LatinNews Daily - 23 October 2026

*Thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets around the country to demand the setting of a date for elections, the release of all political prisoners, and the return of exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado. Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported that, beyond the capital Caracas, protests took place in the states of Anzoátegui, Apure, Aragua, Zulia, Barinas, Carabobo, Falcón, Guárico, Mérida, Trujillo, Nueva Esparta, and Sucre. The demonstrations were convened by the pro-democracy group Comando Con Venezuela, which is aligned with Machado’s faction of the opposition. These were the largest anti-government demonstrations in nearly two years and were overseen by a “notably thin presence of security forces”, according to newswire Reuters, in the latest sign that repression and public fear are dissipating under President Delcy Rodríguez. The protests came as Rodríguez met yesterday with the leaders of the dialogue process with the opposition – Dinorah Figuera on the opposition side and the president’s brother, national assembly president Jorge Rodríguez, on the government side – and expressed her support for the negotiations.