Venezuela’s UN envoy quits ‘at Maduro’s request’

Caracas’ ambassador to the United Nations, Rafael Ramirez, said in a letter released yesterday he was standing down at the request of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, as a feud between the two worsened. Ramirez had long been seen as a target of Maduro’s aggressive push to consolidate power in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections in the crisis-wracked South American country.