Category Archives: Venezuela

Trump ‘reaping bitter fruit’ of thinking Iran intervention as easy as Venezuela, says former diplomat

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John Feeley says US president was ‘flush with victory’ of Maduro capture and could make same mistake in Cuba

Donald Trump is “reaping the bitter fruit” of erroneously thinking that the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, offered a blueprint for toppling the Iranian regime, according to one of the US state department’s most respected former Latin America experts.

John Feeley, a Marine helicopter pilot who later served as the US ambassador to Panama, believed Trump had been “flush with the victory from Venezuela” when he made the ill-fated decision to attack Iran in February, leaving a trail of destruction across the Middle East and dealing a hammer blow to the global economy.

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US lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez

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US moves towards reestablishing working relations between two countries after abducting President Nicolás Maduro

The US has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in the latest step towards normalising relations between the two countries after US forces abducted her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife.

The couple were taken to New York after their abduction in January to face charges of alleged drug trafficking, to which both have pleaded not guilty.

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Venezuelans deported by US detail fresh claims of torture and abuse at El Salvador mega-prison

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Petition seeks accountability from Salvadorian authorities over human rights violations at notorious Cecot facility

A group of 18 Venezuelan men whom the US expelled a notorious Salvadorian mega-prison are demanding that Salvadorian authorities be held internationally accountable for violation of human rights – detailing new allegations of torture, sexual assault and medical neglect.

A new petition, filed on Thursday before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleges that El Salvador violated the human rights of these men, who were expelled to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) last year without charge.

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Flatterers out in force to fill Trump’s head with Venezuelan statue dreams

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President’s popularity top of mind at another weird and wild cabinet meeting – riff on merits of Sharpies included

They have become so notorious for displays of flattery and obsequiousness that critics have drawn comparisons with North Korea. Thursday’s cabinet meeting at the White House was no different.

Doug Burgum, the US interior secretary, outflanked his fellow praise singers by saying he believes that Venezuela – which the US attacked in January – intends to honour the president with a statue.

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Delcy Rodríguez replaces Venezuela’s top military commanders

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Interim president announces changes after firing defence minister, who was close to Maduro, the leader ousted by US

Venezuela’s interim president has said she has replaced all her senior military commanders, the latest in a flurry of changes since the US ousted Nicolás Maduro.

Delcy Rodríguez announced the changes in a social media post a day after firing the long-serving defence minister, who had been close to Maduro, and replacing him with a former intelligence chief.

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Trump convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ summit with 12 Latin American leaders

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In Miami, president calls for regional cooperation to counter Chinese economic and political interests

Donald Trump changed the channel from Iran to the western hemisphere on Saturday, convening a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establishing what he called a “counter-cartel coalition”.

“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told 12 regional leaders gathered at what the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit.

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US and Venezuela move to restore diplomatic ties two months after Maduro’s capture

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Re-establishing diplomatic relations will support Venezuela’s economy, US state department claims, amid push for minerals access

Venezuela and the US are restoring diplomatic ties, the two countries announced Thursday, in a new sign of thawing relations after Washington ousted former president Nicolás Maduro.

The announcement came as US interior secretary Doug Burgum wrapped up a two-day trip to Venezuela, part of US president Donald Trump’s push for greater access to the country’s mineral wealth.

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Dismay as Hegseth urges Latin American allies to join ‘offense’ against cartels

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Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.

Hegseth’s remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – the first US ground military attack on a South American country.

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Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold

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Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington

A blackout hit the western half of Cuba on Wednesday, leaving millions of people in Havana and beyond without power in the latest outage to affect an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and a crumbling electricity grid.

The government’s Electric Union confirmed the outage on social platform X, saying it affected people from the eastern town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey.

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Trump suggests US could carry out ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba

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As tensions between two countries reach new highs, US president says regime is ‘talking with us’

Donald Trump has suggested the US could carry out a “friendly takeover” of Cuba as tensions between Washington and Havana reach a new high after the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

As he left the White House for a campaigning event in Texas on Friday, Trump said: “The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble.”

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Bolivia’s ex-leader Evo Morales reappears after months-long unexplained absence

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Long-serving socialist former leader Evo Morales has reappeared in his political stronghold after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence

Bolivia’s long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared on Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence, endorsing candidates for upcoming regional elections and quieting rumours he had fled the country in the wake of the US seizure of his ally, Venezuela’s ex-president Nicolás Maduro.

