and security, and boost the economy as promised, after more than 50 years of fighting that has fuelled land-grabbing, violence, gang crime and impunity, though many were for now cautious over its immediate benefits, Spain's El Mundo observed on 23 June.

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.

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.

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.

Troops disarm militia in western Mexico amid protests

Soldiers detained and disarmed on 14 August 45 members of the self-styled, self-defence group (Autodefensa) of Aquila in the western state of Michoacán in a rare intervention against one of the groups Mexico's government denounces as illegal. The groups have emerged in several states, but particularly in Michoacán and Guerrero in reaction to the extensive, violent and near-unchecked activities of criminal gangs there. This was presumably the militia that briefly took over the Aquila municipal government in late July, disarming the police; the newspaper Milenio reported on 15 August that it had controlled Aquila since 23 July. When troops arrived in town to arrest four or five members of the militia including its leader Agustín Villanueva, they found that 40 other members of the militia carried weapons used exclusively by the armed forces and other arms thought to have belonged to the Aquila police. They were disarmed and detained for the illegal possession of such arms; the army later stated that some 300 locals sought to obstruct the operation and effectively held 30 soldiers hostage for six hours. Sixty local residents were said to be travelling to Mexico City to demand the release of the 40 militiamen, La Jornada reported on 16 August. Self-defence groups in the nearby districts of Buenavista Tomatlán and Tepalcatepec were said separately to have threatened to "paralise the state" with unspecified actions from 19 August if these were not released, La Jornada reported. The acting governor of Michoacán Jesús Reyna García has accused the militia of "sowing fear" in and around Aquila and obstructing circulation, although according to Milenio he had not explicitly accused the group of having ties to organised crime. He was cited as saying he was not informed of the other militias' threats.

Thirty guerrillas surrender in Colombia, one detained

Senior Colombian officials including President Juan Manuel Santos and his Minister of Defence personally received in Cali on 16 July a company of 30 former guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who formally surrendered their arms and abandoned their fight against the Colombian state. President Santos said this was the "biggest demobilisation" of fighters in the ELN's history, praising the guerrillas for their decision and the armed forces for the relentless pressures exerted on the ELN, which the state has declared convinced the 30 to surrender. Media reported that state intelligence agents had visited the company's camp several times in preceding weeks, presumably to discuss the mechanics of a surrender. The guerrillas who demobilised at an army base in Cali constituted the Lucho Quintero Giraldo company of the ELN's South-Western War Front, the Defence Ministry reported. "I want to thank all the group, its commander aka Tiger, henceforth Mr Collazos and all of you. You took the right decision," the Presidential Office cited Mr Santos as telling them. He said the "state will receive you with all the guarantees we have promised," allowing them he added to begin to rejoin civilian and family life. The Defence Ministry separately reported on 17 July that troops caught a suspected head of a support or logistical network working with the ELN's Darío Ramírez Castro Front, active in the Bolívar department in northern Colombia. The detained was identified as Bautista his nom de guerre, and caught in the district of San Pablo in southern Bolívar, the Ministry reported. Bautista was being sought for suspected "financing" activities for the guerrilla that included drug dealing, extortion from local farmers and firms and the forcible recruitment of peasants.

Criminals shoot land activist in northern Colombia

Unidentified gunmen shot dead on 11 July an activist working to restore stolen lands to their owners in the northern Colombian department of Bolívar, El Tiempo reported on 15 July. The Colombian Government has encouraged rural families who fled lawless districts in past years to return and reclaim lands stolen from them; decades of conflict between the state and the two communist guerrilla forces have fomented insecurity and relative lawlessness in parts of Colombia that have become breeding grounds for armed gangs and paramilitaries engaged in activities including extortion and land grabbing. The national broadcaster Señal Colombia regularly publicises the progress of the Government's land restitution programme, depicting contented peasants resuming farming activities in bucolic settings. Yet the programme was bound to generate resistance - which in Colombia often means violence - from those who took over stolen lands. The 31-year-old activist José Segundo Turizo, said to have been shot in the neck and head in the district of Tiquisio, was coordinating the restitution of the lands to 14 families. The daily described him as a farmer and father of five. Separately, the daily Vanguardia Liberal reported on 15 July that 19 people were shot or found dead around the capital Bogotá over the weekend of 12-14 July.

