this week, the international contact group were trying to initiate discussions between the two.com pletely between the two. juan guaido as completely oppose that, he does not wa nt completely oppose that, he does not want that, he wants presidential elections, he wants maduro removed, so elections, he wants maduro removed, so there is no real room for discussion at this time. and the awful, disgraceful thing about all this is that while the politicians are bickering amongst themselves about what happens next, people are starving in this country and is used to be latin america's which is country. is there a danger that this sort of humanitarian crisis and is up sort of humanitarian crisis and is up being just a sort of powerplay between the us and china and russia? absolutely. maduro is politicising this humanitarian issue. he blocked humanitarian aid from coming in this week, on the colombian border. this whole geopolitical issue, trying to secure maduro's position, with china and russia supporting him, and his effo rts and russia supporting him, and his efforts to provide human

but the self declared leader was has dismissed talks as a ploy to buy time the aim of the international contact group on than israel is to reach a political settlement with the ninety days it wants to create conditions where venezuelans could look at holding free transparent and credible elections the group is made up of eight european countries including france and the u.k. and five latin american nations at the meeting later a received a plan titled the montevideo mechanism which he says he backs. iraq. i ratified the circle to the full stage plan but the montevideo is mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe it is proposing. to participate in a process of sovereign host you look for a national agenda up agreements and understanding and trying what is live for us in montevideo where this meeting is taking place tell us more about this group and laid out some of the basics but tell us more about this international contact group and what they really think they can achieve. for the delegates have just arrived at this building behind me in the p

the eu have announced the creation of an international contact group to include european and latin americang to do it within 90 days. the purpose of the international contact group is clear. as i said, it is enabling venezuelans to express themselves, freely and democratically, through the holding of new elections. on thursday, the government of venezuelan president nicolas maduro announced that three air force generals have been arrested, accused of plotting an uprising against his government. translation: according to information obtained by our intelligence bodies, there was an arrival from colombia of a group of hired killers, hired by the venezuelan ultra rights to commit selective assassinations against politicians and military leaders. workers from the state oil company held an anti—imperialist march after the us slapped sanctions on the firm on monday in an attempt to cut off a vital source of funding propping up nicolas maduro‘s government. millions of people remain in poverty. many have left the country looking for a brighterfuture. the united nations said it is willing to step up

the eu have announced the creation of an international contact group to include european and latin americanm — to help chart a peaceful end to venezuela's political crisis and they're hoping to do it within 90 days. the purpose of the international contact group is clear. as i said, it is enabling venezuelans to express themselves, freely and democratically, through the holding of new elections. on thursday, the government of venezuelan president nicolas maduro announced that three air force generals have been arrested, accused of plotting an uprising against his government. translation: according to information obtained by our intelligence bodies, there was an arrival from colombia of a group of hired killers, hired by the venezuelan ultra rights to commit selective assassinations against politicians and military leaders. workers from the state oil company held an anti—imperialist march after the us slapped sanctions on the firm on monday in an attempt to cut off a vital source of funding propping up nicolas maduro's government. millions of people remain in poverty. many have left the coun

from that i think that's good news and then there is a possibility and there's already the international contact group of the u.n. various latin american countries that's proposing a negotiated transition rather than military intervention you know on that note on the international contact group they're hoping to travel to qatar gets to open some sort of dialogue with the president will they succeed. i think for them to succeed needs to be various things in place that needs to be a clear kind of exit for murderer in the tiriel terms in the sense that he needs to be able to go somewhere in exile and be potentially free from the threat of prosecution and you know that might be kind of hard to swallow in a sense but as one commentator put it rather negotiate and be in spain or chile than go to war and be in syria or libya so it's a price you have to pay on top of that i think something that's been overlooked to some extent is the fact that i think slightly irrational and his action and he needs to be convinced that he's doing something right doing something that fits with the legacy he inherited from chav

has dismissed any talks as just a ploy to buy time the aim of the international contact group on venezuela is to reach a political settlement within ninety days wants to create conditions for venezuelans to hold free transparent and credible elections the group is made up of european countries including france and the u.k. and five latin american nations that head of the meeting with her over save the plan titled montevideo mechanism which he says he backs. i ratified the circle to the full stage of the montevideo is mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe you are proposing. to participate in a process of sovereign prosecution dialogue to look for a national agenda up agreements and understanding. or is live for us in montevideo where the meeting is taking place again are we kind of gave a broad overview of what this group is but tell us more about them and what they're hoping to achieve. or this is a group of you as you mentioned eight countries in the european union seven of which will recognize the self declared president. as th

