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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Even before kicking off a three-day visit to Madrid on Friday, Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei stirred controversy, accusing the socialist government of bringing "poverty and death" to Spain and weighing in on corruption allegations against the prime minister's wife. In such circumstances, a typical visiting head of state may strive to mend fences with diplomacy. Not Milei. The brash economist has no plans to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during his three days in the Spanish capital — nor the Spanish king, nor any other government official. Instead, he'll attend a far-right summit Sunday hosted by Sánchez's fiercest political opponent, the Vox party. The unorthodox visit was business as usual for Milei, a darling of the global far right who has bonded with tech billionaire Elon Musk and praised former U.S. President Donald Trump. Earlier this year on a trip to the United States, Milei steered clear of the White House and took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, where he railed against abortion and socialism and shared a bear hug with Trump. Milei presented his 2022 book, The Way of the Libertarian, in Madrid on Friday at a literary event organized by La Razón, a conservative Spanish newspaper. The book — withdrawn from circulation in Spain earlier this month because the back-flap biography erroneously said Milei had earned a doctorate — traces his meteoric rise in politics from eccentric TV personality to national lawmaker and outlines his radical free-market economic ideas. To thunderous applause, Milei condemned socialism as "an intellectual fraud and a horror in human terms." "The good thing is that the spotlight is shining on us everywhere and we are making the reds (leftists) uncomfortable all over the world," Milei said. He took the opportunity to promote the results of his harsh austerity campaign in Argentina, celebrating a decline in monthly inflation in April though making no mention of the Buenos Aires subway fares that more than tripled overnight. Repeating a campaign pledge to eliminate Argentina's central bank — without giving further details — Milei promised to make Argentina "the country with the most economic freedom in the world." At the event Milei gave a huge hug to his ideological ally Santiago Abascal, the leader of the hard-right Vox party and the only politician with whom Milei has actual plans to meet in Madrid. The Vox summit Sunday seeks to bring together far-right figures from across Europe in a bid to rally the party's base ahead of European parliamentary elections in June. Milei described his attendance a "moral imperative." He also has plans to meet Spanish business executives Saturday. Tensions between Milei and Sánchez have simmered since the moment the Spanish prime minister declined to congratulate the libertarian economist on his shock election victory last November. But hostility exploded earlier this month when one of Sánchez's ministers suggested Milei had taken narcotics. The Argentine presidency responded with an unusually harsh official statement accusing Sánchez's government of "endangering the middle class with its socialist policies that bring nothing but poverty and death." The lengthy government statement also accused Sánchez of having "more important problems to deal with, such as the corruption accusations against his wife." The allegations of influence peddling and corruption brought by a right-wing group against Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, had prompted Sánchez, one of Europe's longest serving Socialist leaders, to consider stepping down.

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WASHINGTON — Hundreds of protesters rallied within sight of the U.S. Capitol, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and voicing criticism of the Israeli and American governments as they marked a painful present — the war in Gaza — and past — the exodus of about 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948.  About 400 demonstrators braved steady rains to rally on the National Mall on the 76th anniversary of what is called the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe. In January, thousands of pro-Palestinian activists had gathered in the nation's capital in one of the larger protests in recent memory.  There were calls in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza. "No peace on stolen land" and "End the killings, stop the crime/Israel out of Palestine," echoed through the crowd.  Protesters also focused their anger on President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of feigning concern over the death toll in Gaza.  "Biden Biden, you will see/genocide's your legacy," they said. The Democratic president was in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday.  Reem Lababdi, a George Washington University sophomore who said she was pepper-sprayed by police last week when they broke up an on-campus protest encampment, acknowledged that the rain seemed to hold down the numbers.  "I'm proud of every single person who turned out in this weather to speak their minds and send their message," she said.  This year's commemoration was fueled by anger over the ongoing siege of Gaza. The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel's military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.  Speaker Osama Abuirshad, executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, gestured at the Capitol building dome behind him.  "This Congress does not speak for us. This Congress does not represent the will of the people," he said. "We're paying for the bombs. We're paying for the F-16s and F-35s. And then we do the poor Palestinians a favor and send some food."  Speakers also expressed anger over the violent crackdown on multiple pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities across the country. In recent weeks, long-term encampments have been broken up by police at more than 60 schools; just under 3,000 protesters have been arrested.  The demonstrators marched for several blocks on Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues, with police cars closing the streets ahead of them. One lone counter-protester, waving an Israeli flag, attempted to march near the front of the procession. At one point, one of the demonstrators snatched his flag and ran away.  With tensions rising, members of the protesters' "safety team" formed a tight phalanx around the man, both to impede his progress and protect him from the crowd. The standoff was broken up when a police officer intervened, led the man away and told him to go home. 

