Venezuelan opposition members leave shelter after more than a year
The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not immediately comment on the situation.
'The US welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas,' Mr Rubio said on X. 'Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S. soil.'
The U.S. welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas.
Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S. soil. Maduro's illegitimate regime has undermined Venezuela's institutions, violated human…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2025
The government of Argentine President Javier Milei allowed the five people into the ambassador's residence in March 2024, when authorities loyal to Venezuela's ruling party issued warrants for their arrest, accusing them of promoting acts of violence to destabilise the country.
The group included the campaign manager and communications director of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Ms Machado, also on X, thanked people involved in what she called an 'impeccable and epic operation for the Freedom of five heroes of Venezuela'.
Since late November, the group had denounced the constant presence of intelligence service agents and police outside the residence. It had also accused the government of cutting electricity and water services to the compound.
The government had denied the allegations.
Fernando Martinez, a cabinet minister in the 1990s, sheltered with the group for nine months. He abandoned the compound in mid-December and, according to Venezuelan authorities, appeared before prosecutors. He died in February.
Mr Maduro's government routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents ahead of last year's presidential election and its crackdown on dissent only increased after the country's National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests across the country to which the government responded with force and ended with more than 20 people dead.
They also prompted an end to diplomatic relations between Venezuela and various foreign countries, including Argentina.
In August, Brazil accepted Argentina's request to guard the diplomatic compound in Caracas after Mr Maduro's government expelled its diplomats when Mr Milei said that he would not recognise 'another fraud'.
A month later, Venezuela revoked Brazil's authorisation to guard the facility, alleging it had evidence of the use of the premises 'for the planning of terrorist activities and assassination attempts'.
Brazil and Argentina have rejected those accusations.
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NBC News
5 hours ago
- NBC News
Spanish-language misinformation on Los Angeles protests pushes a familiar theme
A surge of false or misleading posts, photographs and videos about the Los Angeles protests have been circulating on social media, with many of those shared among Latinos — mostly in Spanish — tying the protesters to socialist or communist governments. One post on X with over 600,000 views claims that in the U.S., immigration protest groups have links to 'the Venezuelan mafia,' the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Morena Party, the left-wing ruling party of Mexico. But the post doesn't specify any groups and doesn't give evidence of this. The narrative echoes similar falsehoods that circulated during the 2020 George Floyd protests and the 2024 pro-Palestinian student protests on university campuses. Parts of Los Angeles and other cities across the country have seen protests against immigration raids as President Donald Trump's administration enforces a hard-line immigration policy. Dramatic scenes where cars, including Waymo taxis, were set on fire and protesters confronted law enforcement by throwing objects at them have filled social media feeds. While some far-left groups have encouraged and even glorified violence in the protests, the onslaught of posts, mostly in Spanish, appears to be an attempt to link protests against immigrant raids to leftist Latin American governments, and the posts show support for President Donald Trump and his policies. 'Though there is always inaccurate information swirling around, there has certainly been a spike since the Los Angeles protests took off,' said Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, president of We Are Más, which focuses on social impact consulting. 'In the past we would find false or inaccurate information more hidden in platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp. Now it's more in the open and more easily found on social media and online publications.' The falsehoods revive prior conspiracies that the protests are a planned provocation from leftist governments and not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids. On his platform, Truth Social, Trump has baselessly claimed protesters are 'Paid Insurrectionists!' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been targets of some of the misinformation that seeks to link them to communism. A fake picture of Bass with Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro, with his arm around her has circulated on social media. The original picture showed Castro with the late activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela. Bass does have some connections to Cuba; she traveled to the country with the Venceremos Brigade in the 1970s to do volunteer construction work and later went there as a member of Congress. She received criticism in 2020 for calling Castro's death ' a great loss, ' but the fake picture is a step further to link her directly with Fidel Castro. 'What we're seeing in Spanish is different from what we're seeing in English,' said Pérez-Verdía. In Spanish, she added, the false information is mainly focused on elected officials, like Newsom and Bass. 'They talk about the extreme left, communism — actors, whether domestic or foreign, are changing the messaging based on the community they are targeting,' said Pérez-Verdía. In some cases, false information has made its way to the federal government. Some conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts have circulated a video of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum from before the protests, claiming she encouraged them, according to Newsguard, a fact-checking website. The move was 'portrayed as foreign interference in domestic U.S. politics,' Newsguard reported. During an oval office briefing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum of encouraging 'violent protests.' Sheinbaum responded on X, saying it's 'absolutely false' and included a video of herself from the day before saying she does not agree with violent actions as a form of protest. She also accused the opposition party of falsely saying she incited the protests. In some cases, videos and photos that include a hammer and sickle, are taken out of context to make it seem the protests are a communist movement. One post with tens of thousands of views claims that the protests are 'URBAN COMMUNIST TERRORISM.' One Spanish-language post from an account with over 1 million followers glorifies violence against 'progressive anti-ICE protestors.' Situations like these create fertile ground for disinformation to spread. Fake accounts in Spanish are more prevalent than they are in English, according to Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University and co-director of its Media Forensic Hub. Social media platforms are more likely to identify and shut down accounts in English than in other languages. Linvill said that another reason accounts in Spanish are more common than in English is that the use of marketing companies utilizing fake accounts — on behalf of political organizations or politicians — has spiked in the last few years. The spread of false information 'is absolutely having an effect on driving partisanship, conspiratorial thinking, distrust for expertise and the lack of a sort of shared reality,' said Linvill. 'A shared reality is important for us to build compromise and govern nations together. And I think it is absolutely having an effect on that.' 'The degree to which motivated actors [bad actors], are responsible, versus the fundamental nature of social media to create a giant game of telephone that virtually generates the spread of false information, it's hard to say,' Linvill said.
