+141%Mentions of “oil/Chevron” on state TV this week · compared with the January-July 2026 average
+138%Mentions of Marco Rubio among opposition hosts this week · compared with the January-July 2026 average
1,201,000 b/dVenezuela's oil output in August, per OPEC · about 1,000 more barrels per day than July (+0.08%)
Opposition commentator David Placeres reported that María Corina Machado postponed her Washington meeting until next week, after her team turned down an offer to meet with Vice President JD Vance. According to Placeres, Machado wants to meet directly with Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Placeres said that, according to Trump, the United States “takes control of 65 billion barrels of oil across 17 oil fields” following the deals the White House called the biggest oil deal in history. The commentator said it remains to be seen whether that helps Machado's return to the country.
«Does María Corina Machado want to meet with Donald Trump, or failing that, with Marco Rubio, who are the ones holding the reins on Venezuela?»— David Placeres, September 12, 2026 · watch
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Former justice Blanca Rosa Mármol de León formally launched her presidential candidacy on September 9 and called for street protests to demand free elections and the release of political prisoners, El Nacional reported. In an interview, she said she isn't rivaling Machado for power, though she once backed her.
Mármol said she proposed a governing junta to the U.S. embassy and requested a meeting twice with no response. Given that lack of support from Washington, she argued the opposition must exercise sovereignty on its own and again called for people to take to the streets.
«If we exercise sovereignty, if it is our constitutional right, and if we haven't achieved it that way, well, we have to do it ourselves, directly.»— Blanca Rosa Mármol, September 10, 2026 · watch
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Judge Alvin Hellerstein sealed the medical records Cilia Flores's defense filed to support her request for house arrest over heart problems, Cuba Headlines reported. The judge found that the privacy interest in her medical information outweighed public access to the record.
The ruling, dated September 10, is a further step in the request for release under conditions that Flores's defense filed days earlier in the Southern District of New York court, where she and Nicolás Maduro remain detained.