Government to talk to protesting peasants in north-eastern Colombia

Colombian officials said they would talk again with representatives of some 7-14,000 peasants who have been blocking roads since 12 June in districts of the northern department of Norte de Santander, in protest at local poverty and the Government's bid to eradicate coca plantations providing many with a living, media reported on 24 and 25 June. Some officials have accused the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - the guerrillas thought involved in drug cultivation and trafficking - of infiltrating or organising the protests. The suspicion was strengthened when a FARC representative, the guerrilla dubbed Iván Marquez, stated the FARC's solidarity with the protests from Havana, the daily El Tiempo reported on 24 June. The Government stated that day it would talk to protesters from the Catatumbo region if public order were first restored, particularly in the districts of Tibú and Ocaña. After clashes with state forces in previous days, the districts were said to be calm then, although El Tiempo reported that some 7,000 peasants continued to block the roads from Tibú to Ocaña, Ábrego-Ocaña and Ocaña-Convención. Another of their demands was that the Government rescind mining permits given to foreign firms in this area. A Government team including local mayors, the Governor of Norte de Santander Edgar Díaz and the deputy-interior and agriculture ministers was to meet with protesters in Tibú to discuss grievances and plan a ministerial-level meeting, RCN la Radio reported on 25 June. Díaz told RCN radio that day that the protests were an understandable response to the state's neglect of the area for "30 years." He urged the Government to find alternatives to the coca cultivations it was eradicating. Meanwhile the country's Police chief rebuked regional police forces on 25 June for "doing nothing" to end road blocks he said could eventually become unmanageable, observing it was "no surprise people greatly miss" Colombia's former conservative president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Bogotá's Radio Santa Fe reported. Mr Uribe vigorously fought crime and guerrilla activities while President from 2002 to 2010, and left office with high approval ratings. Police General José León Riaño might have been referring to a recent poll organized by the History Channel in which Mr Uribe won most votes as the most prominent or admired personality in recent Colombian history. General León told regional colleagues by video-conference that when Uribe was president, "there was a kidnapping and the commander was at the kidnapping site within an hour, leading rescue operations. There was a road block and it was unblocked within an hour, road blocks were not accepted. Not so today, we're blocking all over the place, waiting and waiting while road blocks escalate" until their resolution becomes "very complicated." He told colleagues not to "sit and wait for the conversation table," referring either to planned talks with protesters or ongoing talks with the FARC in Havana, which Colombian media term a Dialogue.

Armed locals infuriated by army arrests in western Mexico

While locals in the Tierra Caliente zone of the state of Michoacán in western Mexico have welcomed the arrival of federal forces to impose order in the crime-ridden state, tensions emerged on 22 May as self-defence groups or the "community police" of local residents fiercely resisted initial bids to disarm or disband them. Media reported that the arrest of four members of the self-defence group outside the district of Buenavista Tomatlán that day provoked a veritable little revolt, with hundreds marching out with machetes and sticks to block the road between Buenavista and nearbly Apatzingán. Here a standoff between the crowd and federal troops led to heckling and to 28 soldiers and a general being detained for hours until the four were released, Agence France-Presse and the daily Milenio reported on 23 May. In spite of the shouting and evident anger among locals, Milenio's correspondent observed that a measure of cordiality was restored when the soldiers were allowed to move later in the afternoon. The self-defence groups - which have emerged in other parts of Mexico - were a reaction in this part of Michoacán to the depredations and extortions of the cartel Caballeros templarios. France-Presse cited the Mexican interior minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong as saying on 22 May that with the army present people no longer had a reason to bear arms, and the army would detain those found armed without good reason. The local population clearly was not satisfied with such words; AFP cited an unnamed member of one local self-defence group as saying that locals expected the army to finish off the Caballeros templarios for good, and locals would even show them where these were "hiding." In another local district, Coalcomán, a "community policeman" told AFP that people had most recently formed the community police there as they were tired of paying extortion money to the templarios, and would remain on guard "until we see results." La Jornada reported on 23 May that army spies would be working in 11 districts of Michoacán in tandem with the deployment of troops; their objectives would be to help find and detain gang chiefs and check the veracity of reports of gangsters' deaths.

Venezuela recalls envoy from Lima over minister's "meddling" comments

President Nicolás Maduro recalled Venezuela's ambassador in Lima for consultations after Peru's Foreign Minister proposed the regional association UNASUR should ask Venezuela to talk with domestic opponents over the disputed results of the 14 April presidential elections, agencies reported on 3 May. Maduro described Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo's proposal as "interventionist," adding he would phone President Ollanta Humala to check whether or not this was Peru's official position, Spain's EFE reported. This was one of several verbal exchanges Venezuela's socialist government was having with foreign states and personalities over elections whose results the opposition coalition has rejected. Roncagliolo "has not consulted with Venezuela over what he has just stated. Please, not like this. You cannot state opinions on Venezuela...I do not accept this lack of respect for Venezuela's political and democratic process," Maduro declared. He said Roncagliolo had with the comments made "the mistake of his life." Venezuela's opposition welcomed the proposal however and declared the government was "going the wrong way" in its foreign relations. The Table of Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition stated its support in a communiqué that described Maduro's as a "Crafty Government," El Universal reported on 4 May. The government's management of its foreign relations it stated, "is very much going the wrong way" and the aggressive language it was now using with foreign parties "is not giving any benefits to this government of precarious legitimacy." Roncagliolo's proposals were not a "lack of respect to Venezuela. This is the responsible attitude governments adopt when they believe in democracy as a space for dialogue, tolerance and respect for opponents." Peru's former president Alan García also wrote on the website Twitter on 4 May that the incident was a "great opportunity" for Peru to distance itself from "Maduro's dictatorship" and forget the example of the left-wing ideology led by the late Hugo Chávez," Peruvian dailies reported. The incident followed similar harsh words Maduro addressed to Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo on 2 May. García-Margallo proposed on 29 April that Spain could mediate between Maduro and the opposition to reduce tensions in Venezuela, Spain's El País reported; Maduro told him to "take his nose out" of Venezuela's affairs.

