Category Archives: Nicolás Maduro

Stakes rise as Trump deploys world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean

Posted on by

Expert says military action may be ‘imminent’ in Venezuela, while others suspect deployment is a negotiating tactic

When Donald Trump started sending warships, marines and reaper drones to the Caribbean in August to torment Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, the US’s former ambassador in Caracas, James Story, suspected the deployment was largely for show: a spectacular flexing of military muscle supposed to force the authoritarian leader from power.

But in recent days, as the world’s largest aircraft carrier and its strike group powered towards the region and the US president continued to order deadly airstrikes on alleged narco-boats, the diplomat’s thinking has shifted.

Continue reading...

US ‘Night Stalkers’ seen in Caribbean as fears of regime change rise in Venezuela

Posted on by

Elite helicopter unit’s part in military deployment comes as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Nicolás Maduro

They call themselves the Night Stalkers and their unofficial motto hints at the group’s lethal nocturnal line of work: “Death Waits in the Dark.” “You can flee, but they will find you,” warns a rare book about the US army’s secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR).

Since the elite helicopter unit’s creation in 1981, its daredevil pilots have taken part in some of the most dangerous missions in recent US military history: battling Islamic State during Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and Somali warlords during Operation Gothic Serpent; and spiriting Navy Seals into Pakistan to kill the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as part of Operation Neptune Spear.

Continue reading...

Trump claims Maduro willing to give ‘everything’ to ease US tensions

Posted on by

President says Venezuelan counterpart ‘doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States’

Donald Trump used an expletive to threaten the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Friday, claiming that the leftist autocrat had offered major concessions to appease the US.

The US president was speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday during a meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Continue reading...

Survivors reported after latest US attack on alleged drug boat in Caribbean

Posted on by

It is unknown whether US military rendered aid to survivors after attack on suspected ‘narcoterrorist’ vessel

The US military carried out a new strike on Thursday against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, a US official told Reuters.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not offer additional details about the incident, which has not been previously reported. But it raises new questions, including whether the US military rendered aid to the survivors and whether they are now in US military custody.

Continue reading...

Trump says he authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela as Maduro decries the move as ‘coups d’etat’

Posted on by

Move marks escalation in Maduro pressure campaign as president says US mulling strikes on Venezuelan territory

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in his administration’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government.

Trump further suggested he was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory, a dramatic step that would go beyond a series of recent lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, which Democrats and United Nations experts have forcefully condemned as unlawful.

Continue reading...

In Venezuela’s ‘darkest hours’, will peace prize boost opposition or backfire?

Posted on by

María Corina Machado’s Nobel award puts focus on country but analysts doubt it will produce democratic change

In March 2019 as a nationwide blackout plunged Venezuela into darkness, hundreds of citizens huddled on a basketball court in the city of Maracaibo to hear their leader promise to guide them out of the gloom.

“We are, quite literally, living through our darkest hour. But these are also the brightest of times,” María Corina Machado told supporters as they used mobile phones to illuminate the night.

Continue reading...

Stephen Miller takes leading role in strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats

Posted on by

Exclusive: Miller’s homeland security council has played a key part in coordinating operations, sources say

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has played a leading role in directing US strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug boats, according to three people familiar with the situation. At times, his role has superseded that of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.

The strikes on the Venezuelan boats allegedly carrying narcotics, which the administration has claimed were necessary because interdiction did not work, have been orchestrated through the homeland security council (HSC), which Miller leads as the homeland security adviser.

Continue reading...

Colombia’s Petro urges ‘criminal process’ against Trump for Venezuelan strikes

Posted on by

At UN, Gustavo Petro says ‘poor young people’ died in US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Caribbean coast

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro addressed the UN general assembly Tuesday to call for a “criminal process” to be opened against counterpart Donald Trump for US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed “poor young people” died in the strikes that Washington said were part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of running a cartel.

Continue reading...

Venezuela starts days of military and ‘electronic warfare’ drills after US strikes on alleged drug boats

Posted on by

Armed forces say ‘special naval militia’ involved in Caribbean deployment as defence minister cites ‘threatening, vulgar voice’ of Washington

Venezuela says it has begun three days of military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila as tensions soar amid US military activity in the region.

Forces deployed for what Washington called an anti-drug operation have blown up at least two Venezuelan boats and a combined 14 people allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean this month – a move slammed by UN experts as “extrajudicial execution”.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson was paid £240,000 after Maduro meeting, invoice shows

Posted on by

Johnson’s office sent invoice to hedge fund manager, which was paid, weeks after meeting Venezuelan leader last year

From a private jet somewhere over the Caribbean Sea in February last year, Boris Johnson called his old political adversary David Cameron, then the foreign secretary, to notify him of a visit.

Johnson had taken a day out from a family holiday in the Dominican Republic for an unlikely meeting with the leftwing president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, a man whom Johnson, when in office, had likened to a “dictator of an evil regime”.

Continue reading...

Trump administration doubles reward for arrest of Venezuela’s president to $50m

Posted on by

Nicolás Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine

The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.