american nations meeting in europe lies says it will send a technical team to venezuela international contact group says the mission will help provide humanitarian aid and support new elections as soon as possible the u.k.'s prime minister has returned from brussels after yet water talks to try to change the terms of her unpopular breck's it deal to resume a told in new parliament members that there will be a backstop on the irish border in the final breaths agreement but her demands for renegotiation of the terms of the agreement were firmly rejected. me one of the largest aid convoy since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan where one hundred trucks brought food and medical supplies to forty thousand syrians stranded in rock band camp aid workers also provide an emergency vaccination campaign for ten thousand children there. in sudan protesters are calling for the release of activists detained during weeks of demonstrations against president bashir the rally was called to express solidarity with the hundreds of people who've been arrested since prot

of has more on that better reek of mockery and he has announced what's being called an international contact group all venezuela it will be made up of european union members as well as latin american partners what she says is this is definitely not going to be any official attempt at mediation in the venezuelan crisis this is really a talking shop getting people together getting discussions going while venezuela tries to sort out its problems using the mechanisms that already exist in the venezuelan constitution but while she was saying that she also said that there could well be further sanctions from e.u. member states against venezuela those would be sanctions that targeted the government we have a sanctions targeted sanctions in place already that would be news unanimously recently and should there are elements of sanctions might be considered by the ministers in the coming days if we would not see positive developments any sanction that's not. that's not. implemented by the security council is illegal so all the sanctions that the us simplemente against a business will and people are illegal

for foreign affairs has announced that the european union is setting up what they call an international contact group on venezuela this isn't going to be any kind of official mediation in the crisis there but it is essentially going to be a talking shop including the united states as well as latin american partners who are going to come together to try and continue the dialogue and make sure that venezuela can sort out the problems it faces through the mechanisms of the venezuelan constitution however at the same time as federica market he was announcing this she also said that we could expect further sanctions from e.u. member states on venezuela those sanctions of course they would target the government they have sanctions targeted sanctions in place already that would be news unanimously recently and sure there are elements of sanctions might be considered by the ministers in the coming days if we would not see positive developments any sanction that's not. that's not implemented by the security council is illegal so all the sanctions that the u.s. simplemente against the business will and people

the european union commission through fredricka moderating who instated a international contact group with european countries and latin american countries and these european allotting american countries have reached out to the government and to the opposition saying there is a roadmap and we are putting forward a proposal of force for talks you have on the other hand mexico europe why and the countries of the character which are fifteen countries of the caribbean so it's mainly a latin american and caribbean initiative saying that they're also willing to mediate between the parties to generate the conditions for a political dialogue so once you have those those those those two initiatives and i must say that the international contact group initiative includes the necessity of provision of humanitarian aid but through the principles of humanitarian action which is not what the u.s. administration and the colombian government are doing with the with the opposition they have put that side the package if you will they're offering the parties in venezuela for for generating a dialogue so a

dan good -- several initiatatives in that direction the european unionon s sponsoring an international contact group of countries. is the leading a a group of latn americican countries all of them rerecognize cornn right there ae state is t the is the is the digestion president. rhonda trying. to push things toward whihich my daughthter resumes your asset tt hehe wouldld welcome a dialogueh the oppitition of coururse thats happeneded before. no way out of f that highly suspicioious of a any initiative which which maduro so close -- so they did that but it's n not clear yet what what the next step is goining to be iraqi this this weekend will o obvioususlye the world's press t that becauae of the the t the t the the live. eight concerts on n on on friday not ririchard bransoson's a at g concept which is that the hoping a million people look at that as far as a hundred millilion dolls a but the next sixtyty days. to get humanitarian nature comes rightt outut so that the w wls pressnd media cameras will b be that thehe whatever does happen. on sataturday shohould be in the full glare of international j

but there are complex financial issues to resolve: the eu—backed international contact group does notina. for years they have lent money to president maduro‘s government in return for cheap oil — making them two of the country's biggest creditors. estimates for venezuela's total debts vary — moody's puts them as high as $143 billion dollars. china alone is thought to have lent more than $62 billion since 2007 — a third of which is still outstanding. russia's national oil company rosneft has pumped $7 billion into venezuela in the past five years, mostly in loans to be repaid with future oil deliveries. at 300 billion barrels, venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves. but the industry is near to collapse after years of under—investment — and now faces us sanctions. there is major interest on wall street in what happens next. this graph shows trading in defaulted bonds owed by venezuela's state oil firm pdvsa. goldman sachs and blackrock are among the major investors making bets on venezuelan debt. its value has surged on hopes maduro could be removed from power — as more count

