It started as a routine charter flight. But when the business jet landed in Venezuela, armed men loaded 47 sacks of cocaine on board and forced the crew to fly the cargo back across the Atlantic. Since then, the German pilot has been living under an assumed identity.

Just days after Venezuela’s tourism minister announced a plan to attract more tourists to the country, a group of seven armed bandits robbed some 300 people relaxing on a Caribbean beach in eastern Venezuela.

Soaring crime in Caracas throughout 2014 has given it the unenviable ranking of second most violent city in the world, with a murder rate of 155 for every 100,000 inhabitants, according to Mexican NGO Security, Justice, and Peace. In the Venezuelan capital, not even the state’s security forces are safe: during the first 29 days of 2015, criminals murdered 13 of the city’s uniformed officers. Circumstances varied, but in the majority of cases...

Venezuelan intelligence agents arrested the mayor of the country's capital after raiding his office Thursday, sparking a fierce outcry from opponents of President Nicolas Maduro's government. In a televised address, Maduro said Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma was captured by order of the Attorney General's Office. He will be prosecuted, Maduro said, "so that he answers for all of the crimes committed against the peace, security and constitution of our country."

Venezuela will begin installing some 20,000 fingerprint scanners at supermarkets nationwide in a bid to stamp out hoarding and panic buying, which the government blames for long lines and widespread shortages of basic goods. The oil-rich nation has been selectively rolling out the rationing system for months at state-run supermarkets along the western border with Colombia, where smuggling of price-controlled goods is a major problem.

US President Barack Obama has issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat, and slapped sanctions on seven officials. According to a WHite House statement issued on Monday, the new set of targeted sanctions exclude the Venezuelan people and any trade relations with the oil-rich nation and are instead specifically aimed at government officials the US accuses of violating human rights.

The Venezuelan parliament on Sunday approved a law giving the president, Nicolás Maduro, the power to legislate by decree for nine months in the face of what he described as threats by the US government. The so-called “anti-imperialist” law will be in effect from the time it is published in Venezuela’s Official Gazette until 31 December.

Venezuela’s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday. In Merida, a state in western Venezuelan that's known for its stunning mountain landscapes, small hotels are struggling to stock their rooms with basic supplies, especially as the busy Semana Santa or Holy Week holiday gets underway.

A woman who hit President Nicolás Maduro on the head with a mango has been promised a new house for her troubles in a surreal tropical tale that has gone viral in Venezuela. The 52-year-old president was driving a bus through a crowd in the central state of Aragua last weekend when the fruit was thrown at him.

Venezuela’s bolivar is collapsing. And as night follows day, Venezuela’s annual implied inflation rate is soaring. Last week, the annual inflation rate broke through the 500% level. It now stands at 510%. When inflation rates are elevated, standard economic theory and reliable empirical techniques allow us to produce accurate inflation estimates. With free market exchange-rate data (usually black-market data), the inflation rate can be calculated.

Daniella Cabello smiled sweetly at the crowd, clutching a Venezuelan flag against her white lace minidress. Cabello’s voice filled the Karl Marx Theater, in La Havana, Cuba, with an ode to former president Hugo Chávez during a concert for peace in Latin America. These days, Cabello and her youthful, delicate features seem to be everywhere. She appears frolicking on a white beach for an official tourism promotional video, walking alongside beaming elementary...

At one lake in Venezuela, lightning flashes 28 times a minute. By Ella Davies.

Venezuela's economic model has imploded. With food production, import and distribution now controlled by the government, shelves are bare. A day's hunt for groceries in Caracas can prove futile.

For Caracas housewife Anny Valero, today is grocery day — whether she likes it or not. Here's why: It's Monday, and if Valero doesn't go now, she'll have to wait four more days to buy food. In Venezuela, government supermarkets sell price-controlled food, making them far cheaper than private stores. But Valero explains that people are allowed in state-run supermarkets just two days per week, based on their ID card numbers. The system is designed to prevent shoppers from...

McDonald's French fries are being sold in Venezuela after a 10-month hiatus, but they come at a price: around 800 bolívares, or the equivalent of $133, Fusion reports. Why are they so expensive? The Venezuelan government keeps tight currency controls that make it hard for people to take their money out of the country. It also limits the number of dollars companies can buy without government approval.

Leaders of Venezuela's opposition said they won a majority of seats in legislative elections ahead of the announcement of official results. "The results are as we expected. Venezuela won," former presidential Henrique Capriles celebrated on Twitter late Sunday. "With great humility, serenity and maturity we accept what the people decided." A source within the anti-government camp told The Associated Press that the coalition believed it had won around 100 seats in the 167-seat legislature.

The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared 'being rich is bad,' may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets. Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president's second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports. The figure would make Gabriela Chavez wealthier than media mogul...

Amid the worst economic crisis Venezuela has faced in decades, the self-described "revolutionary" government led by President Nicolas Maduro has set in motion a revolutionary idea to solve the acute food shortages: let’s become producers at home. “Cilia and I have 50 chickens in our house,” said Maduro recently, referring to his wife. “It’s time to develop a new culture of production,” he added, before announcing the creation of yet another ministry called the Urban Farming Ministry.

Venezuela has more oil than any other country on the planet. But it just bought a bunch of American crude. A ship carrying half a million barrels of oil that was pumped in the U.S. docked at a terminal owned by Venezuela last week, according to oil data research firm ClipperData. The shipment was sent to a facility located on the Dutch island of Curacao in the Caribbean.

Nicolás Maduro uses decree powers to raise fuel prices for first time in 20 years and devalues currency in bid to boost nation’s coffers