Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has accused the government of Nicolás Maduro of trying to bribe lawmakers to vote against his re-election as National Assembly president in an effort to put Maduro loyalists in the parliament and gain control of Venezuela’s last democratic institution.  Guaidó, who last year declared himself Venezuela’s interim president, made the comments in an exclusive interview with VOA. Alvaro Algarra and Adriana Nunez in Caracas contributed to this report by VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit.
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U.S. and Canadian officials say there is evidence suggesting that an Iranian missile downed the Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran on Wednesday. Media reports are rife with speculation about the cause of the crash, with a mechanical error all but ruled out. Iranian authorities are in possession of data recorders from the plane that can help determine the cause of the crash that killed more than 80 Iranian citizens. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Iranian investigators said Thursday the crew of a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s airport had tried to turn back, and that the pilot made no radio communications about any problems.The initial report from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization also cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft as saying the Ukraine International Airlines plane was on fire before it hit the ground.FILE – Debris from a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed after taking off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, is seen on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared Thursday a day of mourning for the 167 passengers and nine crew members who died when the plane bound for Kyiv crashed early Wednesday.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the dead included 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians along with Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and Britons.The flag over the Canadian parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the entire country was “shocked and saddened” at one of its worst losses of life in a single day in years.Trudeau said 138 of the passengers had planned to fly on from Kyiv to Toronto, many of them Iranian students hoping to return to school after a winter break with their families in Iran. He promised to work for a thorough investigation of the crash.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his condolences, through a spokesman, to the families of the victims and the various countries from which they came.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also issued a statement of condolence and said Washington is prepared to offer Ukraine “all possible assistance.” He said the U.S. also calls for “complete cooperation with any investigation” into the cause of the crash.In this photo from the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, the plane carrying Ukrainian experts prepares to depart for Tehran at Borispil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 8, 2020.Data recorders foundIranian investigators said the voice and data recorders from the Boeing 737 aircraft were recovered from the crash site, a swathe of farmland on the outskirts of the Iranian capital.Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted the head of the nation’s civil aviation agency as saying he did not know which country would get the black boxes for analysis, but that Iran would not hand them over to U.S.-based Boeing, the aircraft’s manufacturer.The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board typically participates in investigations of overseas air crashes when a U.S. airline or plane manufacturer is involved. But given the heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, and the fact that the two sides have no diplomatic relations, it was uncertain whether the NTSB would be involved in the investigation of the UIA crash.In a statement sent to VOA Ukrainian, the NTSB said it was “monitoring developments surrounding the crash of UIA flight 752” and was “following its standard procedures” for international aviation accident investigations.“As part of its usual procedures, the NTSB is working with the State Department and other agencies to determine the best course of action,” it said.“The U.S. has not participated in an accident investigation in Iran since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. So it is very unlikely that the NTSB will be involved,” said Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of U.S. airline news service Skift Airline Weekly in a VOA Ukrainian interview.WATCH: Ukraine, Canada Demand Thorough Investigation of Boeing Crash in IranSorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Ukraine International Airlines company President Yevhen Dykhne attends a briefing at Boryspil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff in Iran.Ukraine International Airline President Yevhen Dykhne said, “It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew.”The jet was built in 2016. It was a Boeing 737-800 model, a commonly used commercial jet with a single-aisle cabin that is flown by airlines throughout the world. It is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes.Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukrainian Service and Michael Lipin of VOA Persian contributed to this report.
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Outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Wednesday that his government had not agreed to receive Mexicans who sought asylum in the U.S. 
 
Morales, whose presidency ends next week, said he had told U.S. officials that the issue would have to be negotiated with his successor. 
 
“It’s more than clear, in the agreement it only lays out Salvadorans and Hondurans,” Morales said. “The United States has talked about the possibility of including Mexican nationals, but that they have to discuss it with the next government. In the last visit we made to the White House with President [Donald] Trump we were clear saying that that negotiation had to be done with the new government.” Aggressive U.S. move
 
The U.S. government moved aggressively last year to curb the number of asylum seekers arriving at its southwest border. The majority came from Central America. The U.S. began making many of those requesting asylum wait out their cases in Mexico. Then it forged agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that would allow it to send some asylum seekers there. The U.S. government argued that migrants should request asylum in the first country they entered, not wait until they arrived at the U.S. border. FILE – Migrants from Honduras and El Salvador wait after being sent back to Guatemala from the United States, at Casa del Migrante shelter in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dec. 3, 2019.To date, the U.S. has sent 94 asylum seekers from El Salvador and Honduras to Guatemala. Only six of them decided to seek asylum there while the rest returned to their countries. 
 
Mexicans do not pass through any other countries to arrive at the U.S. border. But in recent days, guidance was sent to U.S. asylum officials that said Mexicans would now be included under the bilateral agreement with Guatemala. 
 
Pedro Brolo, who has been designated foreign affairs minister by President-elect Alejandro Giammattei, and his spokeswoman did not immediately answer requests for comment. Talks on expansion
 
On December 19, Morales’ interior minister, Enrique Degenhart, suggested that talks were underway to expand the program to Mexicans because it had yielded such strong results with Central Americans. 
 
