A U.N.-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela says the South American country’s government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment as President Nicolás Maduro faces a re-election contest next year.

Leaders of Venezuela’s fractured opposition are shaking voters’ hands and promising — yet again — that they will defeat President Nicolás Maduro at the ballot box.

Monitors from the European Union say Venezuela’s regional elections last weekend happened under better conditions compared to the country's elections in recent years but were marred by the use of public funds to benefit pro-government candidates.

The government of Venezuela and its opposition have met for the first time in two years to look for a change in the South American nation's prolonged political standoff.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government is intensifying efforts to court the Biden administration as the new U.S. president weighs whether to risk a political backlash in Florida and ease up on sanctions seeking to isolate the socialist leader.

The court ordered on Monday, June 15, 2020, the takeover of Democratic Action, one of the nations oldest and most influential political parties, which is now opposed to the government. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)CARACAS Venezuela's Supreme Court, loyal to President Nicols Maduro, on Tuesday ordered the takeover of two of the nation's most powerful political parties opposed to the socialist government ahead of parliamentary elections expected this year. The court suspended and replaced the board of directors for the Justice First party a day after the same move against the Democratic Action party, one of the nation's oldest and largest. It was part of a necessary restructuring process, the court said in separate rulings posted on Facebook. People of Venezuela, the hour is drawing near, the day is drawing near, the moment is drawing near, Maduro said.