meeting and that took place in in europe where it was a major meeting of this so-called international contact group germany was one of them if i understand correctly basically testing the waters for a democratic transition in venezuela but the u.s. interesting lee was not part of this contact group so i'm just wondering how effective can this group be but look we have we are trying to make a contribution as european countries and we are looking at when israel has a very important player in the region it's a rich country it's a big country and has an impact on regional stability and we endure up experience the political impact of taking more than men hundreds of thousands of refugees also in this country and missed them a duras way to run bankrupt the country has produced more than three million refugees so we made it clear that we are ready to support the democratically elected national assembly and that we are ready to support the people of an israel or by delivering humanitarian aid and we want to achieve this by peaceful means so there's enough on the table also to mr mudd duren tests his team t

the european union commission through fredricka moderating instated international contact group with european countries and latin american countries and these european allotting american countries have reached out to the government and to the opposition saying there is a roadmap and we are putting forward a proposal force for talks you have on the other hand mexico europe why and the countries of the character which are fifteen countries of the caribbean so it's mainly a latin american and caribbean initiative saying that they're also willing to mediate between the parties to generate the conditions for a political dialogue so once you have those those those those two initiatives and i must say that the international count the group initiative includes the necessity of provision of humanitarian aid but through the principles of humanitarian action which is not what the u.s. administration and the colombian government are doing with the with the opposition they have put that side the package if you will their offering the parties in venezuela for for generating a dialogue so again i t

american nations meeting in europe rice says it will send a technical team to venezuela the international contact group says the mission will help provide humanitarian aid and support new elections as soon as possible the group aims to forge a common international approach to support a peaceful political democratic and been a swell and own research into the crisis excluding the use of force through free transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with them in a swell and constitution in order for the country to overcome the current crisis it is crucial to restore for democracy in all its their mentions including the rule of low separation of powers and respect for the constitutional mandate of the country's institutions notably the democratically elected national assembly trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the u.s. have arrived at colombia's border with venezuela but as well as government is refusing to let the supplies enter the country opposition leader one by dole who declared himself interim president last month the said the aid must be allowed in. u.n. human rights envoy looki

developing into two different strategies for how to end the political crisis the newly formed international contact group on venezuela consisting of european and latin american nations is calling for dialogue that's being backed by venezuela's embattled president nicolas maduro at a meeting in europe wise capital want to do says it will be sending a technical mission to venezuela and repeat as it's called a free and fair elections. the group aims to forge a common international approach to support a peaceful political democratic and been a swell and own research into the crisis excluding the use of force through free transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with them in a swell and constitution in order for the country to overcome the current crisis it is crucial to restore full democracy in all its that mentions including the rule of low separation of powers and respect for the constitutional mandate of the country's institutions notably the democratically elected national assembly a different strategies advocated by the united states which is backing self declared president and opp

is one additional pressure point on the regime they will hopefully be meeting with the international contact group which is set up with by europe and latin america to try to facilitate the conditions for elections and for entry of humanitarian aid and hopefully they will not carry out a military intervention but you know they everyone has said that's on the table so i suppose they will discuss that. perhaps one of the reasons that some of the defections and things like that aren't happening as some had hoped or predicted is because people just don't have information could it also be that this maybe plays into majoris hands that he's able to tell people these outsiders are interfering and maybe that makes some people begin to be more loyal to him. yes and that certainly happens when for example on the border yesterday when you know some protests protesters get very frustrated and start throwing rocks or setting fires or things like that that can cause the the local you know national guard to get in so that's a problem there's also a problem in that they collect the gangs that are loyal to mother wo

that exists here and that their main objectives should be to help those who are in the international contact group meeting year ago has offered president nicolas maduro a plan called they want a video mechanism aimed at creating conditions for free transparent and credible elections within ninety days let's get more on this from a political analyst dmitri spend to us who's in caracas so what do you make of these attempts. to to come up with a kind of mechanism towards elections. with evening from. the mechanism for free fair and elections. two steps one is to say it's all based it usually and the opposition could say and situation but to impress their mother. like their legs were bored and the import and then to organize the prayer let free and fair elections but because of the electoral system administrator would stop some of the out of market size you need at least four to six months and a quarter and the last one up surveys show it's the same six months or so having a credible international federation so i think it's a very obese you say but in fremont americans have a mechanism but can make an

