text: Following the Venezuelan uprising on 30 April 2019, the U.S. removed sanctions against former SEBIN chief Manuel Cristopher Figuera, who broke ranks with Maduro. The U.S. Treasury Department press release said the action demonstrated that "removal of sanctions may be available for designated persons who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the illegitimate Maduro regime, or combat corruption in Venezuela". In response to the arrest of National Assembly members, the US Treasury sanctioned on 10 May two shipping companies, and two ships, that transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba between late 2018 and March 2019. Both ships sanctioned have Panama flags: the tanker "Ocean Elegance" is owned by Monsoon Navigation Corporation, and "Leon Dias" by Serenity Martitime Limited. Mnuchin stated: "The U.S. will take further action if Cuba continues to receive Venezuelan oil in exchange for military support." The sanctions were a "direct response to SEBIN’s illegal arrest of National Assembly members".


title: International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis

text: On 27 June 2019, the United States sanctioned two former Venezuelan government officials Luis Alfredo Motta Domínguez and Eustiquio Jose Lugo Gomez, who, it claimed, were engaging in significant corruption and fraud to the detriment of the people of Venezuela. The Miami US attorney's office said during a news release that the Motta is indicted on seven counts of money laundering and one count of money laundering conspiracy, after awarding US$60 million in contracts to three Florida-based companies in return for bribes. In April, President Maduro dismissed Motta as Electricity Minister after a series of blackouts occurred in March.


text: On 28 June 2019, the United States placed sanctions on President Maduro's son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra for being a current or former official of the Government of Venezuela, as well as being a member of Venezuela's Constituent Assembly. The U.S. Treasury Department accuses Maduro Guerra of maintaining a stranglehold on the economy and suppressing the people of Venezuela.


text: Following the death of Venezuelan navy captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo on 29 June, the United States sanctioned Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar on 11 July 2019, accusing the defense agency of being responsible for his death.


text: On 19 July 2019, US Vice President Mike Pence announced new sanctions on DGCIM officials who, he said, were responsible for repressing and torturing Venezuelans. Pence said the UN had reported that there were nearly 7000 "killings by [the] Maduro regime in the last 18 months".


text: On 25 July 2019, US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams announced that the government was considering imposing new sanctions on Russia over its support for President Maduro. Abrams said "On Russia, we are still thinking about what sanctions to apply, individual or sectorial. They are not giving any more money to Venezuela. They are taking their money out."


text: On 7 October 2019, Adobe Inc. announced that it decided to stop providing cloud services in Venezuela to comply with the executive orders. All last versions of Adobe products use cloud. It gave users time until 28 October to download their files from clouds. However, on 28 October Adobe announced that it would continue providing cloud services.


text: The United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned seven individuals, for their involvement in the disputed internal parliamentary elections of the National Assembly in January 2020. The election was disrupted and resulted in two competing claims for the Presidency of the National Assembly: one by legislator Luis Parra, later supported by Nicolás Maduro, and one by the incumbent Juan Guaidó. According to US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin on 13 January 2020, the US blacklisted the Venezuelan lawmakers "who, at the bidding of Maduro, attempted to block the democratic process in Venezuela." The sanctioned had their assets in the US frozen and are not allowed to do business with US financial markets nor with US citizens. The list includes the members of Luis Parra's appointed board of directors and his supporters: Franklyn Duarte, José Goyo Noriega, , José Brito, , Adolfo Superlano and Parra himself.


text: On 7 February 2020, OFAC added state airline Conviasa and its fleet of 40 aircraft (including presidential aircraft) to the Specially Designated Nationals ("SDN") list. In practice, this makes it extremely unlikely that Conviasa will be able to source replacement parts for its fleet of airworthy and grounded Boeing B737 aircraft. Additionally, US citizens and companies are prohibited from flying on Conviasa's domestic and international flights. Finally, to the extent that other countries abide by OFAC policy, those countries (Brazil, France and the United Kingdom) will refuse to sell Conviasa replacement parts for Embraer and Airbus aircraft, prohibit its nationals from flying Conviasa, and will cancel Conviasa-serviced routes to their respective countries (Panama, Mexico, Bolivia, and Ecuador).


text: On 18 February 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") sanctioned Rosneft, its Swiss-incorporated company (Rosneft Trading S.A.) and its president and chairman of board of directors Didier Casimiro on 18 February 2020 for supporting Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro government by operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy. The company was previously sanctioned by the Obama administration on 16 July 2014 in retaliation for the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Kremlin, and the Russian interference in Ukraine.


text: Into 2020, President Donald Trump expressed that he believed that the removal of Maduro from office was occurring too slowly and that incremental processes such as sanctions did not provide results. Because such processes to remove Maduro were unsuccessful, President Trump began to consider military options, including a naval blockade against Venezuela.


text: On 26 March 2020, the U.S. Department of State offered $15 million on Nicolás Maduro, and $10 million each on Diosdado Cabello, Hugo Carvajal, Clíver Alcalá Cordones and Tareck El Aissami, for information to bring those individuals to justice in relation to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.


text: In August 2019, President Donald Trump imposed additional sanctions on Venezuela, ordering a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred transactions with US citizens and companies. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet raised concern about these US sanctions against President Nicolás Maduro. The UN rights chief condemned the measures as "extremely broad" that are capable of exacerbating the suffering of the Venezuelan people. Following the decision, National Security Advisor John R. Bolton said that his government was ready to impose sanctions on any international company doing business with Nicolás Maduro, an act that could ensnare its dealings with its allies such as Russia, China and Turkey as well as Western companies.


text: Trump issued EO 13850 on 1 November 2018 to block the assets of anyone involved in corruption in the gold sector, or "any other sector of the economy as determined in the future by the Secretary of the Treasury". U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin determined on 28 January 2019 that EO 13850 applied to the petroleum sector.


text: Three additional Executive Orders have been applied in the areas of Venezuelan sanctions. EO 13808, issued on 27 July 2017, prohibits the Venezuelan government from accessing U.S. financial markets, allowing for "exceptions to minimize the impact on the Venezuelan people and U.S. economic interests. The sanctions restrict the Venezuelan government's access to U.S. debt and equity markets." This includes the state-run oil company, PDVSA. Issued in 2018, EO 13827 prohibits the use of Venezuelan digital currency, and EO 13835 prohibits the purchase of Venezuelan debt.


text: The Organization of American States (OAS) commissioner for Venezuelan migrants and refugees, David Smolansky in Public Radio International said that US sanctions "target President Nicolás Maduro and his circle of elite government officials in an attempt to control their access to financial assistance from US citizens and companies". The authors add that while "Chavismo elites were hit with a variety of sanctions over the last three years, they've done little to make an impact on ordinary Venezuelans, whose lives have spiraled into a humanitarian crisis as hyperinflation has driven nearly 3 million to flee." As the humanitarian crisis deepened and expanded, the Trump administration levied more serious economic sanctions against Venezuela on 28 January, and "Maduro accused the US of plunging Venezuelan citizens further into economic crisis." Rafael Uzcátegui, director of PROVEA, added that "sanctions against PDVSA are likely to yield stronger and more direct economic consequences, and that "[w]e should remember that 70 to 80 percent of Venezuela's food is imported, and there's barely any medicine production in the country."


text: In August 2017, Trump imposed economic sanctions that moderately affected Venezuela's petroleum industry, according to the "New York Times", by prohibiting the trading of Venezuelan bonds in U.S. markets. The "New York Times" said there were "broad loopholes, allowing for the financing of most commercial trade, including the export of American light crude oil to Venezuela for mixing with its heavy crude, and financing for humanitarian services to the Venezuelan people", and quoted analysts who said the sanctions would not be a "lethal blow", rather would "send a message". The White House saw the limited measures as a way to "protect the United States financial system from complicity in Venezuela's corruption and in the impoverishment of the Venezuelan people, and allow for humanitarian assistance". According to the U.S. State Department, this "closes another avenue for corruption by denying the Venezuelan regime the ability to earn money by selling off public assets at 'fire sale' prices at the expense of the Venezuelan people".


text: On 28 January, the United States imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA to pressure Maduro to resign during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis. The sanctions prevent PDVSA from being paid for petroleum exports to the US, freeze $7 billion of PDVSA's US assets and prevent US firms from exporting naphtha to Venezuela. Bolton estimated the expected loss to the Venezuelan economy at more than $11 billion in 2019. "Reuters" said the sanctions are expected to reduce Venezuela's ability to purchase food and other imports which could result in further shortages and worsen its economic position.


text: In February, Maduro ordered PDVSA to move its European office to Moscow to protect PDVSA's overseas assets from US sanctions. The Russian state-run oil company Rosneft has supplied naphtha to Venezuela and continues to purchase Venezuelan petroleum which it says is through contracts that were in place prior to the US sanctions. Exports of Venezuela's heavy crude oil depend on diluents that were imported from the US before sanctions; Rosneft chartered a ship to load thinners from Malta and deliver them to Venezuela on 22 March, and it has arranged for shipping of Venezuelan crude oil to be processed in India. Other companies including India's Reliance Industries Limited, Spain's Repsol, and commodity trading companies Trafigura and Vitol continued to supply Venezuela's oil industry as of 11 April 2019. On 17 April, Reuters reported that Repsol was in discussion with the Trump administration and had suspended its swaps with PDVSA.


text: The Venezuelan National Assembly has been looking at ways to access Venezuela's overseas cash and facilities. PDVSA's US subsidiary Citgo announced in February that it would formally cut ties with PDVSA to comply with US sanctions on Venezuela, and halted payments to PDVSA. Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly appointed a new Citgo board of directors under Chairperson Luisa Palacios. The National Assembly authorized Guaidó's appointment of a new "ad hoc" board of PDVSA, Citgo, Pdvsa Holding Inc, Citgo Holding Inc. and Citgo Petroleum Corporation. Even though control of PDVSA assets in Venezuela remained with Maduro, Guaidó also named a new board for PDVSA. With Citgo under the control of Guaidó's administration, the US Department of Treasury extended its license to operate in spite of US sanctions.


