As Caracas was accused of preventing foreign observers, including a delegation of former presidents, from traveling to Venezuela for the Sunday vote, worries about the impartiality of the country’s presidential elections intensified on Friday.
In the latest blow to an already fraught election run-up, Panama said authorities had prevented a flight carrying former Latin American leaders — all critics of President Nicolas Maduro — from leaving its international airport.
Spanish MPs and Colombian officials both claimed they were turned away at the airport in Caracas.
The 61-year-old socialist Maduro is running for reelection on Sunday to a third six-year term, sparking allegations that an increasingly authoritarian government is harassing the opposition.
