Rubio Meets Venezuela’s Foreign Minister as U.S. Presses For Progress On Election Preparations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, November 2, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco in the Treaty Room at the State Department. It was one of the highest-level meetings between the Trump administration and acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s government, and the first bilateral meeting since relations were restored.
Neither man made a statement or took questions, and neither government has released an account of the talks.
The meeting comes as Washington presses for progress on a roadmap, agreed about two weeks ago by Venezuelan authorities and opposition figures, that would renew the Supreme Court and National Electoral Council ahead of elections targeted for 2027.
Analyst Dossier Alleges Cuba’s Military Conglomerate GAESA Uses Private Firms to Tap U.S. Fuel Market
HAVANA — Cuban economy analyst Emilio Morales has published a dossier alleging that GAESA, Cuba’s military-run conglomerate, uses small private businesses (MIPYMES) as fronts to reach the U.S. fuel market.
Private firms appear as importers and sellers, but the gas stations belong to CIMEX, payments run through FINCIMEX cards, and revenue flows to Banco Financiero Internacional, all of which Morales links to GAESA.
The report comes amid Washington’s tightening sanctions, including the May 7 designation of GAESA and its executive president, the interception of 90 shipments bound for the sanctioned firm ENETEC, and U.S. fuel exports to Cuba of about US$232 million from January to August.
Sheinbaum Calls Texas Claim to Nine Rio Grande Islands an “Electoral Issue”
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her Tuesday morning press conference, held on Election Day for U.S. midterms, that Texas’s claim to nine Rio Grande islands is an “electoral issue.” She added that Texas does not decide the matter and that only the bilateral boundary commission can determine ownership.
The claim comes from Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who said on October 27 that a General Land Office review confirmed the islands, about 27 hectares (roughly 66 acres) between Laredo and McAllen, belong to Texas.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry rejected any unilateral border change on October 30, citing the 1970 Boundary Treaty and saying only CILA can settle which side each island is on.
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