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Venezuela is a large and powerful country with a history of political volatility, to put it nicely. U.S. President Donald Trump has interacted forcefully with Venezuela in his second term, and the ultimate outcome is yet to be seen. Related topics: Overview articles: Before [his] ouster, Maduro's thuggish and illegal behavior [was] chronicled in two decades of U.S. documents. The daring U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on Saturday immediately launched Democrats and some U.S. enemies such as Iran and Cuba into a tirade, suggesting that the arrest of an indicted world leader was somehow illegal and that one of the Western hemisphere's most brutal leaders deserved sympathy. But two decades of U.S. documents produced under Democrat and Republican presidents and reviewed by Just the News chronicle Maduro's thuggish, illegal and lethal behavior toward the United States as well as his alliances with enemies like drug-trafficking leftist guerrillas, rogue regimes like Iran and terror groups like Hezbollah. Even former Democrat President Joe Biden — who eased sanctions on Maduro in a failed effort to reboot relations with Venezuela — had to admit he was an "illegitimate" leader of his country after Maduro declared himself the victor of a 2024 election that international observers insisted was won by the opposition. Timely news and commentary: Stupid leftist tricks. When it came to Maduro, he faced a long list of charges, all of them related to activities against America, things such as drug running, foreign invasion through militia-style gangs, stealing American oil, etc. He was so bad that (1) in 2015, Obama declared a national emergency because of the threat Maduro represented to the U.S., (2) in 2020, Trump indicted Maduro on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charge, (3) in 2025, one of Biden's last acts was to increase to $25 million a bounty on Maduro, and (4) when it comes to the seized ships, there is a judgment against Venezuela for those oil tankers, so the U.S. military acted as a sheriff would to enforce that judgment. A History of Slow Learning Dictators. The U.S. forces involved in "Operation Absolute Resolve" had planned it for months, carefully tracking the now-not-such-a-tough-guy dictator, waiting for the right timing. Apparently, Maduro had made a deal with President Donald Trump to go into exile, only to renege on it. [...] If the total body count was 40 and 32 were Cubans, this falls in line with what we know — i.e., Cuban security personnel were primarily responsible for Maduro's protection. This is because the Venezuelan dictator either did not trust his own security personnel or felt they were incompetent. Did The U.S. Use Kamikaze Drones To Strike Venezuela? Multiple video clips offer strong evidence that kamikaze drones were among the capabilities the U.S. military brought to bear during the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. This may have been the first real-world use of a new slate of U.S. long-range one-way attack drones and loitering munitions. After years of being outpaced by lower-end drone developments overseas, there is now a significant new push across America's armed forces, and the special operations community in particular, to dramatically step up the acquisition and fielding of various tiers of uncrewed one-way strike aircraft. Bystanders on the ground in Venezuela captured various videos of the U.S. assault on Saturday, which was officially dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve. In multiple clips, as seen in the social media post below, distinctly terrorizing high-pitched buzzing can be clearly heard, which are then followed immediately by explosions and/or other visual or auditory signs of munitions impacting the ground, all consistent with the use of one-way attack drones. Trump Sends a Powerful Message by Snatching Rogue Oil Tanker Under the Nose of the Russian Navy. Early Wednesday, U.S. Special Operations Forces, probably Navy SEALs, boarded and took control of a Russian-flagged supertanker in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Ireland, bringing to an end a nearly three-week melodrama. On December 21, the U.S. Coast Guard operating in the Caribbean as part of Operation Southern Spear attempted to board a "dark fleet" supertanker, M/T Bella 1, heading toward Venezuela. The ship's registration had expired, making it stateless. That didn't stop the ship from claiming Guyanese registration. The U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned the vessel for its role in carrying Iranian oil for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. When the Coast Guard attempted to board, the Bella 1 decided to make a run for it. Other than the Bella 1 speeding away at about 15 mph, the fact that it was empty also raised a lot of eyebrows. Trump's New Doctrine of Precision Deterrence. On January 3rd, 2020, President Donald Trump eliminated Iran's Qassam Soleimani. On January 3rd, 2026, Trump seized Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. These two divergent events, separated by exactly six years, reveal a new dynamic in American foreign and defense policy. With his 2020 strike on Soleimani, President Trump established an approach that has become clearer in his second term with the bombing of Fordow (Operation Midnight Hammer) and the remarkable raid to seize Nicolas Maduro (Operation Absolute Resolve). I call it Precision Deterrence: a dramatic level of force typically reserved for large scale operations, unconventionally constrained to limited aims. While previous administrations have utilized precision strikes for limited objectives, the small scope was typically intended to restrict collateral damage, avoid large commitments, and was assumed to yield correspondingly limited benefits. The tradeoff was accepted as a means of avoiding war. Yet Trump's activities on the other hand, are shaped with the severity and express intent to impose an asymmetric, psychological impact on foreign rivals, heightening the perception of unpredictability from America and at the same time amplifying perceptions of vulnerability in the victim. It is a sudden, shocking escalation that ends as soon as it begins. China-linked media group in New York runs cover for Maduro. An "independent" media outlet tied to a pro-China megadonor aims to turn Americans against President Donald Trump for his aggressive stance toward Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. New York City-based nonprofit BreakThrough News has spent years telling its audience, which includes more than a million YouTube subscribers, that the now-captured Maduro's socialist regime is not the corrupt "narco-state" Trump portrays it to be. The group takes large payments from the People's Forum and the Justice and Education Fund (JEF), two left-wing nonprofits with connections to tech guru and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supporter Neville Roy Singham, according to tax filings. Venezuela's New President Delcy Rodríguez Fires All Security Detail and Hires 'Torture Czar'. A game of 'musical chairs' is ongoing in the Venezuelan security apparatus. The security situation in Venezuela seems very fluid, as the new appointed president Delcy Rodríguez attempts to secure her position by making bold statements of independence, while simultaneously negotiating with the Donald J. Trump administration. In the meantime, the US is upping the pressure on Venezuela's 'hardline interior minister' Diosdado Cabello, warning he will be at the top of the target list unless he cooperates. US forces seize sanctioned, Russia-flagged oil tanker that eluded Venezuela blockade. The Russian government asked the US Wednesday to ensure "proper and humane treatment" of the crew of a sanctioned oil tanker after it was boarded and seized by American forces in the North Atlantic. Military and Coast Guard personnel boarded the ship — formerly known as the Bella 1 and now called the Marinera — in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the British Isles Wednesday morning, US officials confirmed. A spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the official TASS news agency it was "closely following" the situation. "Taking into account reports that there are Russian nationals among the crew, we demand the American side ensure proper and humane treatment of them, strictly observe their rights and interests, and put no obstacles for their soonest return to the motherland," the ministry said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the Russian request during her regular briefing Wednesday. US Military Says It Has Seized 2 Oil Tankers Linked to Venezuela. The U.S. military announced on Jan. 7 that it had seized two oil tankers in the Atlantic Ocean, including one linked to Venezuelan oil shipments, just days after an operation that led to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. In a statement confirming the development, U.S. European Command wrote that the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon were involved in the operation to seize the M/V Bella 1, a Russian-flagged crude oil tanker. The reason for the seizure was "violations of U.S. sanctions," the statement reads. [Advertisement] "The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro," it states, referring to a type of U.S. Coast Guard cutter vessel. In another statement, the U.S. Southern Command said it had seized a second oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. It described the vessel as a "stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker" that was captured in an early morning operation. Brilliant Restitution Plan — President Trump Announces Interim Venezuela Oil Payment of $2 Billion. This is way beyond winning, this is stunningly brilliant strategy. Not only has President Trump successfully apprehended Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro, but the remaining interim government officials have acquiesced to fund a civil restitution plan to pay for their malfeasance. The government that stole from its people is being forced to pay restitution for their own fraud, abuse and misconduct. [...] Some type of short-term funding is needed during any kind of reconstruction of govt. Typically, the U.S. taxpayer would be on the hook during this phase; however, President Trump has found a way for the corrupt Venezuelan authorities to pay for their own civic shift back to democracy. Brilliant. The 30 to 50 million barrels of oil is approximately a $2 billion self-created reconstruction effort. Compare and contrast this approach with the trillions of U.S. taxpayer funds that were used in the failed efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, et cetera[,] or even Kuwait, albeit the Kuwaiti's offered, but prior U.S. leadership chose influence over restitution. Next step for Venezuela, and Iran, is a US push for democracy. America and the world are safer today thanks to the bold actions of President Trump and his team in Venezuela. Exactly six years to the day after we took out Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani (an operation I had the privilege to help lead as Secretary of State), the President and his team neutralized another threat to America by capturing Venezuelan dictator and indicted narco-terrorist Nicolas Maduro. Let's be clear: Maduro is a fugitive of American justice who stole two elections and is not the legitimate ruler of Venezuela; that honor belongs to Edmundo González, the democratic opposition candidate who won the 2024 election. This righteous American campaign to bring Maduro's rule to an end will get Venezuelan drugs off American streets, create the conditions for a safer, more prosperous Western Hemisphere, and advance core American interests. There can be no doubt that Maduro's authoritarian allies are sleeping a little less peacefully tonight — especially in Tehran, where the Ayatollah's regime may well be on the verge of collapse (another dictatorship that has been weakened thanks to kinetic and financial pressure from the United States). Armed Venezuela motorcycle gangs hunt Trump supporters, claim it's a 'government directive'. Despite Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro's ouster, his regime still remains in power in some sectors of the country. This is because of the Colectivos, pro-Maduro paramilitary groups that have been patrolling the streets "with motorbikes and assault rifles" (Kalashnikovs) to "stifle any dissent," according to The Guardian. The patrols have been stopping/searching cars and demanding access to people's phones to ensure they haven't expressed support for Maduro's ouster by the U.S. Trump administration. The Telegraph has confirmed that the Colectivos are operating as per "a government directive" from interior minister Diosdado Cabello, who's been seen posing with them: [Tweet with video clip] Chicago Teachers Union Focused on Protesting 'War on Venezuela' for Some Reason. Over the weekend, the Chicago Teachers Union announced an 'emergency protest' for 'no war on Venezuela.' If you're wondering what this has to do with teaching kids how to read and do math, you're not alone. [Tweet] Professor Jonathan Turley reminds us that this union has a history with Venezuela. ["]The Chicago Teachers Union has protested Maduro's arrest. Union members previously went to Venezuela and praised conditions under the regime.