World
International leaders condemn arrest order for Venezuelan opposition leader
Foreign leaders, including in the United States and Brazil, have reacted with alarm and warnings after Venezuela issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia this week.
On Tuesday, Canada joined in the outcry, as the government of President Nicolas Maduro continues to crack down on opposition members after a contested presidential election.
“Canada categorically condemns the arrest warrant issued against Edmundo González by Venezuelan authorities,” Global Affairs Canada wrote on its social media channels.
“Canada urges Venezuelan authorities to stop repressive acts that silence democratic voices and create a climate of fear.”
Maduro’s government declared him the winner of the July 28 presidential election, with nearly 52 percent of the vote. But unlike in past elections, it did not release vote tallies to back up that claim.
The opposition, which rallied behind Gonzalez as its candidate, has since released records that it says show the former diplomat won instead.
The arrest warrant against Gonzalez came after the government summoned the opposition candidate to testify as part of an investigation into the opposition’s claims of victory.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab also accused Gonzalez and his allies of instigating disobedience and insurrection.
On Monday, when Gonzalez failed to comply with the summons, Saab issued a warrant for his arrest.
In the day since, international leaders have condemned the move, even in countries that have otherwise maintained friendly relations with the Maduro government.
Speaking with the news outlet Reuters on Tuesday, Celso Amorim, a foreign policy adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, sharpened Brazil’s criticism of Caracas.
“There is no denying that there is an authoritarian escalation in Venezuela,” said Amorim.
Brazil is among the countries that have taken steps to expand bilateral relations with Venezuela in recent years.
Still, Amorim warned that Gonzalez’s detention would be viewed as a “political arrest” in Brazil, were it to unfold. He also added that relations have become strained.
“We do not feel openness to dialogue. There is a very strong reaction to any comment,” he told Reuters.
The US, meanwhile, has long been hostile to Maduro, sanctioning his government for alleged democratic backsliding. In a news briefing on Tuesday, the government of US President Joe Biden repeated its condemnations in light of the arrest warrant.
“We do condemn the arrest warrant for Edmundo Gonzalez for allegedly inciting violence,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
“This arbitrary and politically motivated action demonstrates the extraordinary lengths to which Nicolas Maduro will go to try to maintain power, following his attempt to steal the July 28 presidential election.”
Miller pointed out that other countries in the region, previously on more amicable terms with Venezuela, have also become increasingly critical.
“I would note it’s not just the United States that’s condemning this arrest warrant,” Miller said. “It’s countries in the region: Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay who have all condemned this unjustified arrest warrant.”
Venezuela’s opposition has maintained that they handily won the election – consistent with pre-election polling that showed Maduro losing by an insurmountable margin.
However, the government has responded to protests with a deadly crackdown and widespread arrests.
The human rights group Foro Penal estimates that nearly 1,581 people have been arrested since July 28, including high-ranking members of the opposition. An estimated 23 people have been killed in the protests, according to another group, Monitor de Victimas.
Gonzalez himself has gone into hiding in the weeks since the election. Speaking outside Gonzalez’s house in Caracas on Tuesday, opposition lawyer Jose Vicente Haro told reporters the candidate had not sought asylum abroad.
Calls for the Maduro government to release voter tallies to prove his victory have thus far gone unheeded.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said earlier this week that the US was considering “a range of options to demonstrate to Mr Maduro and his representatives that their actions in Venezuela will have consequences”.
On Monday, the Biden administration seized a $13m aeroplane in the Dominican Republic that had allegedly been bought for Maduro in violation of economic sanctions.
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The United Kingdom on Monday blamed an Iran-linked proxy group for a string of antisemitic arson attacks targeting British Jewish sites, prompting the government to ban Tehran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and impose sweeping new powers to crack down on foreign-backed sabotage.
British officials said the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR) publicly claimed responsibility for seven attacks this year targeting Jewish and Israeli-linked locations, as well as a Persian-language media outlet critical of Iran’s government. According to the U.K. government, members of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force were “almost certainly” directing the group’s operations across Europe.
The attacks included fires at synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and other Jewish community sites in London. No injuries were reported.
DESANTIS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO USE NEW STATE LAW TO TARGET DOZENS OF ALLEGED TERRORIST GROUPS
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts a reception with the Jewish community to discuss efforts to tackle antisemitism, at Downing Street, in London, July 13, 2026. (Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new measures send a clear message to foreign adversaries seeking to sow violence.
“We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets,” Starmer said. “Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.”
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer discusses efforts to tackle antisemitism at Downing Street in London, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)
If Parliament approves the designations later this week, anyone carrying out acts of sabotage — including arson — on behalf of the IRGC, IMCR or Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps could face life imprisonment. Supporting or assisting the groups could carry prison sentences of up to 14 years.
The British government said the new authorities, created under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, will make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions because they will no longer have to prove a direct foreign government connection in every case.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accused both Tehran and Moscow of relying on criminal proxies to conduct hostile operations inside the United Kingdom.
“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said. “I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.”
ISRAEL FORTIFIES BORDER WITH JORDAN AS IRAN SEEKS NEW TERROR PATH
The government said IMCR emerged online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands. British intelligence officials say Iran-backed proxy groups have increasingly recruited members of criminal organizations to carry out sabotage, intimidation and physical attacks across Europe, often targeting Jewish communities and Iranian dissidents.
Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in London, March 23, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
According to the U.K., MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots against individuals in Britain over the past year. The government has already sanctioned more than 550 Iranian-linked individuals and entities and has pledged £250 million ($334,662,500) over three years to strengthen security for Jewish communities, including increased protection for synagogues, schools and community centers.
Britain also designated Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, saying the group acts as a proxy for Russian military intelligence by recruiting individuals online to conduct sabotage, arson and other hostile operations.
The crackdown comes just weeks after two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist working for a Persian-language television station in London, an attack a British judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.
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Iran did not immediately comment on Monday’s announcement, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The European Union has sanctioned VK Company, which dominates Russia’s online sphere, for colluding with the Kremlin to identify critics of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and curtail access to independent sources of information.
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VK Company runs VKontakte, the country’s most popular social media site. Often described as “the Russian Facebook”, it has an estimated 70 million users.
The decision, taken on Monday by foreign ministers, points the finger at VK Company and an associated firm for developing and managing Max App, which is state-backed and comes pre-installed on all phones and tablets sold in Russia.
Citing experts, Brussels argues that Max App has “extensive surveillance features” that Russian authorities use to track online communications, gather data, monitor address books, identify user location and install autonomous updates.
The imposition of Max App has helped the state crack down on competitors, such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, and on VPNs, the private networks that Russians employ to bypass increasingly stringent state restrictions on the Internet.
“VK has cooperated with Russian authorities in their repressive actions, including by providing them with data concerning users of its services who posted content criticising Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, or other content banned by the authorities,” the legal text says.
“VK has also participated in the government-ordered ban on the use of VPNs, through which Russian internet users could previously access independent content.”
Monday’s decision introduces an asset freeze and prohibits EU companies from making funds available to VK Company. In a statement to Russian state-owned media outlet TASS, the firm said that its applications and services remained “available to users as normal”.
Besides VK Company, the EU also sanctioned Citadel, VAS Experts and Norsi-Trans, three companies that provide hardware and software for the so-called System of Operative Investigative Measures that Russian authorities use to track online communication and target journalists, opposition figures, minority groups and ordinary citizens.
The restrictions were adopted under a special regime dedicated to punishing human rights violations.
Separately, the EU sanctionednine individuals and four entities accused of carrying out “malicious” cyber attacks against several member states.
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