ASUNCION (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, visiting Paraguay on Friday to raise support for a change of government in his country, said that 600 members of the military had abandoned the government of President Nicolas Maduro in recent days.

Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. Guaido has since been recognized by most Western nations as the rightful leader of Venezuela.

However, Maduro still retains the loyalty of the bulk of Venezuela’s armed forces and controls state institutions.

“In the next few hours we will announce new protest marches,” Guaido said in Asuncion at a news conference, after meeting with Paraguayan leader Mario Abdo, who received the opposition figure as a head of state.

“We have spoken clearly to the Armed Forces of Venezuela. They have seen more than 600 officers in recent days switch to side with the constitution,” he added. “There is a very clear process of transition to democracy.”

His press team said he was scheduled to go to Argentina later on Friday to meet with President Mauricio Macri, a strong critic of Maduro. In a speech earlier on Friday, Macri said his government was playing a regional role “to condemn human rights violations in Venezuela and recognize the president in charge, Juan Guaido.”

Argentina’s foreign ministry confirmed the two would meet in Buenos Aires and that Guaido would hold a news conference.

Guaido has been traveling around the region, seeking to drum up support. He has visited Brazil and Colombia this week, but said he would return to Caracas by Monday, where he faces possible arrest for disobeying a Supreme Court order that he should not leave the country pending an investigation.

The United States, which backs Guaido, has imposed fresh sanctions on six Venezuelan security officials and revoked the visas of dozens of associates and their families with ties to Maduro, it said on Friday. </s> El Gobierno argentino informó este domingo que comenzará a recibir denuncias sobre posibles violaciones a los derechos humanos que se hayan cometido en Venezuela. La iniciativa estará a cargo del Ministerio de Justicia, que se encargará de tomar todos los testimonios e información de víctimas que hayan sufrido o tengan conocimiento de este tipo de hechos.

Esos datos serán luego analizados y se evaluará su remisión a los organismos internacionales competentes, con la intención de contribuir a detener y remediar estos delitos, según detallaron desde la cartera de Germán Garavano.

En caso de ser necesario, se reservará la identidad de quienes concurran a realizar las denuncias, de acuerdo con lo que establecen los estándares mundiales. En la misma línea, las autoridades argentinas invitaron a distintas instituciones de la sociedad civil a participar como observadores de este operativo.

Según recalcaron desde el Gobierno, esta decisión se tomó en el marco del informe que elaboró la Alta Comisionada para los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, Michelle Bachelet, en el que cuestiona duramente la situación de Venezuela.

Además, desde el Ministerio de Justicia explicaron que con este tipo de tareas están cumpliendo con los compromisos y obligaciones internacionales que firmó el país en esta materia.

Las denuncias se podrán hacer en el Centro de Orientación a Migrantes, ubicado sobre la calle Presidente Luis Sáenz Peña al 1626, en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, entre el 24 y 27, y entre el 29 y 31 de julio, de 10:00 a 20:00. El Gobierno también habilitó la línea telefónica 149 de asistencia a la víctima, que funciona las 24 horas y en la que se brinda mayores detalles sobre este procedimiento.

La Argentina, Perú, Canadá, Colombia, Chile y Paraguay ya realizaron una presentación ante la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) respecto a las posibles violaciones a los derechos humanos en Venezuela.

El enfrentamiento entre Mauricio Macri y Nicolás Maduro

En la última cumbre de Jefes de Estado del Mercosur, el presidente Mauricio Macri reiteró sus críticas hacia el régimen chavista de Nicolás Maduro. "Le demandamos que deje de obstruir la transición democrática y que cese con las violaciones de derechos humanos de los venezolanos", planteó.