["] WSJ: The Biggest Loser in Maduro's Capture May Be... [Scroll down] Cuba's forces lost nearly three dozen elite security forces without inflicting a single casualty — while defending a fortress? That either demonstrates a nearly superhuman capability in American forces, or complete incompetence within Cuba's armed forces. Havana didn't send flunkies to secure Maduro, after all; his oil keeps Cuba's communist regime in business. As Donald Trump ramped up the pressure on Maduro, Havana had to have fortified its security preparations around its most important financial provider. And they not only failed in the mission, but apparently couldn't even inflict a single casualty as the Americans plucked the Maduros out of the center of their defensive position. That is an impressive level of failure. And this kind of failure has consequences for a tyrannical regime coasting on the folk legends of its revolutionary leader, one that goes beyond the financial implications of a de facto oil embargo. Why fixing Venezuela's oil industry is the only way to usher in a new era. President Trump has made clear he wants to revitalize Venezuela's oil industry so he can use the cash to make the country great again — but the sector is in shambles after decades of plunder, talent flight and negligence as a result of socialist rule. After capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, Trump vowed that US companies would soon tap into the nation's rich oil reserves, which Caracas says hold about 303 billion barrels worth of petrol, roughly 17% of the world's supply. Production has plummeted since hitting a high in 1997 — and the country produced just 900,000 barrels of oil per day in 2024, about 6% of what the US puts out. Additionally, the oil companies' holdings were nationalized and seized twice — once in 1976 and again by Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2007. Night Stalkers Over Caracas: How U.S. Special Forces Pulled Off the Perfect Raid. In what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described as a "flawlessly executed" demonstration of American military superiority, U.S. Special Operations forces executed a lightning-fast raid in Venezuela in the early-morning hours Saturday, capturing and arresting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on charges of narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, was also captured in the raid. [Advertisement] The extraction was carried out by operators from the U.S. Army's Delta Force, supported by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment's advanced helicopters. In a phone interview Saturday morning on Fox & Friends Weekend, President Donald Trump revealed that he watched the raid unfold in real time from Mar-a-Lago and that the mission had been delayed four days due to weather. He emphasized that, despite a helicopter taking hits in the heavily fortified target area, only minor injuries occurred among U.S. troops, with no Americans killed. [Tweet with video clip] Despite Media Protestations — No Congressional Notification Needed or Warranted in Maduro Operation. Many on the political left, and even a few on the political right, are having fits about President Trump authorizing the operation to capture Venezuela president and narcotrafficker Nicolas Maduro without any congressional notification. Several House members attempted to frame the issue as Trump acting as a dictator. A few called attention to the lack of the Gang of Eight being notified, and even some Republican senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee were concerned with the military deployment without advance notice. If a covert intelligence operation was deployed, the President would sign a "finding memo" generally notifying the Gang of Eight, but that doesn't apply in this instance. President Trump remarked a concern with leaks was an element, saying that Congress has "a tendency to leak," which he said could have produced "a very different result." The Three Hour War in Venezuela. While most Americans were sleeping, the American military dropped a few bombs on Fort Tiuna — Venezuela's largest military base — and arrested Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who face a federal indictment in New York for narco-terrorism and related charges. Peace through strength works best when you add stealth and speed. The arrest comes on the 36th anniversary of the surrender of Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega to the USA after two weeks of war. He faced similar federal charges and after his conviction received a 40 year sentence. In 2017, he was released to home confinement ahead of brain surgery but died at 83 from complications from that surgery. 23 American troops died in the Two Week War in Panama. No Americans died in this one. The American media calls Maduro president, but more than 100 countries do not recognize his government as legitimate including Canada, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Paraguay and of course, the USA. Make no mistake, this was not Trump against the world. This was Trump doing the world a big favor. There is no doubt that Maduro stole the 2024 election and there is some evidence that he helped Obama steal the 2020 election for Biden. 'Kidnapped' Maduro Launches Indignant Outburst in Court — the Judge Wasn't Having It. Needless to say, it's not been a good start to 2026 for former Venezuelan President (alleged drug lord and for-sure dictator) Nicolás Maduro and his wife — and alleged partner in crime — Cilia Flores. [Advertisement] On Monday, the couple's well-deserved misery continued — after having been hit on Saturday with federal charges in New York for narco-terrorism, cocaine smuggling, and stockpiling machine guns and explosives, and also accused of conspiring to unleash their war against the United States. During their first court appearance, the former dictator declared his innocence in an indignant outburst, because of course he did. Any guesses how that went? Shackled at his feet and decked out in orange prison garb, Maduro defiantly declared in Spanish: ["]I'm the president of the republic of Venezuela. ... I am here kidnapped ... I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.["] As my headline suggests, Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut the erstwhile dictator off in a flash: ["]Let me interfere — there will be a time and a place to go into all of this. Your counsel will be able to make motions. ... At this time, I just want to know one thing: Are you Nicolás Maduro Moros?["] "I am Nicolás Maduro Moros," the fallen dictator replied. Trump Brings Back Maduro to USA. Why? I'm Betting This is About Stolen 2020 Election. Maduro Knows Where Bodies are Buried. This is a great day for America, MAGA and President Trump. This is all about "FAFO." The leaders of neighboring narco-terrorist states (think Cuba) must be getting ready to run for their lives. Drug Cartel bosses now know they can never sleep in peace. They will never be safe, as long as Trump is in charge. Special emphasis for the corrupt Cartel-owned leaders of Mexico. They've got to be shaking in their boots. They could all wind up in a U.S. super max prison in the blink of an eye. [Advertisement] And then there's Iran. The Mullahs now know what fate awaits them if they re-engage with America and Israel. Even the leaders of China and Russia just got a strong message- stay out of our Western Hemisphere and stop trafficking drugs to kill our children- or there will be harsh consequences. Trump doesn't fool around. What Maduro Knows. I was inspired to write this by a more than routinely interesting article by Wayne Root, "Trump Brings Back Maduro to USA. Why? I'm Betting This is About Stolen 2020 Election." That article affected me in a surprisingly personal way. It impelled me to talk about some things I have mainly kept on the down low, including the story of why I resigned from The Epoch Times, and how a recent book of mine had to be printed twice, and why that might relate to the secrets of dictators. Mr. Root writes of several things, which you should read at the link [above], but what most caught my attention was this: "Was this strike on Venezuela primarily about drugs? Or is that just a wonderful bonus? "Was the real purpose to prove the 2020 election was stolen?" It could have had several additional purposes, including scaring the you-know-what out of Cuba and Iran and once again putting on notice President Trump's "good friend" Xi Jinping, who had an emissary in Caracas that day making a deal that could have augured poorly for the West, maybe even boxed it in. Pulling back the curtain on Nicolás Maduro's 'Latin Lady Macbeth' wife, Cilia Flores. Nicolás Maduro and wife Cilia Flores wore matching straw hats during a rally in Caracas last month. Now they have matching handcuffs and a floor separating them at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. While Maduro, the now-toppled dictator of Venezuela, has been indicted in the US since 2020 on drug-trafficking and narco-terror charges and is widely known to have ignored the results of his country's 2024 election and seized power, much less is known about his wife. Maduro Pleads Not Guilty to Drug Trafficking Charges in [his] First Court Appearance. Ousted former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance Monday after the U.S. seized him in Caracas in a remarkable military operation over the weekend. Surrounded by federal agents, the socialist strongman arrived at a New York City courthouse Monday morning to face charges related to drug trafficking. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the federal charges against Maduro and his wife on Saturday after U.S. forces carried out the successful operation to capture the pair from their heavily fortified home. During the proceedings, Maduro insisted he was "kidnapped" from his home and remains president of Venezuela, an outburst that Manhattan federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein was quick to cut off. "I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country," Maduro said. His wife pleaded not guilty to the charges shortly after the toppled dictator did so. 92-Year-Old Clinton Judge Now Assigned to Preside Over Maduro Case in New York. In the latest episode of the Deep State circus that's turned our justice system into a bad joke, a 92-year-old federal judge appointed by none other than Bill Clinton back in the '90s has been assigned to oversee the high-profile case against Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in New York. This is the same judge who has a track record of rulings that seem tailor-made to thwart President Trump's agenda and protect left-wing interests. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who took senior status way back in 2011, but somehow keeps popping up in major cases. He has issued several controversial rulings adverse to Donald Trump and his administration. These rulings have spanned Trump's time as a private citizen, his first presidency, and his current second term. Clinton-Appointed Judge Assigned to Maduro Case in New York. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has been assigned to preside over the federal criminal case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the Southern District of New York. The toppled socialist dictator faces sweeping narco-terrorism and weapons charges in the U.S. after being captured by American forces in Venezuela on Saturday. Hellerstein, 92, was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by the Senate that same year. He assumed senior status in 2011 but continues to actively manage cases. The Editor says... The Maduro Seizure Was Everything I Want From a Government. When I look at the Maduro seizure it delights me to the same degree that it horrifies leftists, progressives, Establishment Rightists and mainstream Globalists. Their horror is my joy. Their shock is my awe. And their mealy mouthed carping on about international law is my pure comedy gold. Ah, yes, international law. The international law which demands that western nations pay the vast bulk of the unnecessary costs of the Net Zero fantasy. The international law under which people who were never slaves demand reparations from people who were never slave owners. The international law that tells western nation states they must feed, cloth, shelter and provide welfare to Third World rapists and savages who have illegally entered western countries. The international law that provides an international class of leftist legally trained parasite with weapons by which to assiduously work for the destruction of the nations they come from. The international law that says you can't stop drug traffickers killing 70,000 of your citizens a year. Which is also part of the rules based system that is absolutely fine with rigging elections, stealing elections and denying elections so long as the people being denied are white or rightwing and the institutions controlling the fix are leftist and Globalist. With Maduro Out of the Picture, Cuba Is Up the Creek Without a Paddle. "How the mighty have fallen" is a phrase that could be aptly used in describing former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who was only recently mimicking Trump's signature dance moves and acting as if he were untouchable. Now he sits behind bars in New York City. [Advertisement] So too has the once-proud country of Cuba fallen mightily over the last century. Once a thriving island renowned for its beauty and vibrant people, it has, after 67 years of Communist rule, become a stuck-in-time shell of its former self, with rampant poverty, frequent blackouts, and pervasive political oppression. But it's about to get even worse for the Pearl of the Antilles. Can Cuba survive without Maduro's oil? It won't be easy. Maduro and His Wife Indicted in US Federal Court. Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced early on Jan. 3. "Nicolás Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States," Bondi said on X. "They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts." Bondi issued the statement hours after Maduro and Flores were captured and extracted by U.S. armed forces in Caracas in the early hours of Jan. 3. President Who Stole Election Captured by U.S. Forces. I picked an interesting Saturday to roll over and try to go back to sleep. My plan was to write about the voter registration pattern in North Carolina, but not anymore. That pertains to future elections, whereas in the wee hours of this morning U.S. forces and law enforcement conducted a successful strike of Venezuela (including its capital, Caracas), and overrode any other news of interest by capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The justification for the strike is fancy and clever, as it technically represents the serving of a warrant issued against Maduro in 2020 by the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism. [...] What matters now is how the Venezuelan people respond. Maduro may be gone, but his legacy and a base of support remains. That base is certainly on notice and I suspect, given their proximity in the Western Hemisphere, would be wise enough not to commence atrocities against the freedom-loving people who will soon take over their government. Trump confirms US strike in Venezuela, says President Nicolás Maduro has been 'captured'. The U.S. military carried out a "large-scale strike" in Venezuela early Saturday morning and took Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife into custody, President Donald Trump confirmed. The president wrote on Truth Social that the operation was successful and Maduro and his wife were "captured and flown out of the country." Trump said the operation was conducted with U.S. law enforcement and added that a news conference will take place at Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m. on Saturday. At least seven explosions could be heard in Venezuela's capital city of Caracas early Saturday morning, according to The Associated Press, and low-flying aircraft were seen flying over Caracas at about 2 a.m. local time. Trump says Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro [and his] wife [have been] 'captured' after large-scale strikes. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured by US forces during a "large-scale" nighttime military operation early Saturday, President Trump announced. "The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This operation was done in conjunction with US Law Enforcement. Details to follow." Maduro seized. Fox News reports that our armed forces carried out a "large-scale strike" in Venezuela early Saturday morning [1/3/2026] and took Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife into custody. President Trump relate on Truth Social that the operation was successful and Maduro and his wife were "captured and flown out of the country." Trump said the operation was conducted with U.S. law enforcement and added that a news conference will take place at Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m. on Saturday. It appears that congratulations are in order. Our old friend Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau responded to Trump's announcement on X, describing it as a "new dawn for Venezuela. The tyrant is gone. He will now — finally — face justice for his crimes." In 2020, serving as Untied States Ambassador to Mexico. Secretary Landau wrote us about the trashing of history in a message I posted [elsew]here. He is a serious man. [Tweet] President Trump: Nicolás Maduro 'Captured and Flown Out Of' Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday morning that Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been "captured and flown out of the country", a message that came after a series of explosions hit Caracas. [Advertisement] "The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement," President Trump said in a Truth Social statement. He added that further details would follow at a press conference to be hosted later today at Mar-a-Lago. President Trump's bulletin comes hours after a series of apparent airstrikes hit several locations across the capital city of Caracas and other regions of Venezuela. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a copy of Trump's Truth Social post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Chris Van Hollen Was Singing a Different Tune on Maduro Just Last Year. Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is real, and it's infected the Democratic Party in ways that defy all understanding. One of the most TDS-afflicted Democrats is Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who hasn't met an illegal immigrant he didn't want to have margaritas with, but who has scant time for the victims of Biden's open-borders policies, including Maryland mom Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant named Victor Martinez-Hernandez. [Advertisement] Like most of his fellow Democrats, Van Hollen is upset his communist comrade in Venezuela was deposed and captured by President Trump. Van Hollen issued a statement on X about it earlier on Saturday. [Tweet] After Maduro, who's next? Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia. A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is "in a lot of trouble." The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere. With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next? Yes, Trump's Action Against Maduro Was Legal. It was hardly necessary to consult the Delphic Oracle to know that every Democrat within reach of a microphone would denounce President Trump's military action against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. It was, however, surprising to discover how ignorant the Democrats are about the President's authority to deploy military forces. Saturday morning, for example, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) brayed, "The Trump administration has not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela." Jeffries is evidently unaware of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (WPR). Someone on his staff should have informed him that the WPR permits the Commander-in-Chief to launch military operations without first notifying Congress and that several Democratic Presidents — including Clinton, Obama and Biden — have used the WPR to justify launching similar attacks without prior notification of Congress. The resolution does require the President to notify the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate within 48 hours of initiating military operations and limits deployments to no more than 60 days without congressional authorization. The New York Times reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to schedule briefings for members as Congress returns to Washington. Trump's Audacious Maduro Raid Sends a Powerful Message. Nicolás Maduro will be exchanging the trappings of power in Venezuela for an orange jumpsuit in New York. President Trump capped an extraordinary pressure campaign against the Venezuelan leader with an audacious, technically proficient snatch-and-grab operation in the predawn hours. That Trump pulled the trigger after months of what many believed was a gigantic bluff sends a message about the seriousness of his threats that will be duly noted from Havana to Tehran. The leaders of Mexican drug cartels, in particular, have to be anxious about their own futures, given that Trump moved against a leader of a sovereign state protected by a security apparatus they can't possibly match. The operation demonstrates, once again, that Trump is not an isolationist but rather a hyperactive foreign policy president given to small-scale, relatively low-risk military strikes that eliminate threats and enhance U.S. deterrent power. Kamala Harris Humiliates Herself Condemning Capture of Maduro. It's been over a year now since her humiliating loss to President Donald Trump, yet for some reason, Kamala Harris still hasn't figured out that she's a joke and should fade away into the sunset rather than subject herself to future embarrassment for opening her mouth. [Advertisement] Like many other Democrats who have decided that opposing the capture of a dictator is the hill they want to die on, Kamala took to X on Saturday to condemn Donald Trump's successful military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. I guess she's still on the DNC email list for the latest talking points. "Donald Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable," she claimed. "That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We've seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price." DHS encourages Venezuelans in the US to go home 'to the country they love' now that Maduro is gone. The Department of Homeland Security pushed back Thursday against claims that Venezuelan migrants are being encouraged to apply for refugee status in the United States, stating instead that hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans can now return home following major policy changes under President Donald Trump. The clarification came after an online post by Leading Report claimed that Venezuelans could apply to become refugees in the US, citing remarks attributed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. DHS publicly rejected that characterization, calling it inaccurate. China Now Slams U.S. 'Blatant Force' in Venezuela Raid. Thug-dictator and illegitimate Venezuelan "president" Nicolás Maduro is now facing charges in the United States. Much of the international community (except Venezuela's neighbors) has been waving their hands and twittering their consternation. Most of Europe is upset, and honestly, they can be upset all they like; it's not their hemisphere. [Advertisement] Of course, it's not China's hemisphere, either, but they have economic ties to the late, unlamented Maduro regime; and, in fact, the Middle Kingdom has a delegation in Caracas right now, no doubt still burping from a late lunch and wondering just what the heck they're supposed to do now. [Tweet] Now for Trump's Next Feat, the Left Is About to Openly Support the Cartels. Until the past 24 hours, Nicolás Maduro Moros and other Venezuelan high-ranking individuals in the Maduro regime ran the Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles). Now that the U.S. has penetrated Venezuela's defenses to capture and arrest Maduro, things have changed. [Advertisement] Maduro and his regime had corrupted the institutions of that country, including its military, its intelligence apparatus, its legislature, and its judiciary, all to aid his cartel's massive criminal operations. The Cartel de los Soles originated in Venezuela, and has been involved in the illicit drug trade, human smuggling and trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation of women and children, and money laundering, along with other criminal activities. Reports are that the cartel's name is derived from the sun insignias often portrayed on the uniforms of Venezuelan military officials; the relationship is that symbiotic. The Venezuelan cartel also supports Tren de Aragua, which typically makes news for its work in trafficking drugs, weapons, and people, all of which undermine the United States. Why capture of Maduro didn't require approval from Congress. In an extraordinary military operation, the United States launched a large-scale military operation in Caracas, Venezuela, early Saturday, with Special Forces seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. There is a pending 2020 indictment of Maduro in the Southern District of New York, where he is expected to be taken to face prosecution. The operation comes not long after the 37th anniversary of the capture of Manuel Antonio Noriega on Dec. 20, 1989. Noriega was convicted of drug and money laundering offenses and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was tried in Miami. Maduro was indicted in a four-count superseding indictment with Diosdado Cabello Rondón, 56, head of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly; Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios aka "El Pollo," 59, former director of military intelligence; Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, 58, former General in the Venezuelan armed forces; Luciano Marín Arango aka "Ivan Marquez," 64, a member of the FARC's Secretariat, which is the FARC's highest leadership body; and Seuxis Paucis Hernández Solarte aka "Jesús Santrich," 53, a member of the FARC's Central High Command, which is the FARC's second-highest leadership body. Maduro and His Wife Indicted in US Federal Court. Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced early on Jan. 3. "Nicolás Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States," Bondi said on X. "They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts." Bondi issued the statement hours after Maduro and Flores were captured and extracted by U.S. armed forces in Caracas in the early hours of Jan. 3. What a Way to Start 2026. Christmas week was rather a slow week, with the big news being the further unraveling of the corruption in Minnesota, Washington state, California, and other Democrat redoubts. But like George Washington crossing the Delaware to beat the Hessians as they rested on Christmas, the U.S. pulled off an incredible military operation capturing Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro in his pajamas and bringing him back here to answer to criminal charges. The Venezuelan military was largely on Christmas leave and Maduro's international protectors — the Chinese and Russian forces in Venezuela — were caught flatfooted, diminishing their credibility in the Western Hemisphere. The impact of this operation was enormous. [...] You can count on the president's critics to challenge this action — in another magic trick the President will have them supporting Maduro, a thief, narco terrorist, and tyrant, but as Jonathan Turley notes, the president is well within his right to use military (as he did here) to support law enforcement. Trump Ended Venezuela's Dictatorship in a Single Night. To understand the extraordinary operation conducted by the U.S. military and law enforcement over the night of January 2-3 — an operation that extracted the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the presidential palace and whisked them to the USS Iwo Jima bobbing off the coast of Caracas for extradition to the United States — the first thing you should read is the National Security Strategy released by the White House last month. Among other things, this closely reasoned, 29-page document articulates an updated commitment to the Monroe Doctrine, named for the country's fourth president, James Monroe, who first articulated the policy in 1823. In brief, the Monroe Doctrine held that the United States would look on foreign involvement in the Western Hemisphere as a direct challenge to America's national interest. The National Security Strategy reaffirmed and extended America's commitment to the Monroe Doctrine: [...] Maduro indicted on federal drug-trafficking and weapons charges. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges stemming from what prosecutors said was his role in a scheme to import "thousands of tons" of cocaine into the United States and enrich himself, his family and senior members of the Venezuelan government. The indictment was unsealed Saturday by Attorney General Pam Bondi after Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken into military custody in an overnight operation and brought to the U.S. to face criminal charges. "They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Bondi said. Maduro, Flores and four others are named as defendants in the indictment, including Maduro's son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro; Venezuela's interior minister, Diosdado Cabello; its former interior minister, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín; and a leader of the gang Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores. Venezuela's new leader Delcy Rodriguez is hardline socialist. Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has hurled threats at Donald Trump after the capture of the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, who is now languishing in a New York federal jail. The Supreme Court of Venezuela confirmed hardline socialist Vice President Rodriguez as Maduro's successor just hours after US forces detained him and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges on Saturday. Trump said he preferred Rodriguez, 56, in power rather than the country's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, adding that Maduro's VP was prepared to work with the US. The Editor says... Colombia former vice-president claims Maduro's second-in-command Delcy Rodriguez 'handed him over' to the US. Colombia's former vice-president claims Nicolas Maduro's second-in-command Delcy Rodriguez 'handed him over' to the US. Francisco Santos says he is 'absolutely certain' that the woman due to be formally sworn in as Venezuela's new interim leader tomorrow betrayed Nicolas Maduro by handing him over to the US. Speculation has mounted since yesterday's US military assault on Caracas that led to Maduro's capture that the Americans had help from inside. Shell eyes return to Venezuela to claim gas billions. Shell could earn billions of dollars from new Venezuelan gas projects following Donald Trump's ousting of Nicolás Maduro. The British oil company wants to target the rich gas fields lying between Venezuela and the neighbouring offshore islands of Trinidad and Tobago but has faced years of delay linked to US sanctions. Mr Trump's intervention means a potential acceleration of the massive Dragon gas field project, which lies in Venezuelan waters. The project could generate an estimated $500m (£370m) in revenues annually for up to three decades, amounting to a multi-billion dollar opportunity. [Advertisement] The Dragon field holds an estimated 120 billion cubic metres of gas, or around three times as much as the UK uses in a year. Far larger deposits sit in fields nearby. Development of the project has stalled amid wrangling with US authorities over licencing but Shell is expected to renew its focus on Venezuela following Mr Trump's intervention. Chinese propagandists promote Maduro arrest protests organized by CCP-linked network. Chinese state-run propaganda outlets are promoting U.S. protests against the Trump Administration's arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. The protests appear to be organized by a Chinese Communist Party-linked financial network in the United States. After this weekend's U.S. military-led operation capturing Venezuela's leader and sending him to the U.S. to be prosecuted by the Justice Department, street protests opposing Maduro's arrest were quickly organized in New York City and elsewhere by the Marxist revolutionary group known as The People's Forum, the far-left anti-war group Code Pink, the leftist Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Just the News previously reported on how these and other radical activist groups have leadership links or financial ties to a funding network backed by wealthy Marxist businessman Neville Roy Singham, who himself has connections to the CCP. Coup D'état in Venezuela? Heavy Gunfire in Caracas, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Firing Non-Stop. The Bolivarian regime seems to be eating itself, now. Monday night erupted in heavy firefights in Caracas, more specifically in areas of Miraflores, where the presidential palace is located. This comes a mere hours after the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was formally sworn in. Rumors have been circulating that Maduro's right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello, was planning a coup d'état against Rodríguez. [Advertisement] Apparently, her first decisions were not to the liking of the generals of the highly ideological Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela. Diosdado controls many of the 'colectivos of Venezuela', far-left, heavily armed paramilitary groups operating independently of the Government. [Tweet] Cuba in a Panic. Few people are more upset about Nicolás Maduro's arrest than the descendants of the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. [...] Current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has come out swinging against the Donald Trump administration's recent actions both in person and on social media. But while he talks a good game about "imperialism," his demeanor is anything but tough. The man is obviously terrified, and rightfully so. "The imperialist desire is Venezuelan oil, it is the lands and natural resources of Venezuela," he said during a speech this weekend. Cuba Govt Says "32 Cuban Military and Intelligence Officers" [were] Killed During Maduro Capture. According to the latest news from the government of Cuba, two days of official mourning have been declared as they announce 32 members of the Cuban military and Intelligence services were killed in Venezuela while protecting Nicolas Maduro. There were no American fatalities. Leftist Network Organized Protests Against Trump's Capture of Maduro. A network of leftist groups rapidly coordinated to protest President Donald Trump's extradition of dictator Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to a new report. The same network continued its coordinated protests as Maduro appeared in court Monday, pleading not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges. "The U.S. has no political or legal authority to kidnap a foreign head of state," Manolo De Los Santos, founder of The People's Forum and a key leader in the network, posted on X Monday. [Tweet] How Snatching Maduro Screws Up Everyone Else's Plans. As the press conference wrapped up, I had already started wondering what the ripples — or maybe it would be even a tsunami — of after-effects flowing from yanking this one guy out of his chair would do around the world. My immediate thought had turned to Cuba, as I'd already mentioned how the US oil embargo was crimping an already crappy socialist lifestyle on that God-forsaken little island. The importance of the Venezuelan pipeline to the Cuban communist regime cannot be underestimated. Cuba didn't buy oil from Venezuela — it was given to them. US military details timeline of operation to capture Maduro, revealing more than 150 aircraft involved. Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine provided details Saturday on how the U.S. military and various intelligence agencies worked together to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, revealing that more than 150 aircraft were launched in close coordination in a mission called "Operation Absolute Resolve." Caine said the operation began "during the darkest hours of Jan. 2 and was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal," one that "only the United States military could undertake." "It required the utmost of precision and integration within our joint force, and the word integration does not explain the sheer complexity of such a mission, an extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose, to get an interdiction force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of tactical surprise," Caine said while appearing Saturday alongside President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Attorney General Pam Bondi Released the Maduro Indictment. The United States carried out strikes in Venezuela today and arrested Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The U.S. launched a "large scale" strike against the South American nation, including on military facilities. The move came after months of build up in the region. In recent weeks, the U.S. had seized two oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela and conducted kinetic strikes on narco-terrorist vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific. [Advertisement] Both Maduro and his wife were indicted in the Southern District of New York. Attorney General Pam Bondi shared news of the indictment on X, and here's what that indictment entails: [Tweet] The Fall of Maduro: Why It Matters to United States Security, and Could Trigger a South American Glasnost. On the heels of the Trump administration's Saturday military operation that resulted in the arrest of puppet president and dictator Nicolás Maduro, the legacy media has been working overtime to set particular narratives. Among them: Trump is starting a war; Trump wants to steal Venezuela's oil; Trump overstepped his constitutional powers; and Trump is ignoring the American people and their concerns. [Advertisement] What has made the difference in these narratives not sticking is that independent and new media have flooded the zone. Also, the country's citizens, and those in the Venezuelan diaspora, are making their voices heard. The Venezuelan nationals understand better than anyone why President Trump's military capture of Maduro is exactly what their nation, and the nation of the United States, needed, as well as what is truly at stake in the coming days. With Tyrant Maduro's Arrest Expect Cartel Ties and Money Transfers to the US Democrat Party to Finally Be Revealed. It is no secret that the Democrats, and many Republicans!, aggressively blocked President Trump's desire to protect the American people and build a border wall on the southern border with Mexico during his first term. Democrat attempts to block the wall in spite of significant evidence that it was obviously needed indicated there was an unknown reason for their defiance. In May of 2016, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited the President of Mexico along with other Congressmen, including little known Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke. Pelosi stated about the meetings — It is not clear what the discussions all entailed but after this visit, the Mexican President was accused in court of being aligned with Mexican cartels and taking a $100 million bribe from cartel leader, El Chapo Guzman. Trump's in Venezuela: Legal, constitutional. The Trump critics are out again, criticizing Trump's use of the military in Venezuela to depose Nicolás Maduro. The critics cite Congress's power to declare war under Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution as proof that Trump acted "illegally" and "unconstitutionally." The critics are wrong and are misreading the Constitution. Article II, Section 2 makes the president the commander in chief of the armed forces. If the president needs congressional approval before using those armed forces, then he is not a "commander in chief." The critics' claim is contradicted by Article II, Section 2. The history of Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 in the drafting of the Constitution also contradicts the critics' claims. That provision was originally drafted to grant Congress the power to "make war" and was changed to "declare war" only when the delegates raised the exact issue the critics raise: that the president might be hampered in his commander in chief duties if he had to obtain permission from Congress before acting. Trump Liberates Venezuela From The 'Warm Embrace Of Collectivism'. You have to marvel at the sequence of events we just experienced. On Jan. 1, a socialist was sworn in as mayor of New York, promising the "warm embrace of collectivism." On Jan. 3, President Donald Trump announced that he'd forcibly removed Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, ending the country's 23-year embrace of socialism. We will leave it to the pundits, the lawyers, politicians, and various other "experts" to debate the merits of Trump's action. But what we can't let happen is for the left and the mainstream media to ignore or downplay just how tragic Venezuela's embrace of collectivism has been. Venezuela's new leader Delcy Rodriguez is hardline socialist who kept Maduro in power for years. Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has hurled threats at Donald Trump after the capture of the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, who is now languishing in a New York federal jail. The Supreme Court of Venezuela confirmed hardline socialist Vice President Rodriguez as Maduro's successor just hours after US forces detained him and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges on Saturday. Trump said he preferred Rodriguez, 56, in power rather than the country's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, adding that Maduro's VP was prepared to work with the US. 'She, I think, was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice,' Trump said of Rodriguez during a news conference in which he said the US would 'run' the country. 'She is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple.' Before ouster, Maduro's thuggish and illegal behavior chronicled in two decades of U.S. documents. The daring U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on Saturday immediately launched Democrats and some U.S. enemies such as Iran and Cuba into a tirade, suggesting that the arrest of an indicted world leader was somehow illegal and that one of the Western hemisphere's most brutal leaders deserved sympathy. But two decades of U.S. documents produced under Democrat and Republican presidents and reviewed by Just the News chronicle Maduro's thuggish, illegal and lethal behavior toward the United States as well as his alliances with enemies like drug-trafficking leftist guerrillas, rogue regimes like Iran and terror groups like Hezbollah. With Maduro [and his] wife in custody, Bondi says they will be tried on U.S. soil. Following U.S. strikes against Venezuela resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday the Maduros have been indicted in the Southern District of New York and will be tried on U.S. soil. In a social media post, Bondi confirmed Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted, charged with "narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States." The attorney general underscored that the couple "will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts." The Editor says... American Credibility Restored (Again). As General Caine explained in today's morning press conference, the operation involved aircraft from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Command and the Air National Guard, all in addition to various unnamed intel agencies. Over 150 aircraft from 20 different bases converged simultaneously over Venezuela from with one objective: "to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant." And, wonder of wonders, the military and numerous other actors in the administration pulled it off without a single leak! Could that be the result of not sharing the plans with Congress weeks ago? Is there anyone on earth who believes that Congress — particularly the Democrats who oppose everything Trump does — could keep such a secret? But it is not as if Maduro wasn't warned. As if the massive naval build-up off his coast