Tag: venezuela

Maduro Urgently Seeks Military Aid From Russia & China With US Bulls-Eye On Venezuela

President Trump said on Friday that he’s yet to make a final decision on launching a military attack on Venezuela, but President Nicolás Maduro is not waiting around while taking the US leader’s word on it.

Maduro is reportedly urgently reaching out to Russia, China, and Iran for any possible military aid, including defense items which may have already been negotiated or are in the works. The Washington Post says it’s obtained internal documents showing such recent and high-stakes requests.

“Amid a buildup of American forces in the Caribbean, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China and Iran to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by The Washington Post,” the publication reports.

“The requests to Moscow were made in the form of a letter meant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and was intended to be delivered during a visit to the Russian capital by a senior aide this month,” WaPo continues.

And separately, Maduro is said to have sent a formal letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking “expanded military cooperation” between the two countries in order to counter “the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela.”

Maduro in it seeks to expedite Chinese companies’ production of radar detection systems based on prior deals, in cooperation between Caracas and Beijing which has long been an open secret.

“In the missive, Maduro emphasized the seriousness of perceived U.S. aggression in the Caribbean, framing U.S. military action against Venezuela as action against China due to their shared ideology,” the documents state according to the Post.

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Congress Members Fuming, Left Unsatisfied By Classified Pentagon Briefing On Drug Boat Strikes

US War Department officials don’t know the identities of the 61 people who have been extra-judicially executed in US military strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Politico reported on Thursday, citing House Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the campaign.

“[The department officials] said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes, they just need to prove a connection to smuggling,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “When we tried to get more information, we did not get satisfactory answers.”

While the Trump administration has cited overdose deaths in the US related to fentanyl to justify the bombing campaign, lawmakers were told in the briefing that the boats that have been targeted were allegedly smuggling cocaine, though the Pentagon has not provided evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying.

“They argued that cocaine is a facilitating drug of fentanyl, but that was not a satisfactory answer for most of us,” Jacobs said.

The briefing on Thursday came after the Pentagon shut out Democrats from another briefing it held with Republicans a day earlier, which left Democratic senators fuming. Democrats who attended Thursday’s briefing said Pentagon lawyers were pulled from the meeting at the last minute.

“Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not. And the last word that I gave to the admiral was, ‘I hope you recognize the constitutional peril that you are in and the peril you are putting our troops in,’” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told reporters after the briefing, according to CNN.

Jacobs said that, based on what she was told, even if Congress authorized the bombing campaign, it would still be illegal. “[T]here’s nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence,” she said.

Criticism of the US bombing campaign has also come from Republicans, most prominently from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). “No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented,” Paul said this week of the people who have been targeted. “They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public… so it’s wrong.”

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The New Monroe Doctrine: Cuban Aid, Brazilian Bloodbath, and an Update on Venezuela

If you’ve been sniffing around the MSM today (or social media), you’ve probably seen headlines implying we’re poised for military action inside Venezuela to take out Nicolás Maduro and his regime. That’s because outlets like the Miami Herald are reporting that “the Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment” and “will seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime.”

The Herald also reports that an anonymous source said, “Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to. What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.” 

Some call it “advanced planning,” while others report that this action could take place within days or even hours. Some still seem to think that this means a full-on invasion. Even old Bernie Sanders is on X fussing about Trump “declaring war.”  

Let’s calm down and take a deep breath here. First of all, as I’m literally typing this, Donald Trump is on Air Force Once talking to reporters, and he denied that he’s made a decision about any type of military action on Venezuelan soil. The White House has also told us that when/if it happens, they will let us know. It won’t be some reporter with a “source close to the situation.” 

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Rand Paul: It’s Odd We’re Not Charging Survivors from Boat Strikes for Drug Crimes

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that when there are survivors of the strikes on what the Trump administration alleges are drug boats, “we don’t try them for drug crimes or we don’t even keep them. We’ve been sending them back.” And “We have no evidence of who they are, other than an accusation that they are drug dealers.”

Paul said, “It’s interesting that, as the boats have been exploded, and as we’ve used this deadly force, when there are survivors, we don’t try them for drug crimes or we don’t even keep them. We’ve been sending them back. So, we repatriated, last week, somebody to Colombia and somebody to Ecuador. So, you would think that, when there are survivors, that they would be tried for a drug crime.”

