Venezuela’s New Foreign Minister Meets Top US Diplomat as 40-Hour Blackouts Grip Havana

Old Havana seen at night from the Malecón (file photo). Photo: Knomrm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Venezuela’s new foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, met John Barrett, the US chargé d’affaires in Caracas, on October 30 and called the session “cordial and constructive,” El Nacional reported. The Oliver Blanco John Barrett meeting was the latest contact in a US-backed transition process, as blackouts of more than 40 hours spread across Havana and Cuba’s foreign minister insisted his country’s resistance to Washington “has been successful.”

Key figures: 41 hrs longest reported outage, nuevo vedado, havana · 32 new venezuelan judges the talks aim to select · Nov. 6 date venezuelan tps could be restored

Caracas and the three-phase plan

Barrett also congratulated Blanco on his appointment through the US Embassy and referred to “the three-phase plan” of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, El Nacional reported (quotes translated from Spanish). Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez sent his own congratulations and called for closer ties between Havana and Caracas, according to EFE.

Opposition delegate Juan Miguel Matheus said his delegation backs Rubio’s position that institutional reforms should come before elections, El Nacional reported. New Supreme Court justices are due to be named on December 11. The State Department said on October 22 that the reconciliation talks are working toward the selection of 32 new judges, according to the US Embassy in Venezuela. In New York, Judge Analisa Torres kept the trial schedule for Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores that had been set by the late Judge Alvin Hellerstein, El Nacional reported.

A federal appeals court also ruled on Venezuelans in the United States. The Ninth Circuit declined the administration’s request to keep Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans suspended in National TPS Alliance v. Mullin, which means protections could return on November 6 unless the Supreme Court steps in, El Nacional reported.

Havana in the dark

Parts of Havana went more than 40 hours without electricity, including about 41 hours in the Nuevo Vedado district, the independent outlet 14ymedio reported. The outlet summed up the toll on businesses as “neither customers nor light.” On October 29, about 20 women and children blocked Calle 100 in the Boyeros district after more than 30 hours without power, demanding water and electricity, 14ymedio reported.

Rodríguez told The New York Times that US policy toward Cuba “will change” and that Cuba’s policy of resistance “has been successful,” 14ymedio reported. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, meeting in Panama, raised concern that Cuban law now allows the death penalty for 24 crimes, Infobae reported; Cuba has not carried out an execution since 2003. Our report on Colombia’s militarized border city of Cúcuta covered the region’s security picture on Oct. 30.

By the numbers

The 41-hour cut in Nuevo Vedado is more than 10 hours longer than the 30-plus hours that drove residents onto Calle 100, a gap of at least a third, TBR calculations from 14ymedio’s figures. Forty-one hours is about 1.7 days. On the legal front, 24 capital offenses under Cuban law compare with zero executions carried out in more than two decades, according to the IACHR concern reported by Infobae.

Border arrest, Haiti airlift and Brazil

Migración Colombia detained Venezuelan Air Force Col. Eddison Ranses Torrealba Rincón at the Cúcuta border on an Interpol red notice; he was carrying a false identity document, El Nacional reported, citing Caracol Radio. US diplomat Juan Pablo Segura highlighted an airlift of 600 tons of equipment from Bangladesh for Haiti’s Gang Suppression Force, Infobae reported, while El Salvador continues to seek the release of four Salvadoran aviation technicians held in Haiti.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry summoned Argentina’s chargé d’affaires, Emilia Cortés, to explain how Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil through Puerto Iguazú, El Nacional reported. In an Instagram video, Bolsonaro said leaving was “not a sign of weakness” and that he would run again “before 2030,” Infobae reported.

Central America

The US Embassy in Guatemala called a party linked to Zacapa Mayor Xiomara Ovalle a “narcoquinceañera” and urged attention to Guatemala’s 2027 elections; her husband was convicted in the United States, Infobae reported. The US Embassy in Santo Domingo warned Americans about robberies and druggings after meetings arranged on dating apps, Infobae reported.

Watch for any Supreme Court action on Venezuelan TPS before November 6, further meetings between Blanco and US officials, and whether Havana’s blackouts bring more street protests. Today’s trade war report covers Venezuela’s oil deal.

Sources

• El Nacional: Canciller Oliver Blanco se reunió con el encargado de negocios de EE UU en Venezuela
• El Nacional: John Barrett felicita a Oliver Blanco por su nombramiento como canciller de Venezuela
• El Nacional: Cuba felicita al nuevo canciller de Venezuela y aboga por fortalecer las relaciones
• El Nacional: Delegación opositora respalda planteamiento de Marco Rubio sobre reformas institucionales antes de las elecciones
• US Embassy in Venezuela: Advancing Venezuela's Democratic Transition Through Reconciliation Talks
• El Nacional: Nueva jueza del caso contra Maduro y Flores ordena mantener la fecha del juicio fijada por Hellerstein
• El Nacional: Tribunal de apelaciones falla contra la administración Trump y abre la vía para restablecer el TPS para los venezolanos
• 14ymedio: 'Ni clientes ni luz': los apagones de más de 40 horas asfixian a La Habana
• 14ymedio: Una veintena de mujeres y niños bloquean la calle 100 en La Habana para exigir agua y electricidad
• 14ymedio: Bruno Rodríguez: 'la política de resistencia de Cuba ante la agresión de EE UU ha sido exitosa'
• Infobae: La CIDH cuestiona la ampliación de la pena de muerte en la legislación cubana
• El Nacional: Migración Colombia retuvo en la frontera a militar venezolano vinculado al chavismo y requerido por Interpol
• Infobae: Diplomático estadounidense destaca el traslado aéreo de 600 toneladas de equipos hacia Haití
• El Nacional: Brasil convoca a la representación diplomática de Argentina para exigir explicaciones por la fuga de Flávio Bolsonaro
• Infobae: Flávio Bolsonaro reapareció tras su salida de Brasil, denunció persecución política y cuestionó los resultados 'imposibles' del balotaje
• Infobae: Embajada de EE.UU. calificó de 'narcoquinceañera' una fiesta vinculada con la alcaldesa de Zacapa
• Infobae: EE. UU. emite alerta de seguridad para sus ciudadanos por asaltos y uso de drogas en República Dominicana