were not enough, he was warned repeatedly. Strikes on drug cartel boats were followed by strikes on docking facilities and specific warnings of further operations on land. Democrat Hypocrisy on Venezuela. Believe it or not, a lot of the case against Venezuela's regime was built up under the Biden administration. Biden and his top officials showed very little interest in the matter, but the FBI and other agencies did assemble a solid case that Maduro and the Venezuelan governor were running a drug cartel known as Cartel de los Soles. Rewards were placed on top figures in the regime. The work began in Trump's first term and very obviously now climaxed in his second term, but it continued under Biden. And apart from Bernie, AOC and the usual Communist-adjacent leftists, like John Kerry (pictured above with Maduro) there was general bipartisan support for removing Maduro. Apart from rote condemnations and a show of support for the opposition which had won the 2024 election, they weren't willing to do anything about it beyond tweet and issue press releases condemning Maduro for being a very naughty boy who should behave. News items prior to 2026: Trump seizes another Venezuelan oil tanker. [Scroll down] Something like this will not only deprive Maduro of his $8 billion shadow network of illicitly traffficked oil that he uses to pay his army and secret police torturers, it will also send the message that Trump isn't getting tired of this and walking away, which recent reports suggest Maduro had been calculating. Taking the oil ships over sanctions violations, even more so than blowing up unflagged drug boats, is the most devastating way of separating Maduro from the presidential chair he so illegitimately occupies owing to election fraud. It supports Venezuela's democrats and it leaves Maduro with an empty bankbook to pay his army. U.S. Captures Oil Tanker Off Venezuela Coast. The U.S. seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as it traveled to Cuba. "As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coasts of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually, and other things are happening, so you'll be seeing that later, and you'll be talking about that later with some other people," President Donald Trump said at the White House. [Tweet] One reporter asked Trump what would happen to all the oil. "We keep it, I guess," responded Trump. Trump's Oil Tanker Seizure: Another Shocking And Unprecedented Act That Isn't Shocking Or Unprecedented. News media and politicians are howling in alarm over the U.S. government's supposedly dangerous and shocking seizure of "a Venezuelan oil tanker." [Screenshot] [...] But it's not a a Venezuelan oil tanker, though it was carrying Venezuelan oil. It's a stateless oil tanker, flying the flag of Guyana but apparently not registered with Guyana. The maritime journalist and former Merchant Marine captain John Conrad explains this in detail. As he writes in that long post: ["]No real flag = stateless vessel. And stateless vessels have zero legal protections.["] Stateless vessels are subject to seizure, and are seized. Trump Confirms the U.S. Has Seized an Oil Tanker in Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted video on X of the U.S. seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker: [Tweet with video clip] [Advertisement] The United States military pressure on Venezuela's illegitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, which we've witnessed over the last few months, continues. While speaking to the press on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that we have seized a large oil tanker off the country's coast. "It's been an interesting day from the standpoint of news," the president said while meeting with business leaders at the White House. "As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela — a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually." 'All Your Oil Tanker Are Belong to U.S.'. Since Sunday, the United States has been in hot pursuit of an oil tanker known as the Bella 1. As I explained a week ago, this is all part and parcel of the Trump administration's plan to completely cut off Venezuela's illicit and sanctioned oil trade by interdicting the shadow and dark fleet tankers that populate the country's ports and move its sludgy black gold. [Advertisement] And the president's declaration that he was going to go after 'sanctioned' oil tankers doesn't pertain only to the individual ships themselves, but also to the sanctioned cargo that could be onboard. For example, if a tanker itself isn't sanctioned but is known to have left an Iranian port, or is carrying Russian cargo, or has a history of warning flags, such as numerous flag registration changes or ownership shifts, that's enough to warrant a stop at sea and perhaps a seizure depending on what they find. The aggressive nature of US forces off Venezuela and in the Caribbean, once this was announced, has made the operators of these vessels extremely nervous. [The] US [is] in active pursuit of [an] oil tanker near Venezuela. The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing a sanctioned "dark fleet vessel" near Venezuela on Sunday. Seizing it would mark the third time an oil tanker has been taken by the U.S. in the region. "The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned 'dark fleet' vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion," a U.S. official said, according to Reuters. "It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order." President Trump has stepped up pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by targeting drug boats and illegal shipments. U.S. Pursues Third Oil Tanker Near Venezuela. The United States is now pursuing a third oil tanker linked to Venezuela, escalating a maritime enforcement campaign that intensified just one day after U.S. forces seized another vessel operating in the Caribbean. As I reported yesterday, American authorities boarded and seized a tanker earlier this month as part of a broader crackdown on sanctioned oil shipments tied to the Maduro regime. That operation now appears to be only the beginning. According to USA Today, U.S. officials confirmed Sunday that American forces are actively tracking another tanker near Venezuela. The vessel has not yet been boarded, and officials declined to name it or disclose its precise location. Oil Tankers Are Venezuela's Vulnerability. After an extended socialist tyranny, Venezuela's economy has two elements: oil and drugs. These produce the money that is then used to pay and more importantly dispense basic commodities like food that keep regime loyalists... loyal. Venezuela used to have access to medicine, food and even some of the more middle class things in life more available until it got its own Mamdani, a guy by the name of Hugo Chavez, who wrecked the economy, and his successor, the current dictator, Maduro, who nationalized the rest so that the country had no food and could hardly process its own energy resources. But as long as Maduro has oil and drugs to move, he can stay in power. President Trump's seizure of Venezuela's oil tankers is smart and effective in exactly the way that a lot of the old school regime change and nation building operations weren't. It's easy and low risk for us. It's profitable for us. And it's devastating not only for Venezuela but the countries it ships oil to... which are our enemies. Like Cuba and China. The Trump Doctrine. Attorney General Pam Bondi released delicious video this week of U.S. troops rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of a supertanker off the coast of Venezuela. She then announced that not only were we seizing the two million barrels of oil on board, but the ship as well — making it a $250 million to $300 million hit on the owners. Those kind of losses will go a long way to deter other shippers and black market oil dealers from hauling Venezuelan oil to markets beyond the reach of the United States military. What I find especially pleasing in the pressure the Trump administration is applying to Maduro, besides his desperate telephone call to Trump two weeks ago begging for amnesty, is the way Maduro's backers are reacting. Vladimir Putin called Maduro this week to pledge his undying support. Thanks, Vlad. You and whose navy? Even the Ukrainians, who just three years ago had squat for a military, managed to sink the flagship of your Black Sea fleet. You don't think U.S. SouthCOM could do that and much more? President Trump's Farsighted Policy on Venezuela, Iran's 'Second Home' in the Americas. Iran has recently come out publicly, voicing strong support for Venezuela against the United States. Its statement reflects a deep strategic and military relationship that serves multiple interests for Tehran. The Iranian regime openly views its partnership with Venezuela as a rare foothold in the Western Hemisphere, a staging ground for influence, and a safe haven for key figures and networks. The relationship encompasses military cooperation, intelligence sharing, support for proxy groups, and opportunities for illicit trade, all of which bolster Iran's global reach while challenging U.S. interests. Venezuela can, in effect, be viewed as a prized extension of Iranian power — a "second home" where Iran can operate relatively freely, project influence close to the United States, and maintain strategic depth far beyond its borders. The Iranian regime's fondness for Venezuela is rooted in several ideological and strategic advantages. Militarily, Venezuela allows Iran to experiment with logistics, training and potentially the deployment of drone and missile capabilities in the Americas. Intelligence-sharing between the two countries, far from Iran's territory, facilitates coordination with allied groups such as Hezbollah and other proxies. The Tanker Seizure That Signals the End of Venezuela's Dictatorship. The prevailing media story about the US military buildup in the Caribbean holds that Washington is escalating its war on narco traffickers. This story sounds plausible enough. It fits neatly within old frameworks and allows commentators to recycle familiar talking points about interdiction, cartels, and regional corruption. Yet the closer one looks, the less the narrative fits the facts. The scale and precision of the forces deployed by the Trump administration reveal a different strategic purpose. The aim is to enforce sanctions on Venezuela with real rigor and in doing so to deny Nicolás Maduro the only revenue stream that sustains his dictatorship. What is unfolding is a pressure campaign crafted to liberate Venezuela without firing a shot. [Tweet] Dominican Republic Claims Boat Hit by U.S. Navy had Over a Ton of Cocaine. The Dominican Republic government announced that the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) and the Navy of the Dominican Republic (ARD) seized over a ton of cocaine on a boat targeted by the U.S. Navy. President Donald Trump's administration has been destroying boats from Venezuela suspected of carrying drugs to America. The administration has struck three boats. The Dominican Republic did not confirm which boat had the cocaine, but it looks like it could be the third one that Trump announced on Saturday. Wegmann: Venezuela Strike Is President Trump Reinstating America's Monroe Doctrine. The president wasn't pushing paper around when he designated these cartels as terrorists. And I think that this is the updated Monroe Doctrine. The White House feels that this is our hemisphere and they're going to be going after these cartels not through the legal system but through the U.S. military. It sends a deterrent not just to the Maduro regime but also to some of our wayward allies, saying, look, you don't want Seal Team 6 in your backyard. You should come cooperate with us. That's what Secretary of State Rubio was able to accomplish with his security guarantees with Mexico this week. [Video clip] US seizure of Iran fuel bound for Venezuela was largest confiscation of its kind ever, DOJ confirms. The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday [8/14/2020] announced the U.S. government's "largest-ever" seizure of fuel shipments from Iran in a successful disruption of a multimillion-dollar shipment by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization, that was bound for Venezuela. The Justice Department on Friday said it has "successfully executed" the seizure order and confiscated the cargo from all four vessels, which totaled approximately 1.116 million barrels of petroleum. The Justice Department credited the success to the U.S. government but also the assistance of foreign partners in seizing the property. Earlier this month, federal investigators obtained warrants to seize Iranian oil products aboard four tankers bound for Venezuela in violation of U.S. sanctions. U.S. seizes Iranian gas from 4 tankers headed to Venezuela. The Trump administration has seized the cargo of four tankers it was targeting for transporting Iranian fuel to Venezuela, U.S. officials said Thursday [8/13/2020], as it steps up its campaign of maximum pressure against the two heavily sanctioned allies. US Seizes 1 Million Barrels of Iranian Gasoline. Venezuela is a mess. It's gotten so bad that it's getting fuel shipments from Iran. Considering that the US has sanctions on both terror states, Islamic and Marxist, the oil deliveries never happened. ["]The Trump administration has seized the cargo of four tankers it was targeting for transporting Iranian fuel to Venezuela, U.S. officials said Thursday, as it steps up its campaign of maximum pressure against the two heavily sanctioned allies.["] Dem Rep. Smith: Stopping Some Tankers Is Legal, But That's 'Beside the Point', 'Could Cut Off Funds' for It. On Monday's broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition," Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that there is a legal basis to stop and board some oil tankers around Venezuela, but that's "sort of beside the point." And "we could cut off funds for" this kind of operation. Smith said, "There is a legal basis for it... if you're one of these vessels, if you're flying under a false flag or no flag, and if you are engaged in illegal activities. This goes on all over the world. The dark fleet you referred to earlier, no one operates more dark fleet vessels than Russia, for instance. So this happens a lot. And there is a legal basis for boarding and stopping and inspecting. It's a lot murkier if you get into the issue of seizing the asset." The Editor says... Another
Shocking and Unprecedented Act of Aggression That Isn't Shocking or Unprecedented.