He continued, “You would think we would be hearing evidence that they’re collecting drugs that are floating around in the water afterwards. You would think we’d hear evidence that the people were armed. So, we don’t know their names. We have no evidence of who they are, other than an accusation that they are drug dealers. But we also, in our country, haven’t typically just killed people because we accuse them of being a drug dealer.”

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Pentagon Tells Congress It Doesn’t Know Who It’s Killing in Latin American Boat Strikes

US War Department officials don’t know the identities of the 61 people who have been extra-judicially executed in US military strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, POLITICO reported on Thursday, citing House Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the campaign.

“[The department officials] said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes, they just need to prove a connection to smuggling,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “When we tried to get more information, we did not get satisfactory answers.”

While the Trump administration has cited overdose deaths in the US related to fentanyl to justify the bombing campaign, lawmakers were told in the briefing that the boats that have been targeted were allegedly smuggling cocaine, though the Pentagon has not provided evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying.

“They argued that cocaine is a facilitating drug of fentanyl, but that was not a satisfactory answer for most of us,” Jacobs said.

The briefing on Thursday came after the Pentagon shut out Democrats from another briefing it held with Republicans a day earlier, which left Democratic senators fuming. Democrats who attended Thursday’s briefing said Pentagon lawyers were pulled from the meeting at the last minute.

“Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not. And the last word that I gave to the admiral was, ‘I hope you recognize the constitutional peril that you are in and the peril you are putting our troops in,’” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told reporters after the briefing, according to CNN.

Jacobs said that, based on what she was told, even if Congress authorized the bombing campaign, it would still be illegal. “[T]here’s nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence,” she said.

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Intel Operative Tried To Recruit Maduro’s Pilot, Have Him Divert a Flight So That US Authorities Could Arrest Venezuelan Dictator

The ‘betrayal in the skies’ did not happen.

Under the feeble Joe Biden administration, a federal agent developed an operation that, while unsuccessful, demonstrates just how approachable is the inner circle of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

The agent approached Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot, General Bitner Villegas, with an offer: divert the Venezuelan presidential plane to a place where US authorities could detain him.

In exchange, the pilot would become ‘a very rich man’.

Associated Press reported:

“The conversation was tense, and the pilot left noncommittal, though he provided the agent, Edwin Lopez, with his cell number — a sign he might be interested in helping the U.S. government. Over the next 16 months, even after retiring from his government job in July, Lopez kept at it, chatting with the pilot over an encrypted messaging app.”

The operation – started under Biden but seemingly continued during Trump’s administration – seems very improvised to the observer, but sheds light on the Maduro team’s vulnerabilities.

“’I’m still waiting for your answer’, Lopez wrote the pilot on Aug. 7, attaching a link to a Justice Department press release announcing the reward had risen to $50 million.

Details of the ultimately unsuccessful plan were drawn from interviews with three current and former U.S. officials, as well as one of Maduro’s opponents. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were either not authorized to discuss the effort or feared retribution for disclosing it. The Associated Press also reviewed — and authenticated — text exchanges between Lopez and the pilot.”

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Venezuelan Narco Regime Under Nicolás Maduro Provided Over $20 Million to Fund Black Lives Matter, According to Washington Examiner

The Washington Examiner has uncovered deep connections between the Chavista regime in Venezuela and Black Lives Matter (BLM), an organization that presents itself as a defender of racial rights but, according to documented evidence, has served as a vehicle for foreign Marxist agendas.

It all began in late 2012, when Hugo Chávez, the eternal father of 21st-century socialism, ordered the delivery of at least $20 million in suitcases filled with cash to Opal Tometi, one of the three co-founders of BLM alongside Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza.

According to a former high-ranking Venezuelan official who defected and witnessed the meeting, the purpose was to «project the Bolivarian revolutionary project onto the streets of the United States,» meaning to sow chaos and division to erode American democracy from within.

This testimony does not come out of nowhere. The defector, close to Chávez’s inner circle, described a meeting in Caracas where Tometi arrived accompanied by three other African American women and actor Danny Glover, a known sympathizer of communist regimes like those in Cuba and Venezuela.

On his deathbed due to cancer, Chávez saw BLM as the perfect tool to export his anti-imperialist ideology.