BANGKOK — A powerful ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar's military government in the country's western state of Rakhine claimed Saturday to have seized a town near the border with Bangladesh, marking the latest in a series of victories for foes of the country's military government. Members of the state's Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, targets of deadly army-directed violence in 2017, appear to have been the main victims of fighting in the town of Buthidaung, where the Arakan Army claims to have chased out forces of the military government. There are contradictory accounts of who is to blame for the reported burning of the town, compelling its Rohingya residents to flee. The competing claims could not be verified independently, with access to the internet and mobile phone services in the area mostly cut off. Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told The Associated Press by text message from an undisclosed location that his group had seized Buthidaung after capturing all the military's outposts there. The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar's central government. It is also a member of an armed ethnic group alliance that recently gained strategic territory in the country's northeast on the border with China. The group said in a Saturday statement on the Telegram messaging platform that fighting was ongoing on the outskirts of Buthidaung as its fighters chased after the retreating army soldiers and local Muslims it said were fighting alongside them. Khaing Thukha said the Arakan Army's troops were caring for Muslim villagers fleeing the fighting. He denied allegations by Rohingya activists on social media that the Arakan Army had set fire to the town, which is mostly populated by Rohingya. Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, but they are widely regarded by many in the country's Buddhist majority, including members of the Rakhine minority, as having illegally migrated from Bangladesh. The Rohingya face a great amount of prejudice and are generally denied citizenship and other basic rights. The Rohingya were the targets of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign incorporating rape and murder that saw an estimated 740,000 flee to neighboring Bangladesh as their villages were burned down by government troops in 2017. Ethnic Rakhine nationalist supporters of the Arakan Army were also among the persecutors of the Rohingya minority. However, the 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi shifted political alignments, with a resistance movement against military rule, a position shared by the Arakan Army, counting the Rohingya population among its allies. Lingering tensions between the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the more than 600,000 Rohingya who are still living in Rakhine flared when the government in February recruited Rohingya living in displacement camps to do military service. Both coercion and promises of citizenship were reportedly employed to get them to join. Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition group based outside of Myanmar, said in a Friday email to the AP that the Arakan Army had warned Buthidaung's Rohingya residents to evacuate the town by 10 a.m. Saturday, and that more than 200,000 Rohingya seeking refuge there in houses, government buildings, a hospital, and schools, were in an extremely dangerous situation. He also alleged that the Arakan Army had fired on a school and a hospital where displaced Rohingya are sheltering, resulting in deaths and injuries. Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya who is deputy minister for human rights in the resistance movement's shadow National Unity Government, wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday that Buthidaung had been burned to "a pile of ash" and that its residents had fled to rice fields outside of town. He did not clearly lay blame for the arson, but said the situation was dire for those who fled. "A comprehensive and impartial investigation needs to be carried out and those responsible must be held accountable," he wrote. "Revolution against the military dictatorship is not a license to do anything you want. 'War has rules.'" The Arakan Army's Khaing Thukha described the allegations his group was responsible were baseless, claiming the houses caught fire due to the airstrikes by the military government. He also said retreating army troops and what he called their allies in "terrorist organizations" — meaning Rohingya guerrilla groups — and local Muslims inducted into the military also set fire to houses as they retreated. The military government has a well-established record of burning down villages as it battles pro-democracy and ethnic separatist groups opposed to military rule. 

