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Another European country transfers gold out of US

RT | September 3, 2026

The central bank of the Netherlands has become the latest country to move gold holdings out of the United States, announcing on Wednesday that it had transferred 86 tons of bullion to London. The bank described the move as “crisis preparedness” during a time of “increasing geopolitical unrest.”

The transfer was carried out between March and August. The bulk of the gold was moved from New York, with the rest coming from Canada. Only about 27 tons were physically transported across the Atlantic, while the remainder was accomplished through sales in the Americas and repurchases in London. Prior to the transfer, the Dutch central bank (DNB) had held 313 tons in North America.

“With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves,” according to a written statement by DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen. “We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness.”

The DNB’s move comes after France’s central bank sold its remaining 129 tons of gold held at Federal Reserve vaults in New York between July 2025 and January 2026, leaving it with no bullion in the United States. The proceeds from the sale were used to purchase an equivalent amount of gold in Europe.

In 2017, under the first administration of US President Donald Trump, Germany’s Bundesbank announced that it had completed the transfer to Frankfurt of 300 tons of its gold held in New York. During Trump’s second term, several prominent German economists have called for the removal of the bank’s remaining holdings from the US.

Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez repatriated about 160 tons of its gold reserves from foreign banks, a move that was completed by January 2012. However, some 31 metric tons of Venezuelan gold are still held by the Bank of England. Efforts undertaken by then-President Nicolas Maduro to bring the bullion home were stymied by Great Britain, which did not recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of Venezuela’s government.

The DNB praised Bank of England-held gold as being “the world’s most easily tradable gold.” The Dutch central bank reported owning 612.4 metric tons as of the end of 2025, worth about €72 billion (about $84 billion).

September 3, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , , , , | Comments Off on Another European country transfers gold out of US

With Israel Becoming A Pariah State, It’s Seeking To Turn Latin America Into Its Base Of Influence.

By Justin K.P. | The Dissident | August 13, 2026

Becoming more of an international pariah, Israel has been quietly but rapidly expanding its influence across South America, hoping to use it as its new base of international influence and diplomatic protection.

The Israeli newspaper Ynet late last year quoted Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar saying that “2026 will be ‘the year of Latin America’” for Israel.

The article quoted Amir Ofek, deputy director general for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Foreign Ministry of Israel, saying, “We hope and believe that 2026 will be the year of Latin America, a year that will look different diplomatically, one in which we see a positive change in the relations of the continent’s countries with Israel”.

This was in reference to Israel normalizing ties with the new U.S. backed Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, a country which under the MAS-led government cut ties with Israel in 2009 over its bombardment of Gaza .

Under the new U.S. backed president Rodrigo Paz, Ynet noted, “Bolivia announced it was canceling its visa requirement for Israelis, a move expected to put the country back on the map for Israeli travelers in the region. After intensive talks … the two foreign ministries agreed on the text of an accord and a joint statement.”

This is just a part of a far larger U.S. backed Israeli plan to turn every South American government into Israeli puppet states.

Using the one million dollars he was given from the Zionist “Genesis Prize for his unwavering support of Israel”, the Israeli-aligned president of Argentina, Javier Milei launched the “Issac Accords”, an initiative “aimed at strengthening political, economic and cultural cooperation between Israel and Latin America”.

The project was launched alongside Genesis Prize Foundation Co-Founder and Chairman Stan Polovets and former US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Fitz Haney.

Hanley boasted to the Jerusalem Post that “Our goals are ambitious but clear: create frameworks for trade, tourism, education, and technology that connect Israel and Latin America’s leading democracies in practical, mutually beneficial ways”.

With Israel becoming more and more of a pariah state internationally, the Isaac Accords are designed to turn South America into Israel’s base of influence.

Hanley and Polovets told the Jerusalem Post, “Unfortunately, too many traditional allies are dealing with internal divisions and rising public antisemitism that make open support for Israel politically difficult. Meanwhile, Latin America is part of the emerging Global South, which is demanding a stronger voice internationally. It represents a quarter of that bloc’s countries and 10 per cent of its population. Engaging Latin America isn’t about replacing Europe – it’s about expanding Israel’s circle of friends. These are democracies that admire Israel’s innovation and resilience”.

The initiative did not simply include making inroads with governments in South America, but overthrowing governments in solidarity with Palestine, and replacing them with pro-Israel ones.

Ynet boasted that in Honduras, President Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura has “declared an intention to warm relations with Israel”.

Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura was effectively installed as president of Honduras by Donald Trump shortly after he pardoned the former president of Honduras and convicted drug trafficker, Juan Orlando Hernández.

As the outlet Canal RED reported:

Hours before the November 30, 2025 elections, President Donald Trump announced through his social network that he would pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced in 2024 to 45 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine to the United States and for having received money from ‘Chapo’ Guzmán to finance electoral fraud. New York prosecutors had described Honduras as a “narco-state” during his term, while Juan Orlando was syndicated for accepting millions in bribes from cartels to protect them from the law.

In that same announcement, Trump explicitly supported the candidate of the National Party of Honduras, Nasry “Tito” Asfura, threatening to cut off aid if he was not elected. What seemed like political support covered up a more sinister agreement: the return of Juan Orlando for economic and military control of Honduras

Leaked phone calls show that this was all part of an organized plot, with financing from Israel, to eventually have Nasry Asfura, give power over to Juan Orlando Hernández.

Juan Orlando Hernández is heard on a leaked phone call telling Nasry Asfura “The pardon money … came out of a council of rabbis, and of a people who supported Israel,” adding, “I want to think that you are not going to make a side of me because, thanks to me, you are sitting in that chair. President, it will be me. And I look forward to your support. Because that’s what we talked about with President Trump”.

He added, “The Prime Minister of Israel is going to give us support. We are very grateful to him, they had a lot to do with them. They had everything to do, in fact, they with my departure and negotiation”.

Last week, Honduras “restored full ambassadorial representation with Israel, marking a major diplomatic”.

In April of this year, Israel, the United States, and Argentina officially announced the Issac Accords long planned by Javier Milei, in an official announcement calling to “strengthening cooperation between Argentina, Israel and like-minded partners in the Western Hemisphere”.

Like in Honduras, the Issac Accords include running propaganda campaigns against governments in South America that do not go along with Israeli demands.

Leaked phone calls show that “Argentine President Javier Milei would have contributed 350,000 dollars to form a regional communication team aimed at launching a media campaign against the presidents of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Colombia, Gustavo Petro, according to the audio recording of a conversation held between the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández and the current Honduran authorities” and that “In one of the sound files, Hernández stated ‘that as part of that group’ or continental entity, Milei’s role is important, because he contributes thousands of dollars for the construction of those fake news sources”.

Along with Javier Milei, Trump also openly interfered in the Colombian election, openly favouring current president Abelardo de la Espriella, openly saying that he “would be tremendously successful in leading Colombia to grow the Economy, Create Jobs, Promote Trade, Stop Illegal Immigration, Crack Down on Crime and Drugs, and Restore LAW AND ORDER.”

This interference has certainly paid off for Israel, with Colombia becoming “only the second country, after the US, to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981 in a move the UN Security Council declared void. The reversal came from Colombia’s new right-wing president Abelardo de la Espriella, backed by Trump, who is rapidly undoing the pro-Palestinian policies of leftist predecessor Gustavo Petro: restoring ties, planning a Jerusalem embassy, and quitting South Africa’s ICJ genocide case”, as Drop Site News reported.

This context, as well as other recent developments, adds new context to Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro.