News media and politicians are howling in alarm over the US government's supposedly dangerous and
shocking seizure of "a Venezuelan oil tanker." [...] But it's not a a Venezuelan oil tanker, though
it was carrying Venezuelan oil. It's a stateless oil tanker, flying the flag of Guyana but
apparently not registered with Guyana. The maritime journalist and former Merchant Marine
captain John Conrad explains this in detail. As he writes in that long post:
Death Throes of Socialism. The Wall Street Journal reports that our administration's pressure on Venezuela is bringing Cuba's Communist regime to the brink of collapse. Two birds with one stone, you might say. I wonder, though: how can you collapse when you are already flat on the ground? ["]Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island's most prolonged economic crisis.["] No one, on the other hand, is moving into Cuba. It is sort of like California, only farther down the road. Putin abandons Maduro and urges his citizens to leave Venezuela. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATORUS) has confirmed the start of an evacuation process for Russian citizens currently in Venezuela through the organization of special flights. The announcement, disseminated by Russian media and internationally replicated, immediately caused a stir on social media and sparked a heated debate about the fragile stability of Nicolás Maduro's regime. This measure comes at a time when Russian tourism in Venezuela has increased significantly: more than six thousand visitors traveled to Margarita Island between August and November 2025 via direct charter flights from Moscow. 11 US warships and 15,000 troops now in Caribbean as Venezuela tensions escalate. More than 10 US warships, including the country's largest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, are bearing down on the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between President Trump and Venezuela. A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed as part of efforts to stem the flow of drugs into the US from the socialist country. "The military's job is to defend the homeland," Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told Fox News on Saturday night. "That's exactly what we're doing, and we're using our best assets to defend the homeland. Trump designates Venezuelan regime a terrorist organization and orders oil tankers seized. President Donald Trump announced the escalation of U.S. efforts against the regime in Venezuela after a series of military strikes on alleged narco-terrorist drug boats. The president said he was designating the regime a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a blockade against oil tankers. "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," he wrote on social media. "It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us." He went on to accuse the regime of using stolen oil funds to support murder, drug terrorism, kidnapping, and human trafficking. Seized Tanker Reveals Cuba's Secret Oil Lifeline As Trump Turns To Gunboat Diplomacy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has realized that it is all about following the money. If the U.S. military posture in the Caribbean is one of "gunboat diplomacy" aimed at ushering in regime change in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, against the country's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, then one way to accelerate regime instability is to weaken Cuba materially. During President Trump's first term, there was a brief moment in which the Maduro regime appeared close to being overthrown, but it was countered by support from Cuba. According to The New York Times reporters Michael Crowley and Edward Wong, that failure frustrated Trump, his advisers, and then Senator Rubio, who had backed regime change. "Their theory of change involves cutting off all support to Cuba," said Juan S. Gonzalez, who was President Joe Biden's top White House aide for Western Hemisphere affairs. "Under this approach, once Venezuela goes, Cuba will follow." Venezuela's Anti-US Alliances. US President Donald J. Trump's condemnation of Venezuela's illegal leader Nicolás Maduro includes his regime's facilitation of trafficking illegal drugs into the United States. [...] US military forces have destroyed several speedboats laden with cocaine and other illegal drugs leaving Venezuelan ports. Perhaps more significant to US strategic interests is Maduro's cooperation with an anti-American alliance of autocracies, including Russia, Cuba, China and Iran. The US has deployed military aircraft and a fleet of 22 warships to the area, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded by "signal[ing] its willingness to supply Venezuela with advanced hypersonic missiles, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik." Maduro's regime is also alleged to have helped arm a terrorist faction of the Colombia-based Marxist terrorist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in its decades-long campaign to overthrow Colombia's government. Venezuela's regime also reportedly has ties to Hezbollah drug-trafficking organizations, which have cells in Venezuela and Colombia. Winning a Venezuelan war without a fight. President Trump has the opportunity to do in Venezuela what Dubya could not do in Iraq — depose a dictator without a war. [...] President Bush 43 could not simply pay off Saddam Hussein because there was no viable alternative to him in Iraq. But the Trump's trump card is María Corina Machado. She is a very popular leader who is capable, with Trump's support, of toppling the drug cartels who run Venezuela. Rand Paul Compared Trump Cartel Strike To Lynching, Backed Obama Droning Two Americans. The Trump administration used a drone strike to eliminate what it says was a Venezuelan boat filled with narcotics last week. When Vice President J.D. Vance applauded the operation as the "highest and best use of our military," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., compared the strike to a lynching. [...] Narcotics pouring across the southern border kill tens of thousands of Americans each year and enrich international terrorist cartels. President Trump has been treating cartel proliferation of such activity within the American homeland as a war, albeit yet another war undeclared by Congress. The strike is one of the very few recent examples of the U.S. military directly protecting Americans at home. Yet in 2015, when former President Barack Obama approved a drone strike in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region that reportedly accidentally killed two American hostages in addition to foreign combatants during another congressionally unauthorized war, Paul defended Obama. The Coming Collapse Of Venezuela. Here's Peter Zeihan to state what conservatives knew a decade ago: Venezuela is headed for collapse. [Video clip] [...] "In calendar year 2022 and calendar year 2023, the Biden Administration did a partial lifting of sanctions on the regime, basically saying that if you start working in the direction of free and fair elections, we will allow investment to come in to stabilize the energy sector and get some more oil out of the ground. Uh, we're going to trust your word for it, and then we will reassess when we get closer to elections in 2024." I bet everyone reading this can figure out exactly how well that worked out. "We'll just take your word that your three card monte game is on the level." Lord Hermer cuts US intelligence sharing over 'drug boats' strikes. The US secretary of war has announced a new military operation to target "narco-terrorists" in the western hemisphere after a series of attacks on alleged drug traffickers in Latin America. Pete Hegseth said the mission, codenamed Southern Spear, "defends our homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and secures our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people". "The western hemisphere is America's neighbourhood — and we will protect it," he added on X. His short social media post appeared to suggest at least a continuation, if not an escalation, of the strikes on boats claimed to be smuggling drugs. At least 76 people have been killed in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Hegseth's announcement did not give further details but it came as President Trump was reportedly briefed by officials on updated options for potential operations against Venezuela, including strikes on its territory. Starmer Gov in UK Suspends Intel Sharing to Protect Drug Cartels. The Trump administration has repeatedly courted the Starmer government (a naïve move considering the UK government's complicity in Russiagate and Starmer's suppression of free speech) and while Starmer or Foreign Minister Lammy say all the right things when they're face to face with Trump or Vance, a moment later they stab us in the back. [...] The UK's ability to control any territories in this hemisphere very much depends on cooperation with the United States. PM Keir Starmer is choosing to throw that way to protect drug cartels and a socialist terrorist regime in Venezuela. And that's something that may occasion a good deal of regret. The most notable example of US support for British interests in this hemisphere was the Reagan administration's decision to back the UK in the Falklands War, both publicly and covertly through intelligence sharing. Nobody in their right mind is going to any of these places anyway. DOJ: $50M reward for capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $50 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of Socialist Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. [Tweet] According to [Attorney General Pam] Bondi, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has already seized over 30 tons of cocaine connected to Maduro and his network — including nearly seven tons directly tied to Maduro himself. This illicit trade, she said, serves as a critical revenue stream for powerful and deadly cartels operating out of Venezuela and Mexico. Bondi further noted that cocaine linked to Maduro's smuggling operations is "frequently laced with fentanyl," contributing to the widespread devastation of American lives and communities. Trinidad and Tobago declare state of emergency — allowing warrant-less raids — as murder rate soars. Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency Monday as murder rates soar in the Caribbean twin-island nation. The isles — located just off the coast of Venezuela — issued the emergency order after a spate of recent slayings and as the government braces for reprisal shootings following the attempted assassination of a gang leader over the weekend, authorities said. Under the emergency declaration, the government's defense forces will now become de facto cops, and both will allowed to carry out raids without a warrant. Bail will also be suspended for suspects under the order, officials said. Venezuela's Election Was Just Stolen, and Biden-Harris Were at the Center of It. Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro was declared the "winner" of the presidential election by the nation's election council on Monday morning. That came after exit polls showed him losing by as much as 30 points. Reports of Maduro's armed thugs closing down polling sites and stealing ballot boxes were prevalent throughout the process, all but confirming that the election was indeed stolen. What happens next is clear. Maduro will strengthen his grip on power instead of stepping down peacefully. As the saying goes, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out. White House Slams Venezuela for Trying to Exclude Leading Opposition Candidate from 2024 Election Ballot. The Biden White House criticized Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday for barring the leading opposition candidate from his country's upcoming elections — after Democrats tried to do the same to Donald Trump. Maria Corina Machado, 56, won the opposition primary in Venezuela last year and has been favored in the polls to beat Maduro in the July elections, possibly putting an end to the authoritarian rule of Hugo Chávez's successor. But the Maduro regime blocked the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) opposition coalition from registering its candidate by midnight early Tuesday [3/26/2024]. Machado's chosen successor, Dr. Corina Yoris, was also blocked. This is What a Rigged Election Looks Like. Last summer the regime of socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro announced that leading opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado was ineligible to run for office. The country hadn't held an election in five years at that point but Machado was expected to be the leading candidate if the current government agreed to hold an election. The opposition held a primary to decide who would face off with Maduro and, as expected, Machado won despite the government sending out its colectivo thugs on motorbikes to harass opposition voters. Machado hoped that a clear win in the primary would embarrass the socialist government into allowing her on the ballot, but in January the country's Supreme Court, which is made up of Maduro loyalists, ruled she would not be allowed to run. Apparently ruling her out of the process wasn't enough for Maduro. Last week, his government announced that it was arresting her campaign manager and other members of her staff. Ferraris and Hungry Children: Venezuela's Socialist Vision in Shambles. After years of extreme scarcity, some Venezuelans lead lives of luxury as others scrape by. The nation of grinding hardship has increasingly become one of haves and have-nots. [...] Venezuela's economy imploded nearly a decade ago, prompting a huge outflow of migrants in one of worst crises in modern Latin American history. Now there are signs the country is settling into a new, disorienting normality, with everyday products easily available, poverty starting to lessen — and surprising pockets of wealth arising. That has left the socialist government of the authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro presiding over an improving economy as the opposition is struggling to unite and as the United States has scaled back oil sanctions that helped decimate the country's finances. Biden Admin Authorizes Chevron to Resume Oil Pumping in Venezuela. The Biden administration authorized on Nov. 26 Chevron Corp.'s joint venture to resume oil pumping in Venezuela. "The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Venezuela General License (GL) 41, authorizing Chevron Corporation to resume limited natural resource extraction operations in Venezuela," the Treasury Department said in a statement. The goal of the authorization is to "alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy," according to the statement. The Biden administration's decision comes after the Nicolas Maduro regime and opposition political alliance Unitary Platform resumed talks in Mexico City. This was the first negotiation between the two parties since October 2021. So Biden's letting Venezuela, but not the U.S., pump oil. Energy prices, even though they have come down a bit, are still sky-high, whether it's heating fuel, gas-powered appliances, electricity, diesel, or the price for a fill-up at the pump. Over here in San Diego, I saw gas at one station going for $4.99 a gallon, and everyone marveled at how "low" that price was. We had been paying $5, $6, and $7 in the last six months. Joe Biden knows this is a problem now that he's lost the House. He actually thinks that inflation comes from oil rather than monetary printing presses turned up to 11 for government boondoggles, and he's emptied our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to add supply to the market so that gasoline prices will come down for a spell. That's a solution that will last only so long