held its first meeting in europe wise capital says it will send a team to venezuela the international contact group says it. will provide humanitarian aid the group wants a credible electoral process to emerge within a timeframe. meanwhile president duras launched a petition demanding that the u.s. stay out of venezuela's affairs speaking at a rally in the capital caracas he once again denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis. because of oil resources minerals and other great wealth critics are pushing and to national coalition he did by the united states so that they can commit an act of insanity and militarily attack venezuela under the false excuse of a humanitarian crisis that does not exist. go to the white house bring in more than eighteen million signatures calling for pina's wyler to be respected demanding peace. turkey is accusing saudi arabia of not being transparent when it comes to the investigation into the murder of the journalist. ankara says its findings are in line with the u.n. human rights envoy investigating the case a special report for our newest column on says that death

really i think the best thing would be to try and push for and negotiate a solution as the international contact group of european union countries and some latin american countries has tried to do. >> you touched on this, but throughout the region, watching how relations change, given that nicolas maduro broke diplomatic relations with colombia saturday, what effect will that have on all of this? >> well, the relations with colombia have been incredibly fraught really throughout the past two decades. chavez had very, very bad relations with uribe and the two countries almost came to war really around 2010. and president duke is seen as really uribe's candidate in the previous election. so there is no real surprise there. and i think the real problem is that it just closes down another kind of possible channel to speak rath are ther than going more violent route. again, i think that the negotiated option is the best one and there is a way to kind of do that, particularly with the economic sanctions, that there were negotiations a year ago that almost managed to reach agreement on conditions for free el

venezuela, where, in efforts to get the country's spiralling political crisis under control, an international contact groupcountries. the eu foreign policy chief addressed the delegates. let's listen. translation: our shared concern over the situation in venezuela has brought us together here today and we might have different points of view or ratings on what has caused the crisis but we share the same objective. contribute toa share the same objective. contribute to a political, peaceful and democratic solution. this is not only the most desirable result but the only possible result if we want to avoid more suffering and the chaotic and dangerous process. juan guaido, this man here, who's declared himself as the interim president, says he's trying to get humanitarian aid into the country. but nicolas maduro, his rival and president, who has the support of the army, says he isn't going to let that happen and here's a signal of that. i want to show you a picture of a bridge. this is a bridge on the country's western border with colombia where the military have created a barricade using a tanker truck, cargo

way less so we need to see this result we need to see the talks going on hopefully the international contact group made up of european the latin american countries can begin to facilitate the agreements that are needed to move the situation forward toward elections and that could also facilitate an agreement to allow this humanitarian aid in but right now we're in the middle of this political standoff both sides are trying to make a political point and it's difficult to say exactly where it's going to end up in the next couple of days yeah it is so anybody's guess at this point where and how one of the stars plan presented talking to us jennifer mccoy speaking to us there from prague thanks very much for being with us i want to cross live now to the venezuelan capital caracas where the venezuelan president nicolas maduro and south holding a rally and his sas speaking right now i believe we're going to listen in to move us on the dignity. and we're going to do battle harder than ever will fight harder than ever and more harder than this would up here on this on this podium hard to stand there and g

the power to do that but what the european union is doing is setting up what they call an international contact group which is going to be based in caracas maciej is invited latin american countries to join as well and they're hoping that they can push along the presence of creating the conditions for free and fair elections as they call them but calling these elections are really the the job of an interim president and at the moment. has declared himself to be the interim president but he doesn't actually control anything so everything is still very much up in the yeah and the military especially still backing maduro what about russia's interests in backing venezuela's president colleen and that is that europe in the crosshairs of the proxy confrontation between russia and the u.s. especially at a time when europe is looking very vulnerable. yes well yes indeed i mean this because the russians do have powerful economic interest basically there was nafta the oil company has big investments and big interests in venezuela and they'll want their money back and china equally has also. got economic intere

the european union commission through fredricka maurine who instated a international contact group with european countries and latin american countries and these european allotting american countries have reached out to the government and to the opposition saying there is a roadmap and we are putting forward a proposal of force for talks you have on the other hand mexico europe why and the countries of the character which are fifteen countries of the caribbean so it's mainly a latin american and caribbean initiative saying that they're also willing to mediate between the parties to generate the conditions for a political dialogue so once you have those those those those two initiatives and i must say that the international counter group initiative includes the necessity of provision of humanitarian aid but through the principles of humanitarian action which is not what the u.s. administration and the colombian government are doing with the with the opposition they have put that aside the package if you will they're offering the parties in venezuela for generating a dialogue so again i t