Mexico has expressed its unhappiness with the plan. Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said via Twitter on Tuesday that “it would be an action contrary to international law and the bilateral relationship.” 
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A man convicted of shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent nine years ago in a case that exposed a botched federal gun operation known as Fast and Furious'' was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. U.S. District Judge David C. Bury sentenced Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to the mandatory life sentence after hearing tearful statements from the sisters of Brian Terry, the agent who was fatally shot while on a mission in Arizona on December 14, 2010. Osorio-Arellanes is one of seven defendants who were charged in the slaying of Terry. Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges last year after being extradited from Mexico in 2018. Terry's death exposed theFast and Furiousoperation, in which U.S. federal agents allowed criminals to buy firearms with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations. But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of most of the guns, including two found at scene of Terry's death. The Obama administration was heavily criticized for the operation. Former Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt by Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the sting. Terry, 40, was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to findrip-off“ crew members who rob drug smugglers. They encountered a group and identified themselves as police. The men refused to stop, prompting an agent to fire bean bags at them. They responded by firing AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry was struck in the back and died soon afterward. Five of the seven men charged in Terry’s killing are serving prison sentences after pleading guilty or being convicted. Only one, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, has not been tried. He was arrested in October 2017. 
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Cars, cots and plastic chairs became temporary beds for hundreds of families who lost their homes in southwest Puerto Rico as a flurry of earthquakes struck the island, one of them the strongest in a century.The magnitude 6.4 quake that struck before dawn on Tuesday killed one person, injured nine others and knocked out power across the U.S. territory. More than  250,000 Puerto Ricans remained without water on Wednesday and another half a million without power, which also affected telecommunications.In addition, more than 1,000 people  were staying in government shelters in the island’s southwest region as U.S. President Donald Trump declared an emergency and Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez activated the National Guard.The hardest hit municipality was the southwest coastal town of Guanica. More than 200 people had taken shelter in a gymnasium after a quake on Monday, only for the latest shake to damage that structure — forcing them to sleep outside.Among them was 80-year-old Lupita Martinez, who sat in the dusty parking lot with her 96-year-old husband by her side. He was sleeping in a makeshift bed, a dark blue coat covering him.
“There’s no power. There’s no water. There is nothing. This is horrible,” Martinez said.
The couple was alone, lamenting that their caretaker had disappeared and was not answering their calls. Like many Puerto Ricans affected by the quake, they had children in the U.S. mainland who urged them to move there, at least until the earth stops shaking.
 Governor Wanda Vazquez inspect an earthquake-damaged house in Guanica, Puerto Rico, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. A 5.8-magnitude quake hit Puerto Rico before dawn Monday, unleashing small landslides, causing power outages and severely cracking some homes. …While officials said it was too early to estimate the total damage caused by the string of quakes that began the night of Dec. 28, they said hundreds of homes and businesses in the southwest region were damaged or destroyed. Just in Guanica, a town of roughly 15,000 people, nearly 150 homes were affected by the quake, along with three schools, including one three-story structure whose first two floors were completely flattened.
In Guanica itself, “We are confronting a crisis worse than Hurricane Maria,” said Mayor Santos Seda, referring to the 2017 storm that devastated the island. “I am asking for empathy from the federal government.”
He said officials believe the homes of 700 families in his municipality are close to collapsing.
Tuesday’s quake was the strongest to hit Puerto Rico since October 1918, when a magnitude 7.3 quake struck near the island’s northwest coast, unleashing a tsunami and killing 116 people.
More than 950 quakes and aftershocks have been recorded in the area of Tuesday night’s event since Dec. 31, though most were too weak to be felt, according to U.S. Geologic Survey.
The USGS said that while it’s virtually certain there will be many aftershocks in the next week, the chance of a magnitude 6 quake — similar to Tuesday’s — or stronger is around 22 percent.
In Guanica, some people dragged mattresses outside their homes or set up small tents.
Authorities were trying to figure out where to shelter them all as they handed out blankets, food and water to families gathered at the gymnasium for a second night in a row. Many had their belongings in large garbage bags as they sat haphazardly on unstable plastic chairs. Some slept. Others cradled their dogs and many simply stared listlessly into the distance. One elderly man spent an entire day in his wheelchair, refusing to lay down on a cot.
Meanwhile, a handful of people slept in their cars, in chairs or on the ground as cots ran out.
“Now I’m afraid of the house,” said 49-year-old Lourdes Guilbe as she wiped away tears and confided that she felt overwhelmed caring for the nearly dozen relatives gathered around her, including her more than 90-year-old grandfather, who sat in a wheelchair wearing green pajamas and socks.
Guilbe said her home is cracked and her daughter’s home collapsed, so they weren’t sure where they would live in upcoming days.
Psychologists met with Guilbe and dozens of other people affected by the earthquakes, going door-to-door on Monday in affected neighborhoods and then visiting people in shelters on Tuesday. Among them was Dayleen Ortiz, who set up a speaker on the roof of her car to blast uplifting salsa music and provided crayons and paper to children and urged adults to shake their fears.
“There is a lot of uncertainty,” she said. “We don’t know if this is going to continue.”
One young girl tapped Ortiz on her leg repeatedly: “I want to play beautician,” she said.
Ortiz dug behind cases of water bottles, chairs and blankets in her car and produced eight small new nail polishes and the girl smiled wide. It’s a trick the psychologist learned to entertain children after Hurricane Maria hit, causing an estimated 2,975 deaths and more than $100 billion in estimated damage.
Reconstruction has been slow, and the earthquake was the newest blow to an island where thousands of people have been living under a blue tarps since the hurricane and the power grid remains fragile.
 