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JEBENIANA, Tunisia — Hundreds of Tunisians marched through the streets of Jebeniana on Saturday to protest the presence of sub-Saharan migrants who have found themselves stranded as the country ramps up border patrol efforts. Anti-migrant anger is mounting in impoverished towns like Jebeniana along the Tunisian coastline that have emerged as a launchpad for thousands of people hoping to reach Europe by boat. Chanting slogans to oppose settling migrants in Tunisia, protesters demanded the government act to assist agricultural communities dealing with thousands of migrants living in tarpaulin encampments among their olive groves. "You brought them here and it's your responsibility to send them back to their home countries," Moamen Salemi, a 63-year-old retiree from nearby El Amra, said at the protest. "There is a shortage of food throughout the city of El Amra, including sugar, flour, bread and many other items." A final stop for many before attempting to reach a better life in Europe, Jebeniana and El Amra reflect the compounding problems facing Tunisia, a key transit point for migrants from Syria, Bangladesh and a variety of sub-Saharan African nations. Law enforcement has expanded its presence in the two agricultural towns, where roughly 83,000 Tunisians live among a growing number of migrants from around the world. Protesters say they have borne the cost of Tunisia's effort to prevent migrants from reaching the European Union less than a year after the country brokered an anti-migration pact with the 27-country bloc to better police its sea border and receive more than $1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in aid. The Tunisian Coast Guard has said it has prevented more than 21,000 migration attempts by land or sea this year. Fewer than 8,000 successfully traveled by boat from Tunisia to Italy in the first four months of 2024, a threefold decrease from 2023, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. More Tunisians have traveled by makeshift boat to Italy this year than migrants from sub-Saharan African countries. Anti-migrant protests erupted in the city of Sfax last year, months after Tunisian President Kais Saied called for measures to address violence and crime he said were caused by illegal immigration. But protests are a new development in Jebeniana and El Amra, where a similar one took place earlier this month. Encampments sprung up and expanded on the outskirts of the two towns after local authorities started increasingly clearing them from Sfax last year. The International Organization for Migration's Tunisia office has said roughly 7,000 migrants are living near Jebeniana and El Amra, though residents estimate the number could be much higher.

Dakar, Senegal — An alliance of separatist rebel groups fighting Malian government forces on Saturday accused the army and Russian paramilitary group Wagner of killing 11 civilians earlier in the week. The Malian authorities did not respond to a request for comment from AFP about the allegations posed in a statement from the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA), an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed rebel groups. The CSP-DPA said that Wednesday, the village of Tassik in the northern Kidal region "was targeted by a patrol of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group and the Malian army, who committed serious violations against the population." The separatist alliance put the death toll at 11 civilians, whose bodies were discovered "burned," with two more civilians reported missing. It added that the patrol had ransacked several stores and vehicles. "The CSP-DPA unreservedly condemns these terrorist operations programmed with the aim of carrying out a targeted ethnic cleansing and accelerated depopulation of the Azawad territory of its Indigenous people," the statement said. Azawad is the name of the territory claimed by separatists in northern Mali. Fighting between the separatists and Mali government troops broke out last August after eight years of calm, as both sides scrambled to fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers (MINUSMA), ordered to leave by the ruling junta in Bamako. The offensive in northern Mali has been marked by numerous allegations of abuses against civilians by Malian forces and, since 2022, their Russian allies, which the Malian authorities systematically deny. Since seizing power in 2020, Mali's junta has broken ties with France and turned politically and militarily toward Russia. 