american nations meeting and year ago i says it will send a technical team to venezuela international contact group says the mission will help provide humanitarian aid and support your lections a soon as possible meanwhile the u.s. state department says the time for dialogue with president maduro is over and has announced it is imposing visa bans on members of the pro-government constituent assembly. you case prime minister has returned from brussels off to get more talks to try to change the terms of her unpopular breaks it deal to resume a told you parliament members that there will be a backstop on the irish border in the final breaks that agreement but our demands for a renegotiation of the terms of the agreement were firmly rejected as the headlines coming up how the u.s. and taliban held secret negotiations to build a pipeline through afghanistan taliban oil is up next hour more news for you after that thanks for watching so you know it. we started this thing i mean know who the taliban were and i didn't know how radical they were just what they were about. one of the things of the talabani a

still are not done in montevideo where the newly formed international contact group of e.u. and latin american countries is meeting about what that weather hoping to achieve here. well they're hoping that because they represent to boards a broad spectrum of opinions over the venezuela crisis that they will be able to reach some kind of come up with some going to plan except of all to both sides in what is a very polarized situation seven of the eight european union countries are here have already expressed their support for why all of the latin american nations bolivia is very firmly behind nicolas maduro and both you require mexico have said that they're neutral in the they have a neutral stance in the situation so they're hoping that by representing up or broad spectrum of views they can come up with this plan which will call for peaceful dialogue. and election new elections which will provide a fresh mandate for whoever emerges from that situation behind me we have a few. demonstrators their biggest concern is that they're worried about the u.s. interference a possible u.

contact group also talking about dialogue talking about electoral process nobody seems particularly or especially concerned about that either. i mean definitely. the beginning i mean it's far from being resolved but in international relations dialogue is a slow moving process and i think that was a very important step forward included in a number of factors that are going to be important this process within the hemisphere in latin america in the caribbean and also european countries and i think that's the way forward it's not going to be easy it's going to require. the montevideo meeting is already speaking of four phases one of dialogue which is just actually getting people speaking to each other which is already something important in order to lower tensions then clear negotiations that's the second phase the third phase an outcome with commitments that made that a sign that you're sort of witnessed on paper and then finally the final phase the implementation i mean this is pretty much by the book sort of international negotiations or negotiations between domestic actors and that's what needs to be pushed forward or not said suggesting it's going to be easy we were already seeing in fact unfortunately the guy t

with the international community to ensure peaceful and successful transition but the unsustainable situation to a brighter future and democratic future for people of venezuela and the contact groupis one element in s. which we think to be hopeful that part of t >> where governor rolf northam is going to respond to a racially charged your book photo from 1980 foe. -- from 1984. since the photo surfaced yesterday, calls for his resignation have come from republicans and democrats, including some presidential candidates. we expected to start momentarily. you are watching live coverage on c-span. -- effectively it is instrumental to those forces in the european union will --. it is not easy to have a consensus of 28 countries. we have to take many things into i think we allnd hope we have -- when the term comes to it and i think that analysis will come. i want to address, if i may, something that was said -- the itp d'etat maduro and shove -- chavez played in venezuela -- we should bring out the reality of that process that took place. we stood by, looking at it and we did nothing. step-by-step, venezuelan regime was dismantling democracy, the strongest democracy in the region. have

so, we also have the international contact group who is attempting to facilitate elections. >> and clearlypressure will continue. we'll stay in touch with you as we keep watching. jennifer mccoy, thank you for your time. >> thanks. >>> still ahead, is it progress or posturing? we'll review this week's summit between the u.s. and north korean leader. korean leader. what might come of it? when you switch out an old car part.$200 but you do when you switch to jackson hewitt. at jackson hewitt we help lots of people like you. that's why you get $200 when you leave your old tax service for us. so switch to jackson hewitt today and get $200. at panera, we treat soup differently. with vine ripened tomatoes, signature cheddar, simmered to perfection. with big flavors, not artificial ones. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be. enjoy 100% clean soup today. yeah i'm excited. finally earned enough rewards points. so jealous. yeah i can't wait to get that shave-ice! what's shave-ice? it's like a hawaiian snow-cone. why not just say snow-cone? i don't know, they call it shave-ice. y