the headlines: president trump has said relations with russia may be at an all—time low, after his secretary of state failed to persuade russia to stop backing president assad of syria. rex tillerson spent nearly two hours in talks with president putin and his foreign minister over the syrian chemical attack. borussia dortmund have played their delayed champions league quarter—final game against monaco. the match was postponed for 2h hours, after the german team's coach was hit by debris from an explosive device. police say a man with islamist links has been detained over the attack. a state of emergency has been declared in some areas of new zealand, as the islands brace themselves for more severe weather. authorities say tropical storm cook will make landfall, days after cyclone debbie hit the region. hundreds of schools are shut, and numerous flights have been cancelled. now on bbc news, hardtalk. the country with the biggest oil

reserves in the world is in economic meltdown. venezuelans reserves in the world is in economic meltdown. venezuela ns queue reserves in the world is in economic meltdown. venezuelans queue for hours for bread, the stick can't get the medicines they need. violent crime is thriving in the chaos. caracas is now the world's most dangerous capital. hugo chavez's socialist revolution has lost its charismatic leader, but not yet its grip on power. opposition to hugo chavez's successor, nicolas maduro, is mobilising. the national assembly is mobilising. the national assembly is at war with the government. venezuela is on the brink of a

terrifying descent into darkness. can anyone pull it back from the brink? foreignjournalists can anyone pull it back from the brink? foreign journalists are rarely welcome in venezuela, so we charter a small plane to the country's caribbean island of margarita, where overseas visitors can still slipping with little fuss. this used to be a bustling, prospering tourist town. now the flow of people, money and jobs has dried up. many local businesses have closed down. more are likely to follow. the beaches have not lost their allure, but venezuela has. a broken economy, inflation spiralling beyond 1000%, and violent crime, have tainted even these shores. this

has to be one of the most beautiful beaches i have ever seen. but even a decade ago, it would have been packed with tourists from europe, latin america and the united states as well. but today, you can see, there is barely a soul here. i have this little piece of paradise all to myself. for you, it this little piece of paradise all to myself. foryou, it means this little piece of paradise all to myself. for you, it means there is nothing to do. i am alone here. what do you do all day? do you read a book? yes, i read a book, and try to... walk around. why do you think there is nobody here?|j to... walk around. why do you think there is nobody here? i think the economy is one of the big problems here, but it is going to change, i think, also. from margarita, we had to caracas, home to 5 million

people, the epicentre of venezuela's economic meltdown. first appearances can be deceptive. vast oil wealth, even though mostly squandered, has created a veneer of normality. but beneath the surface, the prolonged slump in oil prices means the government is now drowning in debt, without the money to import basic consumer supplies. every day, tens of thousands of caracas resident spent all day in a desperate search for food. spent all day in a desperate search forfood. bread is almost impossible to find. most bakeries have shut, as wheat imports have dried up. nappies, baby milk, a whole shopping list of essentials supposedly subsidised by the government to make them affordable are missing from supermarket shelves. on the black market, they cost more than the average month the wage. millions of

venezuelans are queueing, not working. caracas is encircled by sprawling slums, barios, which cling to the hills. this one is home to a couple of 100 thousand people hit ha rd by couple of 100 thousand people hit hard by the shortages and rampant inflation. i am hard by the shortages and rampant inflation. iam in hard by the shortages and rampant inflation. i am in one of thejeeps which specialises in transporting people up and down the mountain, and the principle here in the slump is pretty straightforward. the higher up pretty straightforward. the higher up the hill you live, well, the poorer you are. the irony here in caracas is that the poor have some of the best views, and much of the housing here really isn't too bad. hugo chavez port an awful lot of money into the slums like this. at

the problem for people living here right now is simply making enough money to eat. this family have three daughters, both of them work, but are still struggling to survive. give me the reality of life today, living here. you talk about despair, leo, but are you also angry? you have a picture of hugo chavez and nicolas maduro here in the house. do you still believe in the revolution? thanks to the highest inflation rate

in the world, the value of the bolivar has collapsed. the us dollar is king. venezuela has three exchange rates. the strictest, official one is ten bolivar is to the dollar. but out on the street blackmarket rate is 4000 to one greenback, a reality that fuels inequality and crime. hello, carlos. i need to change money. thank you for coming. ok, so what have we got.