TORONTO — Residents of the Canadian oil town threatened by an out-of-control wildfire can return home, authorities said Saturday, even as they warned the community will have to contend with the blaze for the foreseeable future. Thousands of residents of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, had been ordered to leave their homes earlier this month. But favorable weather made returning home possible. "With the current and forecast weather conditions, specifically the amount of rain that has fallen on the fire, combined with continued fire suppression and community protection efforts, I am pleased to announce it is now safe for us to end the current evacuation and allow people to return to their homes," said Sandy Bowman, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo that includes Fort McMurray. "We thank all of you for your patience, resolve and strength," he said. Fort McMurray is the hub for most of Canada's oil output. The wildfire season is getting an early start one year after a historically fiery 2023 left some remembering a devastating 2016 fire dubbed "The Beast" that forced the evacuation of 90,000 residents, burned down 2,400 buildings and idled more than 1 million barrels per day of oil production. But while conditions are now favorable and the community is not presently under threat, authorities warned they were not yet out of the woods. The fire "is not yet under control," said Alberta Wildfire information office Josee St-Onge. Fire behavior will likely increase when sunshine and warm weather return, she added. "While it is safe for evacuees to return, residents will have to live with an active wildfire near their community for weeks if not months. Bringing a wildfire of this size under control will take time and hard work," she said. 

JOHANNESBURG, south africa — Former South African President Jacob Zuma Saturday lamented the high levels of poverty among black South Africans and promised to create jobs and tackle crime as he launched his new political party's manifesto ahead of the country's much anticipated elections. He told thousands of supporters who gathered at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg that his party would build factories where many people would be employed and provide free education to the country's youth. "We want our children to study for free, especially those from poor households because the poverty we have was not created by us. It was created by settlers who took everything, including our land. We'll take all those things back, make money and educate our children," he said. Zuma also has pledged to change South Africa's Constitution to restore more power to traditional leaders, saying their role in society has been reduced by giving more power to magistrates and judges. Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party, known as the MK Party, has emerged as a significant player in South Africa's upcoming elections after it was launched in December last year. He is currently involved in a legal battle with the country's electoral authority, the Independent Electoral Commission. He has appealed against a court judgment that barred him from standing in the election because of his criminal record. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission of inquiry which was probing corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018. In 2018, he was forced to resign as the country's president following wide-ranging corruption allegations, but he has made a political return and now seeks to become the country's president again. "When they talk about unemployment, they are talking about us, there is nobody else. When they talk about people who live in shacks, that is us, there is nobody else who lives in shacks except us," Zuma told his supporters, many of whom had travelled from other provinces such as Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, where he still enjoys significant support. Poverty among black people is the reason behind South Africa's high levels of crime, according to the former president. "Our hunger and poverty is what creates a perception that we are criminals, we don't have a brain, we have nothing. That time is over, because we are good people who are giving, but some people are pushing us towards criminality," he said. Zuma said his party was aiming to get more than 65% of the national vote in the upcoming elections as it would allow them to change many laws in the country's constitution. Recent polls and analysts have suggested that the ruling African National Congress might get less than 50% of the vote and would need to form a coalition with smaller parties to remain in power. South Africans will go to the polls on May 29.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

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Baghdad, Iraq — Iraq's lawmakers failed to elect a speaker Saturday as neither of the two main candidates secured a majority during a tense session of parliament.  It is the latest in a series of failed attempts to replace the former head of parliament who was dismissed in November, with political bickering and divisions between key Sunni parties derailing every effort so far.  Saturday's vote was the closest yet to selecting a new head of the 329-member parliament, with 311 lawmakers showing up for the session and the leading candidate falling just seven votes short.  The parliament's media office announced that 137 lawmakers chose Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the oldest MP, while 158 picked Salem al-Issawi.  However, candidates require at least 165 votes to win.  Many lawmakers did not return for a second attempt Saturday, with local media sharing videos of a brief brawl between MPs and reporting that at least one of them was injured.    The parliament's media office then announced that the session had been adjourned.  Iraq, a mosaic of different ethnic and religious groups, is governed by complex power-sharing arrangements.  The largely ceremonial role of president traditionally goes to a Kurd, that of prime minister to a Shiite, while the speaker of parliament is usually Sunni.  But parliament is dominated by a coalition of pro-Iran Shiite parties, reflecting the country's largest religious group.  A coalition of three Sunni blocs backed Issawi, while Mashhadani, who served as Iraq's first speaker following the adoption of the 2005 constitution, received the support of the former speaker Mohamed al-Halbussi's sizable bloc. The new speaker will replace Halbussi, the influential politician dismissed by Iraq's top court in November after a lawmaker accused him of forging a resignation letter.  Halbussi had been the country's highest-ranking Sunni official since he first became a speaker in 2018.  The new speaker's stint will not last long with the general election due in 2025. 