text: Stating it was a "sign of the growing dependence of Venezuela’s cash-strapped government on Russia", Reuters reported on 18 April 2019 that the Maduro administration was bypassing the sanctions by funneling cash from petroleum sales through Russia's Rosneft. Reliance denied reports that it was in violation of U.S. sanctions and stated that its purchases of Venezuelan oil through Rosneft had the approval of the U.S. State Department.


text: April oil exports were steady at a million barrels daily, "partially due to inventory drains", with most shipments to buyers from India and China. Production in April was eight percent higher than it was in March, during the 2019 Venezuelan blackouts. Even with sanctions, shipments to Cuba were unchanged.


text: Through Petrocaribe, Caribbean countries including Haiti and Jamaica had been able to finance 40% of their Venezuelan crude oil purchases over 25 years at 1% interest; Cuba received free oil in exchange for medical services. "Reuters" said, "The Caribbean region has long relied on oil and gas from Venezuela, which offered cheap financing through a program called Petrocaribe, though shipments have declined in recent years because of production problems at Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA." Research by the journalism group "Connectas" said that Venezuela had spent $28 billion worth of oil to buy support from 14 Caribbean countries; according to the "Connectas" study the social benefits that were intended for the countries of Petrocaribe were not realized, which they say was ignored by the Venezuelan government because Petrocaribe countries were intended to protect Venezuela's sovereignty in international organizations like the UN and OAS.


text: Several leaders of Caribbean countries supporting Maduro criticized the US sanctions, saying their support for Maduro was based on principles, not oil, and that sanctions were affecting their countries' supply, debt payments, and the region's stability. The director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas at Austin, Jorge Piñón, said the supply cuts to these Caribbean countries were not due to the sanctions, but the mismanagement of PDVSA. When Chávez was elected, Venezuela was producing 3.5 million barrels per day of crude oil; as of March 2019, production is about 1 million barrels per day, and Piñón says these countries should have seen the problems coming. Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and others criticized the US intent in the region, saying that "Washington should provide more aid to these nations and not spend billions on useless wars". With the Venezuelan crisis dividing Caribbean countries, those countries that did not recognize Maduro were invited to meet with Trump in March 2019. Following the meeting, Trump promised more investment to the countries supporting Guaidó (Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia), although "the White House did not specifically tie the carrot of investment to that support".


text: Venezuela's third-largest export (after crude oil and refined petroleum products) is gold. The country's gold production is controlled by the military and is mined under dangerous conditions. The World Gold Council reported in January 2019 that Venezuela's foreign-held gold reserves had fallen by 69% to US$8.4 billion during Maduro's presidency, but that it was hard to track where the gold was going. Central Bank gold holdings decreased in November 2018 from US$6.1 billion to US$5.5 billion; the last independent observer to access the vault where gold is stored was Francisco Rodríguez, who saw an estimated US$15 billion in 2014. Reuters reported that 20 tons were removed from the vaults in 2018, and 23 tons of mined gold were taken to Istanbul, Turkey. In the first nine months of 2018, Venezuela's gold exports to Turkey rose from zero in the previous year to US$900 million.


text: On 1 November 2018 Trump signed an executive order to "ban U.S. persons from dealing with entities and individuals involved with 'corrupt or deceptive' gold sales from Venezuela".


text: In mid-February 2019, a National Assembly legislator Angel Alvarado said that about eight tons of gold had been taken from the vault while the head of the Central Bank was abroad. In March, Ugandan investigators were looking into recent gold imports, and reported that 7.4 tonnes of gold worth over US$300 million could have been smuggled into that country.


text: The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Minerven, Venezuela's state-run mining company, and its president, Adrian Antonio Perdomo in March 2019. The sanctions prohibit business with Minerven and Perdomo, and freeze their assets in the US. The Treasury department said that the Venezuelan military grants access to criminal organizations in exchange for money.


text: Government sources said another eight tonnes of gold was taken out of the Central Bank in the first week of April 2019; the government source said that there were 100 tonnes left. The gold was removed while the bank was not fully operational because of the ongoing, widespread power outages and minimal staff was present; the destination of the gold was not known.


text: According to Bloomberg, the Central Bank sold 9.5 tonnes of gold on 10 May and three more tonnes some days later.


text: In an exclusive report in March 2020, Reuters estimated that there were about 90 tonnes of gold left in the country, compared to 129 tonnes at the start of 2019.


text: On 19 March 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order that prohibits people in the U.S. from making any type of transaction with digital currency emitted by or in the name of the government of Venezuela as of 9 January 2018. The executive order referenced "Petro", a crypto-currency also known as "petromoneda". He said the crypto-currency had been designed in February 2018 to "circumvent US sanctions" and access international financing.


text: After the detention of Guaidó's chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, in March 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department responded by placing sanctions on the Venezuelan bank BANDES and its subsidiaries. "Univision" said this action "put 'the entire banking sector' on notice" that "persons operating in Venezuela's financial sector may be subject to sanctions." China Development Bank has paid billions of dollars through BANDES to the Venezuelan government in exchange for crude oil; the sanctions will make it difficult for Venezuela to restructure its US$20 billion debt with China.


text: The Maduro administration issued a statement saying that it "energetically rejects the unilateral, coercive, arbitrary and illegal measures" that would affect banking for millions of people.


text: US National Security Advisor Bolton said that "Our aim is to bring this crisis to a conclusion quickly for the benefit of the Venezuelan people to get the Maduro regime to peacefully transition to the Guaido regime so that we can have free and fair elections." Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said, "The willingness of Maduro's inner-circle to exploit Venezuela’s institutions knows no bounds. Regime insiders have transformed BANDES and its subsidiaries into vehicles to move funds abroad in an attempt to prop up Maduro. Maduro and his enablers have distorted the original purpose of the bank, which was founded to help the economic and social well-being of the Venezuelan people, as part of a desperate attempt to hold onto power."


text: The U.S. Treasury added sanctions to the Central Bank of Venezuela on 17 April 2019. U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated that, "While this designation will inhibit most Central Bank activities undertaken by the illegitimate Maduro regime, the United States has taken steps to ensure that regular debit and credit card transactions can proceed and personal remittances and humanitarian assistance continue unabated and are able to reach those suffering under the Maduro regime’s repression." The new sanctions closed some loopholes that allowed for continued financing of the government. The Central Bank was able to obtain loans without seeking approval from the National Assembly. It also sold gold to the central banks of other countries. By interrupting the foreign exchange handled by the Central Bank, PDVSA purchases of production supplies were impacted.


text: The Venezuelan banking sanctions caused a rippled effect in that the New York Federal Reserve decided to restrict opening of new accounts in Puerto Rico's offshore banking industry, and planned tighter restrictions in that area.


text: On 25 July 2019, the United States Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on 10 people and 13 companies (from Colombia, Hong Kong (China), Mexico, Panama, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.) in a Venezuelan food subsidy called "CLAP", which includes stepsons of President Nicolas Maduro and a Colombian businessman Alex Saab. According to a statement by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, "The corruption network that operates the CLAP program has allowed Maduro and his family members to steal from the Venezuelan people. They use food as a form of social control, to reward political supporters and punish opponents, all the while pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars through a number of fraudulent schemes." The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida charged Saab and another Colombian businessman with money laundering related to a 2011-15 scheme to pay bribes to take advantage of Venezuela's government-set exchange rate.


text: The Maduro government rejected the sanctions, calling it sign of "desperation" by "the gringo empire." President Maduro said "Imperialists, prepare for more defeats, because the CLAP in Venezuela will continue, no one takes the CLAP away from the people." A "communique" from the Venezuelan foreign ministry "denounces the repeated practice of economic terrorism by the US government against the Venezuelan people, announcing measures whose criminal purpose is to deprive all Venezuelans of their right to food."


text: Colombian businessman Alex Saab has sold food to Venezuela for more than USD 200 million in a negotiation signed by President Nicolás Maduro through a registered company in Hong Kong. On 23 August 2017, the Venezuelan attorney general, Luisa Ortega Díaz, named Alex Saab as the owner of the Mexican firm Group Grand Limited, 26 along with Colombian businessmen Álvaro Pulido and Rofolfo Reyes, "presumably President Nicolás Maduro" and dedicated to selling food to the CLAP. Saab would have met Álvaro Pulido in 2012, when he was dedicated to supplying the Saab company, but this activity would have stopped doing it in 2014.


text: On 19 April 2018, after a multilateral meeting between over a dozen European and Latin American countries, United States Department of the Treasury officials stated that they had collaborated with Colombian officials to investigate corrupt import programs of the Maduro administration including CLAP. They explained that Venezuelan officials pocketed 70% of the proceeds allocated for importation programs destined to alleviate hunger in Venezuela. Treasury officials said they sought to seize the proceeds that were being funneled into the accounts of corrupt Venezuelan officials and hold them for a possible future government in Venezuela.


text: An April 2019 communication from the United States Department of State highlighted the 2017 National Assembly investigation finding that the government paid US$42 for food that cost under US$13, and that "Maduro's inner circle kept the difference, which totaled more than $200 million dollars in at least one case", adding that food boxes were "distributed in exchange for votes".


text: On 17 September 2019, the United States Department of Treasury expanded further sanctions on 16 entities (from Colombia, Italy and Panama) and 3 individuals, accusing them of helping the Venezuelan government to "corruptly profit from imports of food aid and distribution in Venezuela".