Continue reading...

Venezuela rejects UN ruling to refrain from holding election in disputed region

Posted on by

Neighboring Guyana has also laid claim to the mineral rich Essequibo, and Venezuela plans to elect officials to govern it

Venezuela’s government has said it “categorically” rejected a ruling from the U N’s top court ordering the South American country to refrain from holding elections for officials who supposedly would oversee a resource-rich region in neighboring Guyana that both countries claim as their own.

The government of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, in a statement underscored its historical position to not recognize the jurisdiction of the international court of justice and asserted that international law does not allow the body to “interfere” or “attempt to prohibit” an election.

Continue reading...

Families of detainees in El Salvador and Venezuela decry Bukele’s prisoner swap offer

Posted on by

Salvadorian president denounced as ‘tyrannical’ as he floats trading 252 prisoners with fellow authoritarian regime

The families of prisoners being held by the authoritarian governments of El Salvador and Venezuela have condemned President Nayib Bukele’s offer to swap 252 Venezuelan detainees sent to his jails by the Trump administration for the same number of political prisoners incarcerated by Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

Nelson Suárez, whose brother was among the Venezuelan immigrants sent from the US to a notorious maximum-security jail in El Salvador last month, said he was desperate for the release of his brother, from whom he has heard nothing in five weeks.

Continue reading...

Venezuela accuses El Salvador of human trafficking as prisoners caught in row between authoritarians

Posted on by

Nayib Bukele offered to exchange 252 Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador for 252 prisoners in Venezuela

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has accused El Salvador’s president of being a “tyrannical” human trafficker after Nayib Bukele offered to exchange the 252 Venezuelan migrants deported to his country’s prisons by Donald Trump for the same number of political prisoners in Venezuela.

Bukele made the offer on Sunday night in a message addressed directly to his authoritarian counterpart Nicolás Maduro. “I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and delivery of an identical number … of the thousands of political prisoners that you hold,” El Salvador’s leader posted.

Continue reading...

Six soldiers in Guyana injured in clash with suspected Venezuela-based gang

Posted on by

Guyana plans to ‘take all necessary measures’ for security as tensions likely to further rise between the two countries

Six soldiers in Guyana have been injured after armed men in neighboring Venezuela opened fire, in an attack expected to further heighten tensions between the two South American countries.

Two of the soldiers are in critical condition following Monday’s attack, according to the head of Guyana’s army, the chief of staff Brig Gen Omar Khan, who blamed suspected gang members.

Continue reading...

Trump special envoy flies to Venezuela to meet with Nicolás Maduro

Posted on by

Richard Grenell’s visit prompts fresh speculation of rapprochement between Washington and Caracas

A Donald Trump special envoy has flown to Venezuela to hold talks with its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, fuelling fresh speculation of a possible deal between the two governments.

Richard Grenell, a prominent Maga cheerleader and diplomat who was the US ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term, was set to land in Caracas on Friday, according to CNN.

Continue reading...

Trump’s US aid freeze will drive migration from Latin America, experts warn

Posted on by

Abrupt decision to pause all foreign aid could exacerbate violence in region already struggling with organized crime

The Trump administration’s abrupt decision to immediately pause all US foreign aid programmes could exacerbate violence in Latin America, driving more migration from a region already struggling with the rise of organised crime, experts have warned.

The world’s largest aid provider by far, the US disbursed $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to South American countries in the 2023 financial year, funding a broad range of projects, including humanitarian, military, environmental and economic aid.

Continue reading...

Venezuelan opposition candidate accuses Nicolás Maduro of coup

Posted on by

Edmundo González, widely believed to have won July election, gives address after autocrat sworn in for third term

The man widely believed to be the real victor of last year’s presidential election in Venezuela has accused Nicolás Maduro of staging a coup and “crowning himself dictator” after the South American autocrat claimed another six years in power.

Maduro, a former union leader who has governed since 2013, in increasingly authoritarian fashion, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite claims that he stole the election from the actual winner, the retired diplomat Edmundo González.

Continue reading...

Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in amid outrage over alleged fraudulent election

Posted on by

US announces $65m bounty for arrest of president, who has led country since 2013 and failed to prove he won recent vote

Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, has been​ accused of a shameless and fraudulent power-grab after swearing himself in for a third term, despite domestic outrage and a chorus of international condemnation at his alleged theft of last year’s election.

“This is a great victory for Venezuelan democracy,” the 62-year-old autocrat boasted during a sparsely attended oath-taking ceremony in Caracas that was boycotted by the leaders of democratic nations.

Continue reading...

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado ‘kidnapped’, allies say

Posted on by

Leader reportedly freed after being ‘violently intercepted’ having left hideout to lead protest against Nicolás Maduro

Allies of Venezuela’s most influential opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said she had been “kidnapped” from the streets of Caracas by regime officials after sneaking out of her hideout to lead a major protest against the authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro.

About three hours after the announcement, Machado supporters said she had been released having been knocked off a motorbike and “taken away by force” while leaving the rally and had been compelled to record a number of videos.

Continue reading...