Venezuela: Machado claims victory in presidential primary vote
The opposition leader and free market advocate says she has a ‘mandate’ to take on Maduro.
![A Venezuelan exile loads boxes into a container, next to a poster of opposition leader Juan Guaido, during a collection drive of humanitarian aid in Miami, Florida, in March 2019 [File: Gaston De Cardenas/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2019-03-30T193837Z_645565542_RC18D4CB8000_RTRMADP_3_VENEZUELA-POLITICS-USA.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
The opposition leader and free market advocate says she has a ‘mandate’ to take on Maduro.
![Freddy Guevara was detained on July 12, 2021 and transferred to the headquarters of the intelligence services, according to the Venezuelan opposition [File: Federico Parra/ AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/000_9EU8ZX.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Food assistance bags containing basic food staples, such as pasta, sugar, flour, and kitchen oil, provided through the CLAP government food assistance programme in the Santa Rosalia neighbourhood of Caracas, Venezuela. [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP_21113714164410.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![The International Monetary Fund's decision is the latest setback for President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, which has been largely cut off from a global financial network due to Untied States sanctions [File: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ven.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![The Citgo financing was never executed, and a Caracas court in late 2020 sentenced the six executives to between eight and 13 years in prison on graft charges [File: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/citgo.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Biden administration move would shield Venezuelans already in the US from deportation and allow them to work legally.
Maduro’s government got about $1.21bn from the trade despite crippling US sanctions, an opposition figure alleges.
US secretary of state spoke to Venezuela’s opposition leader, stressing the importance of a return to democracy.
Venezuela must pay $100m to access vaccines via the COVAX program but cannot pay due to sanctions, officials have said.
The shift in legislative power away from the opposition marks a consolidation of power for President Nicolas Maduro.
Why does Venezuela have two competing presidents? And will parliamentary elections only make things worse?
US has led international pressure to force Venezuela’s leader from power, backing rival Guaido and imposing sanctions.
Spanish foreign ministry confirms Lopez’s arrival after spending a year at Spanish ambassador’s residence in Venezuela.
Venezuelan officials say the American plotted attacks against the nation’s oil industry and electricity system.
The suspect, alleged to have CIA ties, had help from three Venezuelan conspirators who were arrested last week.
![Venezuelan gold was refined in Mali and then resold primarily in the United Arab Emirates, Julio Borges, the opposition leader's chief overseas envoy, told reporters on Wednesday [File: Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/gold.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Before taking office, Blinken called Maduro a 'dictator' and said he would continue recognising Guaido as the interim president [File: Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool via Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-02-26T224728Z_1644408421_RC2M0M9FK6FS_RTRMADP_3_USA-MEXICO.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![The United States in 2019 recognised Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president and created a sanctions package against the Maduro government that included the seizure of nearly $350m held in US accounts [File: Manaure Quintero/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/guaido.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Nicolas Maduro was set to extend his grip on power on Tuesday as the governing socialist party prepared to assume the leadership of Venezuela’s congress, the last institution in the country it did not already control [Fausto Torrealba/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01-05T151132Z_1354894914_RC2R1L947W5D_RTRMADP_3_VENEZUELA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro says he hopes there can be a 'decent' dialogue with the US after Joe Biden won last week's presidential election [File: Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-10-28T221315Z_1829584610_RC2YRJ93YWRP_RTRMADP_3_VENEZUELA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![In this file photo from 2014, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez gets into a National Guard armoured vehicle in Caracas [File: Jorge Silva/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-24T171046Z_1083268388_RC25PJ98D44Q_RTRMADP_3_VENEZUELA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