Israel wanted regime change in Venezuela because, as the Miriam Adelson-funded Israel Hayom newspaper explained, “Since Hugo Chávez’s rise to power, Venezuela has become one of the most hostile countries to Israel and Zionism in Latin America. Chávez … severed diplomatic relations with Israel during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, accused Israel of ‘genocide against the Palestinian people’ and compared its policies to Nazi conduct. His successor (Maudro) continued the anti-Israeli line with even more intensity. Thus, Venezuela, which previously maintained warm relations with Israel and even purchased security technologies from it, became a center of hostile propaganda toward Zionism and the Jewish state”.

The U.S. installed successor to Nicolas Maduro, Delcy Rodriguez, has reversed this after Israel sent IDF militants to Venezuela under the guise of helping with recovering from the earthquake.

Since this, the Venezuelan government led by Delcy Rodriguez released a statement saying:

The Governments of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the State of Israel announce that, following the visit of the Israeli humanitarian delegation to Venezuela in response to the double earthquake that occurred on June 24, and in follow-up to discussions held between high-ranking officials of both countries, the two nations have agreed to allow the continuation of bilateral technical cooperation stemming from the emergency and recovery efforts following the double earthquake. Furthermore, the two nations agree to establish a coordination mechanism to facilitate the provision of consular services to their respective citizens residing in the other country, as needed. Both governments recognize the importance of the bond between the State of Israel and the Jewish community residing in Venezuela, which constitutes a significant historical bridge of friendship between the two countries.

Israel, along with the United States and Argentina, will continue to support right- wing Zionist governments in South America to expand Israel’s influence.

August 13, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on With Israel Becoming A Pariah State, It’s Seeking To Turn Latin America Into Its Base Of Influence.

By Normalizing Ties With Israel, Delcy Rodriguez Betrays The Bolivarian Revolution

By Justin K.P. | The Dissident | August 11, 2026

Delcy Rodriguez, the “interim president” of Venezuela installed by the United States after kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro, is destroying and spitting in the face of the political revolution started by Hugo Chavez’s election in 1999, dubbed the Bolivarian Revolution after Simon Bolivar.

Anti-imperialism was always at the forefront of Hugo Chavez’s and Nicolas Maduro’s agenda, first and foremost, solidarity with the Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation.

In 2009, after Israel’s bombardment in Gaza dubbed Operation Cast Lead, which killed 1,400 Palestinians – including 300 children, and which a UN inquiry called “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population”, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez severed “ties with Israel in protest against its war in the Gaza Strip”, with Chavez saying, “Venezuela … has decided to break off diplomatic relations with the state of Israel given the inhumane persecution of the Palestinian people”.

Throughout his presidency, Chavez continued to end all diplomatic relations with Israel and stood by the besieged Palestinians, saying in 2009, “It is not that the Israelis want to exterminate the Palestinians. They are doing it openly. Remember the last Israeli aggression against Gaza. What is it if not genocide? I think that’s hard to believe. It was a savage attack against an innocent people. The Israelis were seeking an excuse to exterminate the Palestinians. I think we must condemn this aggression and impose sanctions against Israel”.

This solidarity was continued by his successor, Nicolas Maduro, who, as the Miriam Adelson-funded Israel Hayom newspaper complained, “continued the anti-Israeli line with even more intensity.”

Palestine was such an important cause for Maduro that he shouted “long live free Palestine!” as he cast his vote in the 2024 election.

Even as Trump was ramping up his campaign to kidnap Nicolas Maduro, he reiterated his support for the Palestinian cause in November of 2025, saying, “We will not abandon this sacred cause until the ultimate goal is achieved: Palestine will rise, free and independent. We will only reach real peace when justice is served for the crimes and genocide committed. Only then can we begin to recover from the rubble and devastation”.

For this reason, Israel – increasingly trying to spread its influence in South America – supported the U.S. regime change campaign in Venezuela.

Middle East Eye noted in 2019 that “Israel wants to see Maduro overthrown in Venezuela,” noting that “Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination was at its height during the Chavez years up until today, with the leadership making outspoken criticism of Israel’s flagrant violations of international law. Venezuela severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 over its military campaign in Gaza”.

As Israel Hayom complained, “Venezuela, which previously maintained warm relations with Israel and even purchased security technologies from it, became a center of hostile propaganda toward Zionism and the Jewish state”.

Israel made connections with the CIA asset in the Venezuelan opposition, Maria Corina Machado, because, as Israel Hayom boasted, she “promises to change her country’s attitude toward Israel from one extreme to another, and doesn’t hide her sympathy toward us. In recent years, she spoke about her intention to establish Venezuela’s embassy location in Jerusalem and stood with the Jewish state after the October 7 massacre, while Maduro supported Hamas”.

Israel, however, seemed to have made the same deal with interim president Delcy Rodriguez.

Israel used the devastating earthquake in Venezuela as a opportunity to get the country to abandon it’s long held solidarity with the Palestinians, sending IDF militants to the country under the guise of helping rebuild from the devastation caused by the earthquake, who were welcomed and even praised by Delcy Rodriguez.

Benjamin Netanyahu praised the delegation for carrying out a “rare strategic objective by assisting an estranged government” with the goal of “restoring relationships”.

The Israeli newspaper Ynet boasted that “The dispatch of the Israeli delegation has already created a kind of diplomatic breakthrough, including the first phone call in years between a senior Venezuelan official and a senior Israeli representative. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil spoke with the head of the Israeli aid mission, Yoed Magen, Israel’s designated ambassador to Mexico, who also handles the Venezuela portfolio at the Foreign Ministry”.

Venezuela’s chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Cohen, who played a large role in bringing the Israeli delegation to Venezuela, hoped that this would lead to normalization of ties between Israel and Venezuela, saying, “We offered the president of Venezuela the possibility of having the Israeli delegation come to assist in the disaster. She gladly accepted our assistance and gave all the necessary approvals for the delegation’s arrival. This was the first step. Although there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries, Israel took a wonderful step by providing humanitarian aid to Venezuela …We hope, and are almost certain, that this will move another step forward. There is no doubt that this was a moving gesture”.

Venezuelan political scientist Carlos Eduardo Pina argued that these moves were done to appease Israel and its lobby in the U.S., writing, “Maria Corina Machado, the leading opposition figure and Rodriguez’s main rival, has built a strong alliance with Israel over the years, especially with Prime Minister Netanyahu. If Rodriguez can win Netanyahu over at Machado’s expense, Machado could lose one of her most important sources of support, both internationally and in Washington, where pro-Israel lobbying networks hold significant influence. To this end, Rodriguez has adopted increasingly Israel-friendly positions while courting sectors of Venezuela’s Jewish community with strong ties to Israel”.

Israel’s goals seem to have succeeded in Venezuela, with the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela releasing a statement saying:

The Governments of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the State of Israel announce that, following the visit of the Israeli humanitarian delegation to Venezuela in response to the double earthquake that occurred on June 24, and in follow-up to discussions held between high-ranking officials of both countries, the two nations have agreed to allow the continuation of bilateral technical cooperation stemming from the emergency and recovery efforts following the double earthquake. Furthermore, the two nations agree to establish a coordination mechanism to facilitate the provision of consular services to their respective citizens residing in the other country, as needed. Both governments recognize the importance of the bond between the State of Israel and the Jewish community residing in Venezuela, which constitutes a significant historical bridge of friendship between the two countries.

Venezuelanalysis reported that this statement came after a meeting between Venezuelan foreign minister Félix Plasencia and Yitzhak Cohen, where Cohen “requested that Venezuela reestablish diplomatic ties with Israel.”

