BREAKING NEWS

US says Maduro intent on blocking free and fair elections in Venezuela

Venezuela must have free and fair elections, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams said on Friday, but added that Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro's government appeared intent on stopping them.

National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó is seeking reelection on Jan. 5, a year after invoking the Constitution to be interim president on the grounds that President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in fraudulent elections. Government opponents accuse Maduro of trying to close the only institution controlled by the opposition.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)