PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The United States will grant $675,000 for crucial demining programs in Cambodia, the U.S. Embassy said Monday, after a freeze on foreign assistance raised doubts about the future support for mine clearance in the Southeast Asian nation.
An estimated 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded munitions littered Cambodia’s countryside during decades of conflict that began in 1970 and ended in 1998. Since the end of the fighting, nearly 20,000 people have been killed and about 45,000 injured by leftover war explosives, even though Cambodia has a worldwide reputation for an effective demining program.
Washington has contributed over $220 million since 1993 for demining operations and has partnered with the Norwegian People’s Aid and the Cambodian Mine Action Center, the U.S. Embassy said.
Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, said that soon after February's aid freeze announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington had issued a waiver allowing $6.36 million in scheduled aid to continue until November 2025.
He said the new funding was for mine clearing operations from November through April 2026. He expressed hope that a recent congressional visit and the signing of the funding agreement demonstrated Washington’s commitment to continued assistance for demining.
Cambodian deminers are among the world’s most experienced, and several thousand have been sent in the past decade under U.N. auspices to work in Africa and the Middle East.
However, neighboring Thailand has accused Cambodia of planting new antipersonnel mines along their border as part of a territorial dispute that led to five days of armed clashes in late July. Cambodia has denied the allegations.
Cambodia's ally China, which has been vying for influence in Southeast Asia, also has touted its own contributions to demining programs in Cambodia.
FILE - Cambodia Mine Action Center, CMAC, staff members work to demine a minefield in Preytotoeung village, Battambang province, Cambodia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
FILE - A "Danger Mines" sign marks an area as Cambodia Mine Action Center, CMAC, staff members work at a minefield in Preytotoeung village, Battambang province, Cambodia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez is set Thursday to deliver her first state of the union speech, addressing an anxious country as she navigates competing pressures from the United States – which toppled her predecessor less than two weeks ago – and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech comes one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster by the United States earlier this month.
In her address to the National Assembly, which is controlled by the country's ruling party, Rodríguez is expected to explain her vision for her government, including potential changes to the state-owned oil industry that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to reinvigorate since Maduro’s seizure.
On Thursday, Trump was set to meet at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
After acknowledging a Tuesday call with Trump, Rodríguez said on state television that her government would use “every dollar” earned from oil sales to overhaul the nation’s public health care system. Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long been crumbling, and patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
The acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after making a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
