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Venezuela and Russia signed a 10-year agreement establishing stronger bilateral ties and closer cooperation on energy matters. Mexico City, Mexico, May 9, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela and Russia signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement on May 7 during President Nicolás Maduro’s official visit to Moscow.

The 10-year Strategic Cooperation Agreement strengthens bilateral ties, covering key areas such as security, defense, trade, and technology, and a Glonass navigation station in Venezuela. The deal includes expanded initiatives on energy matters as part of both countries’ efforts to navigate US-led unilateral coercive measures, with a commitment to joint initiatives within multilateral energy organizations such as OPEC.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Maduro also pledged closer cooperation between their countries at the United Nations in opposition to sanctions. The latest agreement, described by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as a “substantial” and “very important” framework, builds on over 350 existing agreements since 2019, and aims to boost economic resilience and counter Western sanctions through closer diplomatic and financial collaboration.

Maduro was in the Russian capital to participate in official commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. “Our presence here confirms that the path of humanity must be peace, understanding, respect for equality and is also an expression of the infinite historical admiration for the Russian people,” said Maduro during his appearance alongside Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Among the attendees for the 80th anniversary commemorations were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Burkinabé President Ibrahim Traoré. From Latin America, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also travelled to Moscow for the historic event. Maduro and Díaz-Canel together laid a wreath at the monument of Latin American independence hero Simón Bolívar in the Russian capital.

Maduro held a bilateral meeting with Burkina Faso’s Traoré on the sidelines of the official celebrations. The Venezuelan president also met with Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov and Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Commemorations included a massive military parade on Red Square in the presence of dozens of world leaders on Friday, which Maduro described as “impressive and imposing.”

“We give credit to members of the Resistance who bravely fought Nazism as well as the troops of the allied armies of the United States, Great Britain and other countries. We remember and honor the feat of Chinese soldiers in the fight against Japanese militarism,” said Putin at the start of the military parade.

At a gala held a day earlier at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Maduro was seated next to Chinese President Xi. The two leaders later held high-level bilateral talks where Maduro celebrated the agreement establishing an “all-weather strategic partnership” between Beijing and Caracas.

Vice President Delcy Rodríguez recently visited China as part of the country’s push for strengthened economic and political ties with China. The Asian giant is Venezuela’s main destination for crude exports.

Beijing, May 13 (Prensa Latina) “No country can get ahead on its own,” Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva emphasized here today, stressing that Latin America and the Caribbean must work together to overcome historic challenges. The president made this call during the opening of the IV Ministerial Meeting of the China-Celac Forum (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), with the participation of his host, Xi Jinping, as well as other leaders of the region.

In Lula's opinion, Latin America faces a crossroads: to remain a region marked by poverty or to become a center of sustainable, inclusive and fair development. He called for avoiding mistakes made in 500 years of history, such as exploitation and confrontation between blocs.

He added that the region should advocate for a multipolar order where developing countries have a voice and a vote in global affairs, while strengthening the South-South dialogue mechanism. Regarding ties with the Asian giant, he pondered the expansion of such ties over the last decade.

“Currently, China is Brazil's second largest trading partner and one of the most important partners for the region, with approximately 500 companies active in several Latin American countries,” he said.

He explained that the resources coming from Chinese financial institutions exceed even the credit offered by the World Bank or, at least, are comparable.

During the last decades, the boost in the export of raw materials has contributed to raising the region's profile in the global economy, Lula added.

The president considered that this economic flow has also allowed many countries to develop strategic projects in infrastructure, agriculture and energy. He also recalled Beijing's support during Covid-19 and the vaccines supplied from here to protect millions of people in the region.

"Challenges remain, however. The economic viability of many projects depends on better coordination among Latin American countries," he stressed.

Lula emphasized the importance of articulating common policies and facilitating the free movement of goods and services in LAC to take better advantage of initiatives such as the Belt and Road that promote the development of roads, railroads and digital networks.

"Long-term prosperity requires strong and balanced economies. Latin America and the Caribbean seek to reduce economic and social asymmetries through inclusive policies and international collaborations," he stressed.