The weeks of hand-wringing over Morales’ fate showed how little the Andean country knows about what’s happening in the remote Chapare region, where the former president has spent the past year evading an arrest warrant on human trafficking charges, and how vulnerable it is to fears about US president Donald Trump’s potential future foreign escapades.

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US says 11 people killed in latest strikes on alleged drug boats

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Three boats targeted in eastern Pacific and Caribbean as Trump continues pursuit of alleged ‘narco-terrorists’

US military officials have said American forces launched assaults on three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing 11 in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration’s months-long campaign against alleged traffickers.

The military action on Monday brought the number of fatalities caused by US strikes to 145 since September, when Donald Trump called on American armed forces to attack people deemed “narco-terrorists” on small vessels. There have been 42 known strikes in notorious drug-trafficking routes such as the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the Associated Press reported.

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US boards second oil tanker in Indian Ocean after it fled Venezuelan raid

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Pentagon tracked sanctioned Veronica III from Caribbean Sea after it left Venezuela on day Maduro was captured

US military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

Venezuela had faced US sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure the president, Nicolás Maduro, before Maduro was apprehended in January during a US military operation.

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Trump threatens strikes on any country he claims makes drugs for US

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Trump signals imminent land strikes in Venezuela, blaming a navy admiral for a deadly September attack

Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that any country he believes is making drugs destined illegally for the US is vulnerable to a military attack.

The US president’s comments came during a question-and-answer session at the White House at which he also said military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela, which he has accused of narco-terrorism, would “start very soon”.

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Trump reportedly gave Maduro ultimatum to relinquish power in Venezuela

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US president sent a ‘blunt message’ to his South American counterpart, sources say

Donald Trump reportedly gave Nicolás Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power immediately during their recent call – but Venezuela’s authoritarian leader declined, demanding a “global amnesty” for himself and allies.

On Sunday, the US president confirmed the call had taken place, telling reporters: “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly, it was a phone call.”

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Trump ‘wouldn’t have wanted’ second strike on Caribbean boat survivors

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US president says he will look into reports US military was told to conduct follow-up attack on suspected drug vessel

Donald Trump has said he will look into reports that the US military conducted a follow-up strike on a boat in the Caribbean that it believed to be ferrying drugs, killing survivors of an initial missile attack.

The US president also said on Sunday he “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike on the vessel during the incident on 2 September – the first publicised operation in a series of attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that Washington says are aimed at combatting the drug trade.

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Noem made decision to continue deportation flights to El Salvador, justice department says

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Justice department maintains that Trump administration didn’t violate judge’s order to return flights to US

The Department of Justice said in a statement that Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was the one who made the decision to continue with the deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador in March, despite a federal judge’s directive that the flights must be returned to the United States.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the justice department said that “Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara” and that “after receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador”.

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Noem made decision to continue deportation flights to El Salvador, justice department says

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Justice department maintains that Trump administration didn’t violate judge’s order to return flights to US

The Department of Justice said in a statement that Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was the one who made the decision to continue with the deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador in March, despite a federal judge’s directive that the flights must be returned to the United States.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the justice department said that “Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara” and that “after receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador”.

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Trump threatens Venezuela’s Maduro with ‘the easy way … or the hard way’

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Venezuela president vows to defend ‘every inch’ of the country amid military buildup in Caribbean

Donald Trump has warned Nicolás Maduro he can “do things the easy way … or the hard way” as Venezuela’s authoritarian leader responded to the growing US pressure campaign by urging followers to prepare to defend “every inch” of the South American country.

Clad in woodland camouflage fatigues, Maduro told a rally in the capital, Caracas, it was their historic duty to fight foreign aggressors, just as the Venezuelan liberation hero Simón Bolívar did two centuries ago.

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Trump threatens Venezuela’s Maduro with ‘the easy way … or the hard way’

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Venezuela president vows to defend ‘every inch’ of the country amid military buildup in Caribbean

Donald Trump has warned Nicolás Maduro he can “do things the easy way … or the hard way” as Venezuela’s authoritarian leader responded to the growing US pressure campaign by urging followers to prepare to defend “every inch” of the South American country.

Clad in woodland camouflage fatigues, Maduro told a rally in the capital, Caracas, it was their historic duty to fight foreign aggressors, just as the Venezuelan liberation hero Simón Bolívar did two centuries ago.

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