1. Venezuela's regime is saying President Nicolás Maduro is being "disadvantaged" before the July 28 presidential elections because of U.S. and European sanctions.
The claim was made while Maduro's government, in power since 2013, has been accused of repeatedly stifling the opposition before the elections.
Foreign Minister Yván Gil made the comments yesterday during a meeting with foreign ambassadors.
2. El Salvador's Congress approved a 28th extension of a state of emergency that allows authorities to suspend some civil rights in the name of combating crime.
Under the state of emergency, first declared in March of 2022, authorities can detain without a warrant anyone suspected of being in a gang and incarcerate them indefinitely.
President Nayib Bukele has repeatedly defended it as the most appropriate security policy, even after reports of innocent people being rounded up and of mysterious deaths inside the prisons.