as the SPR does. Now he has given Venezuela the green light to pump oil in its partnership with Chevron. Biden eases sanctions on Venezuela. The good news is that the Biden administration is finally doing something about the Biden energy crisis, encouraging more oil drilling. The bad news is that the drilling will be taking place in Venezuela, not the United States. We saw some hints of this last month, but now it's apparently official. Yesterday, in an effort to cut a deal with one of the worst socialist tyrants on the planet, Joe Biden lifted some of the sanctions on Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA. The eased sanctions will allow for additional oil to flow from Venezuela and be exported to a world that is currently running out of energy at an alarming pace. So I assume that all of that unpleasantness over the past eight years or more is just in the rearview mirror now? Stand by for a few reminders of just who it is that we're doing business with. Biden Eases Venezuela Sanctions as Opposition Talks Resume. The Biden administration Saturday eased some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to support newly restarted negotiations between President Nicolás Maduro's government and its opposition. The Treasury Department is allowing Chevron to resume "limited" energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to Maduro's government. Earlier this year the Treasury Department again allowed the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform basic upkeep of wells it operates jointly with state-run oil giant PDVSA. Under the new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to PDVSA. Biden Eases Sanctions on Communist Venezuelan Govt. Biden's administration yesterday authorized Chevron to begin drilling in Venezuela again, easing Trump-era sanctions and giving an economic lifeline to the tyrannical Maduro government who has brought the South American country to absolute economic ruin. It's illegal in Venezuela to publish the actual currency conversion rates. Most of the country's economy is now transacted illegally in U.S. dollars. The sanctions preventing the development of oil reserves in the country were from 2019 when President Trump sanctioned the country for engaging in widespread voter fraud. The 2020 elections in Venezuela lacked "any credibility", according to the US State Dept. at the time. Part of Maduro's election-related crimes were creating false charges against political opponents and rounding up opposition leaders and jailing them. The elections in Venezuela were conducted and overseen by Smartmatic until 2018. Smartmatic later said that the government had the ability to change the results on its systems if it so choosed [sic]. Communist tyrant Nicholas Maduro denounced all election deniers as insurrectionists and seditionists. Chicago Teachers Union visits Venezuela, returns with high praise. Four representatives of the Chicago Teachers Union, including a member of its executive board, visited Venezuela and returned with high praise for the socialist polices of President Nicolás Maduro. So starts the story of those apparently living in an alternative universe. What is worse, these are the teachers who are indoctrinating the children. Chicago, the bastion of all that can go wrong with a city, gives us a chilling insight. The very same people opposed to charter schools and will do all they can to insure incompetent teachers remain in their positions. Who are more than willing to enjoy the largesse of the taxpayers with extraordinary benefits. Members of Chicago Teachers Union Support Venezuela's Socialist Disaster. According to FightBack!News, The Chicago Teachers Union has a delegation in Venezuela getting behind strongman Nicolás Maduro's regime. The story details that the delegation's goal is to "learn what they could from Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, exchange views on effective education and to show solidarity with the students, teachers and social movements of Venezuela." The delegation members are sharing their amazement at Venezuela's socialist experiment on a blog called "Radical Educator Collective." These union members were impressed by the communes they visited. Chicago Teacher's Union Members Fly To Venezuela In Show Of Support. Venezuela is a humanitarian and civil liberties disaster. The repressive regime of Nicolás Maduro has been condemned around the world for its campaign of killings, arrests, and torture with the help of hundreds of Cuban intelligence officers. The free press and any dissent has been brutally destroyed as the nation itself reduced to pre-industrial standards. Beyond Cuba, North Korea, and other authoritarian regimes, Venezuela has few friends ... except union teachers from Chicago. The delighted picture above shows the delegation of union teachers who flew to Venezuela in support of one of the most blood-soaked regimes in the world. Joe Biden Plays the Old Ugly American. The Left used to accuse imperialist, resource-hungry Yanquis in Washington of cutting selfish deals with illiberal dictatorships in Latin America to grab their natural resources. How odd then that Joe Biden is now begging the despicable Maduro regime in Venezuela — corrupt, murderous, and anti-American — to produce more of its oil solely to send northward to America. Biden is quite willing to ease sanctions and condone the human rights abuses of Maduro — if his dictatorship will just open its oil spigots before the November midterm elections. America's Suicidal Energy Policy Has Very Real Costs. Last week, Saudi Arabia announced, in conjunction with OPEC+, that it would be cutting oil production in the face of dropping prices. That decision came in spite of the Biden White House's lobbying in favor of increased production, which included a sycophantic visit by President Joe Biden to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In response to the Saudi announcement, the White House quickly announced that the United States would be reevaluating its relationship with the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the White House announced that it would be "preparing to scale down sanctions" on Venezuela's tyrannical regime, according to The Wall Street Journal. Biden admin looks to scale down Venezuela sanctions, allow more pumping of oil rated among world's dirtiest. The Biden administration is reportedly gearing up to wind down sanctions against Venezuela's authoritarian regime, clearing the way for Chevron to resume its oil operations and reopen U.S. and European markets. People familiar with the proposal told The Wall Street Journal that any sanctions relief wound hinge on talks between the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the country's opposition regarding free and fair presidential elections in 2024. So far, such talks have failed to materialize. Biden team's bright idea to get Venezuela to pump oil for us panned by senior diplomat. A few weeks ago, the Joe Biden team, in response to Congress cutting off Russian oil imports, tried to get Venezuela to pump some oil for us. The logic, of course, was to let bygones be bygones, and ignore the inconvenient little detail about Venezuela's oil company being full of drug dealers, which is among the things that got them sanctioned and cut off in the first place. Why not have Venezuela replace Vladimir Putin for oil? It sounded so logical, so easy. Anything but pump our own. Well, now the details of that caper are out and let's just say it isn't pretty. Putin snickers: Guess who owns a big chunk of Venezuela's oil? Under pressure from a veto-proof majority in Congress, Joe Biden loudly announced a cutoff of energy purchases from Russia, amounting to about 7% of U.S. energy imports. "Russian oil will no longer be accepted at U.S. ports — and the American people will deal another powerful blow against Putin's war machine," he tweeted. [Tweet] Russia had been sending about 600,000 barrels of oil a day to the states in a big export surge, following Biden's bans on federal leases for drilling, halt to the Keystone XL pipeline, and other measures intended to bankrupt Big Oil in the name of "going green." Biden looks to Venezuela for a bailout. Joe Biden is in a bind. Like everything else, he's blown it. Energy prices have gone through the roof, with gasoline prices at the pump pushing $6.00 a gallon in San Diego alone. They're expected to get higher, and each tic upward takes Joe down another notch in the polls. Biden has throttled U.S. capacity to produce its own energy by ending domestic drilling leases on federal lands. He's also scuppered the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. In place of that domestic and Canadian energy, we now buy Russian oil, some 600,000 barrels a day — which just happens to finance Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine. How Socialism Wiped Out Venezuela's Spectacular Oil Wealth. Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves and yet the country has run out of gasoline. The socialist government has lost the capacity to extract oil from the ground or refine it into a usable form. The industry's gradual deterioration was 18 years in the making, tracing back to then-President Hugo Chávez's 2003 decision to fire the oil industry's most experienced engineers in an act of petty political retribution. The near-total collapse in the nation's oil output in the ensuing years is a stark reminder that the most valuable commodity isn't a natural resource, but the human expertise to put it to productive use. "At this moment Venezuela is living through its worst nightmare," said Luis Pedro España, a professor of sociology at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas, who has studied the nation's economic collapse. "We are witnessing the end of Venezuela as a petro-state." Gasoline shortages have crippled the economy, made travel within the country prohibitively expensive, and it has increased prices at grocery stores. Shortages and price restrictions have given rise to a vibrant black market. Venezuelan woman begs Americans to wake up: This is how it starts. Cubans warned us, we didn't think it could happen to us. With entitled members of pampered Gen-Z actively engaged in the cultural cleansing of the United States, looking back on history through today's hard left lens, leave it to someone who has experienced this before to put things into perspective. A woman who said she is from Venezuela posted a video amid the insanity gripping American streets, where even statutes of Union generals who led the fight to free the slaves isn't safe. "Why do I even worry about some silly little statue coming down? Or some silly little street names changing? Why do I even care?" she asked. "It's because the last time I didn't care," the woman then said, answering her own question. "The last time, I didn't care about this as a teenager — I have already lived through these things when I was living in Venezuela." She then detailed the changes she witnessed as a teen. Prisoner swap: Venezuela releases 7 jailed Americans, US frees 2 prisoners. In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela has freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro's wife who had been jailed for years on drug smuggling conspiracy convictions, the White House said Saturday [10/1/2022]. "Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan. These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong," President Joe Biden said in a statement. Vadell, Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, and Pereira are five of the six American oil executives known as the "CITGO 6" arrested in Venezuela more than four years ago. Marxists Are Killing Each Other to Control America's Cocaine Market. "Socialism, this is the path to save the planet, I don't have the least doubt. Capitalism is the road to hell," Venezuela's Hugo Chavez told the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference. Rhetoric like that won the socialist dictator the admiration of socialists from Barack Obama to Noam Chomsky. But the dirty little secret of the socialist revolution in Venezuela was that it was a front for a massive drug smuggling operation. Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, gutted Venezuela's rich oil resources and turned the country into a socialist drug cartel. Ron DeSantis: Biden [is] Going to Dictators for Gas Imports. President Joe Biden angles himself as being tough toward President Vladimir Putin because the Russian leader is a "dictator," yet he turns to other dictators for gas imports as he "kneecaps" domestic energy, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said during a roundtable discussion in Doral, Florida, on Friday [3/11/2022]. "We have a number of Venezuelan Americans, who, like many Americans and, I know, a lot of Floridians, are very angered by the Biden administration's recent attempt to legitimize the brutal Maduro regime in Venezuela," DeSantis said during the Venezuelan community discussion, amid reports of Biden's administration seeking to increase oil imports from the dictator's country. Watch Venezuela's Dramatic Economic Plunge Under Democratic Socialism. Economist Mark Perry has been putting together a series of intriguing animated charts to show changes over time in everything from recorded music formats, Social Security spending, to top manufacturing nations. Over the weekend, Perry posted his latest animated chart, this one showing per capita GDP among Latin American countries. Pay close attention to the highlighted bar, which represents Venezuela. [Video clip] Trump goes for a twofer: Knocking Cuba's socialist dictatorship out along with Venezuela's. Cuba, the socialist police state so adored by Obama administration twerps like Ben Rhodes, is finding itself in the line of fire for its brutal grip on Venezuela. President Trump has vowed to make the socialist dictatorship pay by threatening Cuba with 'full and complete' sanctions, which is exactly what it deserves. Pompeo: The Term 'Human Right' is Being Used 'For Something That is a Mere Preference'. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says his department's new "Commission on Unalienable Rights," which held its first public meeting Wednesday, aims to develop a document by mid-2020 that will make clear what precisely are "fundamental human rights and why they matter so much to America." The initiative comes at a time when repressive regimes around the world are subverting the concept of human rights — a point highlighted by Pompeo in a speech Tuesday [10/22/2019] at the Heritage Foundation, where he cited as an example the Maduro regime in Venezuela's recent election onto the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC). He returned to the subject Wednesday during an interview on Tony Perkins' national radio show Washington Watch, citing the HRC election as an example of how humankind has "deviated" from what human rights actually are. Venezuela: There's No Disaster Quite Like The Collapse Of Socialism. Even while surrounded by military dictatorships and poverty, Venezuela at one time prospered with a strong economy and stable society. Today, three Latin American nations produce more oil than Venezuela, though it has the world's largest proven reserves of crude, and just getting sick is nearly the same as death for some children. It has rightly been called the "biggest economic disaster in modern history." "Hospital shortages," says the headline of an Agence France-Presse story posted on Yahoo News in late May, are "a death sentence for Venezuelan children." Half of the children who aren't dying can't get enough to eat. Allow Venezuela To Fail. Are we stepping on the same rakes again — in Venezuela? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently tweeted "My message to the Venezuelan people is clear: the United States stands firmly with you in your quest for freedom and democracy." He also confirmed that the military option is on the table. In other words, the U.S. is ready to liberate the Venezuelan people from themselves. For those who suffer historical amnesia, it is worth pointing out, that the Venezuelans had democratic elections and they have chosen socialism. Hugo Chavez was a socialist, and he ran on a socialist platform and got elected with wide popular support. So was his successor Nicolás Maduro. Whether the Venezuelans voted for socialist serfdom knowingly or they have been duped is irrelevant. If people are ignorant or complacent, they deserve the government they elect. Hey, How About Sending U.S. Troops Into Venezuela? Venezuela's dictator Nicolas Maduro is a former bus driver who rose through incompetence and luck to become a pompous, ruthless twit who's turned a wealthy oil-rich land into a stagnant, starving socialist state. Bernie Sanders expressed admiration for socialism there years ago. But Maduro and Hugo Chavez before him have created widespread starvation, hyperinflation and a refugee nightmare for millions of Venezuelans and Colombia and Brazil. Maduro would be one of those laughable Peter Sellers movie characters if his military wasn't running over protesters in the streets of Venezuela, a large, resource-rich country of 32 million about the size of Texas and Arizona combined. Russian 'democratic fraud' vs American hybrid war. Venezuela is Trump's first new foreign "war," the only major conflict he did not inherit from the Obama administration. "War" is in quotes because no military forces are likely to be involved. This is the peculiar characteristic of what appears to be an American version of "hybrid war" using only sanctions, diplomacy, information operations, and proxies. Why it has evolved is easy to explain. A new Cold Hybrid War has been raging for some time, though its existence has been played down for years to preserve the fiction of a Global World Order. Some of its most intense chapters are now coming to light. Ilhan Omar blames US for Venezuela crisis. Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed the US for the political turmoil in Venezuela, saying we "helped lead the devastation" through the use of sanctions. "A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela and we have sort of set the stage for where we are arriving today," the Minnesota congresswoman said during an interview Wednesday [5/1/2019] with Democracy Now!. "This particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help and is not in the interest of the United States." The freshman Democrat added that there are "finally" members of Congress who agree with what she said. The Editor says... Inviting Self-Professed Socialist Democrats to Venezuela. It's an obscenity to allow the "Socialist Democrats", who are really propped-up "Justice Democrats," to continue spouting their socialist ideals on society as long as the good citizens of Venezuela are having to rummage, dog-like, through street garbage for scraps to eat and collecting sewer water for their children. AOC, Omar and company are equivalent to the socialist Venezuelan politicians who converge nightly in Caracas steak houses while the people they were elected to serve slowly starve to death in the dark. If these Justice Democrats dared try to extoll the virtues of socialism in the streets of Venezuela the way they do in America, they'd be torn apart limb by limb. Hey Ilhan! Hey Alexandria! Venezuela's democratic president wants you to come to Venezuela to see some socialism. In the past, lefties have flocked to political pilgrimages to newly created socialist countries to drink in the collectivism and praise the new regimes. It happened in Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade sugar cane-cutting harvest, it happened in Nicaragua with the Sandalistas (ain't that right, Bill de Blasio), and it certainly happened in Venezuela during the salad days of socialist Hugo Chavez (until socialized Cuban Castrocare actually killed him in 2013). Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, Naomi Campbell, and Dial Joe-4-Oil Kennedy were all in, and don't think they weren't loud about it. Well, now a new invitation has been issued to the current defenders of socialism, from Venezuela's democratically elected president, Juan Guaido. Trump's Anti-Socialist Strength Could Turn Venezuelan-Americans Into Republicans for Decades. Ernesto Ackerman watched the horror play out in Venezuela this weekend on a large screen on the stage of a rally he had helped organize in support of the country's opposition leader, Juan Guaido. The event was initially meant to bring Venezuelans in the city together to coincide with the protests back home. It ended up being something very different. "A killing of civilians without arms, burning the humanitarian help, we are dealing with the genocide," the Venezuelan-American activist said as they watched the violence play out in real time. How Venezuela Struck It Poor. Venezuela was considered rich in the early 1960s: It produced more than 10 percent of the world's crude and had a per capita GDP many times bigger than that of its neighbors Brazil and Colombia — and not far behind that of the United States. At the time, Venezuela was eager to diversify beyond just oil and avoid the so-called resource curse, a common phenomenon in which easy money from commodities such as oil and gold leads governments to neglect other productive parts of their economies. [...] Such success makes the sorry state of Venezuela's oil industry today, not to mention that of the country at large, all the more surprising — and tragic. Why is the Vatican standing up for the Venezuelan dictatorship? Look at it this way: can you imagine Pope John Paul II sending in his diplomats to legitimize the military dictatorship of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski while it was in its showdown with Solidarity? Pope John Paul was with the democrats all along, and as they won freedom with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution, the Vatican in the end played a pivotal role for freedom. Poland, as a matter of fact, is one of the few countries in Europe where Catholicism is still significantly practiced. No such luck in Venezuela. The battle lines have been drawn, and the first Latin pope and his Vatican bureaucrats have picked the bad guy, the ruling dictatorship, over the suffering people, all in the phony name of preserving peace, something whose potential came and went years ago. Venezuela's Future — and Ours. Venezuela and North Korea could not be more dissimilar in terms of their respective cultures, peoples, and histories. And yet they have arrived in approximately the same place: at the terminus of F. A. Hayek's "Road to Serfdom." Russian dossier operator Fusion GPS in business of doing dirty deeds for corrupt dictatorships. The secretive Washington firm that commissioned the sensational anti-Trump campaign research dossier also advised corrupt Venezuelan officials accused of conducting a lucrative money laundering scheme, a respected international human rights group told lawmakers probing the Russian election-meddling scandal. Thor Halvorssen, head of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in written testimony that Washington-based political intelligence firm Fusion GPS operated a campaign against journalists who threatened to expose a multibillion-dollar fraud involving faulty South American electric power plants, the laundering of its proceeds in U.S. banks and a kickback scheme to pay off Venezuelan officials. Why We Have a Second Amendment: Venezuela Plans to Give Firearms to Loyalists So They Can Purge Growing Resistance. After enduring shortages of food and medicine for years, as well as a total collapse of their currency, the people of Venezuela have had enough. Last week it was estimated that 2.5 million people marched against the Maduro regime, which had previously tried to strip away the powers of the opposition-led parliament. It's estimated that as many as 6 million people may have taken to the streets to protest throughout the country. In the lead-up to the protest, which had been planned for weeks by opposition political parties, President Maduro issued an alarming proclamation that didn't receive nearly enough press. He promised to expand the nation's armed militia, and hand out firearms to as many as 400,000 loyalists. Trump goes for a twofer: Knocking Cuba's socialist dictatorship out along with Venezuela's. Cuba, the socialist police state so adored by Obama administration twerps like Ben Rhodes, is finding itself in the line of fire for its brutal grip on Venezuela. President Trump has vowed to make the socialist dictatorship pay by threatening Cuba with 'full and complete' sanctions, which is exactly what it deserves. As Venezuela's socialist disaster spreads, UN goes after Ecuador and Peru. The United Nations is pressuring Peru and Ecuador to drop their passport requirements, put into place after vast human waves of Venezuelans fleeing socialism inundated those countries. Bad, bad Ecuador and Peru for wanting to control their nation's borders. Borders bad, uncontrolled entry good. How very convenient for Venezuela's Maduro regime, which is at the root of the problem. Venezuela Loses Voting Rights in United Nations as Dues Go Unpaid. The United Nations General Assembly has identified Venezuela among nine countries that are not allowed to vote in the current 70th Session because of arrears in paying their dues. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week informed the General Assembly that 15 countries are in arrears in paying their annual contribution to the UN regular budget, "which means they can't vote in the 193-member world body unless there are exceptional circumstances." Hold the celebrity enablers of Venezuela's hellhole accountable. What holds Venezuela together these days? According to the New York Times, this state is held together only by an encircling ring of death-squad gangs, who serve as its enforcers. These are the community organizers known as 'colectivos' who ride and circle around menacingly on motorcycles, and shoot randomly into crowds to generate terror. I saw them myself in Caracas in late 2005, and they were scary. Now, they are engorged with drug cash and legitimized by the state. Who could have imagined that this tontons macoute situation would be the logical conclusion of Chavista socialism? It's official: Venezuela is a dictatorship. All this year, as they trudged through an unprecedented economic implosion, Venezuelans have been gearing up for what was meant to be the defining political event of the year: a referendum on whether to recall our increasingly loathed authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro. The tense buildup suddenly ended Thursday as five separate (and supposedly independent, but c'mon now) lower courts approved injunctions to suspend the recall, closing down Venezuela's last best hope for a peaceful solution to its long-running political crisis. Even for battle-hardened Venezuelans, it all came as quite a shock. Venezuela Reaches the End of the Road to Serfdom. A lefty correspondent who believes that I have been unfair to Senator Bernie Sanders — specifically, that I have given insufficient attention to the "democratic" part of his so-called democratic socialism — writes: "You should write about those millions of souls trapped in the Canadian, Icelandic, Danish, and other democratic-socialist gulags." But, of course, there are no Canadian and Danish gulags. Then again, Canada and Denmark are not socialist countries. This is a truth the Left, and some of the Right, insists on refusing to learn. Behind Hugo's Harassment Of Honduras. The recent actions of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez say a lot about what's really at stake in the Honduras debacle. It's not about democracy or constitutionality. It's about preserving a tyrant's empire. Seventy Years After Appeasement. Seventy years ago, Hitler made it very plain that he was going to transform Europe and that only those who resisted him with force could stop his plans. Today, while Iran moves closer to acquiring the means to plunge our world into a new dark age, while menacing nations like China and Russia nip at our drooping power, while Hugo Chavez schemes to turn Venezuela into a grim prison like Cuba, we can act. We seem to lack the stomach to do anything, though we have the means. Hugo's 'utopia': Socialism's lie. Severe food shortages in Venezuela — milk, sugar, eggs and more — indicate supporters of Hugo Chavez, the country's slippery socialist strongman, are getting their just deserts. With Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as Mr. Chavez's role model, mentor and commie muse, no wonder so many suffer so much. Venezuela blames U.S for global oil price slump. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday [10/16/2014] blamed Washington for the slump in global oil prices. Washington is "flooding" the market with cheaper shale oil to bring down prices and ultimately impact Russia and other oil-producing nations, Maduro said at a televised Cabinet meeting. Obama's slippery foreign oil promise. It was one of President Barack Obama's boldest 2008 campaign promises: Getting the United States off oil from anti-U.S. hot spots within a decade. That didn't happen. Persian Gulf oil imports are down only 5 percent, while the U.S. remains Venezuela's biggest oil-trading partner since Obama said changing that relationship was crucial "for the sake of our economy, our security and the future of our planet." Admin Calls Venezuela Outreach 'Hallmark of Diplomatic Efforts'. After cozying up to Cuba, is "normalizing" relations with the Venezuelan regime next up for the Obama administration? Reuters reported yesterday that the administration has embarked on "quiet diplomacy" with Caracas in "an attempt to improve their acrimonious relations," with President Nicolas Maduro reaching out three months after President Obama announced his Cuba plans. Obama Sends Another Hug To Hugo. Obama's famous laughing, back-slapping encounter with the communist dictator at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad could have been dismissed at the time as a rube's mistake on a treacherous diplomatic front. But after an interview with a Miami TV station, where he declared Chavez "not a serious threat" to U.S. interests, one wonders what side Obama is on. Chavez Handshake May Cost U.S. Billions. How much will President Obama's handshake with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez cost the U.S.? Despite Chavez' bombastic rhetoric about his socialist revolution, the reality is that Venezuela is going broke. ... What has also been absent from press coverage is any perspective on just how our relations with Venezuela became so frosty in the first place. The implication is that George W. was just a big old grump and couldn't get along with his neighbors. 'Worthless' UN blasted for weak Venezuela response, playing into Maduro's hands. As the Venezuelan government burns aid convoys, represses its people and forces them to eat out of garbage trucks, critics say the United Nations is struggling to find its voice as it issues weak statements of condemnations, while a pro-Maduro coalition digs in at U.N. headquarters[.] "[Secretary General Antonio Guterres] is playing right into #Maduro plans," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted this month. "Fake @UN 'negotiations' to divide opposition & buy time for protests to die down. Maduro will also want UN "experts" to blame #Venezuela crisis on sanctions." Back to the Home page 
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Document location https://akdart.com/dt5.html Updated January 10, 2026. ©2026 by Andrew K. Dart |