En ese sentido, el mandatario argentino reforzó su apoyo al presidente encargado Juan Guaidó y lo reconoció como "única autoridad legítima en Venezuela". "Quiero expresar una vez más mi solidaridad con el pueblo venezolano que sufre una crisis humanitaria sin precedentes en la región", manifestó en la reunión. </s> Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela angrily rejected as a "coup" its suspension from South American economic bloc Mercosur on Friday, the harshest international punishment yet for President Nicolas Maduro's crisis-racked government.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay announced Venezuela was suspended from the group after accusations that the leftist government in Caracas failed to meet democratic and trade standards.

"This is a coup d'etat to Mercosur and constitutes a very grave attack on Venezuela," Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez told a press conference.

Earlier, she railed against the decision in a tweet storm, calling it a "null and void action sustained by the law of the jungle of some officials who are destroying Mercosur."

Although Venezuela joined Mercosur in 2012, the other members complain it has yet to ratify a number of rules governing trade, politics, democracy and human rights.

Venezuela's neighbors are also becoming increasingly wary of developments in the once-booming oil exporter.

Maduro's critics blame him for an economic meltdown marked by food shortages, riots and looting.

The opposition also accuses the deeply unpopular president of trampling on democracy by throwing its leaders in jail and blocking its efforts to remove him constitutionally.

Venezuela has been hit hard by the plunge in global prices for its crucial crude oil exports since mid-2014, pummeling the government's socialist economic model.

Although not explicitly linked to the country's crisis, Mercosur's move Thursday represented the most significant gesture by a foreign entity against Maduro's leadership since the political crisis deepened this year.

Tension between Maduro's government and its Mercosur partners were exacerbated with the election of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina in 2015 and the replacement of Brazil's impeached former president Dilma Rousseff with Michel Temer.

Both right-leaning leaders replaced leftist presidents. And both have attacked Maduro.

Macri has accused him of holding "political prisoners," while Temer has condemned the Venezuelan government as "authoritarian."

Macri and Temer's arrival marked a turning of the so-called "pink tide" of leftist leaders in Latin America that began in 1999 with the appearance of Maduro's late predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.

The region is undergoing a political shake-up as many countries -- including Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela -- struggle with recessions.

Mercosur's founding members took over its rotating presidency in September to block Venezuela from the post.

But in a surreal turn, Venezuela insists it is still the group's president.

Rodriguez said Venezuela "will continue exercising the legitimate presidency (of Mercosur) and will participate with the right to speak and vote in all the meetings as a state party."

Argentina takes over the presidency in mid-December, which could give it a platform for further moves against Venezuela.

Rodriguez called on the people of the bloc's member countries to oppose what she described as the organization's hijacking by "intolerant bureaucrats" and "compromised officials with imperialist mandates."

Maduro has so far shown a steely determination to keep Venezuela in Mercosur whether its partners want it or not.

"If they kick us out the door," he has said, "we'll come back in through the window."

Beyond political embarrassment, Venezuela's suspension from the group cuts it out of free-trade agreements and will end the privileges its companies and citizens enjoyed in member countries.

Mercosur was founded in 1991 to promote economic integration among its members.

Venezuela was allowed to join as an act of solidarity among the left-wing governments in power at the time, said political analyst Gabriel Puricelli of Argentina.

But it never put in place the laws necessary to comply with Mercosur rules, he told AFP.

Now that right-wing governments are coming to power, "the political will has ceased to exist to keep (Venezuela) as a full member of the group despite the fact it is not complying with the norms," he said. </s> Argentina’s Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne has resigned, saying in a letter seen by Reuters on Aug. 17 he believed the government needed “significant renewal” in its economic team amid a crisis which saw the peso plunge this week.

Dujovne said in a letter to Argentine President Mauricio Macri that he had given his “all” to the job, helped tame a significant deficit and trim public spending.

“We have made mistakes as well, without a doubt, we never hesitate to recognize that and did all that was possible to correct them,” he added.

“I believe my resignation is in keeping with my place in a government that listens to the people and acts accordingly,” he added.

Macri has appointed Hernan Lacunza, the current economy minister for Buenos Aires province, as Dujovne’s replacement, a government source told Reuters.