While Chavez cut off diplomatic relations with Israel over its 2009 slaughter in Gaza, Delcy Rodriguez had taken the first steps to normalize relations with Israel, and it continues its genocide in Gaza, expansion in the West Bank, and ethnic cleansing of Lebanon.

Israel seems to have gotten exactly what it wanted by supporting regime change in Venezuela.

Given Chávez and Maduro’s long-standing solidarity with Palestine, it is hard to see these moves as anything but a betrayal of the Bolivarian revolution.

August 12, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on By Normalizing Ties With Israel, Delcy Rodriguez Betrays The Bolivarian Revolution

US profits from seized Venezuelan oil tankers, sends them for scrap in India: Report

Press TV – August 11, 2026

The US government has quietly sold two oil tankers seized following its military aggression against Venezuela to Dubai-based vessel recycler Global Marketing Systems (GMS), with the vessels set to be dismantled in India.

The two tankers, the Era and Lileo, were purchased by GMS last month for an undisclosed sum, Lloyd’s List reported on Monday.

Both vessels had been seized by US authorities in January 2026 amid Washington’s military campaign against Venezuelan oil shipments.

The Era, formerly known as Marinera and Bella 1, and the Lileo, previously named Galileo and Veronica, are now due to be scrapped at shipbreaking yards in India.

“The US government has sold them to us and there was a court order authorizing the sales, but there are complexities, not least the fact that we weren’t really sure who previously owned them,” GMS CEO Anil Sharma told Lloyd’s List.

The sale comes amid a broader series of US military operations to intercept and seize oil tankers linked to Venezuelan oil shipments, actions that Caracas and other governments have condemned as acts of maritime piracy.

Venezuela formally complained to the UN Security Council following the seizure of a tanker in December 2025, noting that US forces boarded the vessel on the high seas, subduing and detaining its crew, and seizing a shipment of Venezuelan oil.

Iran has also condemned the US actions. Its embassy in Caracas described the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker as “piracy in the Caribbean Sea” and said the action violated international law, including the principles governing freedom of the seas and navigation.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who faces mounting scrutiny from legal experts over potential war crimes during Washington’s military campaign in Latin America, oversaw the seizure of one of the oil tankers.

The Era was seized in January 2026 after US Coast Guard and military personnel intercepted the Russian-flagged tanker in waters south of Iceland, following a weeks-long pursuit across the Atlantic. The vessel had previously evaded a US maritime blockade in the Caribbean aimed at restricting Venezuelan oil exports.

The Lileo was also seized in January, this time in the Caribbean Sea, as part of Washington’s broader campaign to intercept Venezuelan oil shipments following its military intervention in Venezuela.

US authorities seized as many as 10 oil tankers in the aftermath of the operation, according to reports.

The subsequent sale of the Era and Lileo for scrap means the vessels will not return to commercial service and will instead be dismantled at shipbreaking yards in India.

A Financial Times investigation published in July estimated that Washington has collected more than $13 billion from Venezuelan oil exports since taking control of the country’s oil sales in January, following the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro Moros.

The investigation found that only one transfer, worth $300 million, has been publicly recorded on a Venezuelan government website established to monitor oil revenues controlled by the United States.

August 11, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes | , | Comments Off on US profits from seized Venezuelan oil tankers, sends them for scrap in India: Report

Chad announces withdrawal from International Criminal Court Treaty

MEMO | July 28, 2026

Chad announced on Monday that it is withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying it has formally notified the United Nations of its decision.

In a statement, Chad’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ICC had become “a politicised and biased tool” against countries in the Global South, particularly in Africa, and argued that the court lacked balance and effectiveness in addressing cases from different regions.

The ministry said the court’s focus on African cases prompted the government to reassess its membership in the Rome Statute.

According to the statement, the decision followed what the government described as a comprehensive review of the ICC’s performance since its establishment in 2002. While criticizing the court’s effectiveness, Chad said it remained committed to promoting justice and protecting human rights through national and regional institutions.

Under Article 127 of the Rome Statute, a state’s withdrawal takes effect one year after formal notification is received by the United Nations. The treaty also provides that withdrawal does not exempt a state from obligations arising before the withdrawal becomes effective, including cooperation with investigations and proceedings already underway.

Chad’s announcement follows similar moves by several other countries. According to the Chadian government, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso submitted notices of withdrawal earlier this month, while Venezuela has also announced plans to begin the withdrawal process, citing concerns over what it describes as bias within the court.

The announcement also comes amid developments within the ICC itself. Member states recently voted to remove Prosecutor Karim Khan from office following allegations of misconduct. The allegations have received international attention, and the proceedings have taken place under the court’s internal governance procedures.

July 28, 2026 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chad announces withdrawal from International Criminal Court Treaty

Does the Pentagon even know who its boat strikes are killing?

By Adam Isacson | Responsible Statecraft | July 1, 2026

The numbers are stomach-turning. In less than 10 months, U.S. forces acting on orders from the Trump administration have killed 215 people in 63 aerial attacks on small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific.

Since the first attack on September 2, the Trump administration has told us that they are killing drug traffickers. But drug trafficking, especially being a low-level courier, is not a crime punishable by the death penalty, and, even if it were, the U.S. legal system assumes innocence and guarantees a day in court. Skipping that step makes this murder under U.S. law: the equivalent of a cop shooting a fleeing suspect in the back.

The administration is attempting to get around this by claiming that every one of the dead is a “narco-terrorist,” a member or “affiliate” of a profit-seeking criminal group recently added, with no outside review, to a secret Defense Department list of “Designated Terror Organizations,” or DTOs. Because the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with the DTOs, a secret Justice Department memo argues, our military is permitted to kill them on sight, even with no self-defense justification.

Yet the administration has still not presented any evidence that a bombed vessel was even carrying drugs, much less that its deceased crew was affiliated with a criminal or “designated terrorist” organization.

What we know so far indicates that the U.S. military is being used to assassinate unknown individuals based on alarmingly flimsy evidence. And the targeting criteria are quite loose.

On the rare occasions when crew members have been recovered, “Military briefers have admitted to members of Congress that they cannot satisfy the evidentiary burden necessary to hold or prosecute survivors of the boat strikes,” reported the Intercept’s Nick Turse, who has covered the boat strikes extensively. Three survivors have been recovered alive; all have been let go without charges.

Questioning Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a hearing earlier this month, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) revealed that those carrying out boat-strike targeting are using three criteria that Kaine was not authorized to disclose publicly. He could disclose, however, that “evidence of narcotics on the boat” was remarkably not one of the three criteria.

In fact, the U.S. military usually doesn’t even know the identities of the people on the boats. The Washington Post reported that the targeting instructions in the boat-strike campaign’s August 5 Defense Department Execute Order (EXORD) “do not require positive identification of any individual but rather ‘reasonable certainty’ that adult males are members of, or affiliated with,” a DTO.

A former U.S. official who had read the EXORD told the Post, “The campaign may be killing individuals who in some cases have a tenuous link to any organized drug-running operation.” That official added, “When you define ‘DTO’ and ‘affiliate’ so loosely and you’re attacking boats, (the guidelines are) basically meaningless.”

The term “affiliate,” which the Trump administration is using to end lives on the open ocean, is especially squishy. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told the New Republic’s Greg Sargent that, in a briefing with Pentagon officials, “They did not in any way, shape, manner, or form explain what the ceiling and floor are for ‘affiliated.’” People who received a classified briefing interviewed by the Intercept “said that they were under the impression that little more than a conversation with a DTO member might confer ‘affiliate’ status.”

Vague claims of “affiliation” or behavioral patterns introduce confirmation bias and guesswork into a lethal process. This vastly increases the probability that the boat strikes are killing people who have committed no crime at all.

“Some people who are familiar with boat movements” along the Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela told the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism that “it is common for the same boats that carry drugs on the outward journey to bring passengers back. The capitanes, as the boat operators are known, take whatever work they can get.”

The Intercept raised the possibility, acknowledged by a senior military officer, that some of those killed in the first strike on September 2 may have been migrants or human trafficking victims. That boat had 11 people aboard, a strangely large number for a short-hop drug delivery of less than 100 miles between Venezuela and Trinidad.

Evidence points to some of those killed in boat strikes being fishermen plying their trade. While residents of poor coastal fishing communities may “take occasional trafficking jobs to get by,” which blurs their identities, the likelihood of dying in a strike is scaring people away from getting in boats simply to fish, the New York Times reported from coastal Colombia and Ecuador. “Residents described entire communities abandoning fishing because the small ‘lanchas,’ or speedboats, used by traffickers and fishers are often indistinguishable.”

In Santa Marta, Colombia, the family of fisherman Alejandro Carranza, killed in a September 15 strike, insists that he was not involved in the drug trade. “If he was some kind of narcoterrorist,” the mother of three of Mr. Carranza’s children asked New York Times reporters, “then why are we living in misery instead of a mansion?”

Two of those killed in an October 14, 2025 strike were Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, both from the village of Las Cuevas, Trinidad. Their families are suing the United States for damages under the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute. The complaint in Burnley v. United States argues that both men had been in Venezuela for months working on farms and, in their final communications, told their families that they had obtained passage by boat home to Trinidad.

In Sucre, Venezuela, where 90% of the population lacks basic food security, some of the dead were fishermen or taxi drivers who agreed to crew a boat that shipped drugs to Trinidad in exchange for a few hundred dollars. Some, like a “beloved” indoor soccer player, may simply have been aboard for the ride.

To all the concerns about the quality and reliability of intelligence used to target people for lethal boat strikes, we must add recent cases elsewhere pointing to U.S. reliance on faulty intelligence, or even just hunches. In March 2025, the Department of Homeland Security rendered 252 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s feared Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, alleging that they were all “terrorist” group members, an assertion that proved shockingly wrong, according to subsequent investigations. The New York Times revealed that an early March raid on an alleged DTO encampment in northern Ecuador, planned jointly by U.S. and Ecuadorian forces, in fact targeted a dairy farm. A March bombing in Iran that killed students at a school for girls is a well-known recent example elsewhere.

If even a few of the boat-strike victims are just fishermen, passengers, or low-level couriers with no relationship to big criminal syndicates, the Trump administration’s justification for the strikes simply cannot be sustained. It would confirm that this justification rests on a very rickety foundation of questionable intelligence, which should expose many in the chain of command to national and international criminal or civil liability.

The boat strikes need to stop immediately, and its architects and willing implementers must be investigated and held accountable at the earliest opportunity.

Adam Isacson has worked on defense, security, and peacebuilding in Latin America since 1994. He now directs WOLA’s Defense Oversight program, which monitors U.S. cooperation with Latin America’s security forces, as well as other security trends.

July 2, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Does the Pentagon even know who its boat strikes are killing?

Abelardo De la Espriella’s Victory Renews Pressure on Venezuela

José Niño Unfiltered | June 26, 2026

Colombia elected Abelardo de la Espriella as its next president on June 21, 2026, delivering the country’s leadership to a man who spent nearly a decade publicly calling for the violent overthrow of Venezuela’s socialist government. His victory over leftist Senator Iván Cepeda by fewer than 250,000 votes marks a dramatic rightward shift for a nation that shares a porous 1,400-mile border with Venezuela and hosts millions of Venezuelan refugees.

De la Espriella takes office on August 7, 2026. If Brazil’s November presidential election delivers Flávio Bolsonaro to the Planalto Palace, the two largest nations bordering Venezuela will be governed by leaders who have explicitly endorsed forceful regime change in Caracas. Combined with the apparent willingness of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez to cooperate with Washington, the conditions may finally exist for completing what the Trump administration attempted and failed to accomplish in 2019.

De la Espriella’s hostility toward Caracas is neither recent nor cautious. He first articulated his position on Venezuela during a 2018 appearance on Peruvian TV personality Jaime Bayly’s Miami television program. According to to his own subsequent writings, he urged Venezuelans to commit tyrannicide against Nicolás Maduro. Days later he published a column titled “Death to the Tyrant” in Barranquilla’s El Heraldo, writing that “the death of Nicolás Maduro becomes necessary to guarantee the survival of the Republic.”

When U.S. forces captured Maduro in January 2026, de la Espriella publicly celebrated, claiming he had predicted it years earlier. He sold the American operation not as an “invasion” but as “the arrest of an international criminal and head of the Cartel de los Soles,” arguing that Washington acted according to the law due to Venezuela’s alleged lack of institutional legitimacy.

His campaign platform explicitly called for a renewed military alliance with Washington. In February, De la Espriella announced that he would immediately begin “bombing the camps of the narco-terrorists and spraying drug crops,” adding that “this cannot be done without a strategic alliance with the United States and the State of Israel.” He marketed this as a 90-day security plan modeled on Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s approach, promising to retake national territory through joint task forces, aerial bombardment of criminal camps, fumigation of 330,000 hectares of coca, and the construction of 10 mega-prisons in remote jungle locations. He has also promised to establish American military bases on Colombian territory as part of a comprehensive security restructuring.

Colombia may soon find a partner in this posture across its longest border. Five months after de la Espriella’s inauguration, Brazilians will decide their own presidential election. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has made Venezuela the centerpiece of his campaign against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

When Maduro was kidnapped in January, Flávio immediately seized on the moment. He posted that “Venezuela has become one of the most extreme examples of how an authoritarian regime can destroy a nation,” calling Maduro a “narcoterrorist.” At the time, his brother Eduardo texted him saying “you are elected president, because we know that a lot of things will come out of Maduro,” predicting that Maduro’s capture would expose Lula’s ties to the Venezuelan regime.

At CPAC in March 2026, Flávio displayed a photograph of Lula embracing Maduro to a crowd that booed loudly. He accused Lula of maintaining ties with leftist dictatorships through the São Paulo Forum, which he described as a network linking Lula, Cuban communism, and drug cartels. Brazil’s Supreme Court opened an investigation into Flávio for defamation, which he denounced as political censorship.

Flávio took Lula to task for “publicly criticizing President Trump’s actions on Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and the fight against drug trafficking.” He pledged that under his presidency, Brazil would serve as a reliable U.S. partner rather than an opponent on these issues. Reuters polling in late October shows Flávio and Lula locked in a statistical tie heading into the October first round.

What these leaders propose is not new. Washington reached for it in 2019. The Trump administration’s first attempt to topple Maduro collapsed in spectacular fashion. National Security Adviser John Bolton appeared at a January 28, 2019 press conference at the White House with a notepad reading “5,000 troops to Colombia,” held visibly in front of cameras while announcing new oil sanctions against Venezuela’s state company PDVSA—signaling Washington’s interest in using Colombian territory as a staging ground for military pressure on Caracas. Colombia’s Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo Garcia said his government had no knowledge of what the note meant.

On February 23, 2019, a U.S.-backed humanitarian aid plot from Cúcuta ended in violence when Venezuelan security forces blocked the convoy with tear gas and rubber bullets. According to a USAID Office of Inspector General report, only 8 of 368 metric tons of aid actually reached Venezuela—the rest was distributed inside Colombia or shipped to Somalia.

The failure at Cúcuta had a quieter companion in Brazil. The Brazilian military establishment proved decisive in blocking regional intervention. Vice President Hamilton Mourão, a retired general, stated flatly that “under no circumstances” would Brazil allow the U.S. to use its territory for military action against Venezuela. He emphasized that “nobody is betting on a military solution.”

Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourão stated firmly that the United States could not use Brazilian territory to invade Venezuela. Senior Brazilian military figures similarly warned against being drawn into a conflict that could make their forces a buffer between American and Venezuelan troops. The military’s resistance held even as President Jair Bolsonaro gave ambiguous public signals, while gesturing toward all options, he acknowledged that the possibility of intervention was “near-zero.”

That said, what failed in 2019 may succeed in 2027 because Venezuela’s current leadership appears willing to cooperate with Washington in ways Maduro never would. A CIA authored classified assessment, reported by the Wall Street Journal, identified Delcy Rodríguez as the best suited candidate to lead a transitional government. Days after Maduro’s capture, Rodríguez was sworn in as acting president on January 5, 2026. On January 15, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Caracas for a two-hour meeting with Rodríguez—the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Venezuela since Maduro’s removal—to deliver the message that “the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship.” The meeting came at the personal urging of President Donald Trump, who had spoken with Rodríguez by phone the previous day and called her “a terrific person,” writing on Truth Social that “we are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover.”

The optics devastated hardline Chavistas. Mario Silva, host of the flagship pro-government propaganda program La Hojilla on state television VTV, accused Rodríguez of treason. In a May 2026 broadcast, he accused her inner circle of negotiating Venezuela’s future with Washington “behind the movement’s back.” He reportedly went further in a YouTube video, suggesting that Rodríguez was the only figure in the Venezuela government in touch with the CIA prior to January 3.

If such allegations prove to be true, smart money suggests Rodríguez would fold under sustained pressure from a multinational coalition. Trump has already removed her from DEA and OFAC sanctions lists despite the DEA having classified her as a “priority target” for drug trafficking as recently as 2022. She oversaw the deportation of diplomat Alex Saab directly to the United States after the Maduro government had fought for years to free him.

The Latin American Right has been ascendant for half a decade. Javier Milei in Argentina. Daniel Noboa in Ecuardo. José Antonio Kast in Chile. Now Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia. If Flávio Bolsonaro wins Brazil’s November election, the two largest economies bordering Venezuela will both be governed by leaders who have explicitly endorsed American pressure campaigns against Caracas.

De la Espriella’s campaign pledged to restore the cooperative relationship with Washington that existed before Gustavo Petro. Flávio Bolsonaro has promised to align Brazil with U.S. pressure campaigns. With Rodríguez already meeting CIA directors in Caracas and following Washington’s orders on matters like Saab’s deportation, the path toward a final resolution of Venezuela’s political crisis may be shorter than anyone anticipated.

What Brazil’s generals blocked in 2019 may prove irrelevant in 2027 if Flávio Bolsonaro controls the presidency and appoints loyalists to military commands. What Colombia’s Ivan Duque hesitated to support may become explicit policy under de la Espriella. And what Maduro would never accept, Rodríguez appears willing to negotiate.

The question is no longer whether a multinational coalition will pressure Venezuela toward elections. The question is whether Rodríguez will call those elections voluntarily or wait until Colombian and Brazilian forces mass on her borders with American backing.

One thing is clear: the political crisis in Venezuela is far from over.

June 27, 2026 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Abelardo De la Espriella’s Victory Renews Pressure on Venezuela

Delcy’s ‘gatekeeper’: sources say ex-Trump official Claver-Carone holds keys to Caracas

By Max Blumenthal | The Grayzone | May 25, 2026

Speaking with reporters on May 21, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez was on her way to New Delhi to discuss energy issues, and that he would be in India as well.

“This is an important trip, I’m glad we’re able to do it,” Rubio chirped after explaining the trio of nations would discuss how to increase Venezuelan oil sales to India.

His statement — and his announcement of Rodriguez’s trip before she had — perfectly illustrated Washington’s newfound dynamic with the Venezuelan government. Following over twenty years of hostile relations with Venezuela’s socialist-oriented leadership, the US Secretary of State was apparently so intimately involved with day to day affairs in Caracas that he was claiming responsibility for Rodriguez’s international itinerary.

In fact, according to an insider who enjoys close contacts within both the Venezuelan and US governments, Rubio’s influence over Rodriguez is said to be traced to one “gatekeeper”: former Trump Latin America envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone. “Mauricio [Claver-Carone] is picking who can operate and Delcy [Rodriguez] is taking instructions,” the source told The Grayzone.

A former senior US official with access to leadership in both Caracas and Washington offered the same assessment, remarking to The Grayzone, “Mauricio’s calling the shots on private sector economic positions, and if anyone wants in, they have to go to him.”

Hand-selected by former National Security Advisor John Bolton to serve as his Latin America charge during Trump’s first term, Claver-Carone no longer occupies an official governmental role. Instead, he has leveraged his legacy in the public sector to establish a Miami-based investment firm called the Lara Fund which could become a key player in the MAGA financial feeding frenzy in Caracas.

Described by the New York Times as the “architect of Trump’s tough Latin America policies,” Claver-Carone is a Cuban-American regime change zealot who once engaged in fisticuffs with Cuban diplomats as a young man. During Trump’s first term, he unleashed a financial “flamethrower” on Cuba, issuing scores of new sanctions that unraveled the Obama-era normalization policy and plunged the island back into economic misery.

Claver-Carone has similarly masterminded many of the policies that define Trump’s relationship with Venezuela, from its recognition of the previously unknown Juan Guaido as the country’s “interim president” to the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants from the US to El Salvador’s maximum security CECOT prison. Many of those migrants had been prompted to journey to the US by the economically crushing sanctions unleashed at Claver-Carone’s direction.

The Grayzone’s sources described the Trump veteran as the architect of the military invasion that saw Maduro spirited away to a federal penitentiary and installed Rodriguez as president following a stand-down by Venezuelan security forces.

“If he was in charge of implementing the kinetic side, maybe [Rodriguez] thinks she has to listen to him on finance,” the Venezuela insider said of Claver-Carone.

A report this January by investigative journalist Aram Roston described Claver-Carone as a “key backer” of Rodriguez following Maduro’s abduction, and cited sources who claimed he exercised decisive influence over Venezuela policy despite having left the administration.

Claver-Carone is now said to be at the heart of the most sensitive and consequential task Venezuela faces: the restructuring of its $170 billion in defaulted sovereign debt. Forced from several previous positions by corruption scandals and rancorous clashes, an operative with no official governmental position appears to be shaping the economic contours of Project Venezuela.

“He’s got a lock on everything”

This May, the US Treasury Department authorized Caracas to hire a financial advisor to assist with the herculean task of restructuring its debt. The Venezuelan government selected Centerview Partners, a top-drawer investment and financial advisory firm based in New York City.

According to the former US senior official, Claver-Carone’s romantic partner and business colleague, Jessica Bedoya, boarded a private jet to Caracas soon after the big announcement, arriving with a top advisor from Centerview. It was her second trip to the Venezuelan capital, they said, after visiting in February to discuss financial matters.

Claver-Carone did not respond to calls to his personal phone from The Grayzone, or to detailed questions sent by text and email.

His partner, Bedoya, is the founder of the Lara Fund investment firm where he serves as managing partner. Her bio notes that she has also worked in the CIA and National Security Council.

Jessica Bedoya and Mauricio Claver-Carone’s headshots, as featured on Lara Fund’s webpage

Some insiders worry that her reported presence in the Venezuelan capital, together with Claver-Carone’s outsized influence, could represent a conflict of interest, allowing them to steer debt restructuring agreements to their own personal benefit.

“Now he’s got a lock on everything,” the Venezuela insider said of Claver-Carone. “He could say to anyone who wants to work in Venezuela, I’m the guy. I have the keys. If you want to play ball, invest with me.”

The former US official said Claver-Carone was raising capital for his Lara Fund while he served as a special government employee at the State Department. While Bedoya was running the firm, they said Claver-Carone was leveraging his position inside the Trump administration to pitch potential investors.

“Arbitrary and authoritarian actions that showed him to be a real thug”

When Trump appointed Claver-Carone to serve as the first American president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2020, he hired Bedoya as his chief-of-staff. The couple’s secret romance at the bank triggered an embarrassing ethics investigation after a hand-written contract was discovered showing they had agreed to pursue “absolute happiness,” and included a clause with punishments including “candle wax and a naughty box” if either party breached the deal.

An independent probe ordered by the IDB discovered that Claver-Carone had increased his paramour’s salary by 40% – a $133,000 reward in less than a year. Investigators also found that the couple had racked up expenses on an IDB credit card during romantic getaways.

Claver-Carone refused to participate in the investigation while accusing its authors of “fabrications.” In the end, IDB governors voted unanimously in favor of his firing. The US government endorsed their decision.

“President Claver-Carone’s refusal to fully cooperate with the investigation, and his creation of a climate of fear of retaliation among staff and borrowing countries, has forfeited the confidence of the bank’s staff and shareholders and necessitates a change in leadership,” they wrote.

The Argentine governor of IDB, Guillermo Francos, delivered a similarly harsh assessment of Claver-Carone’s tenure. “Claver was a disaster for several reasons,” Francos remarked in 2022. “For having an inappropriate relationship, for having disproportionately increased the salary of this inappropriate relationship, for having lied, and for these arbitrary and authoritarian actions that showed him to be a real thug.”

When Claver-Carone returned to the second Trump administration, it was not long before his proclivity for conflict jeopardized his position.

Throughout 2025, Claver-Carone’s spiteful attitude reportedly complicated Trump administration attempts to prop up a key right-wing ally in South America, Argentine President Javier Milei. Milei’s chief of staff happened to be Guillermo Francos – the former IDB governor whom Claver-Carone held personally responsible for outing his secret relationship with Bedoya. According to the Argentine paper Clarin, Claver-Carone attempted to retaliate by unsuccessfully pressuring Milei to fire Francos. He then attempted to undermine a major IMF loan package to Argentina by demanding the country first sever its credit line from China. This was met with an apparent rebuke from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who visited Buenos Aires to express confidence in the IMF loan just weeks after Argentina’s central bank extended its credit line from Beijing.

The following month, in May 2025, Claver-Carone announced he was leaving the State Department to return to his Lara Fund. His departure gave the appearance that he had been forced out of his job, however, he maintained his clout through his direct line to Rubio.

The former US official told The Grayzone that Claver-Carone is now angling to become a Cuban American version of Jared Kushner, the Trump son-in-law who has leveraged his proximity to the president and role as Middle East negotiator to rake in billions from Israel and several Gulf monarchies despite having no official government title. To do so, he has allegedly inserted himself into the byzantine process of restructuring Venezuela’s debt.

When the Trump administration announced that Venezuela could hire a financial advisor to assist with its sovereign debt, Rodriguez initially planned a public bidding process for the coveted position. But then, according to the ex-US official, Claver-Carone issued support for Centerview, leading to the firm’s selection. (Opposition bloggers have speculated that Centerview was chosen because one of its partners, Matthieu Pigasse, is a self-described “pro-market socialist” who previously worked on deals with Maduro and Venezuela’s state owned PDVSA oil company.)

In recent weeks, according to sources, Claver-Carone has attempted to undermine financial advisors who had been working with the Venezuelan government to restructure its debt since 2014.

They said that when Claver-Carone’s partner, Bedoya, arrived in Caracas this month, allegedly on a private jet with Pigasse, she began pushing to remove the advisory mandate from David Syed, a seasoned French lawyer who had advised Caracas on debt-related issues for over a decade, and is considered incorruptible.

“The effort to push [Syed] out created a lot of tension,” remarked the Venezuela insider. “You can’t understand debt restructuring by parachuting in without his knowledge.”

Syed did not respond to The Grayzone’s request for comment. Hamouda Chekir, another Centerview partner who works on Venezuela’s debt, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to his personal phone.

Scandal-stained firms as vehicles for extracting profit from Venezuela

Just before leaving the State Department in May 2025, Claver-Carone convinced Rubio not to renew a sanctions waiver that allowed Chevron to sell Venezuelan oil in the US market. In doing so, he eliminated a mechanism which was explicitly designed to promote transparency and prevent local officials from skimming cash.

This January, after abducting Maduro, the Trump administration granted confidential licenses to a pair of notoriously corrupt trading houses, Vitol and Trafigura, to export Venezuelan oil. The deal came months after Trump’s re-election campaign received a whopping $6 million donation from a senior trader at Vitol.

Robert Bachmann, an analyst at the Swiss watchdog Public Eye, told the Washington Post at the time, “Trump is taking advantage of firms that know how to circumvent regulation.”

Both companies had been caught engaging in a series of elaborate bribery schemes across Latin America and Africa. In 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) forced Vitol to pay a $135 million penalty for bribing officials for licenses in Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil. Trafigura paid a similarly staggering fine in 2024 for a lucrative bribery scheme in Brazil. In the US, Vitol was rung up by the California Attorney General for manipulating spot market prices of oil.

But almost as soon as the Trump administration entered office, it neutered the DOJ corrupt foreign practices division charged with enforcing the judgments against Trafigura and Vitol on the grounds that it was “impeding America’s national security objectives.”

Now, the profits these scandal-stained firms generate through oil sales abroad – including to Israel – are channeled back into a US-run account with little public oversight. A percentage of sales is then delivered back to the Venezuelan government. Where the rest goes is anybody’s guess.

“The Venezuelans are the owners of the oil, and we know nothing. There is no transparency,” said José Guerra, an economist aligned with the Venezuelan opposition, complained to the Washington Post about the Trafigura and Vitol licensing agreements.

Trump, for his part, has essentially admitted Venezuelan oil profits are channeled into a slush fund for his international rampage. “We’ve taken out so much oil in Venezuela, we’ve paid for the cost of the war [with Iran] about 25 times over,” the president boasted during a May 23 campaign rally. While the president’s claim was absurd, as Venezuela is currently exporting only about one million barrels of oil a month – hardly enough to cover a full day of warfare – it revealed his avaricious attitude toward the entire operation.

Among certain Venezuelan opposition activists, Claver-Carone has become a figure of contempt who is partially blamed for Trump’s declaration that their de facto leader, the coup plotter and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, “doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country.”

The Trump administration’s embrace of Delcy Rodriguez, and the Venezuelan president’s faithful compliance with Washington’s financial schemes, have prompted some top Democrats to adopt Machado as a partisan cudgel. This January, Chris Murphy, a ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the opposition leader as “impressive” following a meeting on Capitol Hill, while taking a nasty swipe at Rodriguez. Machado “reminded us that Trump replaced Maduro with Maduro’s head of torture,” Murphy proclaimed.

If the Democrats take Congress after this year’s midterm elections, the Trump administration’s dealings in Venezuela will face intense scrutiny from the House Oversight Committee. Bipartisan pressure will then build for fresh elections to usher in a new government. “Delcy Rodríguez is a terrible person,” the regime change-obsessed Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott told the Wall Street Journal this month. “We’ve got to have an election soon.”

In the meantime, a flock of MAGA-aligned financial vultures has swooped into Caracas to feast on the petro-state’s post-Maduro carcass. Donald Trump Jr. is said to be hunting for opportunities in the capital for his 1789 Capital fund, while a startup backed by pro-Trump tech oligarchs Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey, Erebor Bank, just struck a lucrative deal to reconnect Venezuela’s central bank to the global economy. In the midst of this frenzy, a figure with no government title, Claver-Carone, appears to be establishing the new pecking order.

May 25, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , , | Comments Off on Delcy’s ‘gatekeeper’: sources say ex-Trump official Claver-Carone holds keys to Caracas

U.S. Blockade Against Cuba Must End Immediately: China

teleSUR – May 7, 2026

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reiterated that China supports Cuba’s sovereignty, expressed opposition to foreign interference in its internal affairs and called on U.S. authorities to end the blockade against the Caribbean Island.

“China firmly supports Cuba in defending its national sovereignty and security, and resolutely opposes interference in its internal affairs,” Lin stated.

“Beijing urges the United States to immediately end the blockade, sanctions and any form of coercion and pressure against Cuba,” the spokesperson said in response to a question regarding measures announced by U.S. President Donald Trump that expanded sanctions against the Caribbean country.

Lin stressed that the United States has further intensified illegal unilateral sanctions against Cuba, “seriously undermining the Cuban people’s rights to subsistence and development, and seriously violating the basic norms governing international relations.”

China rejects the January military attack against Venezuela

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson also rejected the military attack against Venezuelan territory that occurred on Jan. 3 when U.S. soldiers kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

“Four months ago, the U.S. carried out a brazen military attack against Venezuela and forcibly took control of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. This hegemonic act constitutes a serious violation of international law, infringes upon Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threatens peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Lin stated.

“China firmly opposes this. We will continue, as always, supporting Venezuela in defending its sovereignty, dignity and legitimate rights,” he stressed.

May 7, 2026 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism | , , | Comments Off on U.S. Blockade Against Cuba Must End Immediately: China

Rubio ‘lying’: Cuba slams denial of US blockade; claims debunked

Al Mayadeen | May 6, 2026

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected accusations that Washington is enforcing an oil blockade on Cuba, instead attributing the island’s deepening energy crisis and blackouts to the end of Venezuelan subsidized oil shipments and internal mismanagement.

Speaking publicly, Rubio said, “Here’s what’s happening with Cuba, okay? Cuba used to get free oil from Venezuela. They would take like 60% of that oil and resell it for cash. It wouldn’t even go to benefit the people. So the only blockade that’s happened is … the Venezuelans have decided we’re not giving you free oil anymore.”

Rubio further criticized Cuba’s leadership, stating, “The reason that I can’t fix it is not just because they’re communist. That’s bad enough, but they’re incompetent communists.”

His remarks come amid a worsening fuel and electricity crisis on the island, where oil imports have fallen sharply. Venezuela had previously supplied Cuba with subsidized crude, reportedly up to 100,000 barrels per month, under a barter system in which Havana sent medical personnel in return. That arrangement collapsed following the US-backed ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in early 2026, cutting off a key energy lifeline.

Rubio’s comments also contrast with reports and assessments pointing to US sanctions and restrictions as a major factor in the island’s energy shortages, with measures targeting entities involved in supplying fuel to Cuba.

Trump admin statements casually doing backflips

Additionally, all the way back in January, the Trump administration was considering new measures aimed at forcing political change in Cuba, including the possibility of a “full blockade on oil imports to the island,” three sources familiar with the discussions told Politico.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening tariffs on countries exporting fuel to Cuba, prompting suppliers such as Mexico to halt shipments. Reports indicate that only one tanker has reached Cuba in the past four months, contributing to widespread blackouts, school closures, and growing public protests.

According to people familiar with the matter and cited by Politico, Marco Rubio at the time even backed this decision, being a vehement critic of the Cuban government.

Cuba slams US denial as ‘lies’

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed Rubio’s current statements as “lying”, accusing Washington of intensifying pressure on the island as it faces historically low oil imports and a worsening humanitarian situation.

“He has simply chosen to lie. He contradicts the President and the White House spokeswoman,”  Rodriguez wrote on X.

Citing the US president’s January 29, 2026, Executive Order that threatened to impose tariffs on any country exporting fuels to Cuba, he said, “It is impossible to hide the truth.”

“After four months, only one fuel tanker has arrived in Cuba. All our suppliers are being intimidated and threatened in violation of the rules that govern free trade and freedom of navigation.”

“The new Executive Order issued on May 1st establishes secondary sanctions in the field of energy. The Secretary knows only too well the harm and hardships that is being caused by the criminal oil siege that he himself suggested the President to impose on the Cuban people.”

It is worth observing that back in 2024, the United Nations General Assembly had, for the 32nd consecutive year, voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling for an end to the US blockade on Cuba, with only the US and “Israel” opposing the measure.

Only the US and “Israel” have been so insistent for years on this blockade, while framing it as something that the Cubans themselves have been asking for, and then turn around and blame Venezuela for it.

Trump threatens immediate US takeover of Cuba

Only a few days ago, Trump stated that Washington could move to take control of Cuba “almost immediately”, in remarks signaling a sharp escalation in the long-standing hostile US rhetoric toward the Caribbean island.

Speaking at an event in Florida last Friday, Trump said, “Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately,” adding that “Cubans got problems.”

The US president outlined a potential show of force involving a US aircraft carrier, indicating that such a move could compel Cuba to submit without direct conflict.

“On the way back from Iran, we’ll have one of our big, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world, we’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore,” he said.

He further claimed that the presence of such military force alone would force a rapid capitulation. “They’ll say ‘thank you very much. We give up,’” Trump added, concluding: “I like to finish a job.”

The reference to the USS Abraham Lincoln highlights Washington’s reliance on naval power projection as a central tool in its strategy.

Earlier in April, sources told USA Today that US defense officials were moving forward with plans to potentially conduct military operations against Cuba.

May 6, 2026 Posted by | Deception | , , , | Comments Off on Rubio ‘lying’: Cuba slams denial of US blockade; claims debunked

The ‘Opposition Party’ Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It

By Jeremy Loffredo | April 9, 2026

There is a version of the Democratic Party that exists only in the imagination: the peace party, the anti-war party, the party that marched against the Iraq War and howled at its neocon designers. As Donald Trump (reportedly) accepted Iran’s ceasefire terms this week, some of the most pointed attacks coming his way from Democrats are not about the thousands of civilians killed, the weeks of brutal bombardments against medical centers and universities, or the global economic damage the war has caused. They are about the war ending before the U.S. and Israel finished the job.

And this is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a pattern coming from Democratic senators, the Democratic House Foreign Affairs Committee, ranking members of the Armed Services Committee, and some of the party’s most prominent voices. The liberal opposition party wants more war.

This pattern predates the war. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris called Iran America’s “greatest adversary,” vowed that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon under her watch, and argued that Iran’s attacks on Israel would not have happened under her presidency. The Democratic nominee for president was running on a promise to be harder on Iran than Donald Trump.

“What a disaster”

On April 7, 2026, as a ceasefire between the United States and Iran was announced following weeks of devastating U.S.-Israeli bombing campaigns, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) took to X to offer his initial reaction: not relief at the end of the killing, but outrage at the terms Trump had accepted to stop it.

“It appears Trump just agreed to give Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz, a history-changing win for Iran,” Murphy wrote. “The level of incompetence is both stunning and heartbreaking. What on earth is happening?”

And Murphy is not a Democratic Party outlier. The New York Times has called Murphy “one of the future leaders of the party.” The Guardian, the Times, and NBC News have all listed him as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has named him one of the party’s “best messengers.” Foreign Policy magazine has called him a “rising Democratic star.”

For Murphy, attempting to end a war against a civilian population that had been brutally bombed for over five weeks was just infuriating.

In a follow-up thread, he wrote: “They will control and toll the Strait for the first time. They keep their nuclear program. They keep their missiles. What a disaster.”

And should anyone point out that at least the killing had stopped, Murphy had an answer ready: “An anti-American regime is in power and emboldened. Iran still has their missiles and nuclear program. That’s ‘good’?”

Murphy is not arguing that the war was unjust, that it violated international law, or that it killed too many innocent women and children, all of which are true and documented. He’s arguing that the ceasefire is a bad deal because it leaves the Iranian government standing with its nuclear program and ballistic missiles intact.

Having a civilian nuclear program is a legal right under Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory. But Murphy is treating Iran’s exercise of their international right as an American defeat. And as for their intolerable missiles, most countries have militaries, and every country has the right to them.

Trump, for his part, had no good options left: Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices had spiked globally, and American military objectives had not been achieved. The only path out was accepting terms. Stopping the bombing has already saved lives and protected a civilian population from further devastation. Murphy’s “Democratic rising star” objection is not that the war was wrong but that it ended before the Iranian state was entirely destroyed.

‘TACO’ Trump

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, had established this line — attacking Trump from the right — months earlier, during nuclear deal negotiations in mid-2025. When Trump was reportedly exploring a diplomatic agreement with Tehran as an alternative to war, Schumer coined an acronym: TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).

“When it comes to negotiating with the terrorist government of Iran, Trump’s all over the lot,” Schumer said. “One day he sounds tough, the next day he’s backing off. If TACO Trump is already folding, the American public should know about it.”

Schumer was not criticizing Trump for threatening war; he was criticizing him for not following through on those threats, demanding that Trump be tougher on Iran at a moment when most Americans, including supermajorities of his own party, supported a diplomatic nuclear deal. Foreign Policy magazine noted that Schumer’s attack was from a position to Trump’s right, using the language of Iran hawks.

When the ceasefire was finally announced, Schumer held a press conference in New York and went through the deal point by point, explaining why the outcome represented an American failure. “The Strait of Hormuz is in worse shape today, with more Iranian domination of it than it was before the war started,” Schumer said. “Iran still has an ayatollah named Khamenei. The Iranian regime is still standing. Not just standing, but now emboldened. And the regime is likely to be even more radical and more dangerous than it was before.” He called Trump “a military moron” and said the war had made the United States worse off than before it started. The Senate’s top Democrat was not upset that the war happened. He was upset that it hadn’t achieved more.

Venezuela: Trump Didn’t Finish the Job

In January 2026, U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime raid and flew him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Within weeks, the Trump administration settled into a working relationship with Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, now Venezuela’s acting president. Trump, having removed Maduro, chose to work with the Venezuelan regime rather than dismantle it. Rodriguez, previously sanctioned by Trump’s own Treasury Department, was quietly removed from the sanctions list in April 2026.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats posted a screenshot of the New York Times article reporting the sanctions removal and responded:

“Delcy was Maduro’s brutal co-conspirator to steal an election and repress Venezuelans. 3 months later she’s off the US sanctions list, with zero plans for reforms and her regime still harassing and jailing its political opponents. Trump doesn’t care about Venezuela’s democracy, just its oil.”

Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the body in Congress responsible for overseeing U.S. foreign policy, were not satisfied. The problem, in their telling, was not that Trump had removed a foreign head of state by military force. It was that Trump had cut a deal with his successor rather than going for full regime change.

The Impeachment Spectacle

In 2019, Democrats launched an impeachment process that would run for months, producing two weeks of nationally televised public hearings, 12 witnesses, and more than 30 hours of testimony, before the full House voted to impeach in December. The central charge was that Trump had frozen $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, weapons intended to be used against Russia, a U.S. adversary. Withholding them was, in the Democratic telling, an impeachable betrayal of American interests. Fast forward to 2026: Trump waged a 40-day bombing campaign against Iran, a U.S. adversary, without congressional authorization, and Democrats introduced not impeachment articles but complaints that he failed to hit Iran hard enough.

When Trump withheld weapons from a U.S. enemy’s enemy, Democrats called it impeachable. When Trump actually bombed a U.S. enemy, Democrats called it inadequate. In both cases, they were pushing Donald Trump in exactly the same direction.

All of it, from Schumer’s TACO attacks to the Democratic Foreign Affairs Committee’s frustration with Delcy Rodriguez to Murphy calling a ceasefire “heartbreaking,” points in the same direction. Not toward restraint, not toward diplomacy, but toward a more complete and more decisive confrontation with American adversaries. Whether that reflects genuine hawkishness, reflexive opposition to anything Trump does, or some complicated mixture of both, the political effect is the same. The liberal opposition party is pushing for more war.

Jeremy Loffredo (X: @loffredojeremy) is an independent journalist and filmmaker who covers foreign policy and war.

April 9, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on The ‘Opposition Party’ Has Done Nothing to Stop the Iran War and Much to Goad Trump Into Continuing It

Russian Oil Tanker Arrives in Cuba Amid U.S. Blockade

teleSUR – March 30, 2026

On Monday, Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that the Russian oil tanker Anatoli Kolodkin arrived at the port of Matanzas in Cuba, where it remains awaiting the unloading of the petroleum products it is carrying.

The vessel is transporting approximately 100,000 tons of oil described as humanitarian aid, in a context marked by a severe energy crisis affecting the Caribbean island.

The tanker was initially escorted by a Russian Navy warship through the English Channel. However, after entering the Atlantic, the vessel continued its journey on its own until arriving in Cuba.

The operation represents the first arrival of an oil tanker to the island in three months. The move comes after the United States pressured Venezuela and Mexico to reduce or halt energy supplies to Cuba.

The island has not received oil since Jan. 9, an interruption that led to a sustained deterioration of the energy system and difficulties for the population, which depends on fuel for essential services and the functioning of the economy.

Mexico carried out the last oil shipment but later interrupted supply due to pressure from Washington.

With that chain of cuts, Cuba was exposed to a worsening of its energy situation, affecting both daily supply and the capacity for electricity generation and productive activities.

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow is concerned about escalating tensions around the island and assured that it will maintain a position of solidarity with the Cuban government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also reiterated Moscow’s support and said Russian authorities are discussing mechanisms to help Cuba.

“We are in constant dialogue with Cuba’s leadership and, of course, we are discussing how to help the island in such a difficult situation,” he said, adding that they are pleased the shipment of petroleum products has arrived in Cuba.

Peskov said Cuba is “under conditions of a very severe blockade” and needs refined petroleum products and crude oil “for the functioning of life-support systems in the country, to generate electricity, to provide medical or other services to the population.”

March 30, 2026 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism | , , , | Comments Off on Russian Oil Tanker Arrives in Cuba Amid U.S. Blockade

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