Venezuela accuses France's Macron of 'interference'

Macron's claim in a speech Tuesday was one of the harshest condemnations yet of the South American regime by a European leader. Venezuela's foreign ministry expressed its "firm rejection of the deplorable comments" by Macron. "They constitute clear interference in the internal affairs" of Venezuela, it said in a statement. "They are an assault on Venezuela's institutions and appear driven by the constant imperial obsession with attacking our people." Maduro has overseen the creation of a new all-powerful loyalist national assembly, a clampdown on the independent media and the sacking of the country's top justice official.