text: Since late 2019, the U.S. has prevented sending gasoline by Venezuela's fuel suppliers. while the own once-formidable refining industry of Venezuela cannot produce gasoline and country is facing a chronic shortage of gasoline. This action is part of Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign to overthrow Maduro.


text: Canada sanctioned 40 Venezuelan officials, including Maduro, in September 2017. The sanctions were for behaviors that undermined democracy after at least 125 people were killed in the 2017 protests and "in response to the government of Venezuela's deepening descent into dictatorship"; Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Minister said, "Canada will not stand by silently as the government of Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic rights". Canadians were banned from transactions with the 40 individuals, whose Canadian assets were frozen. The Canadian government holds that Maduro played a "key role in the political and economic crisis", and its sanctions targeted "members of his cabinet and officials from Venezuela's military, Supreme Court and National Electoral Council". Freeland said the sanctions were intended to pressure Maduro to "restore constitutional order and respect the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people". She added that Canada had delayed in imposing sanctions because Canadian laws did not allow it to do so quickly.


text: The Canadian regulations of the "Special Economic Measures Act" prohibited any "person in Canada and any Canadian outside Canada from: dealing in property, wherever situated, that is owned, held or controlled by listed persons or a person acting on behalf of a listed person; entering into or facilitating any transaction related to a dealing prohibited by these Regulations; providing any financial or related services in respect of a dealing prohibited by these Regulations; making available any goods, wherever situated, to a listed person or a person acting on behalf of a listed person; and providing any financial or other related services to or for the benefit of a listed person." A number of exceptions to the noted prohibitions were added.


text: In addition to the 40 individuals sanctioned under the "Special Economic Measures Act" in September, on 23 November 2017, Canada added sanctions under the "Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act". "These individuals are responsible for, or complicit in, gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, have committed acts of significant corruption, or both." Three of the 19 individuals added to the Canadian list had already been sanctioned in September (Maduro, Tareck El Aissami and Gustavo González López), bringing to 56 the total number of individuals sanctioned by Canada as of 2017.


text: Responding to the 20 May 2018 presidential elections, Canada sanctioned 14 more Venezuelans. Canada's "Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Regulations" were amended on 30 May 2018 because, since the first sanctions were imposed, the "economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has continued to worsen as it moves ever closer to full dictatorship." The government said the 2018 presidential election was "illegitimate and anti-democratic," and sanctioned Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, along with 13 other members of the ANC and TSJ.


text: On 15 April 2019, Canada announced that another round of sanctions on 43 individuals were applied on 12 April based on the "Special Economic Measures Act". The government statement said those sanctioned are "high ranking officials of the Maduro regime, regional governors and/or directly implicated in activities undermining democratic institutions", and that:These measures are being taken in response to the Maduro regime’s anti-democratic actions, particularly relating to the repression and persecution of the members of the interim government, censorship, and excessive use of force against civil society, undermining the independence of the judiciary and other democratic institutions. Foreign Minister Freeland stated, "The Maduro dictatorship must be held accountable for this crisis and depriving Venezuelans of their most basic rights and needs. Canada is committed to supporting the peaceful restoration of constitutional democracy in Venezuela."


text: The newly sanctioned Venezuelans included Jorge Arreaza, Maduro's Minister of Foreign Affairs. In response, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has accused Canada of supporting Trump's "war adventure" and said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "has invalidated Canada as a reliable actor in dialogue."


text: In 2017, the European Union had approved an embargo on arms and material, adding Venezuela along with North Korea and Syria, to countries where European companies cannot sell material that may be used for repression. in 2018, those sanctions were continued for another year because of "human rights violations and undermining of democracy and the rule of law under President Nicolás Maduro".


text: The European Union sanctioned seven Venezuela officials on 18 January 2018, singling them out as being responsible for deteriorating democracy in the country: Diosdado Cabello, Néstor Reverol (Interior Minister), Gustavo González López (Head of Intelligence), Antonio Benavides Torres (National Guard Commander), Tibisay Lucena (Head of Electoral Council), Maikel Moreno (Supreme Court President), and Tarek William Saab (Attorney General). The sanctioned individuals were prohibited from entering the nations of the European Union, and their assets were frozen. Cabello, known as number two in Chavismo, had not been sanctioned by the U.S. when the European Union sancioned him.


text: The Venezuelan government appealed the sanctions in the European General Court in February 2018 that included the arms embargo and material that could be used for internal repression. The EGC dismissed the appeal on 20 September 2019.


text: On 25 June 2018, the EU sanctioned another eleven officials in response to the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election, which the E.U. described as "neither free nor fair", stating that "their outcome lacked any credibility as the electoral process did not ensure the necessary guarantees for them to be inclusive and democratic". The additional sanctions bring the total to eighteen Venezuelans under a travel ban and asset freeze in European nations. The sanctioned individuals included Tareck El Aissami (Vice President of Economy and Minister for Industry and Production, formerly SEBIN); Freddy Bernal (Head of Local Committees for Supply and Production and SEBIN commissioner); Elías Jaua (Minister of Education and former head of Presidential Commission for the ANC); and Delcy Rodríguez (Vice President).


text: Voice of America reported in April 2019 tension between the US and the EU over increasing sanctions; EU nations are reluctant to apply sanctions to a nation, despite evidence that Russia's aid is propping up Maduro, but are still considering tougher sanctions on individuals in his government. Spain was still receiving Venezuelan oil in repayment for debt as of 10 April 2019 and many Spanish companies still operate in Venezuela.


text: In June 2019, the Associated Press reported that five EU member states (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands) were considering imposing sanctions on President Nicolás Maduro and several top officials for their recent crackdown on political opponents following the April 30 uprising. However, EU member states are divided over the timing of any action for fear of derailing a negotiated exit to the country's crisis.


text: After Nicolás Maduro's second inauguration, on 7 January 2019, the Lima Group, except for Mexico, announced that they would follow Peru's decision and ban the entry of people linked with Maduro's administration. The Lima Group is made up of Argentina (until 24 March 2021), Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia.


text: Colombia has not directly sanctioned Venezuelans, rather has banned figures close to Maduro from entering the country. Christian Krüger Sarmiento, director of Colombia Migration, announced on 30 January 2019 that the Colombian government maintained a list of people banned from entering Colombia or subject to expulsion. As of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime", but Krüger said the initial list could increase or decrease. Krüger said, "We are not going to allow this kind of collaborators of a dictatorship to come to stay in our country and to hide in our country." The list—which would not be disclosed in its entirely—is headed by Maduro, his wife Flores, Cabello, and Delcy Rodríguez and encompasses Venezuela's military leadership. The decision to ban collaborators of the Maduro administration from entering Colombia came after the Lima Group disavowed Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Based on the list, the head of a company commissioned by the Maduro administration, Monómeros Colombovenezolanos, was not allowed to enter Colombia, nor was , a Venezuelan singer seeking entry for a performance. Maduro's cousin, Argimiro Maduro Morán, and family were turned back when they sought refuge in Colombia during the 2019 Venezuelan blackouts. In March, Édgar Alejandro Lugo Pereira—an active military person who works for Venezuela's Foreign Ministry—was detained and expelled; he was carrying US$14,000 and 20 passports.


text: As of 27 March 2018, the Washington Office on Latin America said 78 Venezuelans associated with Maduro had been sanctioned by different countries.


text: On 27 March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials and 16 businesses that operate in Panama, related to the family of Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores. Panama thus become the first country in Latin America to sanction the Maduro administration, joining the US, Canada, the European Union and Switzerland. The sanctioned businesses have members of the Malpica-Flores family on their boards of directors.


text: The sanctions imposed by Panama triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which ended on 26 April 2018, when Maduro announced that he had called Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and they had agreed to restore diplomatic relations.


text: Switzerland implemented sanctions against Venezuela on 28 March 2018, freezing the assets of seven ministers and high officials due to human rights violations and deteriorating rule of law and democracy. The sanctions mimicked those of the European Union. Switzerland was "seriously concerned by the repeated violations of individual freedoms in Venezuela, where the principle of separation of powers is severely undermined and the process in view of the forthcoming elections suffers from a serious lack of legitimacy".


text: On 10 July 2018, Switzerland imposed sanctions against the eleven Venezuelans that were sanctioned by the European Union in June 2018.


text: The Mexican Senate froze the assets of officials of the Maduro administration and prohibited them from entering Mexico on 20 April 2018; the officials sanctioned were: Antonio Benavides Torres, Delcy Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, Maikel Moreno, Néstor Reverol, Tarek William Saab, and Tibisay Lucena.


text: On 18 July 2019, the Mexican Ministry of Finance froze bank accounts of 19 companies related to the sale of low quality and over-priced food to the Venezuelan government's CLAP program. Moreover, the ministry has opened an investigation relating to money laundering after detecting "irregularities for more than 150 million dollars."


text: On 21 June 2019, Curaçao announced a gold import and transit ban on Venezuela that was made effective immediately after its announcement. In the word of its prime minister Eugene Rhuggenaath: "Criminal investigations that have been conducted on the ABC islands give an indication that the trade in and transport of Venezuelan gold and the resulting cash flows can be accompanied by (drug or other) smuggling, forgery and money laundering. This entails integrity and security risks that cause great concern both locally and internationally".


text: After Brexit, the United Kingdom has continued to issue sanctions aligned with the EU. In July 2021 the UK issued a series of sanctions that included Colombian businessman Alex Saab, which included the freezing of assets and travel bans. Álvaro Enrique Pulido, also pointed out as his associate, was also sanctioned, in both cases for ""exploiting two of Venezuela's public programs that were established to provide poor Venezuelans with affordable food and housing", saying that "They both benefited from improperly awarded contracts, in which promised goods were delivered at highly inflated prices. Their actions caused more suffering to Venezuelans who were already in poverty for their own private enrichment."