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
‘Drug texts' to CCTV: Liam Payne cops lay out bombshell evidence against final suspects facing trial over star's death
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) PROSECUTORS have revealed bombshell evidence against two men due to face trial over Liam Payne's death. Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz and former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra have been held in prison since the start of January after being charged with selling the former One Direction singer cocaine. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 7 Singer Liam at the world premiere of the film "I am Bolt" prior to his death 7 Argentinian waiter Paiz (r) is one of two men charged with supplying drugs to Liam Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk 7 The former One Direction star's hotel room was found littered with drug paraphenalia Credit: Twitter Liam, 31, took the cocaine before his fatal third-storey balcony plunge in Buenos Aires on October 16 last year. Argentinian prosecutors obtained phone messages and hotel CCTV footage which included images of Liam standing by the open door of a lift at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. It showed him chatting with a man identified as Pereyra shortly before the singer died. During the brief encounter, the British star is said to have asked him for 'seven grams of the same drug he had handed him earlier.' Prosecutors have now gone public with more details of their dossiers, revealing they had 'incriminating' witness statements from five hotel employees against 24-year-old Pereyra. He and Paiz have been warned they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. CCTV footage allegedly shows him handing Liam cocaine outside the artist's room around an hour and ten minutes before he died. Pereyra has been accused of selling Liam cocaine twice, the second time "between 3.30 and 4pm on October 16." Argentina's public prosecution service said in a statement referencing Pereyra: 'One of the witnesses that compromised him the most was the hotel's head of general maintenance. 'He testified that around 9pm on 14 October he met Pereyra in a lift, saw that he had a 100 note in his hand and when he asked him if it was a tip and who had given it to him, said Pereyra replied that he had to 'run an errand for a guest' which he later explained was 'to bring drugs'. Liam Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy fights back tears in emotional new video as she sends heartfelt message to late star 'At 2:30a.m. on 15 October, Payne asked the hotel receptionist for a taxi to an address - Pereyra's home at 2800 Homero Street in the Lomas de Zamora district of Buenos Aires - because 'someone had to bring him something'. 'Prosecutors determined, from the statement of the driver of the Cabify app car that made the trip, and from the images of the security cameras outside the hotel, that Pereyra arrived at the door of the hotel at 3.25am, met Liam Payne in the street outside and walked with towards the corner of Costa Rica and Dorrego Avenue, where a camera captured the accused man with 'some kind of wrapper in one of his hands'." Lead prosecutor Andres Madrea revealed a computer technician who works for the CasaSur Hotel has also incriminated Pereyra. He said: 'The employee, who speaks English, shared a lift with Payne the afternoon of his death. 'He has testified that when they reached a hotel basement Liam began to talk while still inside the lift with Pereyra, who was arranging some chairs outside the lift, and he heard the musician say: 'Hey man I will need another seven grams more for today.'' Public prosecutors added in their statement: 'Mr Madrea detailed in his trial request that the drug transaction took place around 3.45pm on October 16, in a third-floor corridor where cameras captured Pereyra's arrival in the lift and the exchange.' They said the indictment against Paiz, also accused of selling Liam cocaine on two separate occasions before his death, was based partly on messages the two men had exchanged. The messages were discovered on the singer's phone after he plunged to his death. 7 An aerial view of the poolside area of the hotel where British singer Liam Payne died Credit: AFP 7 Mourning fans around the world left floral tributes - this one was in Wolverhampton Credit: Alamy Prosecutors revealed more detail about the conversations between the pair, who met at a restaurant the musician dined at in the upmarket Buenos Aires neighbourhood where Paiz was working as a waiter. They said: 'Lead prosecutor Andres Madrea reproduced in his trial request an exchange of messages in the early hours of October 14, where the singer asks the accused for five or five grams and the waiter replies an hour later that he had obtained three grams with the phrase in English: 'I think I got to three.' 'Paiz then sent the musician several photographs related to narcotics, including one of a transparent plastic bag with a white powder, after which they agreed that the waiter would go to the CasaSur Hotel where the accused arrived at 3:24am according to the security camera records. 