In this regard, he said that cooperation with China can contribute to strengthening local industry and foster technological innovation. “The development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence should not become the exclusive privilege of a few countries,” he opined. According to Lula, a transition to low-carbon economies requires universal access to clean technologies, especially in vulnerable regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean.

Montevideo, May 13 (Prensa Latina) The specialized prosecutor for Crimes against Humanity, Ricardo Perciballe, requested the prosecution with imprisonment and the closing of borders for the former commander in chief of the Uruguayan Navy, Tabaré Daners, it was reported today.

Perciballe filed the same claim for sailors Nelson Wander Olivera, Raúl Fernando Lecumberry and Eduardo José Mendoza. All of them are being investigated for the torture of 10 members of the Union of Communist Youth (UJC) and the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) in August 1977.

In the document presented to the Justice the prosecutor points out that they were detained in the Fusileros Navales (Fusna), “interrogated and tortured so that they would admit their links to the referred structures, as well as to provide the names of other members”. The testimonies collected by the prosecutor give an account of the tortures they suffered while they were held in the Fusna.

“There are two forms of torture, physical (cattle prods, hangings, waterboarding, clubbing, kicking) and then there is psychological torture, which they do not touch (...) We were all subjected to the same treatment, all of this happened in the Fusna,” said one of the witnesses. Perciballe requested the prosecution of Daners for crimes of serious injuries, deprivation of liberty and private violence against the detainees. Tabaré Daners appears as summary judge in several cases in which the complainants ended up being prosecuted by the so-called “military justice” with “absolutely spurious” and “fraudulent” sentences, says the document from the prosecutor's office.

Boric spoke at the inauguration of the IV Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the China-Celac Forum (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), where the heads of state of Brazil, Colombia and the host country, among other authorities, are participating.

“From Chile, in these turbulent times, we come to reaffirm our deep conviction that free and fair trade for the benefit of our peoples is the path to progress and development of nations,” he said.

The Chilean head of state defended the sovereign decision of each country to be able to decide with whom and when to trade, because trade -he affirmed- is the encounter between peoples and we want to meet with everyone and not have to opt for one or the other by imposition.

Boric called for a leap in quality in economic ties with China, promoting technical meetings, business and high-level meetings, as well as activating policies, productive development, innovation, infrastructure, transportation, logistics and quality of human resources.

In his speech, he highlighted the project for a bioceanic corridor that will link the Atlantic with the Pacific, passing through Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile. This will allow greater integration and connection between South America and Asia-Pacific, he added.

The president warned that humanity is currently facing the dilemma of cooperate or perish, a phrase pronounced decades ago by Chilean diplomat Hernán Santa Cruz, which today resonates with full force.

As agreed by the government, the deadline for the approval of the new law aimed at improving public finances, which was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, expired on May 9.

The delay in the presentation of the regulation was aired by opposition deputies such as Claudia Ortiz, from Vamos, and Marcela Villatoro, from Arena, who stated that they have not received, for the moment, any draft or request for the new Fiscal Responsibility Law.

The regulation is essential in the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the IMF, for the financing of US$ 1.4 billion approved in February, and which will implement “more robust rules to improve budgetary accountability”.

According to economist Rommel Rodríguez, of the National Foundation for Development (Funde), the approval cannot be ignored because it is a structural objective that serves as a basis for meeting other fiscal objectives.

In an agreement where the fiscal issue is fundamental, I believe that it (the Fiscal Responsibility Law) cannot be ignored. It is a structural goal or objective, it is key and in extreme cases there would be an extension or a waiting period for the organization, he said.

Meanwhile, for the former president of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), economist Carlos Acevedo, the IMF does not usually like non-compliance with agreements, except for a good excuse, and suggested “reestablishing and adjusting the previous Fiscal Responsibility Law, which is quite good”.

This law should be “approved as soon as possible, so as not to start making a mess of things before the IMF at the first opportunity”, he said.

The agreement with the multilateral for a 1.4 billion dollar program starts with an immediate disbursement of 113 million dollars and includes a fiscal adjustment of 3.5 points of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for three years, starting with a tranche of 1.5 percentage points of the GDP for this year 2025.