On October 23, the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference published a pastoral letter addressing the country’s social, political, and economic situation. At almost the same time, the opposition leader, María Corina Machado, announced that she was back in her home country.

Following the U.S. military intervention that led to Maduro’s ouster and last summer’s earthquake, Venezuela has virtually disappeared from the global spotlight.

The bishops describe a Venezuela that is left to fend for itself. It is unable to find a way out of political polarization and embark on a national path toward reestablishing the rule of law and “restoring the full validity of the Constitution.” On the other hand, there is a growing awareness that Venezuela lacks the power to determine its own future and that a process of national reconciliation is necessary to regain its sovereignty.

The overall situation in the country further fuels the emigration of the younger population, who see their chances of returning home slipping away. “We observe the existential weariness, family grief, and anguish of the Venezuelan diaspora,” say the bishops. The main.

The movement’s electoral victory sheds new light on Moscow’s ideological reach and sets back the Russian Orthodox Church’s efforts outside Russia.

The victory of the students’ list in Serbia’s recent parliamentary elections is particularly remarkable: receiving 52% of the vote and winning 140 seats (out of 250), with voter turnout approaching 70% of those eligible to vote, the representatives chosen by the students will be able to reverse the autocratic tendencies of the country’s leader, the pro-Russian Aleksandar Vučić. Vučić’s party, by contrast, failed to receive 40% of the vote.

This success is the culmination of an unprecedented democratic process that began following the deaths of 16 people when a canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station (1 November 2024). The student protests that emerged as a consequence of that event spread from universities to schools across the country, drawing in professionals and farmers, professors and workers. (SettimanaNews)

Using the tools of assembly-based and direct democracy, without leaders and without a detailed political program, the students filled public squares, marched through cities, won the.