CUCUTA, Colombia — Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider “all options” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting at potential U.S. military involvement.
Guaido’s comments late Saturday came after a tumultuous day that saw President Nicolas Maduro’s forces fire tear gas and buckshot on activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid in violent clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured.
For weeks, the U.S. and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela’s borders in anticipation of carrying out a “humanitarian avalanche” by land and sea to undermine Maduro’s rule.
With activists failing to penetrate government blockades and deliver the aid, Guaido announced late Saturday that he would escalate his appeal to the international community — beginning with a meeting today in Colombia’s capital with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of an emergency summit of leaders of the so-called Lima Group to discuss Venezuela’s crisis.
He said he would urge the international community to keep “all options open” in the fight to restore Venezuela’s democracy, using identical language to that of President Donald Trump, who in his public statements has repeatedly refused to rule out force and reportedly even secretly pressed aides as early as 2017 about the possibility of a military incursion.
SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. — The winner of last October’s $1.5 billion Mega Millions drawing in South Carolina remains a mystery.
With less than two months to go, the winning ticket has not been claimed.
People in Simpsonville where it was sold have plenty of theories. Maybe the winner was so overwhelmed, he or she died on the spot. Maybe the winner is on the run from police and fears a background check. Or maybe the ticket accidentally ended up in the trash.
If the ticket isn’t claimed by April 19 there will be other losers.
The owner of the store that sold the ticket loses a $50,000 prize. Every taxpayer in South Carolina may lose a $50 rebate possibly tied to the $61 million the winner would pay in income taxes on the jackpot.
— Wire reports