500 us dollars generates a mini mountain of boliva rs. 500 us dollars generates a mini mountain of bolivars. in caracas, kidnapping has become an epidemic. the victims no longer have to be rich. they just need the victims no longer have to be rich. theyjust need a family capable of scraping together a couple of thousands of —— thousand dollars. i made contact with the kidnap gang who led me deep into their barrio. what followed was one of the more uncomfortable encounters of the more uncomfortable encounters of my life. when you take someone, what do you do with them? where do you take them, and how do you hold them? you mean, if the family cannot pay,

01’ you mean, if the family cannot pay, or will not pay, you will kill them? so is it not possible for you to make a good life for yourselves in the legal world? stephen, this is hugo.

stephen, this is hugolj stephen, this is hugo. i met hugo chavezin stephen, this is hugo. i met hugo chavez in washington seven years ago. hugo chavez was headed in washington for his left—wing populism but has appealed to venezuela's port was real. many believed in his socialist revolution. high oil prices allowed him to spend many billions on subsidies and social programmes. he w011 subsidies and social programmes. he won elections, and even beat off an attempted coup. in 2013, he died. then the oil price started to tumble, a double whammy which was disastrous for the chavismo movement. his successor, maduro, a former bus driver, lacks charisma and is blamed for disastrous economic management. the opposition w011 economic management. the opposition won a decisive victory in the last national assembly elections.

maduro's government recently responded with draconian new rules requiring all opposition parties to register thousands of supporters to be afforded legal status. if the intention was to strangle dissent, it has backfired. these people have been lining up for hours in order to register their support for one of the opposition political parties, and it is quite clear, talking to them, that however long it takes, they will stay. they are determined to have their voices heard. why don't they let us have elections? you think... theyjust put obstacles, and more obstacles, and more obstacles. that's why we have to do all of this before. and many people who are here are poor as well. and i wasn't poor, but now i am poor. but venezuela's opposition is farfrom am poor. but venezuela's opposition is far from united. am poor. but venezuela's opposition is farfrom united. there is a multitude of competing parties,

egos, and agendas. and an age—old problem. can parties rooted in the upper and middle classes win over the poor? the biggest threat to chavismo right now doesn't come from the combination of long—standing political opponents, the alienation of core supporters. we travel deep into the countryside, to hear from farmers impoverished by a collapsed economy. state—controlled crop prices have lagged way behind inflation, so farmers have taken to a subsistence, hand to mouth existence. this is the cocoa bean, needs to be

dried, it needs to be prepared, but this is your basic ingredient for chocolate. rodolfo, given the state of the economy here out in the countryside, do you see any future here for you and your family? were you a hugo chavez supporter in the old days, and how do you feel about president nicolas maduro, today? in the last two weeks, venezuela has

been rocked by a series of anti—government demonstrations and sporadic, violent clashes between protesters and police. the spark was the government's short lived decision to abolish the powers of the opposition dominated national assembly. that decision was reversed, but new anger was stirred when one of the most prominent opposition leaders was banned from politics. the opposition is torn. undecided whether resistance to maduro's government should be focused in the political arena or on the streets. they learned a painful lesson back in 2014. then, the radicals, led by this man, took to

the streets demanding the immediate exit of maduro. the violence that followed killed more than 40. lopez was convicted of incitement and sentenced to 14 years in prison. he is venezuela's highest profile political prisoner. i head to the military prison, with lopez's mother. she tirelessly campaigns for her son's release. do you think the people of venezuela really care about leopoldo anti— situation? that's a really interesting question. when you have a country that has no food, has the highest inflation in the whole continent, it has 28,000 people who die every year because of delinquency, to care

about a political prisoner is difficult. ita on it in their minds. the government would say that leopoldo lopez is in prison because he refused to play the political game. he refused to accept that there is a democratic process and he demanded change through street and popular action and that's why in the end of the court of law convicted him of incitement, because he was not being constitutional, he was trying to subvert venezuela's political system. he was calling for people to go to the streets to protest. that's a constitutional right in venezuela. ijust protest. that's a constitutional right in venezuela. i just wonder whether you think he was going too far? no, i don't think so. he has

never been a radical. leopoldo is a strong and charismatic leader. people follow him. and that's what he was doing, going to the streets, but never in a radical or violent way. we are about 300 metres away from leopoldo's cell. can you communicate with him from here? well, maybe i will try to say hello. he can hear me. he said, hello, how are you? force and faith. and he is shouting very strong. very strongly. you hear the whistles? the guards are trying to drown out the voice. i don't know if you can hear

all of this, but his voice, leopoldo lopez's voice, is coming across very clearly. it's a 300 metre distance from the prison tower, where he is being held. what we can hear his voice so strong and so clear. for you, this must be quite moving, quite emotional to hear your son's voice like that? for us, having such a limited opportunity, having our voice out internationally and to have you here and you can see and feel, it is very important. it's worth taking the message out and you, as a witness of his whole confinement. where do you find your strength from? from him. when you listen to those calls, to those

m essa 9 es listen to those calls, to those messages and, um, and we're out here. this is what we have to do. we have to the best, our minds, emotions, physical strength, to go on with this. ajeep hasjust come out of the prison. maybe they will ta ke out of the prison. maybe they will take your camera. they want to talk to us. this was the moment filming in venezuela came to an abrupt end. as the military police approached us from the prison, we attempted to leave. we managed to conceal the camera in our car, but our cover was blown. within hours, state media accused hardtalk of illegally entering the