Notably, BLM had already emerged in 2013, spurred by the Trayvon Martin case, but its ideological roots are steeped in declared Marxism: Cullors identifies as a «trained Marxist,» and Tometi has invoked figures like Assata Shakur, a convicted fugitive for murder living in exile in Cuba.

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US Military Officials Involved in Latin America Campaign Required To Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements

US military officials involved in the Trump administration’s military campaign in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing US officials.

The report said the request is highly unusual, since US military officials are already required to keep secrets from the public, though it also acknowledged that the Pentagon has previously used NDAs under the leadership of War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The news comes as members of Congress have complained about the Trump administration’s lack of transparency about the campaign, which has involved bombing alleged drug-running boats and a substantial military buildup, and a push toward a regime change war to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The US War Department has not provided any evidence to back up its claims about what the boats it has been bombing are carrying and hasn’t provided any information about the people it has been killing in strikes that amount to extrajudicial executions at sea.

In an interview on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been very critical of the bombing campaign, affirmed that Congress hasn’t received any information about the people the Pentagon has been targeting. “No one said their name. No one said what evidence. No one said whether they’re armed. And we’ve had no evidence presented,” Paul said. “So, at this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings.”

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Sen. Rand Paul Slams Strikes on Boats in Caribbean as ‘Extrajudicial Killings’

Senator Rand Paul blasted President Donald Trump’s strikes on alleged drug traffickers as unconstitutional and illegal. 

“A briefing is not enough to overcome the Constitution. The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it. … The drug war, or the crime war, has typically been dealt with through law enforcement,” Paul said on Fox News Sunday. “And so far they have alleged that these people are drug dealers … and we’ve had no evidence presented. So at this point we would call them extrajudicial killings.” 

So far, the Department of War has bombed ten boats it claims are smuggling narcotics into the US. Nine of the strikes have been on vessels in the Caribbean, against alleged cartels linked to Venezuela. The White House has not provided evidence that the ships were carrying drugs. 

“So far, they have alleged that these people are drug dealers. No one said their name. No one said what evidence. No one said whether they’re armed. And we’ve had no evidence presented,” Paul said.

One survivor of a strike was released by Ecuador, finding he was not engaged in wrongdoing when the boat was attacked. One family member said a victim of a US strike was a fisherman, and not working for a cartel. 

Trump has discussed expanding the strikes into Venezuela and has given the CIA approval to conduct lethal operations against cartels. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims that Venezuelan President Maduro is the leader of a cartel designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. 

If Trump elects to expand the war, he told reporters that he will brief Congress on the plans. He went on to say he did not have to discuss the matter with the Legislator and has not sought a Declaration of War. 

The Constitution explicitly grants Congress the authority to Declare War. However, the principle of preventing the President from unilaterally declaring war has been eroded over time. Congress has not declared war since World War 2 II. The last Authorization for Use of Military Force was passed in 2002 for the Iraq War. 

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Venezuela Officials Claim They Captured CIA-Linked Mercenaries in False Flag Plot

Venezuelan authorities claim to have captured a group of mercenaries allegedly linked to the CIA.

In a statement on Sunday, Venezuela Vice President Delcy Rodriguez shared that the alleged mercenaries were apprehended with “direct information” from the CIA.

Delcy’s statement comes as joint military exercises between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago are currently underway in the Caribbean Sea.

Per Newsweek:

Venezuela said it has captured mercenaries “with direct information” relating to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as Caracas accused neighboring Trinidad and Tobago of a “military provocation” by carrying out joint drills with the U.S.

The Trump administration has launched multiple lethal strikes on alleged drug boats close to Venezuela and Colombia as part of what officials paint as a crackdown on narcotics trafficking into the U.S. that has strained American relations with Colombia, a longtime ally, and worsened tensions with Venezuela. The U.S. moved significant military assets to the southern Caribbean, bolstered by the announcement last week that the U.S. Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier would join fighter jets, a submarine and multiple warships already in the region.

The White House has little love for Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, and has doubled the reward for information leading to his arrest on drug-related and corruption charges to $50 million. Venezuela said it is ready to respond and released an appeal in English from Maduro, calling for peace.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez did not give further details about the “mercenary group” she said was linked to the CIA in a statement published on Sunday but said it intended to carry out what she termed a “false flag” operation. The term refers to a plan that makes another party look responsible for an operation or action. Rodríguez said the operation was setting the stage for a “full military confrontation with our country.”

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