The city of Miami and members of Venezuela's opposition will host a charity run to raise funds for medical supplies and medicines for the South American nation that is grappling with food and medical shortages.
Mayor Francis Suarez said "Running for Freedom 5K" will support humanitarian aid efforts led by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The Trump administration and more than 50 other countries recognize Guaidó as Venezuela's interim president. Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro meanwhile has blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Representative of Guaidó's aid mission Lester Toledo says that his team has been able to deliver 930 tons of food and other supplies.
Lester Toledo, a Venezuelan opposition leader, left, speaks during a news conference at Miami City Hall regarding local efforts to support the Venezuelan democracy movement, Monday, July 22, 2019, in Miami. The City of Miami will host a 5K run July 28 to raise money for the movement. At center is Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. (AP PhotoLynne Sladky)
Officials are aiming for 2,000 people to participate in the 5K run on Sunday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