country and filming in a prohibited area. the producer and director was detained and interrogated for 24 hours before being deported. i slipped out of the country the next day. venezuela's socialist revolution is on the ropes. the authorities don't want to face questions from foreign journalists, but there can be no escaping the scale of the mass they're in. —— mess. back at the bbc, in london, i need a former close adviser to both hugo chavez and maduro. would it be fairto hugo chavez and maduro. would it be fair to say that the lifeblood of the venezuelan socialist revolution really drained away with the death of hugo chavez? definitely the passing of president hugo chavez created a great challenge for

socialism. not only in venezuela, but the region. are you personally still a believer in chavezmo? yes, absolutely. how can you be? it has mostly been a success. for the last three years the country has been hit by both the terrible economic crisis and a political crisis and i believe that decision—makers today from the government and opposition are responsible for the situation of the country. but what i do not agree with is this view that the chavismo isafailure, with is this view that the chavismo is a failure, that the left is not viable in latin america and we should all espouse conservative, free—market oriented policies. you worked as a senior adviser to hugo chavez and you were a short while an adviser to maduro. you are ina while an adviser to maduro. you are in a better place than almost anybody to explain to me why

venezuela is steadily going bust when you have had hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenue? i was the head of the sovereign fund for a very short period of time and i was, you know, sent out of government. it was a very short period of time. but can you answer me the question, because a lot of venezuelans think the answer to my question is corruption. mismanagement of the economy. absolutely failed governance. one thing, first. where has the money gone? venezuela has experienced economic growth for most of the hugo chavez period and his cycle. the money went for the first time in venezuela's east we... the venezuelan people... the political system venezuelan people... the political syste m got venezuelan people... the political system got control of the oil and that was heavily invested in

education and healthcare, in housing. the hospitals can't even afford medicines. but you know as well as me, you don't ignore it, one thing is what you can do, what you have invested already in the country, but you need a flow to sustain that model. the country has gone again through a very, very difficult economic crisis and doesn't have the means to keep sustaining that rate... what you are saying is all of the money sent during the —— spent during the chavista years was spent in a way that wasn't sustaining the economy? that's not what i'm saying. i am saying that when you have an external shock, like my country is suffering, you need to add that. you need to adapt your policy. when the oil price was at $100, you don't need exactly the same policies as today. that's what has happened. in

syd ney today. that's what has happened. in sydney economic or is making haven't changed —— things in the economic policy. that's strangling the venezuelan economy. venezuela should be the richest country in latin america. instead it is the most chaotic, the most gratuitously mismanaged. its people have been wearied by the struggle to survive and it's hard to see where salvation is coming from. good morning.

it looks like it will be on the cool side for the easter weekend. more on that in a moment. we've introduced cooler air at the moment behind this very weak weather front that moved down across the country. this north—westerly airflow. particularly chilly first thing in eastern scotland and eastern england, but with the cloud more broken in the countryside, temperatures briefly not far from freezing. at least we have early sunshine through lincolnshire, east anglia and the south—east. the tendency through the day is to increase the cloud from the west. that's already happening in south—west england, across wales and in the north—west cloud is thick enough for some light rain or drizzle, mainly over the hills. again, fine to the east of the pennines. as it will be in eastern scotland, with sunshine. western scotland is dull and damp. sunshine for northern ireland too. through the day it clouds over across the eastern side of england and scotland. at the same time in the afternoon we open up a gap in the cloud across south wales, south—west england and that should push into the south—east. here we have the best of the sunshine in the afternoon and the highest temperatures still only 13—14. furthermore north, a lot of places dry.

around the western hills primarily we get the damp weather. over the easter weekend temperatures disappointing for the time of year. a cool feel. warm when the sun is out, but on the whole there will be a lot of cloud. probably not much rain around. just a bit a nuisance. these weather systems coming into the uk for good friday are going to be very much on the weak side. but across england and wales we will have a lot of cloud. there will be some pockets of light rain or drizzle here and there. no great amounts. but a bit of a damp picture, especially for south wales and south—west england. to the north of northern england, scotland and northern ireland, something a bit brighter, but also showers. a strong wind will make it feel chilly in scotland. maybe sneaking a 16 in the south—east if we are very lucky. those weather systems pull away and we are back into the cooler north—westerly airflow. so we fluctuate almost from one day to the next over the easter weekend. on saturday, easter saturday, much drier and brighter.

most places will have a fine day. a little sunshine at times, not doing an awful lot for temperatures. there could be a few showers in the north of scotland. then we are back into the fluctuation again for easter day. more weather fronts arriving across the uk. higher pressure in the south. those weather fronts again are fairly weak. most of the rain over the hills, across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. to the south, it should be dry and brighter. 15 perhaps in london, nine in glasgow. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a public show of unity, but russia and america fail to resolve their differences over the syrian chemical attack and president assad's future. there is a low level of trust between our two countries. the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship. after a 24—hour delay, borussia dortmund play their big

european match. german police say a man with islamist links has been detained over the attack on their team bus. it could be the biggest in 50 years. new zealand braces for another tropical storm just a week after cyclone debbie. as the economic crisis deepens, the venezuelans who claim they've been forced into a life of crime to feed themselves. we have a special report from caracas.