Argentina’s peso was in free-fall for most of this week after a shock primary election result last weekend, when center-left Peronist candidate Alberto Fernandez trounced center-right Macri, in what was widely seen as a referendum on the government’s seeking of a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and austerity measures it took as a condition for the loan.

The peso depreciated 21 percent by the end of the week and on Aug. 16, in a fresh blow to Macri, ratings agencies Fitch and SP downgraded Argentina’s sovereign debt rating, raising the specter of a default as the October election approaches.

Lacunza is the former general manager of Argentina’s Central Bank and also of the Buenos Aires City Bank. </s> ASUNCION (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, visiting Paraguay on Friday to raise support for a change of government in his country, said that 600 members of the military had abandoned the government of President Nicolas Maduro in recent days.

Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. Guaido has since been recognised by most Western nations as the rightful leader of Venezuela.

However, Maduro still retains the loyalty of the bulk of Venezuela’s armed forces and controls state institutions.

“In the next few hours we will announce new protest marches,” Guaido said in Asuncion at a news conference, after meeting with Paraguayan leader Mario Abdo, who received the opposition figure as a head of state.

“We have spoken clearly to the Armed Forces of Venezuela. They have seen more than 600 officers in recent days switch to side with the constitution,” he added. “There is a very clear process of transition to democracy.”

His press team said he was scheduled to go to Argentina later on Friday to meet with President Mauricio Macri, a strong critic of Maduro. Argentina’s foreign ministry confirmed the two would meet in Buenos Aires and hold a news conference.

Guaido has been travelling around the region, seeking to drum up support. He has visited Brazil and Colombia this week, but said he would return to Caracas by Monday, where he faces possible arrest for disobeying a Supreme Court order that he should not leave the country pending an investigation.

The United States, which backs Guaido, will continue to take “appropriate actions” against the government of Maduro, including restricting travel visas for dozens of his associates, U.S. special envoy Elliott Abrams said on Friday. </s> ASUNCION (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, visiting Paraguay on Friday to raise support for a change of government in his country, said that 600 members of the military had abandoned the government of President Nicolas Maduro in recent days.

Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. Guaido has since been recognized by most Western nations as the rightful leader of Venezuela.

However, Maduro still retains the loyalty of the bulk of Venezuela’s armed forces and controls state institutions.

“In the next few hours we will announce new protest marches,” Guaido said in Asuncion at a news conference, after meeting with Paraguayan leader Mario Abdo, who received the opposition figure as a head of state.

“We have spoken clearly to the Armed Forces of Venezuela. They have seen more than 600 officers in recent days switch to side with the constitution,” he added. “There is a very clear process of transition to democracy.”

His press team said he was scheduled to go to Argentina later on Friday to meet with President Mauricio Macri, a strong critic of Maduro. Argentina’s foreign ministry confirmed the two would meet in Buenos Aires and hold a news conference.

Guaido has been traveling around the region, seeking to drum up support. He has visited Brazil and Colombia this week, but said he would return to Caracas by Monday, where he faces possible arrest for disobeying a Supreme Court order that he should not leave the country pending an investigation.

The United States, which backs Guaido, will continue to take “appropriate actions” against the government of Maduro, including restricting travel visas for dozens of his associates, U.S. special envoy Elliott Abrams said on Friday. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Argentina's president spoke on television in an address to the nation

Argentina is to start talks about a financing deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday amid reports it is seeking $30bn (£22bn).

Finance minister Nicolas Dujovne is due to fly to the IMF's Washington offices.

After recent turmoil that saw interest rates hit 40%, President Mauricio Macri said IMF aid would "strengthen growth" and help avoid crises of the past.

The talks come 17 years after Argentina defaulted on its debts and 12 years since it severed ties with IMF.

Mr Macri said in an address to the nation on Tuesday: "Just a few minutes ago I spoke with (IMF) director Christine Lagarde, and she confirmed we would start working on an agreement."