text: Some ships' captains and owners sympathetic to Venezuela are "going dark", turning off their transponders locations, to avoid the U.S. sanctions and deliver oil to Russia, China, and India. Turning off the transponders creates an environmental risk of ship collisions.


text: In January 2020, despite the entry ban imposed by the European Union, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez met in the guest area of the Madrid–Barajas Airport with Spain's minister José Luis Ábalos from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.


text: Minister of Industries and National Production Tareck El Aissami announced in October 2018 in response to US sanctions that all foreign exchange government auctions will no longer be quoted in US dollars and would use euros, Chinese yuan and other hard currencies instead. El Aissami said the government would open bank accounts in Europe and Asia as potential workarounds to financial sanctions. In addition, Venezuela's banking sector will now be able to participate in currency auctions three times a week, adding that the government would sell some 2 billion euros amid a rebound in oil prices.


text: In May 2020, despite the sanctions on both Iran and Venezuela, Iran sent five oil tankers to Venezuela during fuel shortages in the country.


text: After the sanctions were issued, Venezuela has continued to ship oil and send money to ally countries. In April 2022, Venezuela sent a shipment of 200,000 fuel oil barrels and 190,000 diesel barrels to Cuba, for the Matanzas storage terminal. The same month, Venezuela paid Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' debt with Petrocaribe, estimated to have been around $189 million dollars.


text: A poll conducted among Venezuelans found that 68% believed that the sanctions had a negative impact on their quality of life.


text: Economists agree that shortages and high inflation in Venezuela began before US sanctions were directed towards the country. "The Wall Street Journal" says that economists place the blame for Venezuela's economy shrinking by half on "Maduro's policies, including widespread nationalizations, out-of-control spending that sparked inflation, price controls that led to shortages, and widespread graft and mismanagement." Reuters has stated that the collapse of global oil prices in 2020, alongside the sanctions, have contributed to fuel shortages in the country. The Venezuelan government has stated that the United States is responsible for its economic collapse. The HRW/Johns Hopkins report noted that most sanctions are "limited to canceling visas and freezing assets of key officials implicated in abuses and corruption. They in no way target the Venezuelan economy." The report also stated that the 2017 ban on dealing in Venezuelan government stocks and bonds allows exceptions for food and medicine, and that the 28 January 2019 PDVSA sanctions could worsen the situation, although "the crisis precedes them". "The Washington Post" stated that "the deprivation long predates recently imposed US sanctions".


text: David Smolansky, Organization of American States Commissioner for Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees, in Public Radio International said the sanctions prior to 2019 targeted Maduro and Chavismo "elites" while having little impact on average Venezuelans. "The Washington Post" stated in 2019 that "the deprivation long predates recently imposed US sanctions".


text: In 2018, during the 167th session of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, nutrition expert Susana Raffalli, advisor to PROVEA and Caritas Organization of Venezuela, stated that nutrition was arguably the best indicator that showed how the crisis preceded the sanctions, explaining that 36% of children in the country suffered from stunted growth, which was a symptom of problems that dated at least seven years, 2011 by then. She also cited the PDVAL affair as an example of food shortages before sanctions, when tons of food supplies were imported and later decomposed in 2010. Raffali further criticized the "millionaire" expending in the electoral campaign for the presidential elections that were taking place that year, which suggested that spending to solve the crisis was not a priority for the ruling party.


text: The same year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented that "information gathered indicates that the socioeconomic crisis had been unfolding for several years prior to the imposition of these sanctions". Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for OHCHR, updated the situation in a March 2019 oral report following the visit of a five-person delegation to Venezuela, saying that the government had not acknowledged or addressed the dramatically deteriorating conditions, and she was concerned that although the "pervasive and devastating economic and social crisis began before the imposition of the first economic sanctions", the sanctions could worsen the situation.


text: In a February 2019 United Nations press conference surrounded by diplomats from 16 other countries, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said that economic sanctions have "blocked" the Venezuelan economy, costing it US$30 billion. Reporting on Arreaza's statements, the "Associated Press" said that Maduro was blocking aid, and "saying that Venezuelans are not beggars and that the move is part of a U.S.-led coup".


text: A 2019 report from two "prominent, left-leaning US economists", Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, claimed that a 31% rise in the number of deaths between 2017 and 2018 was due to the 2017 sanctions, and that 40,000 people in Venezuela may have died as a result. The report stated: "The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports." Weisbrot stated that he "could not prove those excess deaths were the result of sanctions, but said the increase ran parallel to the imposition of the measures and an attendant fall in oil production". They estimated that there were "more than 300,000 people who are estimated to be at risk because of lack of access to medicines or treatment because of sanctions on the country. That includes 16,000 people who need dialysis, 16,000 cancer patients and roughly 80,000 people with HIV" The report's findings and methodology were described as invalid by the Brookings Institution. They stated that "the bulk of the deterioration in living standards occurred long before the sanctions were enacted in 2017."


text: Economist Ricardo Hausmann and research fellow Frank Muci published a rebuttal to the report in Americas Quarterly, noting that to make their point, Weisbrot and Sachs take Colombia as a counterfactual for Venezuela, and arguing that Colombia is not a good counterfactual. In their rebuttal, they explain that the oil production trends between both countries were very different in the decade before sanctions and that two countries are also radically different in other dimensions. The rebuttal also states that just a month after the financial sanctions in late 2017, Nicolás Maduro fired both the relatively technocratic PDVSA president and oil minister and replaced them with a single military general with no experience in oil, who in turn fired and imprisoned over 60 senior managers of the oil company, including its previous president, on corruption charges, while nothing remotely similar happened in Colombia, thus confounding the effects of the sanctions with those of the firing. Journalist Fernando Núñez-Noda described the assertion as false; he points out that even the report admits we will never know "what the counterfactual data would have been" (i.e. what would have happened without the sanctions), and shows that the report minimizes the responsibility of Maduro's government in the deaths).


text: A US State Department spokesperson commented that, "as the writers themselves concede, the report is based on speculation and conjecture". The spokesperson added: "The economic situation in Venezuela has been deteriorating for decades, as Venezuelans themselves will confirm, thanks to Maduro's ineptitude and economic mismanagement." Venezuelan economist Ricardo Hausmann asserts that the analysis is flawed because it makes invalid assumptions about Venezuela based on a different country, Colombia, saying that "taking what happened in Colombia since 2017 as a counterfactual for what would have happened in Venezuela if there had been no financial sanctions makes no sense". Calling it "sloppy reasoning", the authors also state that the analysis failed to rule out other explanations, and failed to correctly account for PDVSA finances.


text: In April 2019, Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health jointly published a report entitled "Venezuela's humanitarian emergency: Large-scale UN response needed to address health and food crises", noting that most early sanctions were "limited to canceling visas and freezing assets of key officials implicated in abuses and corruption. They in no way target[ed] the Venezuelan economy." The report also stated that the 2017 ban on dealing in Venezuelan government stocks and bonds allows exceptions for food and medicine, and that the 28 January 2019 PDVSA sanctions could worsen the situation, although "the crisis precedes them".


text: In an interview in late May 2019, Guaidó said that the sanctions had weakened a network of Cuban spies that was allegedly operating in Venezuela.


text: Hours after the United States imposed sanctions on Luis Parra and seven other National Assembly deputies in relation to 2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Delegated Committee election, Maduro's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza published a statement saying that the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury seek to "interfere and undermine the proper functioning of democratic institutions, with the unusual intention to designate from Washington the authorities of the legislative power." The statement also argues that these tactics are "contrary to international law and undermine the stability, peace and self-determination of the Venezuelan people."


text: An October 2020 report published by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) by Venezuelan economist Luis Oliveros found that "while Venezuela’s economic crisis began before the first U.S. sectoral sanctions were imposed in 2017, these measures 'directly contributed to its deep decline, and to the further deterioration of the quality of life of Venezuelans' ". The report concluded that economic sanctions "have cost Venezuela’s government as much as $31 billion since 2017"


text: In late 2020, "Transparencia Venezuela" published a report analyzing the impact of international sanctions on Venezuela, describing the economic and political context before their application, the reasons provided and offering different interpretations of their political, social and economic effects, and thus the Venezuelan life quality as well. The report concludes that a documental analysis left clear that economic sanctions had affected public finance in Venezuela, limiting income sources and public spending, as well as restricting Petróleos de Venezuela, all of which in turn has caused harm in the country's economic activity. However, the report continues concluding that this did not mean that said sanctions were responsible for the "institutional, political, economic, social and environmental crisis that has characterized Venezuela for more than a decade"; on the contrary, it points out that the evolution of indicators in these fields before the sanctions revealed the development of a crisis caused by the "kleptocratic, inefficient and authoritarian" Venezuelan administration.


text: Consultancy firm ANOVA Policy Research published on 20 January 2021 a report on the impact of international sanctions against Venezuela between 2017 and 2019. The report concluded that the sanctions were linked to a decrease in monthly oil production, an increase in monthly food importation and an increase in monthly medicine importation, detailing that despite a partial responsibility of the decline of oil production, there was no evidence of negative effects on the importation of food and medicines. The analysis also reported there was no causal relationship between economic sanctions and an actual increase in the importation of food and medicines. Moreover, the economic data was likely skewed due to the liberalization of the Venezuelan economy in late 2017, when price controls were abandoned for imported products.


