Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles asked Pope Francis on Wednesday for his assistance in facilitating political dialogue in the face of "threats and blackmail" from President Nicolas Maduro's regime.

"I came to ask the pope that the Church, which has a great power to mobilize in my country, promote dialogue," Capriles told journalists after his audience with Francis in the Vatican.

Venezuela Monday denounced a new report that the United States made Caracas a spying priority, and warned that bilateral ties would remain frozen.

"It is unacceptable that they're spying on us," Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told a news conference in Mexico City after talks with Mexican counterpart Jose Antonio Meade.

Venezuela rejected criticism of its human rights record Thursday, dismissing as biased a key regional body that put it on its black list as a rights abuser.

Venezuela has "excellent conduct in matters of human rights," said German Saltron, its representative on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Americans may insist on the right to pursue happiness, but Venezuela now has a formal government agency in charge of enforcing it.

President Nicolas Maduro says the new Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness will coordinate all the "mission" programs created by the late President Hugo Chavez to alleviate poverty.

The Venezuelan government denied Friday it planned to devalue its currency, despite a shortage of dollars and euros that has fueled demand on the black market.

"A devaluation is not on the table," said Rafael Ramirez, the newly appointed vice president in charge of economic policy who has also long served as oil minister.

A Venezuelan couple has been fined $1,300 for getting a bit too frisky inside their automobile, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The case has rankled Venezuelans, inhabitants of one of the world's most crime-ridden countries, who grouse that the time and effort spent prosecuting the pair might have been put to better use catching thieves and robbers.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pressed lawmakers Tuesday for special powers to fight corruption, in a move his rivals fear will lead to them being persecuted for political purposes.

"This is a matter of life or death for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," Maduro warned in an almost three-hour speech at the National Assembly.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro canceled plans to travel to Bolivia for a regional summit Thursday, saying he has fallen ill with the flu.

"I regret not to have been able to travel to our sister nation Bolivia -- a bout of the flu has prevented me," Maduro tweeted.

A Venezuelan government plane carrying an advance team for President Nicolas Maduro suffered a mishap Wednesday when the aircraft's front tire blew on landing in Bolivia, officials said.

Fifty passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the U.S.-made Hercules C-130 in Cochabamba, 400 kilometers (240 miles) east of La Paz.

The United States has expelled Venezuela's charge d'affaires in Washington and two other diplomats in reprisal for the expulsion of three American diplomats from Caracas, both countries said late Tuesday.

The tit-for-tat move came a day after the expulsion of the Americans, accused of plotting acts of sabotage against the government, the Foreign Ministry in Caracas said.