In Venezuela, a Supreme Court ruling barring the leading presidential candidate from holding office effectively terminates a deal between the opposition and the government of President Nicolas Maduro to hold relatively free elections, opening the door to additional government repression and the snapback of U.S. sanctions. On Jan. 26, Venezuela's highest court, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), upheld an earlier ruling against Maria Corina Machado, the leading opposition candidate in the 2024 presidential elections, that bars her from holding public office for 15 years. The court alleged that Machado took part in a ''corrupt plot'' with former U.S.-recognized interim President Juan Guaido to ''dispossess'' Venezuela of state assets, including some $32 billion tied to Citgo Holdings and 31 tons of Venezuelan gold held abroad. Machado stated that the court's decision essentially nullified a set of internationally-mediated agreements that the opposition's Unitary Platform and the Venezuelan government signed in Barbados...