“I can’t stand this,” said 64-year-old Zenaida Rodriguez as she sat under a tree and the ground again rumbled. “Did you feel that?”  
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed his government will get answers after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed, killing 63 Canadians, just minutes after taking off from Iran’s capital.
                   
Trudeau said Wednesday his foreign minister is in touch with the government of Ukraine and his transport minister is reaching out to his international counterparts. Getting answers from Iran might prove difficult as Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012 and suspended diplomatic relations.
                   
The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers, but Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the 3-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Ukrainian officials initially agreed, but later backed away and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.
                   
“I join Canadians across the country who are shocked and saddened to see reports that a plane crash outside of Tehran, Iran, has claimed the lives of 176 people, including 63 Canadians,” Trudeau said in a statement.
                   
“I offer our deepest condolences to those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones in this tragedy. Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians’ questions are answered.”
                   
The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members from different nations.
                   
It’s one of the worst loss of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. In 1985 a bomb exploded and killed 329 people aboard an Air India flight. Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to New Delhi exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near Great Britain on June 23, 1985. Most of the victims were Canadian.
                   
Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Canada is offering technical assistance to the upcoming investigation in Iran.
                   
The Tehran to Toronto route via Kyiv is an affordable route for Iranian Canadians. There are no direct flights.
                   
Hamid Gharajeh, of the Iran Democratic Association of Canada, said he’s spoken to families and friends of some of the victims. Many aboard were students on their way back to Canada after the holiday break, he said.
                   
“Our hearts go out for all these young people who are just trying to get back to their lives,” Gharajeh said in Toronto. “It’s unfortunate.”
                   
Payman Paseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, Alberta said multiple people from the city, including many international students, were on the flight and he knew many of the passengers.
                   
“They leave behind families and people they love and they come to Canada and often they’re second-guessing, `Should I leave my family behind to do this?’” Paseyan said. “Then they move here and they do all this just to board a plane and have it all washed away. It’s devastating.”
                   
“Iran does not recognize dual nationality and Canada will not be granted consular access to dual Canadian-Iranian citizens,” Global Affairs said.
                   
Paseyan said members of the Iranian-Canadian community learned of the crash while being glued to the news after Tuesday’s missile attacks in Iraq.
                   
“Many were expecting their friends and families members to come back” and were aware of the flight they were on, said Paseyan, a former president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton. “They were worried about their family members that were in Iran, and now this has compounded that with worry for the community.”
                   
Canada is urging Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Iran due to the volatile security situation, but the travel advisory makes no mention of the plane crash.
                   
“There are no words. 176 lives lost. 63 Canadians won’t be coming home,” Opposition New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh tweeted. “These families deserve clear answers, but whatever the case, this is devastating.”
                   
Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, also expressed condolences.“My heart is broken. We will have to go through this terrible pain together with our Canadian brothers and sisters,” he tweeted.
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Many Puerto Ricans woke up on Wednesday to a second day without electricity after the island’s worst earthquake in over a century knocked out its biggest power plant, collapsed homes and killed at least one person.
Puerto Rico’s schools were closed on Wednesday and all public employees except police and health workers stayed home as engineers checked the safety of buildings after Tuesday’s 6.4 magnitude quake and powerful aftershocks.
Some Puerto Ricans in the hard-hit south of the island moved beds outside on Tuesday night and slept outdoors, fearful their homes would crumble if another earthquake hit after a week of tremors, governor Wanda Vázquez told reporters.
Nearly all of the island’s more than 3 million people lost power and only 100,000 customers had energy by late Tuesday night, according to the AEE electricity authority.
The agency scrambled to restart power plants that automatically shut down for safety during the quake. The large
Costa Sur plant suffered “severe damage” and was put out of service, Vázquez said after declaring a state of emergency.
Power should return to most of the island within 24 to 48 hours, so long as there are no more quakes, she said.
“All of Puerto Rico has seen the devastation of this earthquake,” said Vázquez, who took office in August after
Ricardo Rossello stepped down in the face of massive street protests against his administration.
Around 750 people spent the night in shelters in southern towns hit hardest by the earthquake, the government reported.A home is seen collapsed after an earthquake in Guanica, Puerto Rico, Jan. 7, 2020.Television images showed flattened homes and apartment buildings with deep cracks running down their exteriors in communities like Guánica and Ponce.
Bottled water, batteries and flashlights ran low at supermarkets in the capital San Juan and long lines formed
outside gas stations. Backup generators kept the city’s international airport functioning.
Puerto Ricans are used to dealing with hurricanes but powerful quakes are rare on the island.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, this is the first time this has happened to us,” said Patricia Alonso, 48, who lost power
and water at her home and headed to her mother’s apartment building with her 13-year-old son as it had a generator.
Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 that killed about 3,000 people and destroyed a significant amount of infrastructure. The island is also working through a bankruptcy process to restructure about $120 billion of debt and pension obligations.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Tuesday that aid had been made available for earthquake response efforts.
Tuesday’s magnitude 6.4 quake struck at a depth of 6 miles (10 km) at 4:24 a.m. (0824 GMT) near Ponce, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
A 73-year-old man died after a wall fell on him, and a Costa Sur power plant worker was hospitalized after he was hit by debris, the governor said. 
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The Trump administration is sending an assessment team to Bolivia this week to discuss possible resumption of foreign aid to the Andean nation following the ouster of leftist leader Evo Morales, according to two people with knowledge of the visit.The team organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the development branch of the State Department, is looking to assist Bolivia’s interim government run a smooth presidential election May 3 that it hopes will end months of political turmoil following a vote last year that observers said was marred by fraud.The mission will also discuss longer-term areas of cooperation, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity Tuesday because the mission hasn’t yet been announced.Morales expelled the USAID from Bolivia in 2013, accusing it of political interference by support for groups and local governments that that opposed him.Interim President Jeanine Anez has been driving a conservative backlash against policies implemented by Morales, the nation’s first indigenous president, during almost 14 years of leftist rule. She has been looking to improve relations with the U.S. and take a tougher line on coca farmers.But critics says she’s overstepping her caretaker mandate and say the U.S. should be wary of backing an interim government accused of targeting Morales’ allies, who still wield plenty of political power even with their leader living in exile, in neighboring Argentina.”The Trump administration has clearly picked sides,” said Kathryn Ledebur of the nonprofit Andean Information Network in Bolivia. “But it should also highlight concerns about human rights violations and erosion of democratic rights.’’The White House on Monday announced that it was lifting a longstanding ban on foreign aid to Bolivia imposed for its failure to cooperate in U.S. anti-narcotics efforts.The U.S. first decertified Bolivia as a partner in the drug war shortly after Morales – former head of a coca growers’ union – expelled then U.S. Ambassador Phil Goldberg and the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008. But it received wavers for several years after that, permitting aid to continue.On Monday, the Trump administration reinstated a waiver that would allow aid to resume flowing to the Andean nation, finding that it is “vital to the national interests of the United States.’’Before Morales came to power, the country had been receiving more than $150 million in economic and security aid, much of it focused on anti-narcotics programs.Aid had dropped to about $100 million in 2008 and to $28 million in 2012.When Morales expelled the agency a year later, USAID said its programs were helping tens of thousands of Bolivians, particularly children and new mothers in rural areas who have benefited from health, nutrition, immunization and reproductive services.
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Venezuelan photojournalist Jesus Medina was released late Monday from a military prison southwest of Caracas following 16 months in detention, according to Venezuela-based rights organization Foro Penal.Medina, a photographer for the Florida-registered black market dollar website Opposition leader Juan Guaido speaks at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 7, 2020. Guaidó and lawmakers who back him, pushed their way into the legislative building on Tuesday.On Tuesday, Guaido, recognized by the United States and dozens of its allies as Venezuela’s legitimate president, took his place in the Parliament speaker’s seat.Some observers call the decision to release the prisoners part of a broader strategy to further marginalize Guaido, whose demands for their release has been a prominent part of his opposition platform.Foro Penal said Venezuela had 388 political prisoners behind bars as of Dec. 30, 2019, a figure the Maduro government denies.According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Medina was one of three journalists jailed in the Americas in 2019, with the other two held in Honduras and Cuba.In its 2019 annual World Press Freedom Index, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks Venezuela 148 out of 180 countries, in which 1 is considered the freest.Some information in this report is from Reuters. 
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A strong earthquake struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, the latest in a series of quakes to hit the U.S. territory in recent days.The 6.4-magnitude quake was located near the southern coastal city of Ponce, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, revising its initial reading of 6.6-magnitude.A number of powerful aftershocks followed the quake, including one measure 6.0.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert immediately after the quake was reported, but it was later canceled.The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority says power was been shut off across the the entire island after automatic protection systems at all of its power plants were activated.  The authority said one of the country’s primary power plants near the quake’s epicenter had been damaged but that power was expected to be restored to the island later Tuesday.At least one person was killed in Tuesday’s quake. A Ponce city official said a 77-year-old was killed in his home after a wall fell on him.The quakes have caused heavy damage in some areas. The Ponce official said many buildings were damaged. In the southern coastal town of Guayanilla, the church in the public plaza collapsed, the mayor said in an interview on a local radio station.Governor Wanda Vazquez says all non-essential government employees have been given the day off, as more aftershocks are anticipated throughout the day.The island has been shaken by numerous quakes of varying degrees since the night of December 28.  A 5.8-magnitude quake on Monday leveled several homes in the southern coastal town of Guanica and destroyed a coastal rock formation known as Punta Ventana in nearby Guayanilla.  The formation, shaped like a round stone window, was a popular tourist attraction. 