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houston, texas — As the Houston, Texas, area works to clean up and restore power to hundreds of thousands after deadly storms left at least seven people dead, it will do so amid a smog warning and scorching temperatures that could pose health risks. National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard said Saturday that highs of around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius) were expected through the start of the coming week, with heat indexes likely approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) by midweek. "We expect the impact of the heat to gradually increase ... we will start to see that heat risk increase Tuesday into Wednesday through Friday," Chenard said. The heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when humidity is combined with the air temperature, according to the weather service. "Don't overdo yourself during the cleanup process," the weather service's Houston office said in a post on the social platform X. In addition to the heat, the Houston area could face poor air quality during the weekend. Heavy rainfall was possible in eastern Louisiana and central Alabama on Saturday, and parts of Louisiana were also at risk of flooding. The Houston Health Department said it would distribute 400 free portable air conditioners to area seniors, people with disabilities, and caregivers of disabled children to contend with the heat. Five cooling centers also were opened — four in Houston and one in Kingwood. Hundreds of thousands without power The widespread destruction of Thursday's storms brought much of Houston to a standstill. Thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds tore through the city — decimating the facade of one brick building and leaving trees, debris and shattered glass on the streets. A tornado also touched down near the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress. More than a half-million homes and businesses in Texas remained without electricity by midday Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us. Another 21,000 customers were also without power in Louisiana, where strong winds and a suspected tornado hit. CenterPoint Energy, which has deployed 1,000 employees to the area and is requesting 5,000 more, said power restoration could take several days or longer in some areas, and that customers need to ensure their homes can safely be reconnected. "In addition to damaging CenterPoint Energy's electric infrastructure and equipment, severe weather may have caused damage to customer-owned equipment" such as the weatherhead, which is where power enters the home, the company said. Customers must have repairs completed by a qualified electrician before service can be restored, CenterPoint added. High-voltage transmission towers that were torn apart and downed power lines pose a twofold challenge for utility companies because the damage affected transmission and distribution systems, according to Alexandria von Meier, a power and energy expert who called that a rare thing. Damage to just the distribution system is more typical, von Meier said. How quickly repairs are made will depend on a variety of factors, such as the time it takes to assess damages, replace equipment and dispatch workers. Storm caught many off guard Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez reported late Friday that three people died during the storm, including an 85-year-old woman whose home caught fire after being struck by lightning and a 60-year-old man who had tried to use his vehicle to power his oxygen tank. Houston Mayor John Whitmire previously said at least four other people were killed in the city when the storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston. School districts in the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students; government offices were closed. Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said Saturday that he hoped to reopen schools Monday, but that is dependent upon the restoration of electricity in school buildings. "If a school doesn't have power, it will remain closed," Miles told reporters during a tour of the heavily damaged Sinclair Elementary School. Whitmire warned that police were out in force, including state troopers sent to the area to prevent looting. He said the speed and intensity of the storm caught many off guard. Noelle Delgado, executive director of Houston Pets Alive, said she pulled up at the animal rescue Thursday night and found the dogs and cats — more than 30 in all — uninjured, but the building's awning had been ripped off, the sign was mangled, and water was leaking inside. She hoped to find foster homes for the animals. "I could definitely tell that this storm was a little different," she said. "It felt terrifying." Recovery assistance on the way Considering the storm damage, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Whitmire both signed disaster declarations, paving the way for state and federal storm recovery assistance. A separate disaster declaration from President Joe Biden makes federal funding available to people in seven Texas counties — including Harris — that have been affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 26.

