Chaos and an abduction in Caracas as Canada recognizes Venezuelan opposition
Thursday was marked by massive marches and a confused high-profile abduction in Venezuela, on the same day that Canada recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the legitimate president of the country.
Gonzalez is in exile in Spain, while Venezuela’s de facto ruler, Nicolas Maduro, continues to occupy the Miraflores presidential palace, claiming that his party won at the polls on 28 July last year.
On Monday, Gonzalez met with United States President Joe Biden at the Oval Office. Following that meeting, Biden posted to social media that Gonzalez was the “true winner” of last year’s election and that the country deserved a peaceful transfer of power.
The next day, Gonzalez announced that his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, had been abducted by hooded men while taking his two young children to school.
That was one of what appeared to be a new wave of arrests as the Venezuelan opposition again ramped up its campaign to remove Maduro’s authoritarian socialist government from power.
A leader emerges from hiding
Presidential candidate Gonzalez, who travelled today to the Dominican Republic seeking further international support, is not the leader of Venezuela’s opposition. He is rather a substitute candidate for the real leader, Maria Corina Machado, who has been barred from running for office by the courts of the Maduro government.
On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly spoke with Machado by phone. Shortly afterwards she tweeted a statement that formally recognized Gonzalez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Canada had previously expressed disbelief in the official results of last summer’s election announced by the Maduro government, but had not yet taken the step of recognizing Maduro’s rival as the winner.
Gonzalez went into exile shortly after the Maduro regime responded to the election with a wave of arrests and repression, but Machado stayed in the country, and has spent much of the past six months in hiding.
A confused daylight abduction
On Wednesday, Machado hinted that she would return to public view, as the opposition prepared a new campaign of street protests to demand that the results of the election be respected. The opposition intended to protest Maduro’s swearing-in to a third six-year term as president, scheduled to take place Friday at the National Assembly in Caracas.
In recent days, Maduro has engaged in shows of force apparently intended to discourage opposition protests.
Today, Machado emerged from hiding to headline a large rally in the Caracas neighbourhood of Chacao, but appeared to be detained by men on motorcycles as she left the scene.
Machado is often surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of supporters on motorcycles in order to shield her from government snatch squads, but on this occasion the opposition said they were unable to protect her and one of her motorcycle escorts was injured as shots were fired.
The detention prompted outrage from the Venezuelan opposition, and from its supporters around the world, including Anaida Poilievre, wife of the leader of Canada’s Official Opposition.
Released from custody
Within two hours of her detention, a video on social media appeared to show Machado saying that she had been released, and was safe.
But the video was not posted by Machado’s own account, or by other opposition channels, and some expressed doubts about its authenticity.
By late afternoon, Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, released a statement confirming her release.
“They took her by force,” said the statement. “During the period of her kidnapping she was forced to record several videos, and then was released. In the coming hours she will address the country and explain the situation.”
There was some speculation in opposition circles that the abduction and swift release might reflect divisions between hardliners and moderates within the Chavista government about how to deal with Machado and the protests.
Published at Thu, 09 Jan 2025 22:42:11 +0000
Largest Los Angeles fires still out of control even as slower winds help tame flames
Firefighters began to slow the spread of deadly and devastating fires in the Los Angeles area on Thursday after the ferocious winds that drove the fast-moving flames diminished, though the largest blazes still burned out of control.
Crews were able to knock down a major threat that broke out Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills, close to the heart of the entertainment industry, and by morning had lifted an evacuation order for the area.
“While we are still facing significant threats, I am hopeful that the tide is turning,” Los Angeles County supervisor Kathryn Barger said during a news conference Thursday morning.
Water dropped from aircraft helped fire crews get control of fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City, said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Much of the destruction around the city occurred after those aircraft were grounded due to high winds.
Major wind gusts still posed a danger on Thursday, but the weather forecast could signal an opportunity for firefighters to make progress in reining in the blazes, which have killed at least seven people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena, Calif., and caused thousands of people to frantically flee their homes.
Nadia Williamson, a Canadian who lives in Los Angeles, fled her home as a powerful wildfire approached. ‘Before I knew it, the whole entire Palisades was gone.’
The toll from the fires is still being calculated. Kristin Crowley, chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, said the Palisades Fire along the coast burned thousands of structures.
“It is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” she said.