Venezuela's Maduro says Colombian statesman involved in murder plot

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro said in Caracas on 3 May that plans were being made in the United States and Colombia "to destabilize Venezuela and make me physically disappear," naming Colombia's former conservative president Álvaro Uribe Vélez as one of those plotting to have him killed. There was "evidence and sufficient elements to think there are plans guided from Miami...by Roger Noriega and from Bogotá by Álvaro Uribe to make me physically disappear. Uribe is behind a plan to assassinate me," he told a gathering of subway employees in Caracas. In March, Maduro alleged that Noriega, a senior diplomat of the administration of President George W. Bush, was planning to assassinate the opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. Maduro said Uribe is "a murderer and we also know that sectors of the Venezuelan Right are in touch with him. They say if they get me out of the way, chaos will reign in Venezuela, but they will not succeed, this won't happen," the AVN agency reported.  The opposition formally rejected the results of the 14 April elections and Maduro's election as president, also accusing his government of starting to suppress dissent and opposition. Uribe said in Colombia that the only response to Maduro's "immature" charges was to repeat Venezuela's elections, EFE and other agencies reported on 3 May. Maduro, he wrote on Twitter, was heading a "dictatorship headed by fraud and violence." Maduro's statements followed reports of some opposition legislators travelling to Colombia for talks and to denounce an apparent assault on opposition lawmakers in Venezuela's parliament on 30 April. Those attacked included María Corina Machado, foreign affairs spokeswoman in the Capriles campaign team, Colombia's Caracol radio reported on 1 May. The scuffle erupted after socialist members obstructed opponents from speaking at the podium.

Venezuelan opponents denounce "persecution" after presidential polls

Venezuela's opposition politicians denounced as political persecution the arrest and indictment of the government opponent and former army general Antonio Rivero, whom a colleague qualified as the first political prisoner of the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The arrest came amid persisting tensions for the opposition's refusal to accept Maduro's re-election on 14 April, and followed violent protests in parts of the country on 15 April. Authorities detained Rivero, a leader of the Popular Will (Voluntad Popular) party in the opposition coalition Table of Democratic Unity (Mesa de Unidad Democrática, MUD), on 27 April; his party leader Leopoldo López denounced this as "illegal, unjustified and illegitimate" writing on the website Twitter, and stated it was a step toward banning anti-government parties, Europa Press reported. The former presidential candidate and MUD leader Henrique Capriles denounced the arrest on 29 April as a bid to intimidate Venezuelans, Globovisión reported. On 30 April Rivero was charged with inciting hate and criminal association for his alleged role in protests that followed the 14 April elections. Rivero was said to have begun a hunger strike and was being held at his own request in the premises of the state security agency SEBIN (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional), Europa Press reported. Leopoldo López and Capriles have also been warned they may be held, allegedly for inciting protests. Speaking earlier of the reasons for his arrest, Rivero told the broadcaster Globovisión on 26 April that the government had "taken out of context" declarations he made to opposition activists, which were filmed, and used them to accuse him of publicly inciting hate. He said he had explained to activists on 15 April how to bang pots and pans in protest and how to protect themselves if attacked, adding that Capriles had instructed followers to eschew violence, Globovisión reported on 27 April.

More locals join community police in western Mexico

One hundred and six local residents were sworn in as new members of the community police of the district of Tixtla in Guerrero on Mexico's Pacific coast, in another sign that such self-defence groups, which have appeared in several parts of Mexico, were staying for now in spite of authorities' displeasure. The recruits included women and had already engaged in local policing for two months several localities of Tixtla, La Crónica de Hoy reported on 14 April, citing declarations from a regional coordinating body CRAC (Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias). The CRAC general-coordinator Eliseo Villar Castillo said "the project of community security and justice" was consolidating itself in parts of Guerrero, where such groups rose to prominence, namely the Costa Chica and inland and central parts of the state. Their aim he said was not to defy the authorities, but he observed locals were tired of the state's apparent inability to check crime. La Crónica separately reported shooting on 13 April between self-defence groups and suspected criminals, in the district of Buenavista Tomatlán, in the state of Michoacán north-west of Guerrero. The army intervened and was fired on though it was not immediately clear who fired on troops nor whether or not anyone died, La Crónica de Hoy reported. On 10 April, President Enrique Peña Nieto said self-defence groups were illegal and his "democratic" government could not tolerate them, Excelsior reported. Peña Nieto said, speaking in Japan, that "beyond what these groups may call themselves, the possible practices they may resort to intending to take justice into their hands are activities going beyond legality, which my government will have to fight." Authorities in Guerrero announced on 13 April that community policemen found outside their designated localities with arms would be detained; this apparently was in part a response to self-defence groups' support for recent teachers' protests in Guerrero. The decision was taken by the Guerrero Coordination Group including municipal and state authorities, the armed forces and state and local police, Excelsior reported on 14 April.