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido entered the country’s legislative building Tuesday, two days after the ruling Socialist Party installed its own parliamentary leadership, the latest development in an effort to gain control of Venezuela’s last democratic institution.Guaido and a handful of opposition lawmakers forced their way into the National Assembly after a standoff with President Nicolas Maduro’s security forces initially prevented them from entering.After the half-hour confrontation with troops, Guaido made his way toward his seat and led lawmakers in the singing of the national anthem. Shortly thereafter, the electricity went out, dimming the building and rendering microphones unusable.Lawmakers were forced to shout as they declared Guaido the legitimate president of the legislature, prompting opposition accusations of a “parliamentary coup.”Just minutes before Guaido gained entry, a brief parliamentary session led by Luis Parra had already ended. Parra was sworn in as the head of Parliament on Sunday by Maduro’s allies.Parra claims to have captured 81 votes, an assertion refuted by the opposition, which says 100 lawmakers, a majority, voted for Guaido in a legislative session that was held later Sunday at the offices of a Venezuelan newspaper. There are 167 seats in the legislature.Guaido, who has served as National Assembly president for the past year, has tried to oust Maduro from the presidency during that period. Serving as head of the legislature has been the foundation of Guaido’s claim to be Venezuela’s legitimate interim leader.
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The U.S. is standing firmly with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, as both he and a rival lawmaker, Luis Parra, claim to be the country’s parliamentary speaker after two separate votes.  The constitutional crisis in Venezuela has deepened after security forces loyal to socialist leader Nicolas Maduro blocked Guaido from entering the National Assembly chamber on Sunday ahead of a leadership vote. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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A strong earthquake struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, the latest in a series of quakes to hit the U.S. territory in recent days.The 6.4-magnitude quake was located near the southern coastal city of Ponce, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, revising its initial reading of 6.6-magnitude. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert immediately after the quake was reported, but it was later cancelled.The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority says power was been shut off across the the entire island after the auto protection systems in all of its power plants were activated.  Governor Wanda Vazquez says all non-essential government employees have been given the day off.  The island has been shaken by numerous quakes of varying degrees since the night of December 28.  A 5.8-magnitude quake on Monday leveled several homes in the southern coastal town of Guanica and destroyed a coastal rock formation known as Punta Ventana in nearby Guayanilla.  The formation, shaped like a round stone window, was a popular tourist attraction. 
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The U.S. is standing firmly with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, as both he and a rival lawmaker, Luis Parra, claim to be the country’s parliamentary speaker after two separate votes.  The constitutional crisis in Venezuela has deepened after security forces loyal to socialist leader Nicolas Maduro blocked Guaido from entering the National Assembly chamber on Sunday ahead of a leadership vote. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his new rival, lawmaker Luis Parra, called for competing legislative sessions Tuesday after both claimed to be the country’s parliamentary speaker.On Sunday, Venezuelan security forces with riot shields blocked Guaido from entering the National Assembly chamber where he was expected to be re-elected head of the opposition-dominated legislature. Instead, Parra, who is backed by socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, proclaimed himself speaker after claiming to have been elected with 81 votes in the 167-member chamber. Guaido has the support of much of the international community.Opposition lawmakers later re-elected Guaido in a hastily arranged session at the headquarters of El Nacional newspaper, the last remaining newspaper in Caracas critical of Maduro and his ruling Socialist Party. A tally showed that 100 of Parliament’s 167 legislators voted for Guaido.Elliott Abrams, U.S. envoy for Venezuela, said Monday the U.S. is considering additional sanctions on Venezuela after what he called a “brutal and corrupt campaign” by Venezuela’s government to deny lawmakers access to the National Assembly.”Obviously if the regime had the votes, it would not have ordered soldiers to keep elected deputies out of the National Assembly,” he told reporters at the State Department.He said Guaido won the election with a proper quorum, and said the United States is looking at new ways to support him.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Sunday that Venezuelan officials supporting Maduro are trying to “destroy the last democratic institution in Venezuela, the National Assembly.” He described the session in which Parra claimed himself speaker as a “farcical vote,'” and said no quorum was present.Lawmaker Luis Parra gives a press conference at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 6, 2020. Guaido has led the opposition to Maduro since the National Assembly elected him speaker. In that role, he declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, 2019, after Parliament called Maduro a “usurper.””We defeated the dictatorship again. We overwhelmingly defeated the dictatorship, the ambitions of the dictatorship,” Guaido said Sunday after his supporters re-elected him.The European Union said Sunday it would continue to recognize Guaido, while the Lima Group regional bloc said Monday it backed Guaido’s re-election.His re-election “represents a rejection of the reckless actions by Nicolas Maduro’s regime that sought to prevent his appointment,” said a statement by the group signed by Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia.Argentina’s new center-left government also criticized blocking Guaido from the National Assembly.”To impede by force the functioning of the legislative assembly is to condemn oneself to international isolation,” Argentina’s Foreign Minister Felipe Sola said on Twitter.Russia argued that the vote to elect Parr was a democratic action.”We consider the election of the new leadership of Parliament to be the result of a legitimate democratic procedure,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Parra is one of several lawmakers who recently broke away from Guaido. He has since been expelled from his party for alleged involvement in a corruption scandal involving Maduro.Guaido is recognized by the United States and nearly 60 other countries as the legitimate president of Venezuela.Guaido’s international backing rests on the fact that as assembly president, he is Venezuela’s highest-ranking official to have been democratically elected.  Opposition lawmakers hold 112 seats in Venezuela’s National Assembly.  
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The Lima Group regional bloc said on Monday it backed the re-election of opposition leader Juan Guaido as head of Venezuela’s Congress after Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government forced a separate vote imposing a new leader of the legislative body.Luis Parra was installed as the new head of Congress on Sunday after armed troops blocked opposition legislators from entering parliament, in a move condemned by dozens of nations as
an assault on democracy.
Opposition legislators responded by re-electing Guaido in a session at the headquarters of a pro-opposition newspaper.
Guaido is recognized by dozens of nations as Venezuela’s rightful leader.
The Lima Group, minus members Mexico and Argentina, said they welcomed Guaido’s re-election as the leader of Congress and as the country’s interim president, repeating a condemnation of
“force and intimidation tactics” used against lawmakers.
The re-election of Guaido “represents a rejection of the reckless actions by Nicolas Maduro’s regime that sought to prevent his appointment,” said the group, which was set up to
find a way out of the Venezuelan crisis.
The Lima Group statement was signed by Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia, the last of which joined the bloc in December after the resignation of leftist leader Evo Morales.
Argentina’s new center-left Peronist President Alberto Fernandez has been walking a tightrope between key trade partners including Brazil and the United States and potential leftist allies including Venezuela.
The South American country has given asylum to socialist former Bolivian leader Morales and welcomed a senior official from Maduro’s government to Fernandez’s inauguration in
December, prompting criticism from the United States.
But Argentina’s foreign minister, Felipe Sola, said on Twitter that his government rejected the move in Venezuela to block the proper functioning of the legislative assembly which
would only lead to “international isolation.”
“The assembly must elect its president with full legitimacy,” he wrote.
  