text: Alena Douhan, United Nations special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, visited Venezuela from 30 January to 12 February 2021 to investigate the impact of international sanctions. Before her visit, 66 Venezuelan NGOs (including PROVEA) asked Douhan in an open letter to consider the harmful impact of sanctions in the context of years of repression, corruption and economic mismanagement that predate the sanctions, and requested she meet independent press and civil society researchers. She was welcomed on arrival by a government minister and the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN. In her preliminary report, Douhan said that the economic pressure imposed by the US, the EU and other countries "have exacerbated the economic and humanitarian calamities in Venezuela", but that Venezuela's economic decline "began in 2014 with the fall in oil prices" and that "mismanagement and corruption had also contributed." Douhan also asked the US, UK and Portugal to release an estimated $6 billion in frozen Venezuelan foreign assets. The government welcomed the report, while the opposition accused her of "playing into the hands of the regime" of Nicolás Maduro. Douhan was criticized by the Venezuelan civil society, and several non-governmental organizations pronounced themselves in social media with the hashtag ""#Lacrisisfueprimero"" (The crisis came first).


title: North Shields

text: North Shields () is a coastal resort in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.


title: North Shields

text: Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear: it's historic administration was as part of the Castle ward in county of Northumberland. It was part of the Tynemouth County Borough, when abolished in 1974 the borough became an unparished area.


title: North Shields

text: It is on the northern bank of the River Tyne, opposite to South Shields on the other bank. The name derives from Middle English "schele" meaning "temporary sheds or huts used by fishermen".


title: North Shields

text: North Shields is first recorded in 1225, when the Prior of Tynemouth, Germanus, decided to create a fishing port to provide fish for the Priory which was situated on the headland at the mouth of the River Tyne. He also supplied ships anchored near the priory. A number of rudimentary houses or 'shiels' were erected at the mouth of the Pow Burn where the stream enters the Tyne, as well as wooden quays which were used to unload the fishing boats. The quays were also used to ship coal from local collieries owned by the Priory. Soon the population of the new township numbered 1,000. The burgesses of Newcastle upon Tyne were determined to preserve the custom rights that they had enjoyed up till then, which covered the whole length of the river. They successfully petitioned the king in 1290 and managed to suspend trade from the new settlement. It was forbidden to victual ships or to load and unload cargoes at North Shields. The opposition of the Newcastle burgesses remained for a considerable time but despite this, North Shields continued to develop as a centre for fishing and exporting salt, produced at local saltpans. For a considerable period the Newcastle burgesses, known as the Hostmen, who controlled the export of coal from the Tyne, resisted the export of this commodity from North Shields.


title: North Shields

text: The town was originated on a narrow strip of land alongside the river (around the present-day Clive Street) because of the steep bank which hemmed it in. Eventually becoming overcrowded, in the 18th century buildings began to be erected on the plateau above the old insanitary dwellings alongside the river. Prosperous businessmen and shipowners occupied the new town whereas working people remained in the lower part of town. The low, riverside part of the town was linked to the newer, higher part of the town by a series of stairs. These stairs were initially surrounded by slum dwellings, and although the houses have since been cleared the stairs remain.


title: North Shields

text: One of the first developments of the new town was Dockwray Square, built in 1763, a set of elegant town houses that was populated by wealthy families. Due to the poor provision of water and drainage facilities, however, the wealthy families soon moved to the more central part of the new town, and particularly the new Northumberland Square. Dockwray Square eventually deteriorated into slums. In the early twentieth century Stan Laurel lived at a house in Dockwray Square for a few years, before he became famous. The square has since been re-developed, initially in the 1960s, and again in the 1990s. A statue of Laurel stands in the middle to commemorate his stay there.


title: North Shields

text: The land on which the new town was built was largely owned by the Earl of Carlisle. In 1796, John Wright produced plans that included a grand processional way, now Howard Street, leading to the Georgian Northumberland Square. A railway tunnel, built in the 1840s, left the west and south sides of the square largely unfinished, until a 1960s library building was constructed, somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the architecture. In 1844–45, John Dobson built the town hall, on the corner of Howard and Saville Streets.


title: North Shields

text: Because of the difficulty of navigating ships into the mouth of the river past the dangerous Black Midden rocks, buildings were erected in the 16th century with permanent lights burning to be used as a guide by the mariners. High and Low lights are pictured on a 1655 map of the river Tyne: a pair of square castellated towers. Both lights were rebuilt in 1727, and these buildings still stand today (albeit the Old Low Light was remodelled in 1830 to serve as an almshouse). In 1810, the Old Lights were replaced by new High and Low Lights, placed respectively at the top and bottom of the steep bank alongside the river. All these lights were owned and operated by Trinity House of Newcastle-upon-Tyne until they ceased operation. Today, the Old High Beacon, as well as the High and Low Lights, are private residences; they remain prominent landmarks. In 2014 the black-painted Old Low Light was opened to the public following a substantial refurbishment; it contains a café, shop, museum, viewing platform and event space.


title: North Shields

text: In 1806, a market place was opened on New Quay. In 1870, work began on constructing a fish quay to provide shelter for the docked fishing boats. This quay is still in use today.


title: North Shields

text: In 2017, a sculpture by artist Ray Lonsdale of a lone fisherman – made of corten steel and weighing over 2 tonnes – was installed on the quay.


title: North Shields

text: Clifford's Fort, located on the Fish Quay, was built in the 17th century as a coastal defence against the Dutch. The Fort played a role during the Napoleonic Wars and a significant role during WW1, being the birthplace of the Tyne Electrical Engineers. The fort was officially evacuated by the military in May 1928, was sold to Tynemouth Corporation (History of the Tyne Electrical Engineers 1884-1933, Chappter LX)and was used to build new fish processing facilities. Very little now remains of the original fort buildings, though the walls are intact. The area has undergone considerable restoration, with most of the fish processing units demolished. The remaining excellent modern retail units are very popular. During restoration work, part of the foundations of the 18th century Master Gunner's House (demolished in 1973) were found below the concrete floor of a fish processing unit. Elsewhere on the site, part of the stone edging of Cable Tanks belonging to the Submarine Mining Depot (established at the fort in 1888) was uncovered.


title: North Shields

text: The gun embrasures have been revealed, the ground resurfaced, and there are some traffic restrictions.


title: North Shields

text: The Old Low Light (1735, Grade 2 listed) within Clifford’s Fort, has been restored and operates as a Heritage Centre/cafe/community space.


title: North Shields

text: One of North Shields' oldest landmarks is the "Wooden Dolly" statue. In 1814, the female figurehead of a collier brig was placed at the entrance to Custom House Quay, on Liddell Street, and stood there until 1850, when it was vandalised. A second figurehead was placed on the same spot. The "Wooden Dolly", as the figurehead was known, was used by seafarers as a source of good-luck charms, by cutting pieces of wood from her to be taken with them on voyages. Eventually the figurehead was defaced beyond repair and after 14 years was replaced by Wooden Dolly No. 3. This remained until 1901 when it was replaced with Wooden Dolly No. 4 in the shape of a fishwife. A fifth Wooden Dolly, also a fishwife, was placed in Northumberland Square in 1958 and was removed for restoration in December 2019. Once restoration has been completed it will be placed in the Library and a replacement figure installed in the square. In 1992, a sixth Wooden Dolly was placed where the first four had been, at the entrance to Custom House Quay, and can still be seen there, next to the Prince of Wales public house.


title: North Shields

text: In 1887, the town's businesses were listed as a marine engine, chain cable and anchor manufacturer, shipbuilding yards, roperies, salt-works, and an earthenware and stained glass manufacturer. Fishing was also a major industry of employment. The Smith's Dock Company was another major employer for many years, eventually closing in 1987.


title: North Shields

text: Shipyards have been in existence in North Shields since near its founding. The smaller yards built the Northumbrian coble, a small inshore fishing vessel with a lug sail, well known in the North East. Larger yards built wooden sailing collier brigs, used to transport local coal to London. Eventually these small yards were replaced by larger yards such as the Tyne Dock and Engineering Company and the Smith's Dock Company. These yards produced iron vessels for various uses, including fishing and the coal trade. In later years the North Shields yards were used for ship repair work, with Smith's dock surviving until the 1990s. None of these yards remain.


title: North Shields

text: Esso formerly had an oil terminal on the banks of the Tyne, off Howdon Road. In April 1994, a bomb planted by the IRA exploded tearing a 3-foot square hole in one of the tanks. A second device, which did not detonate, was later found nearby. Six hundred gallons of crude oil leaked from the tank, but was caught in a channel designed to prevent leakages. A second explosion occurred in June 1994, perpetrated by the same bombers.


title: North Shields

text: In 2009, seating inspired by Plasticine, the inventor of which was born in North Shields, was installed on Bedford Street in the town centre. The seats proved unpopular as their shape prevented rainwater draining off, so they were replaced by more traditional metal benches and moved to the Royal Quays Marina in 2011.


title: North Shields

text: YMCA North Tyneside was founded in 1870 and was originally known as The Borough of Tynemouth YMCA. After an inaugural meeting on 7 June 1879, weekly meetings followed in the Sons of Temperance Hall, Norfolk Street, North Shields. The YMCA grew in popularity. Within a year, larger premises were needed. Meetings moved to 53 Tyne Street, North Shields and in 1879 to Camden Street, North Shields. In 1920 the YMCA moved to a building in Bedford Street (which is still owned by the YMCA and now occupied by the Citizens Advice Bureau) where it remained until 1938, when it moved to the present building and the current registered office at Church Way, North Shields.


title: North Shields

text: Between 1987 and 2001, a community festival was organised on the fish quay, during which the fleet of fishing boats would be blessed and various local talents would entertain the crowds. At its peak, the festival attracted 600,000 visitors. A smaller-scale family festival, in order to save costs, was held annually between 2002 and 2006, before it too was scrapped as a money-saving measure.


title: North Shields

text: Following the Meadow Well riots, in July 1992 the Government granted £37.5 million over five years to regenerate that area of the town, as part of the City Challenge scheme.