"This will allow us to strengthen our program of growth and development, giving us greater support to face this new global scenario and avoid crises like the ones we have had in our history," he said.

Local media and Bloomberg reported that Argentina was seeking $30bn, although the government declined to comment.

The peso has lost a quarter of its value in the past year amid President Macri's pro-market reforms.

Last week the central bank raised interest rates from 33.25% to 40%.

Many people still blame IMF austerity requirements for policies that led to a financial and economic meltdown in 2001 to 2002 that left millions of middle class Argentines in poverty.

Argentina eventually defaulted on its debts. And although its last IMF loan was paid down in 2006, the country severed ties with the Washington-based body.

Reforms

Mr Macri said Argentina was suffering as a result of high oil prices and the expectation that US interest rates would rise in the coming months.

Describing Argentina as a "valued member" of the IMF, Ms Lagarde said: "Discussions have been initiated on how we can work together to strengthen the Argentine economy and these will be pursued in short order."

Argentina is in the middle of a pro-market economic reform programme as Mr Macri seeks to reverse years of protectionism and high government spending under his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Inflation, a perennial problem in Argentina, was at 25% in 2017, behind Venezuela as the highest in Latin America.

This year, the central bank has set an inflation target of 15% and has said it will continue to act to enforce it.

Last week's rate rise to 40% was the third increase in eight days in an attempt to boost the peso.

'Avoid crises'

News of the new talks may be controversial in some quarters. Many people in Argentina still blame the IMF for the policies that led to the 2001 financial and economic crisis. The country defaulted on $80bn (£59bn) of sovereign debt - the biggest in history.

Millions of middle class Argentines were plunged into poverty as a result.

However, Mr Macri said the new negotiations with the IMF would give the country "greater support to face this new global scenario and avoid crises like the ones we have had in our history".

Markets reacted positively to the news, with both local shares and the peso recovering some ground.

Miguel Kiguel, a former Argentine finance official who runs local consultancy Econviews, tweeted: "An IMF line of credit is the least expensive option for growth in Argentina."

By Andrew Walker, BBC economics correspondent

Argentina has had a turbulent relationship with the IMF.

In 2013 the country was censured by the Fund over the inflation and economic growth data published by the administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. It was a step in a process that could ultimately have led to Argentina's expulsion from the IMF.

Earlier, many had blamed the IMF for contributing to a financial and economic crisis that came to a head around the end of 2001, which set back living standards severely.

Relations have improved under the current president, Mauricio Macri, whose approach to economic policy was much more consistent with that favoured at the IMF.

The prospect of a new IMF loan will test that improvement. It will come with economic policy conditions, including almost certainly spending cuts and tax rises, which are likely to aggravate political strains in Argentina. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernández announced on Saturday her candidacy for vice president in October’s general elections, a surprising move that now puts a more moderate challenger at the helm of the presidential ticket.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Fernández said that Alberto Fernández, who leads the left-leaning Unidad Ciudadana political party, will run for the presidency against conservative President Mauricio Macri.

“I have asked Alberto Fernández to head the formula that we will integrate together, he as a presidential candidate and I as a vice presidential candidate,” Fernández said. “I am convinced that this formula that we are proposing is the one that best expresses what Argentina needs at this moment to summon the broadest social and political and economic sectors.”

Alberto Fernández served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2007 for Fernández’s predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner. He remained in the position during a portion of Fernández’s term as president from 2007 to 2015, but left the post after a steep economic crisis took hold.

Some polls have suggested Fernández could defeat Macri in a second round of voting, but it is unclear how those prospects will change now that Fernández has thrown her hat in the ring as a vice presidential candidate. While many had assumed she would run for the top post, Fernández’s decision to pursue the position of second-in-command reflects possible doubts over whether she was best positioned to challenge Macri in light of a series of looming corruption trials.