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A 5.8-magnitude quake hit Puerto Rico before dawn Monday, unleashing small landslides, causing power outages and severely cracking some homes. It was one of the strongest quakes yet to hit the U.S. territory that has been shaking for the past week.
                   
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
                   
Another quake measured at magnitude 5.1 struck later Monday, at 10:51 a.m. (1451 GMT), shaking power lines and frightening residents of southern Puerto Rico who had been waiting outside their homes due to fears the buildings were damaged and unstable.
                   
The first quake struck at 6:32 a.m. (1032 GMT) just south of the island at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Service. There was no tsunami threat, officials said.
                   Earthquake epicenterPower outages were reported in some parts of Puerto Rico following the quake, Angel Vazquez, emergency management director for the southern coastal city of Ponce, told The Associated Press.
                   
“This is one of the strongest quakes to date since it started shaking on Dec. 28,” he said. “It lasted a long time.”
                   
Residents in southern coastal towns began posting pictures of partially collapsed homes and large boulders blocking roads as officials urged people to remain calm.
                   
Dr. Sindia Alvarado, who lives in the southern coastal town of Penuelas, said she was petrified.
                   
“My entire family woke up screaming,” she said. “I thought the house was going to crack in half.”
                   
At a hotel in the southwest coastal town of Guanica, people panicked as they tried to flee in their cars, only to realize that large boulders were obstructing the only highway heading north to the capital of San Juan, attorney Jose Francisco Benitez told the AP.
                   
“There was a state of panic,” he said. “There were even people in their underwear walking around the hotel.”
                   
He said he and his girlfriend were in the room when the quake struck.
                   
“I have never felt anything like this,” he said. “It was like a giant grabbed our room and shook it.”
                   
The flurry of quakes in Puerto Rico’s southern region began the night of Dec. 28, with quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.7 to 5.1. Previous quakes of lesser magnitudes in recent days have cracked homes and led to goods falling off supermarket shelves.
                   
Victor Huerfano, director of Puerto Rico’s Seismic Network, told the AP that shallow quakes were occurring along three faults in Puerto Rico’s southwest region: Lajas Valley, Montalva Point and the Guayanilla Canyon. He said the quakes overall come as the North American plate and the Caribbean plate squeezes Puerto Rico, and that it was unclear when they would stop or if bigger quakes would occur.
                   
One of the largest and most damaging earthquakes to hit Puerto Rico occurred in October 1918, when a 7.3-magnitude quake struck near the island’s northwest coast, unleashing a tsunami and killing 116 people.
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A 5.7-magnitude quake jolted Puerto Ricans out of their beds Monday morning, the strongest quake yet to hit the U.S. territory that has been shaking for the past week.There were no immediate reports of casualties.The home on the left is from Guayanilla and the one on the right from Guánica, #puertorico. Cars parked underneath were crushed. #TemblorPR M5.7 pic.twitter.com/A1jBhPd50b— John Morales (@JohnMoralesNBC6) January 6, 2020The quake struck just south of the island at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (over 6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Service. There was no tsunami threat, officials said.
Power outages were reported in some parts of Puerto Rico following the quake, Angel Vazquez, the emergency management director for the southern coastal city of Ponce, told The Associated Press.
“This is one of the strongest quakes to date since it started shaking on Dec. 28,” he said. “It lasted a long time.”#FuerteSismo | Les presentamos primeras imágenes de los daños que se reportan en Guayanilla tras el fuerte #sismo M5.8 de esta mañana en #PuertoRico ?? Información en desarrollo. ?: the_island_drone#Internacional#Temblorpic.twitter.com/GRlZWMqj9P— Sn (@Sn_MediaGroup) January 6, 2020No injuries or structural damage were immediately reported, although some residents reported small landslides that prompted crews to temporarily close roads along parts of Puerto Rico’s south coast.
Dr. Sindia Alvarado, who lives in the southern coastal town of Penuelas, said she was petrified.
“My entire family woke up screaming,” she said. “I thought the house was going to crack in half.”
The flurry of quakes in Puerto Rico’s southern region began the night of Dec. 28, with quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.7 to 5.1. Previous quakes of lesser magnitudes in recent days have cracked homes and led to goods falling off supermarket shelves. ​
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Pro-government legislators seized control of Venezuela’s opposition-dominated legislature Sunday, moving to install a backer of President Nicolas Maduro as National Assembly president while government security forces blocked opposition lawmakers from entering the building.
 