title: North Shields

text: An extensive regeneration programme costing £16 million saw the revitalisation of the redundant Albert Edward docks. Across an 80 hectare area, the former Tyne and Wear Development Corporation partnered with North Tyneside Council and the private sector to provide a mix of housing, leisure facilities, office space and industrial sites. The Wet N Wild indoor water park, an outlet shopping centre, a bowling alley, a soccer dome and a marina form the centrepiece to the Royal Quays development to the west of the town. Mark di Suvero's "Tyne Anew" (1999), his only large-scale public artwork in the UK, can be seen at Albert Edward Dock.


title: North Shields

text: Similarly, major regeneration of the Fish Quay, on the riverside to the south-east of the town centre, has included the construction of luxury apartments and the conversion of existing buildings into restaurants and bars alongside the working quay. In November 2018, North Tyneside Council announced plans for further development to enhance the area as a food and drink destination.


title: North Shields

text: The site of the former Smith's Docks was acquired by the developer Places For People in 2007. In January 2015 they sought planning permission for the construction of homes on the site. The first of those homes, including some designed by George Clarke, was sold in 2017 and as of April 2018, work continues on the site. The second phase, the Smokehouses, was completed in autumn 2018.


title: North Shields

text: In September 2020, the North Tyneside Council published prospective plans for regeneration of the town centre, which include developing a distinctive route to the Fish Quay, pedestrianisation of key streets, consolidation of retail units, creation of a town square, renovation of Northumberland Square and the establishment of a transport hub. At the time of publication, the plan was not financed and the council sought the views of local residents and business owners.


title: North Shields

text: In summer 2020, work was being completed on the refurbishment of the terraced row to the north of Northumberland Square, as well as the development of a newly built row of homes on nearby Albion Road. The newly restored Wooden Dolly was also returned to the Square.


title: North Shields

text: Having been awarded £900,000 through the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, North Tyneside Council plans to add £1 million additional funding to revive the conservation area around Howard Street and Northumberland Square. It will also see work done on the streetscape connecting to the main shopping thoroughfare of Bedford Street in order to better link the areas and decrease the dominance of motor vehicles.


title: North Shields

text: In 2017, North Tyneside Council granted planning permission for up to 400 new homes on formerly industrial land to the west of Norham Road. In April 2020, the developer, Miller Homes, announced that work had been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic and that plans may be altered as a result. Work on the development recommenced in January 2021.


title: North Shields

text: The town is bounded to the north by Whitley Bay and to the south by the River Tyne. The town of Tynemouth is to its east and the A19 road marks the boundary between North Shields and Wallsend to the west of the town. It is part of the North Tyneside conurbation.


title: North Shields

text: Over the years, North Shields has grown from a small fishing village to incorporate the nearby areas of Chirton, Preston, Billy Mill, Percy Main, East Howdon and Marden estate.


title: North Shields

text: The 2011 definition of the town of Tynemouth includes North Shields, which means a population figure can only be given as a combination of wards rather than as a USD.


title: North Shields

text: A large council estate, Meadow Well (alternatively spelt Meadowell or Meadowwell on local signs) to the west of the town, was constructed in the 1930s to house residents displaced by the clearance of the Dockwray Square and Low Town slum areas. These flats were replaced with better quality homes in the 1960s and 70s. Meadow Well was formerly known as the Ridges Estate – a name occasionally used today – since it was built on the site of the Ridges farm. Its present name is derived from a well situated in a meadow upon which the estate was built.


title: North Shields

text: On Monday, 9 September 1991, Meadow Well was featured heavily in the news across the UK as riots broke out which continued for three days. Many properties were damaged, cars burned out and the local community centre burned down. As a result of the riots, the local housing was gradually improved by the council over the next three years through demolition and rebuilding, as well as renovation. A number of community development organisations, including the Cedarwood Trust, Meadow Well Connected and the Phoenix Detached Youth Project, have worked in the area for many years.


title: North Shields

text: With its fishing industry and shipbuilding history, a number of maritime related companies remain in the town. John Lilley and Gillie Ltd, a marine equipment manufacturer is headquartered there.


title: North Shields

text: Collieries in the town were located at three of the outlying villages since incorporated into the town, at Preston, at the location of the present cemetery gates, Percy Main and New York.


title: North Shields

text: Following the demise of coal mining and shipbuilding in the area, several business parks, industrial estates and trading estates were established providing alternative employment. The biggest of these are The Silverlink and Cobalt Park, the UK's largest office park. Atmel had a plant located at Silverlink, previously occupied by Siemens but the plant is now demolished apart from the office building, now home to Cobalt Business Exchange. Cobalt is home to an Orange call centre. The town's association with the early days of the railways is recognised at the Stephenson Railway Museum on Middle Engine Lane near The Silverlink.


title: North Shields

text: Potts Print, based in Cramlington since 2006, was originally founded in North Shields in 1875. They occupied various sites in the town over the years.


title: North Shields

text: Donald Campbell's "Bluebird K7", which crashed during a water speed record attempt on Coniston Water, was restored in a workshop in the town by local engineer Bill Smith.


title: North Shields

text: The Newcastle and North Shields Railway opened in 1839. In 1847, the railway was extended to Tynemouth when a railway station was built in Oxford Street, off Tynemouth Road. Eventually, it was replaced by a new station further away from the river after new rail lines were developed. The riverside tracks were removed for the creation of "Hadrian's Way", part of the national cycle network, but the remaining tracks were absorbed in the Tyne and Wear Metro system in 1982.


title: North Shields

text: The town centre station, originally constructed for the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, was redeveloped between 1980 and 1982 for the Metro. It was subsequently refurbished in 2012.


title: North Shields

text: The Tyne and Wear Metro links North Shields to Newcastle city centre, and to other destinations in Tyne and Wear including Whitley Bay, Newcastle Airport and Sunderland.


title: North Shields

text: A half-hourly ferry service connects North Shields to the town of South Shields on the opposite bank of the Tyne. The present Shields Ferry was established in 1972. Its first female skipper was appointed in 2016. "Shieldsman", a former ferry retired in 2007, has since been moved to Shoreham, West Sussex, and transformed into a houseboat.


title: North Shields

text: In November 2018, the local council announced plans to consider the feasibility of moving the ferry landing. In July 2021 it was announced that the planned relocation was delayed until 2023.


title: North Shields

text: From the International Ferry Terminal, based at Royal Quays, the Danish company DFDS Seaways operates a daily service to IJmuiden.


title: North Shields

text: The ferry service to Gothenburg, Sweden (run by DFDS Seaways), ceased operation at the end of October 2006. DFDS Seaways' sister company, DFDS Tor Line, continues to run scheduled freight ships between Gothenburg and several English ports, including Newcastle, but these have limited capacity for passengers and do not carry private vehicles.


title: North Shields

text: The passenger terminal regularly welcomes tourists travelling on cruises that call at North Shields as an access point for Newcastle upon Tyne and the wider North East of England. In 2017, 52 ships docked, bringing 120,000 visitors to the region. A number of "dudes" - red and blue powder coated figures designed by artist Perminder Kaur - can be seen on a grassy mound at the entrance to the terminal.


title: North Shields

text: Many are members of the ecumenical Churches Together in North Shields, itself a member of Churches Together in England.


title: North Shields

text: A significant part of the town centre is pedestrianised and it is dominated by the Beacon, a partly-covered shopping mall which was constructed in the late 1970s and originally named The Bedford Centre.


title: North Shields

text: As with many British high streets, a number of large chains have closed their branches in the town in recent years, including Littlewoods, Woolworths and McDonald's. As of 2019, Wilko has a large store in the Beacon, alongside high street regulars such as Specsavers, Superdrug and Boots. A number of discount retailers including B & M, Home Bargains, Peacocks and Heron Foods have branches in the town centre, as well as numerous charity stores.


title: North Shields

text: Greggs, Cooplands, and Costa Coffee have outlets. Charities YMCA North Tyneside, Age UK and Operation Veteran both have independent coffee shops. Barista Boho, opened in 2022 in the former Alnwick Castle public house, also serves local coffee blends and hosts musicians. There are numerous independent butchers in the town centre, as well as a local independent bakery, Canatrice, located nearby.


title: North Shields

text: Asda acquired a former Netto store in the town centre in 2011. The Co-op has a number of branches in the town, including convenience stores in Tynemouth and Preston. Morrisons also has a large store in Preston.


title: North Shields

text: There are three further shopping centres in the town, as well as parades of shops in Balkwell, Preston and Chirton.


title: North Shields

text: The Royal Quays Outlet Centre is home to a number of discount stores including outlets for Next, Clarks and Mountain Warehouse, as well as independent retailers such as a photographic studio and pet shop. The closures of a Marks & Spencer Outlet and, in late 2019, the Nike store have somewhat diminished the centre. In January 2020, Thorntons posted notices announcing the closure of their shop and coffee shop. Costa Coffee, The Body Shop, Cotton Traders, Dreams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Moss, Tog 24, Trespass and Poundland also had branches in early 2020.


title: North Shields

text: The Coast Road Retail Park is adjacent to a large Tesco supermarket and, as of 2020, home to Dunelm, B & M, Pets at Home, Carpetright and The Food Warehouse stores.


title: North Shields

text: The Silverlink Shopping Park, as of 2020, includes branches of Boots, Next, H&M, Halfords, Marks and Spencer and River Island. In September 2016, a large expansion of the retail park opened. Odeon also has a multi-screen cinema at the park, alongside restaurants including McDonald's, Frankie and Benny's, Nando's and Pizza Hut.


title: North Shields

text: The Mercantile Building Society, established in the town and formerly headquartered at the Silverlink Business Park, merged with the Leeds Building Society in 2006.


title: North Shields

text: In 2000, the local authority established more than of walking routes, primarily following the paths of 19th-century waggonways. A Tynemouth walk begins from the Metro station in the town centre and drops down on to the fish quay before following a route to Tynemouth, while the Royal Quays walk begins from the Meadowell Metro station and completes a route around the redeveloped riverside area including the marina, before ending at Percy Main Metro station.


