On Sunday, January 9, Venezuela will hold a supplemental election in the state of Barinas, following the pro-government Supreme Court’s disqualification of the victory of opposition candidate Freddy Superlano. Sunday’s election follows regional and municipal elections that took place on November 21, which saw a landslide victory for pro-government candidates in 20 out of 23 states and 205 out of 332 municipalities.

This week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, would embark on a ten-day visit to Colombia and Venezuela, his first visit to the region since taking office in June.

On Sunday, October 16, the negotiating team representing the government of Nicolás Maduro announced that it would not participate in the round of talks set to take place in Mexico City from October 17 to 20. The decision came after it was announced that Alex Saab, a Colombian-born businessman and close Maduro ally accused of money-laundering, was extradited to the United States from Cape Verde, where he had been in custody since June 2020.

Vaccination rates have steadily increased in Venezuela in recent months, with the assistance of the WHO-linked COVAX initiative and the support of multilateral institutions such as the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UNICEF.