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LA VICTORIA, Venezuela — The presidential candidate of Venezuela's chief opposition coalition sought Saturday to cultivate a mood of hope and possibility in a massive rally that marked the start of a campaign he admittedly never imagined leading.  Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the former diplomat chosen by the coalition to replace the fiery leader Maria Corina Machado on the ballot, drew thousands of supporters to the streets of La Victoria, his hometown.  He urged them to imagine a country where public services are not a luxury, people are not imprisoned for their political beliefs, and millions will return after having migrated throughout a decade in search of better economic opportunities.  "I guarantee a peaceful alternation in which all political forces will be able to exercise their rights within the framework of the constitution," Gonzalez said, addressing an audience of retirees, young adults and residents of the capital.  "I want to call on all Venezuelans to join me in a peaceful and orderly change of government. We will move from division to unity, from abuse by a few to the rule of law for all, and from this undignified present to a dignified future for all."  Gonzalez was joined on stage by Machado, whose candidacy for the July 28 election was barred by the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The crowd cheered for both under sweltering temperatures. Street vendors sold T-shirts and baseball caps promoting the duo for $10.   Gonzalez is the third candidate that the Unitary Platform opposition coalition has promoted as its own this year.  Machado, a former lawmaker, entered 2024 as the group's candidate after winning an October presidential primary, but a top court loyal to Venezuela's ruling party affirmed in January an administrative decision to ban her from office. She appointed a substitute in March — former academic Corina Yoris — but she, too, was barred from the ballot. Four days later, the coalition picked Gonzalez.  La Victoria resident Maria Contreras, 75, arrived 4 1/2 hours early to the street where Saturday's rally was to take place. She waved at acquaintances as they arrived to catch a glimpse of Machado and Gonzalez, whose mother was Contreras' fourth-grade teacher.  "We will achieve it! I have faith in God, and I ask him for this, on my knees, every day so that my grandchildren and children can return," Contreras, a retired secretary, said. "I came here alone and on an empty stomach. It's horrible what happened to this community."  Contreras said she cleans homes in exchange for food. Her $3-a-month pension does not allow her to buy even a kilogram of cheese or a 1-liter bottle of cooking oil.  La Victoria was once home to an auto assembly plant, a glass making company and other industrial facilities. But those shut down, and the community's streets are lined with boarded-up businesses.  'One step forward' Gonzalez began his career as an aide to Venezuela's ambassador in the U.S. in the late 1970s. He had postings in Belgium and El Salvador and served as Caracas' ambassador to Algeria.  His last post was as ambassador to Argentina during the first years of the presidency of Hugo Chavez, who came to power in 1999. Chavez transformed Venezuela with socialist policies like nationalizing industries and launching welfare programs. Chavez handpicked Maduro to replace him before dying of cancer in 2013.  More recently, Gonzalez worked as an international relations consultant and wrote a historical work on Venezuela during World War II.  Surrounded by Machado, his wife, sister-in-law and a daughter, Gonzalez told the crowd that he "never" aspired to run for public office, but that he agreed to become the Unitary Platform's candidate to move Venezuela "one step forward."  "Let's imagine for a moment the country that is coming," he told the audience with a bit more energy than his usual subdued tone characteristic of a diplomat. "A country in which the president does not insult or see his adversaries as enemies. A country where when you get home from work you know that your money has value, that when you turn on the switch there will be electricity, that when you turn on the faucet there will be water."  But it did not match the energy of a seasoned politician like Machado, who practically crowd-surfed to reach the stage Saturday.  Maduro seeks third term President Maduro is seeking a third term in July. His presidency has been marked by a crisis that pushed millions of people into poverty, while more than 7.7 million others migrated.  Many of those gathered Saturday in La Victoria loudly rejected the president, whose party again held a rally on the same day and community as the opposition coalition.  "I don't want a bag!" some chanted referring to a bag of food the government hands out to people. "What I want is for Nicolas to leave!"