title: North Shields

text: The town is home to the non-League football club North Shields F.C. Founded in 1896, the team competes in Northern Football League and plays home games at Daren Persson Stadium (formerly Ralph Gardner Park). The team has twice played at Wembley Stadium, winning 2–1 on both occasions: against Sutton United on 12 April 1969 at the old Wembley to win the FA Amateur Cup and against Glossop North End at the new stadium on 9 May 2015 to win the FA Vase, the Amateur Cup's successor. The stadium is presently named as such because of a sponsorship by a local funeral director.


title: North Shields

text: The Parks Sports Centre was opened in 1998, after the construction of the Royal Quays. It has a large sports hall, gym, multi-sensory room, outdoor football pitches, indoor and outdoor bowls facilities and a cafe.


title: North Shields

text: The Wet'n'Wild indoor water park was constructed in 1992 and opened in summer 1993 as part of the Royal Quays development. It was originally designed with rides: six speed slides, five conventional flumes and one "lazy river" ride. The "Twister", a speed slide, was long, and started from a height of . It closed in 2013 after its owner entered administration, but was reopened in 2014, having been bought by another company. In 2020, the owner announced that it would not reopen after the winter, citing financial losses due to poor visitor numbers.


title: North Shields

text: A bowling alley, originally Star Bowl, also forms part of the development. In 2019, having been closed for some time, it was reopened as Gutterball.


title: North Shields

text: A trampoline park, Xtreme Bounce, was opened in 2017 in an air-locked dome in the outlet centre's car park. In 2019, the Inflatanation chain took over the site and reopened the venue with inflatables replacing the trampolines.


title: North Shields

text: In 2019, a leisure hub housed in the health and fitness section of the former JJB Soccerdome adjacent to the outlet centre, was announced. Everyone Entertained was to feature climbing walls, soft play, laser tag and adventure golf, and employ 100 people. As of May 2020, the venue remains unopened. The pitches and bar were reopened as The Evolution Football Centre in autumn 2018. In early 2020, it was announced that the centre was to close having proved financially nonviable.


title: North Shields

text: Northumberland Park lies on the border of North Shields and Tynemouth and was set out around 1885, in an area formerly known as Spittal Dene. In 2015, North Tyneside Council completed a major project to revive and restore parts of the park. The multi-million pound scheme saw archaeological investigations carried out around the medieval St Leonard's Hospital and the restoration historical features that had been lost over the years. Iron railings, park furniture, fountains were installed amid historic planting schemes. A pavilion housing a cafe and toilet facilities as well as offices and storage for the park staff was also opened.


title: North Shields

text: There is a children's play area at the south end of the park, bowling greens on the western border and a historical pet cemetery to the north. A number of trees along a pathway in the northern half feature plaques commemorating their planting by various local dignitaries.


title: North Shields

text: West End Park lies adjacent to The Parks sports centre and was laid out prior to the 1940s. To its south, Linear Park runs down to the Royal Quays Marina and was created as part of the Royal Quays development in the mid-1990s.


title: North Shields

text: As with Linear Park, Redburn Dene was created as part of the 1990s redevelopment of former industrial and dockland areas, following a natural water course. It features sculptures made from reclaimed staithes. The park was given a Green Flag award in 2020.


title: North Shields

text: Pearson Park located to the east of the town centre was laid in 2000, as a millennium project. Alexander Scott Park is to the east of the town centre. The Holmlands playsite lies within Haswell Gardens, an estate developed on the site of the former Preston Hospital. A further playsite and multi-use games area (MUGA) are adjacent to Norham High School. In Percy Main, a playground lies just off Nelson Terrace. East Howdon has a playsite and MUGA too. There is a playground adjacent to Tynemouth Pool. Finally, there is a further playsite on Tynemouth's sea front.


title: North Shields

text: The town's main library is in Northumberland Square. It originally included a lecture hall, which was expected to be used for musical performances too. Construction began in 1973, and the building is mounted on rubber springs to minimize noise and vibration from the Metro tunnel underneath. It was the first building to use PTFE to reduce weight drag on horizontal restraints. The library was refurbished in 2013, with the lecture hall redeveloped for additional book storage and computer workstation capacity.


title: North Shields

text: Since April 1974, North Shields has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside, formerly having been part of the County Borough of Tynemouth, which was based at Tynemouth Town Hall, in Howard Street, North Shields. Parts of the town are within the Tynemouth and North Tyneside parliamentary constituencies.


title: North Shields

text: North Shields County Court and North Tyneside Magistrates' Court are also in the town. The county court houses the Employment Tribunals Office.


title: North Shields

text: "Fiddler's Green", a steel sculpture that serves as a memorial to fishermen lost at sea, was unveiled in 2017.


title: North Shields

text: A number of pieces were installed as part of the Royal Quays development. Located in Chirton Dene, Redburn Dene, by the marina, and near the shopping outlet, they include works by Richard Broderick, Graham Robinson, Linda France, Alec Peever, Gilly Rogers, Mark di Suvero, Perminder Kaur and Andy Plant.


title: North Shields

text: "Dream On" (1991) was produced by Amber Films and filmed on location in Meadow Well. Its original release was around the time of the Meadow Well riots.


title: North Shields

text: The BBC series "When the Boat Comes In", though set in the fictional Gallowshield, was essentially set in North Shields and filmed on location around the town. Various episodes of the series "Spender", which starred Jimmy Nail, and "Vera", with Brenda Blethyn, were also filmed there.


title: North Shields

text: Sweden's foremost troubadour of the 20th century, Evert Taube, wrote the song "Mary Strand", which is set in North Shields in 1909. Mary Strand is the proprietress of the cigar shop Tiger Brand on Dock Street and hides a young sailor from the police. The song is based on Taube's own experience, when he ran away from the steamship "Australic" in Newcastle upon Tyne.


title: North Shields

text: In 2017, the town was twinned with Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales, as part of the Carnegie Twin Towns Project. The project aimed to pair towns that had similar characteristics, and socio-economic challenges, in order to consider how they might make positive changes to their communities.


title: North Shields

text: Prominent locals include Ralph Gardner, who opposed Newcastle when it attempted to prevent the docking of coal ships in North Shields. Gardner was imprisoned in 1653 for refusing to close his brewery which supplied provisions to the ships. In 1655, he petitioned Parliament against what he claimed were the unfair demands of Newcastle. Gardner, regarded as a local hero, had a High School named in his honour in 1933 near the former site of his cottage. The school, nicknamed 'Ralphies' by its students closed in 1994 and was redeveloped into the Gardner Park housing estate. A monument to Gardner was erected near the school.


title: North Shields

text: The family of Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (1748–1810), a notable naval commander, and Edward Collingwood (1734–1806), a barrister who ordered the construction of Dissington Hall, had their seat at Chirton Hall in Chirton, now a western suburb of North Shields. The Collingwood Arms, a public house, was later built on part of that land before being demolished in early 2005 to make way for a retirement home.


title: Ella Anderson

text: Ella Aiko Anderson (born March 26, 2005) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, starring as Piper Hart on the Nickelodeon television series "Henry Danger", and is also known for playing the role of Rachel Rawlings in the 2016 comedy adventure film "The Boss".


title: Ella Anderson

text: Anderson began as a child actress, acting since she was five years old. She played Hazel in Disney Channel's "A.N.T. Farm" in 2011. She has also appeared in one episode of "Raising Hope", as a little girl who gets a needle stuck in her hand. She made further appearances on Disney shows in 2013, being in "Dog with a Blog" as Darcy Stewart and "Liv and Maddie" as Jenny Keene. In 2014, she played Mitzy in Nickelodeon's "A Fairly Odd Summer". Anderson has portrayed Piper Hart in the Nickelodeon television series "Henry Danger" from 2014-2020, and appeared in the film "Unfinished Business". She has played Rachel Rawlings in "The Boss", and Vicky in "Mother's Day", both films from 2016, and Jeanette Walls at age 11 opposite Brie Larson in the 2017 film "The Glass Castle".


title: Ella Anderson

text: In recent years, Anderson has started a YouTube channel along with a music career, releasing her first three singles in 2020 and 2021.


title: The Conscientious Objector

text: The Conscientious Objector is a 2004 documentary film about the life of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who received a Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. Due to his religious convictions as a Seventh-day Adventist, he refused to carry a weapon. He initially faced opposition, persecution, and ridicule from his fellow soldiers but ultimately won their admiration by demonstrating courage and saving lives as a combat medic.


title: The Conscientious Objector

text: In 2016, a Mel Gibson film dramatizing Doss's life, "Hacksaw Ridge", with Andrew Garfield as Doss, was released to mostly critical and commercial success. It also signaled Gibson's welcome-back to Hollywood.


title: Landing helicopter dock

text: A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship which is capable of operating helicopters and has a well deck. The United States Navy (USN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) use the term as a hull classification symbol.


title: Landing helicopter dock

text: LHD vessels are built with a full flight deck similar in appearance to an aircraft carrier to operate utility and attack helicopters. Some can also operate tilt rotor aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey and VSTOL aircraft such as the AV-8 Harrier and the F-35B Lightning II. Examples of this kind of ship include the USN's , French Navy's and ships of the Spanish Navy's "Juan Carlos I" class including those designs based on the class, such as the Royal Australian Navy's . Other nations also use the designation for their vessels, such as the Republic of Korea Navy for its .


title: Landing helicopter dock

text: The Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA) USN warship classes both precede and follow the ships classed LHD. Most LHAs also have well decks of a comparable size to LHDs, with the exception of the first two ships (LHA-6 and LHA-7) which lack the well deck entirely, taking the space for larger aviation facilities. However, LHA-8 will feature a well deck, returning the terms to their more interchangeable state.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery).