The move, denounced as illegitimate by the opposition, is seen as a bid to undermine the authority of Assembly President Juan Guaidó, whose rival claim to the office of national president is recognized by nearly 60 countries including the United States.
 
“At this time, Venezuela has no parliament in place,” Guaidó told reporters after being unable to enter the Assembly. Other opposition lawmakers denounced the pro-government ploy as a “parliamentary coup.”FILE – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.Guaidó had been expected to be re-elected to a second one-year term as Assembly president in a scheduled vote Sunday, given the opposition’s strong majority in the chamber.
 
Instead he found himself trying unsuccessfully to clamber over a spiked fence to reach the Assembly, tearing his suit jacket and tussling with security forces.
 
He then delivered a lengthy denunciation of the government move during an impromptu news conference in the street outside the Assembly.
 
Inside the building, Maduro-controlled state television was broadcasting the swearing-in as Assembly president of Luis Parra, a former opposition politician who recently broke with Guaidó after being accused along with other opposition legislators in a corruption scandal.
 
It was not immediately clear whether the pro-Maduro lawmakers actually voted before the swearing-in ceremony. Guaido’s supporters in the legislature — at least some of whom were also held at bay by security forces — insisted that any vote was invalid anyway because there were not enough legislators present to form a quorum.
 
That view is shared by the U.S. government, which has led international support for Guaidó. Acting Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak, rejected the installation of Parra as illegitimate in a Sunday tweet.The desperate actions of the former Maduro regime, illegally forcibly preventing Juan Guaido and the majority of @AsambleaVE deputies from entering the building, make this morning’s “vote,” which lacks quorum and does not meet minimum constitutional standards, a farce.— Michael G. Kozak (@WHAAsstSecty) January 5, 2020 “The desperate actions of the former Maduro regime, illegally forcibly preventing Juan Guaidó and the majority of @AsambleaVE deputies from entering the building, make this morning’s “vote,” which lacks quorum and does not meet minimum constitutional standards, a farce,” he said.
 
The day’s events left severe doubts about the future of the Assembly, which many had considered the last remaining legitimately elected government body in Venezuela. The nation may now be confronted with not only two rival claims to the presidency but also to the National Assembly leadership.
 
Guaidó’s international backing rests on the fact that, as Assembly president, he is Venezuela’s highest-ranking official to have been democratically elected.
 
