“New times are coming,” he tweeted shortly after the victory of Mr Petro, a guerrilla-turned-senator, in June. The leftist Mr Petro has promised a thaw in his country’s frosty relations with Venezuela. To start, he says he will restore diplomatic relations, severed since 2019. Full Text -> TheEconomist

Traducción de cortesía -> “Vienen tiempos nuevos”, tuiteó poco después de la victoria de Petro, un guerrillero convertido en senador, en junio. El izquierdista Petro ha prometido un deshielo en las gélidas relaciones de su país con Venezuela. Para empezar, dice que restablecerá las relaciones diplomáticas, cortadas desde 2019

«Especialistas de Roscosmos ya visitaron Venezuela y seleccionaron opciones para desplegar la estación [Glonass]», señaló la semana pasada el embajador ruso en Venezuela, Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, de acuerdo a medios estatales rusos. Aunque en un primer momento Melik-Bagdasarov parecía hablar de una visita exploratoria, luego fue rotundo en señalar que es una decisión tomada y en marcha: «El proceso ha pasado a la etapa de implementación práctica». Por Edgardo Pinell. Texto Completo -> ElDebate

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Russia has been pushing narratives on social media about U.S. mismanagement of COVID-19 and claiming U.S. government sanctions are choking the Venezuelan people at their most vulnerable time. Meanwhile, China is offering $1 billion in loans to the region for their COVID-19 vaccine and improvements to medical infrastructure, securing agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. “This will further indebt the region to the PRC [People’s Republic of China], which already holds $165 Billion in loans,” according to the posture statement. By John M. Doyle. Full Text -> Seapower

If the dictatorship in Venezuela fails, Cuba and Nicaragua could be next, taking out Iran’s remaining Western Hemisphere partners in thwarting U.S. influence. So helping the Maduro regime reactivate its refining operations to supply the country with gasoline and generate revenue is clearly worth Iran’s trouble. How much more it can do, considering its own shrinking economy, is an open question. Russia and China—both of which have seen their investments go sour in Venezuela—may be willing to share some of the burden with Iran to safeguard their geopolitical footprint in the region. By Stephen Johnson/ Full Text-> Foreign Policy