United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President Nicolas Maduro discussed the precarious political situation in the South American nation. File
| Photo Credit: AP

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern Friday (September 20, 2024) to President Nicolas Maduro about alleged human rights violations in Venezuela, in their first telephone conversation since the disputed July 28 Presidential election.

The men discussed the precarious political situation in the South American nation, and Mr. Guterres “expressed concern over reports of post-elections violence and allegations of human rights violations,” the UN chief’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

Mr. Guterres “stressed the need to resolve any political dispute peacefully, through genuine and inclusive dialogue,” the spokesman said, adding the secretary-general “took note” of Mr. Maduro’s position on the situation.

The Venezuelan leader, for his part, said the two spoke for 15 minutes and that he explained “the struggle we are waging against fascism” and the “devil,” words he routinely uses to describe the Opposition movement seeking to oust him from power.

Within hours of polls closing on election day, the regime-aligned CNE electoral council declared Mr. Maduro the victor with 52% of votes cast.

The Opposition immediately cried foul and dozens of countries refused to recognize Mr. Maduro’s claim to a third six-year term unless the CNE published a detailed vote breakdown, which it has not.

According to the Opposition, its Presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has since sought asylum in Spain, obtained more than 60% of the vote.

On Friday seven countries in the Americas — Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Uruguay — asked the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to investigate the “grave violations” of rights in Venezuela.

The seven nations have launched an urgent appeal to the council for Caracas to “put an end to the intensification of repression after the last elections and to investigate the serious human rights violations, which could constitute crimes against humanity,” Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The crackdown on protests that followed the announcement of Maduro’s reelection left at least 27 people dead and 192 injured. Some 2,400 people have been arrested, according to official sources.

An interactive map taken from USGS.

The Pacific Kingdom of Tonga was jolted by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake on Monday (August 26, 2024), the United States Geological Survey said, as foreign leaders gathered for a key regional summit.

Tonga’s seaside capital Nuku’alofa is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres among the high-profile delegates.

Although the quake did not trigger a tsunami warning, some businesses near the coast briefly evacuated to higher ground.

The offshore tremor — which struck at a depth of about 106 kilometres (66 miles) — rattled buildings at the forum’s newly built venue.

But it was soon back to business as usual in a city where earthquakes are relatively common.

Tonga sits atop the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Huge swathes of the Tongan archipelago were blanketed in ash and pummelled by a tsunami after the immense Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption of 2022.