'This shows that the accused Paiz, at Payne's request, went to the hotel in question, stayed in his room, where he gave cocaine to Payne, until he left at around 8:15 am.' They went on to detail the second "drug deal" later the same day when Liam Payne took a taxi to Paiz's flat to pick up cocaine - and reference another subsequent message exchange about a third "possible deal' which they said ended with the singer writing: 'I have DOLLARS US 100. Party.' Three other men initially charged over Liam's death were told in February the case against them had been dropped. Liam's close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of his manslaughter by a female lower court judge before reversing her decision on appeal. No date has yet been set for the Paiz and Pereyra trial although it is expected to kick off shortly. Paiz, who has previously protested his innocence, spoke again from prison this week to repeat an earlier claim that he had shared drugs with the artist but hadn't committed the serious offence of selling him narcotics. The 25-year-old whined in an interview with Argentinian media outlet Infobae from his jail cell at a Buenos Aires police station: 'I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm a good person. 'I shared drugs with Liam but I didn't sell them.' Describing himself as a drug user who started smoking marijuana as a youngster, he added: 'All I want to do is start studying again and leave jail to work, like I was doing before. 'I regret now giving Liam my Instagram because it all spiralled from there. 'If I hadn't I'd probably be working today, I'd be studying, I'd be doing videos because before meeting Liam I'd participated in the filming of a video-clip for YouTube for a singer and other videos for TV. 'I miss the freedom I had, I miss work, I miss my family, my mum and my sisters.' Pereyra handed himself in on January 6 after making himself a fugitive the previous week following failed police attempts to locate and arrest him so he could be remanded in pre-trial custody on the orders of an investigating judge. He has yet to make any public comment. 7
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Major update in Liam Payne death investigation with trial date set
Two men accused of supplying drugs to former One Direction singer Liam Payne just hours before his fatal fall from a hotel balcony will face trial, Argentinian prosecutors have confirmed. Braian Nahuel Paiz, 25, a restaurant waiter, and Ezequiel David Pereyra, 24, a former hotel employee, have been in custody since early January. They stand accused of selling cocaine to the British musician, who died on October 16, 2024, after falling from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires. The Little Things hitmaker was a beloved UK musician after rising to fame alongside his former bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles on The X Factor in 2010. In a statement released by Argentina's public prosecution service, Prosecutor Andrés Esteban Madrea confirmed the pair would go to trial, facing potential prison sentences of up to 15 years if convicted of drug trafficking offenses. 'Braian Nahuel Paiz, who met Payne while working as a waiter in Puerto Madero, and Ezequiel David Pereyra, a former employee at the hotel where the incident occurred, are charged with the crime of selling drugs,' the statement read. Forensic investigations revealed Payne had consumed cocaine through both snorting and smoking shortly before his death. An autopsy showed he died from severe polytrauma and internal and external bleeding, and toxicology reports detected a combination of substances in his system, including cocaine, alcohol (at 2.7 grams per litre), methylecgonine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, and the antidepressant sertraline. 'The toxicological analysis confirmed Liam Payne had ingested cocaine at least 72 hours before his death and possibly as recently as a few minutes before falling from the hotel balcony,' authorities said. Three other individuals initially charged in connection with Payne's death – his close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi, and head of hotel security Gilda Martin – were cleared of wrongdoing after an appeal overturned a lower court's manslaughter accusations. No date has been set for the trial of Paiz and Pereyra, but proceedings are expected to begin soon. More Trending Speaking from his Buenos Aires jail cell in an interview with local outlet Infobae, Paiz denied selling cocaine to Payne, though he admitted to having shared drugs with the pop star. 'I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm a good person,' he said. 'I shared drugs with Liam but I didn't sell them.' The young waiter described himself as a longtime marijuana user and expressed regret over the connection he formed with Payne. 'I regret giving Liam my Instagram because everything spiralled from there,' he said. 'If I hadn't, I'd probably be working or studying today. I miss my freedom, my family, my mom, and my sisters.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Rita Ora reveals empowering way LGBTQ+ fans have 'inspired' her new music MORE: Liam Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy shares unseen picture of One Direction star