Argentina’s Supreme Court has said the first corruption trial against Fernández could start as early as next week, despite a judicial order that her opponents feared could delay the trial into the presidential campaign season or beyond.

Fernández has been accused of taking bribes in exchange for public work contracts, but denies wrongdoing and says lower courts did not allow her to present more witnesses.

In separate cases, she faces several formal investigations into allegations of bribery, money laundering and criminal association during her administration and that of Kirchner.

Still, many voters are frustrated by an inflation rate that reached 47.6% last year, the highest since 1991, and a decision by Macri’s government to slash subsidies on utilities and public transportation.

In April, the Argentine peso hit a record low due to investors’ growing distrust of the conservative president’s economic management.

Macri says he underestimated the macroeconomic imbalances inherited from his populist predecessor, center-left Fernández.

Fernández, 66, was known for her interventionist and populist policies while in office. Some credit her for leading the country out of an economic crisis, while others blame her for creating its current woes.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Six people have been detained for a “mafia-style” attack in Argentina that seriously wounded a lawmaker and left a provincial official dead, authorities said Friday. Héctor Olivares and Miguel Marcelo…

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Six people have been detained for a “mafia-style” attack in Argentina that seriously wounded a lawmaker and left a provincial official dead, authorities said Friday.

Héctor Olivares and Miguel Marcelo Yadón were shot a day earlier near the country’s congressional building by gunmen in a parked car in a brazen attack that has shocked Argentines.

Olivares, who is a representative of La Rioja province in Argentina’s lower house of congress, was being treated for gunshot wounds that pierced his abdomen and affected vital organs. Pablo Rossini, subdirector of Ramos Mejía Hospital, said his condition was critical.

“We’re waiting for the right moment to put him through another surgery,” Rossini said. “He’s depending on life support that he’s receiving in intensive care.”

Yadón, a coordinator who worked in the fiduciary of La Rioja’s federal electric transportation system, died shortly after being shot.

Authorities said Friday that they arrested several people, including Juan José Navarro in Uruguay with help from Interpol. He is allegedly one of the two gunmen who launched the attack on Olivares and Yadón from the car.

“We were able to establish that this was part of a mafia clan that had planned the attack since 5 a.m.,” said Security Minister Patricia Bullrich. The attack took place around 7 a.m. local time.

“A case has been resolved,” Bullrich said. “If it hadn’t been resolved, it would mean a profound political crisis because there is a member of the lower house of Congress fighting for his life after suffering an attack from a mafia clan that didn’t hesitate to kill a person for personal issues.”

Bullrich said Friday that investigators are still trying to determine a possible motive behind the crime.

Authorities also detained Juan Jesús Fernández as he was en route to the Argentine town of Concepción de Uruguay, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) northwest of the capital of Buenos Aires. Fernández is the owner of the car used in the attack.

Bullrich said that both Navarro and Fernández will likely be charged with the shooting. Others were arrested for collaborating with the plan or helping cover-up the crime.

Bullrich also said that the attack presumably targeted Yadón for “personal reasons” rather than political ones, and that officials in Argentina and Uruguay are working to expel Navarro from Uruguay so he can face justice in his native country.

“What matters is that the two killers who were in the car have been detained,” Bullrich said.

Fernández’s daughter, Estefanía Fernández, and three others whose identities have not been released, were also taken into custody.

Politicians across the political spectrum have condemned the attack.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri said in a televised address that authorities would go “until the very last instances to understand what happened and to find the culprits.”

Former President Cristina Fernández, who is widely viewed as a potential challenger to Macri in October elections, also took to Twitter to demand answers.

Olivares belongs to the Radical Civic Union party of the ruling government coalition and is part of the transportation committee in the lower house.

Associated Press journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
President Mauricio Macri and Justice and Human Rights Minister of Argentina Germán Garavano say that Argentina will start to receive reports of human rights abuses and criminal accusations against the Venezuelan government. Macri also reiterates his support for Juan Guaidó.