Flames from the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills put densely populated neighbourhoods on edge Wednesday night. A few kilometres away, the streets around the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the TCL Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were bustling, with some onlookers using their phones to record video of the blazing hills.
Robert Luna, a Los Angeles county sheriff, said the number of dead was expected to rise as cadaver dogs and search crews began looking through rubble. Late on Thursday, officials updated the death toll from five to seven.
Firefighters were able to keep the blaze in check because “we hit it hard and fast and Mother Nature was a little nicer to us today,” said Capt. Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which co-ordinates cross-border wildfire response with the United States, said it was working on Thursday to send a pair of CL-415 water bombers to help the fight.
Hurricane-force winds fan flames
On Wednesday, hurricane-force winds, with gusts up to 129 km/h, blew embers that ignited block after block in the coastal neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades and in the nearby community of Altadena.
Thousands of homes, businesses and other structures were destroyed in those blazes — called the Palisades and Eaton fires — and the number is expected to increase.
Those two fires already rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, consuming nearly 125 square kilometres so far — an area exceeding the size of Disney World — and turning entire neighbourhoods to ash.
While they� were no longer spreading significantly, both remained at zero per cent containment, officials said.
Luna, the county sheriff, said the Eaton Fire alone had damaged or destroyed 4,000 to 5,000 structures. Officials said the Palisades Fire destroyed another 5,300 structures, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Aerial footage gathered by KNBC early Thursday shows the sprawling Palisades fire, one of five major fires in the Los Angeles area.
In Pasadena, fire Chief Chad Augustin said on Wednesday that the city’s water system was stretched and crews were further hampered by power outages. But even without those issues, firefighters would not have been able to stop the fast-moving blaze, he said.
“Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire,” he said.
Still, questions were being raised about why some hydrants ran dry and what caused the water system to buckle when it was needed most.
Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s minister of emergency preparedess, said on X that he had connected with FEMA in the U.S. to offer support.
“Team Canada, with Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta, is ready to deploy 250 firefighters, aircraft equipment, and other resources as early as tonight,” he wrote, adding that the Canadian Forces are standing by to move personnel and equipment.
Canada has also sent water bombers from Alberta.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X, “To our American neighbours: Canada’s here to help.”
180,000 people ordered to evacuate
In Pacific Palisades, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes, block after block of California Mission-style homes and bungalows were reduced to charred remains. Ornate iron railing wrapped around the smouldering frame of one house.
About 180,000 people are under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 117 square kilometres — an area roughly the size of San Francisco.
Jose Velasquez sprayed his family’s Altadena home with water as embers rained down on the roof. He managed to save the structure, which also houses their family business selling pastries. Many of his neighbours were at work as fire spread through their homes.
“We had to call a few people and then we had people messaging, asking if their house was still standing,” he said. “We had to tell them that it’s not.”
About 250 homes in Altadena were reduced to rubble. Only a few homes remained, some still in flames according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies. Just a handful of 70 wall-to-wall homes overhanging the Pacific Ocean in Malibu appeared intact.
Actors lost homes
The flames tore through affluent neighbourhoods that are home to California’s rich and famous.
Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes and Paris Hilton were among the stars who lost homes. Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, lost their home of 45 years in the Palisades Fire.
Jamie Lee Curtis pledged $1 million US to start a “fund of support” for those affected by the wildfires.
In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.
“It’s just really weird coming back to somewhere that doesn’t really exist anymore,” said Dylan Vincent, who said his elementary school had burned down.
Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios closed its theme park.
A longer fire season
The main fires grew rapidly in different areas that had two things in common: densely packed homes in places that are choked with dry vegetation that was primed to burn.
Flames moved so quickly that many people barely had time to escape, some abandoning their vehicles and setting out on foot. Police sought shelter inside their cars.
California’s wildfire season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
Dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 2.5 millimetres of rain since early May.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion US, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
In all, five wildfires burned in Los Angeles County, including one rapidly growing blaze that crossed the border from Ventura County. The skies buzzed with aircraft dropping retardant and water on the flaming hills.
With nerves on edge, Los Angeles County mistakenly sent an evacuation notice countywide to a population of 9.6 million, County Supervisor Janice Hahn said, but a correction was quickly sent.
Published at Thu, 09 Jan 2025 11:21:13 +0000