However, Maduro has used increasingly authoritarian means to cling to power in the face of widespread opposition to his rule and a catastrophic economic collapse. Millions of refugees have fled the country due to the unavailability of basic commodities, creating a crisis for neighboring countries. Maduro’s ability to remain in power owes much to the support of the armed forces, which have remained loyal despite efforts to recruit them to the opposition cause. The nation’s courts are also largely supportive of Maduro, complicating any effort to have the Assembly takeover declared illegal. 
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Mexico’s former top security official pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he accepted a fortune in drug-money bribes from kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s notorious Sinaloa cartel to let it operate with impunity.Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, was indicted in New York on three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and a false statements charge.During his brief appearance in a Brooklyn courtroom, Garcia Luna shook his head “no” as prosecutors outlined the charges against him.A judge ordered him detained after Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Reid argued that he would pose an “unacceptable risk of flight” if released. Garcia Luna’s lawyer, Cesar de Castro, said he would ask the court later for his client to be granted bail.Former drug war point manGarcia Luna was viewed as the point man in then-President Felipe Calderon’s 2006-2012 war on drugs. As public safety secretary, he was one of the most feared members of Calderon’s government, but for years was dogged by allegations about his ties to drug traffickers.Calderon’s government was criticized for not going after the Sinaloa cartel with the same energy as the cartel’s rivals. Calderon always rebuffed that criticism.Briefcases of cashU.S. prosecutors said in a court filing this month that Garcia Luna had accepted “tens of millions of dollars” in bribes — often briefcases full of cash — to protect the cartel.“Because of the defendant’s corrupt assistance, the Sinaloa Cartel conducted its criminal activity in Mexico without significant interference from Mexican law enforcement and imported multiton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States,” prosecutors wrote.They added that Garcia Luna “prioritized his personal greed over his sworn duties as a public servant and assured the continued success and safety of one of the world’s most notorious trafficking organizations.”De Castro declined to comment on the charges.During Guzman’s 2018 New York trial, jurors heard former cartel member Jesus Zambada testify that he personally made at least $6 million in hidden payments to Garcia Luna, on behalf of his older brother, cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.It’s alleged that during the time Garcia Luna protected the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for bribes, the cartel, at the direction of Chapo Guzman, Mayo Zambada and other leaders, sent multiton drug loads to New York and other American cities, including the federal district covering Brooklyn and Queens, according to court documents.Garcia Luna lived in Miami, Florida, before his arrest last month in Texas. From 2001 to 2005, he led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency and from 2006 to 2012 served as Mexico’s secretary of public security before relocating to the U.S., authorities said.
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Mexico’s former top security official pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he accepted a fortune in drug-money bribes from kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s notorious Sinaloa cartel to let it operate with impunity.Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, was indicted in New York on three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and a false statements charge.During his brief appearance in a Brooklyn courtroom, Garcia Luna shook his head “no” as prosecutors outlined the charges against him.A judge ordered him detained after Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Reid argued that he would pose an “unacceptable risk of flight” if released. Garcia Luna’s lawyer, Cesar de Castro, said he would ask the court later for his client to be granted bail.Former drug war point manGarcia Luna was viewed as the point man in then-President Felipe Calderon’s 2006-2012 war on drugs. As public safety secretary, he was one of the most feared members of Calderon’s government, but for years was dogged by allegations about his ties to drug traffickers.Calderon’s government was criticized for not going after the Sinaloa cartel with the same energy as the cartel’s rivals. Calderon always rebuffed that criticism.Briefcases of cashU.S. prosecutors said in a court filing this month that Garcia Luna had accepted “tens of millions of dollars” in bribes — often briefcases full of cash — to protect the cartel.“Because of the defendant’s corrupt assistance, the Sinaloa Cartel conducted its criminal activity in Mexico without significant interference from Mexican law enforcement and imported multiton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States,” prosecutors wrote.They added that Garcia Luna “prioritized his personal greed over his sworn duties as a public servant and assured the continued success and safety of one of the world’s most notorious trafficking organizations.”De Castro declined to comment on the charges.During Guzman’s 2018 New York trial, jurors heard former cartel member Jesus Zambada testify that he personally made at least $6 million in hidden payments to Garcia Luna, on behalf of his older brother, cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.It’s alleged that during the time Garcia Luna protected the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for bribes, the cartel, at the direction of Chapo Guzman, Mayo Zambada and other leaders, sent multiton drug loads to New York and other American cities, including the federal district covering Brooklyn and Queens, according to court documents.Garcia Luna lived in Miami, Florida, before his arrest last month in Texas. From 2001 to 2005, he led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency and from 2006 to 2012 served as Mexico’s secretary of public security before relocating to the U.S., authorities said.
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Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday called for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be released from prison in London, urging an end to what he described as his “torture” in detention.Assange, 48, is in a British jail for skipping bail when he sought asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he spent nearly seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape that were dropped in November.Assange is also battling U.S. attempts to extradite him over Wikileaks’ publication of vast caches of leaked military documents and diplomatic cables. He faces a lengthy prison term if extradited to the United States.A U.N. human rights investigator last year said Assange has suffered psychological torture from a defamation campaign and should not be extradited to the United States where he would face a “politicized show trial.”Lopez Obrador, a leftist who has close ties with Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, expressed his solidarity with Assange and said he hoped the former hacker and activist is “forgiven and released” from prison.”I don’t know if he has recognized that he acted against rules and norms of a political system, but at the time these cables demonstrated how the world system functions in its authoritarian nature,” Lopez Obrador said in response to a question about Assange at a regular government news briefing.”Hopefully consideration will be given to this, and he’s released and won’t continue to be tortured.”Assange’s presence in London, holed up in Ecuador’s embassy and then in jail, has been a diplomatic irritation for Britain, affecting domestic politics and relations with several countries.Corbyn, who was a guest of honor at Lopez Obrador’s inauguration in December 2018, said Assange should not be extradited to the United States “for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan.”British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose Conservative Party trounced Labour in last month’s elections, has vowed to strike new trade deals with countries outside Europe after Britain’s departure from the European Union.
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The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Cuba’s defense minister, accusing him of human rights violations and supporting socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.Washington blacklisted Leopoldo Cintra Frias, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR), and his children, Deborah Cintra Gonzalez and Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez, in its latest action targeting Havana for its support of Maduro.Pompeo said MINFAR had been involved in the torture of Venezuelans and subjected them to “cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment for their anti-Maduro stances” alongside Maduro’s military and intelligence officers.The designation bars Cintra, a career military officer who joined Fidel Castro’s rebel army in 1957, and his children from entering the United States.The Cuban Embassy in Washington could not immediately be reached for comment.”As Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Cintra Frias bears responsibility for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela,” Pompeo said.”Dismantling Venezuela’s democracy by terrifying Venezuelans into submission is the goal of MINFAR and the Cuban regime,” Pompeo added.The United States and more than 50 other countries have recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume a rival presidency last year, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was a sham.But Maduro retains the support of the military, runs the government’s day-to-day operations and is backed by Russia, China and Cuba.
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