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Following "Anne of Green Gables" (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from "Anne of Green Gables", as well as new ones like Mr. Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anne is no longer simply "of Green Gables" as she was in the previous book, but now takes her place among the "important" people (and the "grown up" people) of Avonlea society, as its only schoolteacher. She is also a founding member of the A.V.I.S. (the Avonlea Village Improvement Society), which tries to improve (with questionable results) the Avonlea landscape.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Montgomery was brought up with a traditional Scots Presbyterian education. John Knox's famous dictum "A school in every village, a college in every town" had been embraced by the Presbyterian church, and Montgomery was brought up in a culture that greatly valued education. At the same time, Montgomery's education had been extremely disciplinarian. Montgomery had followed the theories of educational reformers like John Dewey, and this tension between traditional education vs. the new theories was reflected in "Anne of Avonlea" as Anne spends much time arguing about the merits of whipping students. vs persuasion as teaching methods. In the book, Anne has her students write essays about their thoughts and feelings in place of rote learning.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anne is about to start her first term teaching at the Avonlea school, although she will still continue her studies at home with Gilbert, who is teaching at the nearby White Sands School. The book soon introduces Anne's new and problematic neighbour, Mr. Harrison, and his foul-mouthed parrot, as well as the twins, Davy and Dora. They are the children of Marilla's third cousin and she takes them in when their mother dies while their uncle is out of the country. Dora is a nice, well-behaved girl, somewhat boring in her perfect behaviour. Davy is Dora's exact opposite, much more of a handful and constantly getting into many scrapes. They are initially meant to stay only a short time, but the twins' uncle postpones his return to collect the twins and then eventually dies. Both Anne and Marilla are relieved (Marilla inwardly, of course) to know the twins will remain with them.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Other characters introduced are some of Anne's new pupils, such as Paul Irving, an American boy living with his grandmother in Avonlea while his widower father works in the States. He delights Anne with his imagination and whimsical ways, which are reminiscent of Anne's in her childhood. Later in the book, Anne and her friends meet Miss Lavendar Lewis, a sweet but lonely lady in her 40s who had been engaged to Paul's father 25 years before, but parted from him after a disagreement. At the end of the book, Mr. Irving returns and he and Miss Lavendar marry.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: In the chapter entitled, "An Adventure on the Tory Road," Anne and Diana discuss the eponymous " 'Tory' Road," constructed and landscaped by " 'the Tory government'," provincial "Conservatives...'when they were in power just to show they were doing something.' " A resident also reminisces about adolescent courtship in her father's roadside home "twenty years ago." The Conservative majority dissolved amidst the 1867 Land Question politics of the Tenant League and regained the provincial government between 1870-91. 1896 Dominion elections similarly inspired author L.M. Montgomery to fictionalize "Conservative" reactions to Liberal "Grit" ascension in the 1917 "Anne's House of Dreams". Both novels traverse multiple temporalities and timelines in a politics of post-Confederation memory.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anne discovers the delights and troubles of being a teacher, takes part in the raising of Davy and Dora, and organizes the A.V.I.S. (Avonlea Village Improvement Society) together with Gilbert, Diana, and Fred Wright, though their efforts to improve the town are not always successful. The Society takes up a subscription to repaint an old town hall, only to have the painter provide the wrong colour of paint, turning the hall into a bright blue eyesore. The trials and travails of the A.V.I.S. further represented the lackluster results of an imagined bipartisan effort to interweave "Liberal" notions of rural "secularization" with "Conservative" temporal ideas on urban "modernities."


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Towards the end of the book, Mrs. Rachel Lynde's husband dies and Mrs. Lynde moves in with Marilla at Green Gables, allowing Anne to go to college at last. She and Gilbert make plans to attend Redmond College in the Autumn.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: This book sees Anne maturing slightly, even though she still cannot avoid getting into a number of her familiar scrapes, including selling Mr. Harrison's cow after mistaking it for her own, accidentally rubbing red dye on her nose before meeting a famous author, and getting stuck in a duck house roof while peeping into a pantry window.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anne Shirley - Once an impetuous and awkward orphan, Anne has matured and now serves as the teacher of the Avonlea school. She is described as being slim and lithe, having starry grey eyes and hair that charitable friends describe as auburn. She still has not lost her imaginative, creative spirit and charms nearly everyone she meets.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Marilla Cuthbert - The woman who took Anne in five years before, along with her late brother Matthew. To the outsider, she may still seem austere, but Marilla has become more emotionally demonstrative and, what was once described as the "glimmerings" has developed into a fuller sense of humour.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Gilbert Blythe - Anne's childhood enemy and now good friend. Gilbert is also a teacher at the nearby White Sands School. He is in love with Anne but does not yet admit it to her.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Diana Barry - Anne's bosom friend since childhood. Diana is described as having beautiful black hair and a rosy complexion. She is less imaginative than Anne, but remains a completely loyal friend.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Rachel Lynde - Marilla's best friend and neighbour, an outspoken and opinionated, but well-intentioned woman. Though she still argues with Anne, she is genuinely fond of her.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Davy Keith - One of the twins whom Marilla takes in. Davy is mischievous, naughty, loves to eat sweets and rarely does what he is told. He has blonde hair in ringlets all over his head, one dimple, roguish hazel eyes, a snub nose and is often smiling.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Dora Keith - Dora, Davy's sister, is his opposite. She does everything she is told without mistake and is very docile. She has fair, long, sleek curls, mild hazel eyes, a straight nose and "prunes and prisms" mouth.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Fred Wright - A friend of Gilbert's, who plans to follow in his father's footsteps as a farmer. Fred and Diana become engaged, although he falls short of Anne's romantic vision of a dashing dream husband.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Mr. J.A. Harrison - Anne and Marilla's bad-tempered new neighbour. Anne wins him over and they become good friends. He has a grounded, practical attitude and blunt, sometimes hurtful, manners. He inherited a foul-mouthed parrot named Ginger who comes between Mr. Harrison and those he holds dearest even, at times, Anne, who it persists in referring to as a "red-headed snippet."


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Paul Irving - One of Anne's students, an imaginative young boy and a fast friend for Anne. He was raised in the United States and has come to Avonlea to live with his paternal grandmother.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Anthony Pye - another of Anne's students, and initially her most difficult. He tests Anne's patience to the point that she finally snaps and gives him a whipping. Although she is horrified at herself afterwards, she does win his respect, and his behaviour improves.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Miss Lavendar Lewis - An imaginative, attractive, old maid with snow white hair who Anne and Diana come across on their way to a friend's place. She lives in Echo Lodge. She also becomes good friends with Anne.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Charlotta the Fourth - Miss Lavendar's maid. Her real name is Leonora and she is the youngest of four girls who have all been employed by Miss Lavendar. Her eldest sister was named Charlotta and Miss Lavendar kept referring to Charlotta's three sisters as "Charlotta" as well. Charlotta is well-meaning, but a bit awkward, and addresses everyone as either "Sir" or "Ma'am".


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Stephen Irving - Paul's father and Miss Lavendar's sweetheart from her youth. The two had an argument before Paul was born and Mr. Irving left for the States and married Paul's mother. They are once again reconciled by Anne many years after Mr. Irving's first wife's death.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: Montgomery continued the story of Anne Shirley in a series of sequels. They are listed in the order of Anne's age in each novel.


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: The 1975 miniseries "Anne of Avonlea", the sequel to the lost 1972 "Anne of Green Gables", starring Kim Braden as Anne is based on this novel as well as the following book "Anne of the Island".


title: Anne of Avonlea

text: The book formed the basis for the 1987 CBC Television miniseries "", which aired as "Anne of Avonlea" on the Disney Channel in the United States, as the sequel to the 1985 film "Anne of Green Gables".


title: Bryan Batt

text: Bryan Batt (born March 1, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series "Mad Men" as Salvatore Romano, an art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starring roles in movies and television as well. His performance in the musical adaptation of "Saturday Night Fever" earned him one of New York City's more unusual honors, a caricature at Sardi's.


title: Bryan Batt

text: Batt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Gayle (Mackenroth), an amateur actress, dancer, and civic activist, and John Batt. His family founded and ran the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park. He attended and graduated from Isidore Newman School (a preparatory school in New Orleans) and Tulane University, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.


title: Bryan Batt

text: On September 28, 2014, Batt married his long-time partner Tom Cianfichi, an event planner. Batt and Cianfichi own a home decor and furnishings store, Hazelnut, on Magazine Street in New Orleans. In 2010, Batt published a memoir about his mother entitled "She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother." She died in December 2010. In 2011, he published a second book, "Big, Easy, Style", which focuses on interior design and home furnishings.


title: Furan

text: Furan is a heterocyclic organic compound, consisting of a five-membered aromatic ring with four carbon atoms and one oxygen atom. Chemical compounds containing such rings are also referred to as furans.


title: Furan

text: Furan is a colorless, flammable, highly volatile liquid with a boiling point close to room temperature. It is soluble in common organic solvents, including alcohol, ether, and acetone, and is slightly soluble in water. Its odor is "strong, ethereal; chloroform-like". It is toxic and may be carcinogenic in humans. Furan is used as a starting point for other speciality chemicals.


title: Furan

text: The name "furan" comes from the Latin "furfur", which means bran. (Furfural is produced from bran.) The first furan derivative to be described was 2-furoic acid, by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1780. Another important derivative, furfural, was reported by Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1831 and characterised nine years later by John Stenhouse. Furan itself was first prepared by Heinrich Limpricht in 1870, although he called it "tetraphenol" (as if it were a four-carbon analog to phenol, CHOH).


title: Furan

text: Industrially, furan is manufactured by the palladium-catalyzed decarbonylation of furfural, or by the copper-catalyzed oxidation of 1,3-butadiene: