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Department of War Claims No US Troops in Venezuela

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | January 5, 2026

US military officials said the US does not currently have any personnel on the ground in Venezuela. The statement was made the day after President Donald Trump said the US was running the country.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon claimed that no troops were on the ground in Venezuela, raising questions about Trump’s assertion that the US was controlling Caracas. “We are going to run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had,” the President said on Saturday. “We are there now, and we are going to stay until the proper transition takes place.”

The US has engaged in a massive military buildup in the Caribbean, including 15,000 soldiers, an aircraft carrier strike group, an attack submarine, and warplanes. Those troops have conducted strikes on dozens of drug boats, seized tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, and kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro.

After Maduro was removed from Venezuela, the Supreme Court named Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as interim president. Trump initially said that the US was prepared to work with Rodríguez, but he later threatened to remove her from power if she did not comply with Washington’s demands.

Trump claimed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth would be “running” Venezuela. The President added that he was willing to deploy American troops to Venezuela to enforce his dictates.

Rodríguez says she is willing to work with the US, but maintains that Venezuela is a sovereign nation.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Why Didn’t Venezuela Shoot Maduro’s Kidnappers Out of the Sky? Expert Outlines Three Possibilities

Sputnik – 05.01.2026

Glowing MSM reports on the operation to capture Maduro attribute success to the US military’s super-duper high-tech weapons, advanced tactics and painstaking planning. But there are other, potentially far more plausible explanations, says Egor Lidovskoy, director of St. Petersburg’s Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center.

Option #1

“The first option is incompetence on the part of government agencies” and those responsible for Maduro’s protection, specifically in the Defense Ministry Lidovskoy told Sputnik.

Option #2

Maduro’s betrayal is another possibility, perhaps if some officials agreed to collude with the US to give up the president in exchange for promises to profits from oil extraction if and when the Americans arrive in Venezuela.

“We don’t have any evidence that this or that member of Maduro’s government or team betrayed him. We don’t have such facts. Therefore, I think it’s wrong to make unfounded accusations in advance,” Lidovskoy said. Instead, for now, “we must closely monitor what is happening, and based on this, draw conclusions about whether such a conspiracy exists or not,” he suggested.

Option #3

The most provocative possibility is that the kidnapping “was a Trojan Horse operation,” which would remove questions about betrayal and incompetence and explain “many inconsistencies,” Lidovskoy says.

“The gist of this theory is that a US delegation accompanied by armed guards arrived at Maduro’s residence to discuss the parameters of a peace deal at a dinner, to conduct peace talks, to find common ground.”

This would explain the lack of incoming fire by Venezuelan air defenses on US helicopters.

“Once inside, the delegation’s armed guard (revealed to be special forces) shot all of Maduro’s guards – who were unprepared for this – and captured the president. And only when the signal came in that something had gone wrong and the president had been captured did the bombing of Venezuelan bases and key air defense points begin, providing a smokescreen for the US withdrawal,” Lidovskoy proposed.

US Coup Plot Lacks Key Ingredient

The 2026 plot against Maduro echoes the September 11, 1973 overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende in the sense that it’s “a continuation… of US imperialism using unilateral, deadly force against governments that challenge its hegemony in the hemisphere,” but lacks a critical component: betrayal by the military, Venezuelanalysis editor Ricardo Vaz told Sputnik.

“Allende and the Popular Unity were socialists, they prioritized sovereignty over natural resources (copper), and that was a direct challenge to US interests and influence. The same applies to Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution,” Vaz explained.

But unlike the Chilean case, where General Pinochet committed the crime of betraying Allende and the constitutional order, and murdering the president, the only “sin” in Venezuela’s case was its “desire to remove the shackles of US neocolonialism, using resources in a sovereign fashion to improve the lives of the majority, driving regional integration away from the US sphere of influence, and ultimately constructing socialism.”

“External pressure might lead to cracks and treason, but that is the primary issue: US imperialism,” Vaz stressed.

Leaders Believe in Bolivarian Revolution, Can’t Be Bought

Unlike past US-backed coups across the region, plotters in Venezuela have not found a base of support in the military to draw from to successfully overthrow the government and install a US puppet regime, renowned international law specialist and UN expert Alfred de Zayas told Sputnik.

“When the US tried to overthrow Hugo Chavez in 2002 and the coup d’etat failed after 48 hours (Chavez had been taken prisoner – but his popularity with the Army was such that the Army succeeded in liberating him), the Venezuelan people remained loyal to Chavez,” Zayas recalled. “I am convinced that the Venezuelan authorities would have remained loyal to Maduro if they had had the opportunity. That is why Maduro was immediately flown out of the country,” he added.

Speaking to Venezuelan government officials repeatedly, including in his capacity as a UN independent expert, and in the years since, Zayas said what stuck out to him about these conversations was their ideological commitment and loyalty “to the tenets of the Bolivarian Revolution,” and the US’s clear inability to easily “buy” them.

“I personally know of several high officials who were approached by CIA operatives with very attractive offers, and they refused to sell out,” Zayas said. What’s more, in his conversations with ordinary Venezuelans, the expert came away with the impression that “the masses hate the United States – the Yankees – and will not accept a US puppet,” seeing US sanctions pressure, not the Venezuelan government, as the source of their troubles.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

US ‘creating enemies’ by humiliating rivals – analyst

RT | January 5, 2026

The US administration is making enemies around the world by taking harsh steps such as seizing the leaders of sovereign nations, American journalist and political analyst Bradley Blankenship has told RT.

The comments come a day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped along with his wife, Cilia Flores, during a US raid on Caracas. Washington accuses the Venezuelan leader of narco-trafficking and weapons offences, allegations he has denied.

“When you humiliate a sovereign head of state live on television, you create the conditions for the population to resist you,” Blankenship told RT on Monday. “That is what we are seeing in Caracas. When you drag a sovereign leader through New York in an open white van, you only create enemies. That is what the United States is doing.”

He said such actions risk galvanizing resistance inside Venezuela and beyond. “This is how you lose,” Blankenship said. “You do not break people’s will. You harden it.”

Blankenship, the founder of the Northern Kentucky Truth and Accountability Project, argued that Washington’s seizure of Maduro has elevated him into a powerful political symbol rather than weakening his movement.

“Maduro’s role is more symbolic than instrumental,” Blankenship said, describing him as a continuation of the Chavista political project rather than a revolutionary figure on the scale of Simon Bolivar, Fidel Castro or Che Guevara. “But he is definitely a symbol for Venezuelans as someone who resisted American imperialism,” he added.

According to Blankenship, Washington’s approach is already having wider repercussions. By carrying out the operation against Venezuela, the US has threatened multiple countries, such as Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Cuba and Canada, as well as others across several continents.

“This is how you create enemies,” he said. “Not only abroad, but at home as well.”

Blankenship also pointed to signs of internal dissent within the US security apparatus, noting that details of the Venezuela operation were leaked to major American newspapers before it took place. “The fact that it leaked shows internal dissent,” he said, adding that similar divisions have emerged during previous US military actions.

Video

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Militarism, Video, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Trump Is Correct That María Corina Machado Has No Popular Support In Venezuela

The Mainstream Media Freaks Out Over The One Thing Trump Got Right

The Dissident | January 5, 2026

While the mainstream media has largely cheered on Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and regime change bombing in Venezuela, it has attacked him for his comments calming that the U.S. puppet opposition politician María Corina Machado has no popular support in the country.

For context, Trump said he will not install María Corina Machado as president of Venezuela because she “doesn’t have the support”.

This comment from Trump has caused the most backlash out of anything he has done or said in the mainstream media, with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, interviewing María Corina Machado’s advisor, who claimed she has “got the support from almost every Venezuelan,” and the Washington Post’s editorial board writing that Trump’s claim was “foolish”.

But in reality, poll after poll shows that Maria Corina Machado is despised by people in Venezuela.

A poll from the pollster Hinterlaces put out on October 8th of last year showed that, “91% of those consulted have an unfavorable opinion about the opposition leader María Corina Machado” in Venezuela and noted that this placed Machado as “the most unpopular, with a rejection rate significantly higher than the rest of the country’s political leaders.”

Another October poll from the polling firm Dataviva showed that, “86% of those consulted expressed disagreement with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, pointing out that there are no merits or concrete actions that support that recognition”.

Yet another poll from September of last year showed that, “64.6% of Venezuelans maintain a negative opinion on the role played by the opposition led by María Corina Machado after a recent survey conducted by the Datanálisis poll. In contrast, only 18.6% expressed a positive assessment of its management.”

In reality, María Corina Machado’s role as a U.S.-funded puppet has been to publicly cheer on U.S. imperialism in Venezuela, which is opposed by the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans, no matter if they like Maduro or not, to give the false impression that Venezuelans will greet American intervention as liberation.

During Trump’s first term in office, 86% of Venezuelans Opposed Military Intervention and 81 percent opposed the US starvation sanctions on the country, while María Corina Machado – as journalist Michelle Ellner has documented – “worked hand in hand with Washington to justify regime change, using her platform to demand foreign military intervention to ‘liberate’ Venezuela through force” and “pushed for the U.S. sanctions that strangled the economy, knowing exactly who would pay the price: the poor, the sick, the working class.”

During Trump’s current war on Venezuela, polls show that “93% categorically reject any request or proposal for multifactorial aggression against Venezuela, considering it contrary to the peace, dialogue and independence of the country” while María Corina Machado – as documented by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly cheered on U.S. intervention, including by saying:

-5 December 2025, Machado on CBS Face the Nation: “I say this from Oslo right now, I have dedicated this award to [President Trump] because I think that he finally has put Venezuela in where it should be, in terms of a priority for the United States national security.”

– 30 October 2025, Bloomberg interview: “Military escalation may be the only way… the United States may need to intervene directly”

-October 2025, Fox News interview on U.S. military strikes on civilian vessels: “justified.”

-5 October 2025, interview in The Sunday Times on the U.S. military buildup and extra-judicial assassination strikes against civilian boats: Trump’s strikes are “visionary”. “I totally support his strategy.”

-9 February 2019, interview with EL PAÍS : Maduro will only leave “in the face of a real threat from a more powerful state.”

– February 2014, testimony before U.S. Congress: “The only path left is the use of force.”

The mainstream media’s freakout over Trump’s accurate comments about Maria Corina Machado is more to do with the fact that it exposes the truth that Venezuelans both who support and oppose Maduro, don’t want U.S. intervention in their country, and the false idea that Venezuelans are cheering on U.S. intervention only comes from deeply unpopular U.S. funded assets like Maria Corina Machado who are propped up in the mainstream to give this false impression.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

US Strikes Leave Venezuelans Without Homes, Money to Pay for Funerals – Victim

Sputnik – 05.01.2026

CARACAS – A Venezuelan family living in a Caracas suburb has told Sputnik that they have been left homeless and without means of subsistence after US airstrikes.

“We have nowhere to live. We need to bury my aunt, but we also have no money for that — we are a poor family,” the 62-year-old man said.

The US attack partially destroyed the family’s home in the coastal state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, killing the 80-year-old woman.

Another Venezuelan, from the city of Catia La Mar near Caracas, told Sputnik that his elderly neighbor had been killed by a rocket fragment. The attack also destroyed the apartment building that was home to 17 families. He said Venezuelans were struggling to get over the shock caused by US strikes.

On January 3, the United States launched a massive attack on Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and taking them to New York. US President Donald Trump announced that Maduro and Flores would face trial for allegedly being involved in “narco-terrorism” and posing a threat, including to the United States.

Caracas requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the US operation. The Venezuelan Supreme Court appointed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as the acting head of state.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people, called for the release of Maduro and his wife, as well as for the prevention of further escalation. China called for the immediate release of the Maduros, emphasizing that US actions violated international law.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Oil tankers depart Venezuela in ‘dark mode’ amid US blockade: Report

The Cradle | January 5, 2026

About a dozen tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil and fuel departed the country in recent days, despite a blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump as part of the pressure campaign to depose Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, TankerTrackers.com reported on 5 January.

The US military launched an operation on Friday to abduct Maduro and his wife, bringing them to the US to face trumped-up drug trafficking charges in a New York court.

Four of the departed tankers recently left Venezuelan waters through a route north of Margarita Island, TankerTrackers.com revealed, after identifying the vessels in satellite images.

At least four of the tankers had been cleared by Caracas authorities in recent days to leave Venezuelan waters, a source with knowledge of the departures’ paperwork told Reuters. The tankers traveled in “dark mode” after switching off their transponders.

According to Reuters, Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA had accumulated a very large inventory of floating storage amid the US blockade imposed by Trump last month, which had brought the country’s oil exports to a standstill.

The ability of the tankers, all of which are under US sanctions, to depart the country loaded with oil will provide relief for PDVSA, which was running out of storage capacity.

Oil provides Venezuela’s primary source of revenue, making the continued export of the country’s crude crucial for maintaining stability following the US regime-change operation.

Oil minister and vice president Delcy Rodriguez now leads the country in Maduro’s absence.

It was not immediately clear if the US allowed the tankers to depart Venezuela or if they managed to break the US blockade.

Trump claimed on Saturday that the “oil embargo” on Venezuela was still in force, but said Caracas’s largest customers, including China, would keep receiving oil as long as it was paid for using dollars, not yuan.

However, Maduro’s ouster will likely [???] lead Venezuelan oil to be rerouted toward the US and away from China moving forward.

“A smooth transition in Caracas will likely result in a rapid rerouting of Venezuelan oil exports, re-establishing the US as the major buyer of the country’s volumes,” Reuters wrote on Sunday.

Pro-Israel billionaire and Trump supporter Paul Singer is expected to be the largest beneficiary of the rerouting.

In November, a judge in the US District Court in Delaware awarded the assets of PDVSA’s US subsidiary, CITGO, to Amber Energy, which is funded by Singer’s Elliott Management.

Elliot Management paid just $5.9 billion for CITGO’s assets, which include oil refineries in Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois. Estimates of the actual value of CITGO’s assets are as high as $18 billion.

CITGO’s refineries in the US were custom-built to refine Venezuela’s heavy crude, meaning that due to Trump’s regime-change operation, Singer will now be able to purchase Venezuelan oil, refine it, and sell it as fuel in the US.

Jaime Brito, an oil analyst at OPIS, said access to Venezuelan oil imports “will be a game changer for US Gulf Coast … refiners in terms of profitability.”

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

Venezuela Invites Trump to Build Peace and Cooperation Instead of War

teleSUR | January 4, 2026

The Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez called the US government to move toward a “a balanced and respectful international relationship” and between Venezuela and the countries of the Region, based on sovereign equality and non-interference.

Rodriguez highlighted that sovereign equality and non-interference are the principles that guide the Venezuelan diplomacy with the rest of the world.

The interim president “Venezuela reaffirms its vocation for peace and peaceful coexistence. Our country aspires to live without external threats, in an environment of respect and international cooperation. We believe that global peace is built by first ensuring the peace of each nation.”

Rodriguez extends the invitation to the US government to work together on a cooperative agenda, “oriented towards shared development, within the framework of international legality and strengthen lasting community coexistence.”

“President Donald Trump: Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. That has always been the predicament of President Nicolás Maduro and it is the one of all Venezuela at this moment,” says Rodriguez.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assume the presidency of Venezuela to ensure administrative continuity and the defense of the nation, after a foreign military aggression that resulted in the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela, based on articles 234 and 239 of the Constitution, made a systematic interpretation to determine the applicable legal regime that guarantees the administrative continuity of the State and the defence of the nation against the forced absence of the president, considered as a material and temporary impossibility to exercise his functions.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Petro rejects narco claims, calls US strikes on Venezuela illegal

Al Mayadeen | January 5, 2026

Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued on Monday a series of sharply worded statements rejecting accusations that seek to link him or Venezuelan leaders to drug trafficking, while forcefully condemning US military aggression, political intimidation, and renewed assertion of imperial control over Latin America.

In several posts published on X, Petro responded to remarks attributed to US President Donald Trump and to broader narratives circulating in Washington in the aftermath of the US aggression on Venezuela. He argued that Colombia’s judicial archives, after decades spent confronting the world’s largest cocaine cartels, contain no evidence linking Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or First Lady Cilia Flores to drug trafficking. According to Petro, such allegations originate primarily from figures aligned with the Venezuelan opposition rather than from any verifiable judicial findings.

Defamation rejected

Petro noted that Colombia’s judiciary functions independently of the executive branch and is largely influenced by political forces opposed to his government. Anyone genuinely seeking to understand the cocaine trade, he said, should consult Colombia’s court records rather than rely on politically motivated accusations. He added that his own name has never appeared in narcotics-related cases over more than five decades, affirming that he “deeply rejects” uninformed and defamatory claims.

He also stressed that Colombia’s experience with drug violence has been shaped not by state policy but by transnational demand, financial laundering networks, and decades of militarized counter-narcotics strategies promoted from abroad, strategies that, he implied, have failed to curb trafficking while devastating civilian populations.

Addressing personal attacks, Petro said it is unacceptable to “slander” Latin American leaders who emerged from armed struggle and later pursued peace, framing such rhetoric as political coercion aimed at delegitimizing independent leadership in the region. He referenced his own past in the M-19 movement, noting that it laid down arms and became part of Colombia’s peace process, a transition he described as a historic milestone in contemporary Latin American politics and a rare example of negotiated conflict resolution rather than foreign-imposed regime change.

Caracas under bombardment

Petro described the US aggression on Venezuela as the first time in modern history that a South American capital had been bombed by the United States, warning that such an act would remain etched in the collective memory of the continent. “Friends do not bomb one another,” he said, drawing parallels to some of the darkest episodes of 20th-century warfare.

The operation has raised particular alarm due to Washington’s open acknowledgment that it intends to administer Venezuela during a so-called transition period and to assert control over strategic sectors, including energy. Regional observers note that Venezuela’s oil infrastructure remained largely intact during the assault, a fact Petro did not ignore as he warned against war conducted in the name of justice but structured around resource access.

While explicitly rejecting retaliation, Petro argued that the events underline the urgent need for Latin America to rethink its political and economic alignments. He called for deeper regional unity, warning that without cohesion the region risks being treated as a “servant and slave” rather than as a central actor in global affairs. Petro criticized existing regional mechanisms, including the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), arguing that its absolute consensus rules allow certain leaders to preserve subservient relationships with foreign powers at the expense of collective sovereignty.

Scapegoated Dead

Petro also condemned celebratory reactions in some political circles to the bombing of Caracas, accusing them of erasing Latin America’s shared liberation history led by Simon Bolivar.

He further noted the US’ aggression resulted in civilian deaths, including that of a Colombian woman working informally in Caracas to support her daughter, a reminder, he stressed, that military interventions marketed as “precision operations” routinely exact a human toll on the most vulnerable.

Directly addressing Trump, Petro accused the US president of issuing internationally unlawful orders that led to the deaths of Colombian nationals who were later branded “narco-terrorists.” He rejected those labels as false and dehumanizing, arguing that many of the victims came from impoverished communities with no links to organized crime and were instead casualties of a long-standing policy of militarization, criminal profiling, and collective punishment.

Free speech, sovereignty, resistance

Petro defended his right to speak freely on US soil, noting that his remarks in New York and around the United Nations were protected under US law. He explained he had publicly condemned the genocide in Gaza, suggesting that his positions on Palestine, Venezuela, and US foreign policy more broadly triggered retaliatory narratives portraying him as corrupt or complicit in drug trafficking.

Rejecting those portrayals, Petro said he owns no luxury assets abroad and continues to pay for his home through his official salary. He also framed the controversy as part of a wider struggle against injustice, misinformation, and efforts to silence dissenting voices from the Global South through legal intimidation and reputational warfare.

The statements concluded with a call for respect between the Americas, invoking shared liberation traditions associated with figures such as Simón Bolívar and George Washington.

Petro warned against narratives that portray Latin America as inherently criminal, stressing that the region’s political movements are rooted in long-standing struggles for democracy, sovereignty, and social justice, not in the stereotypes imposed by external powers seeking control rather than partnership.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

US Wants to Install ‘Functional Protectorate’ in Venezuela: Here Are Its Four Components

Sputnik – 05.01.2026

With Maduro out, Washington is looking to establish “four kinds of control” in Venezuela. Independent Peru-based geopolitical and economic analyst Nicolas Takayama Constantini outlines the mechanics of these measures for Sputnik.

“Operationally, it means that they will have a de facto tutelary administration,” Constantini explained. This would mean:

  1. “indirect political control” via a “provisional authority” or “transition council” approved by Washington, not the Venezuelan people
  2. technical and financial control over the oil sector, including contracts, ports and foreign currency flows
  3. direct control over oil revenues, either by the US Treasury, “or some entity controlled by the US”
  4. some form of US military or security presence, not necessarily a large one.

“So, in fact this wouldn’t be classical governance, but rather a form of functional protectorate, similar to Iraq in 2003,” the observer said.

Goal of US Operation: Seizure of Resources or Message to Rivals

“From a rational economic point of view, military intervention is not efficient. The military, political and reputational cost for the US far exceeds any potential energy gains. But it’s not only the resources,” even in Venezuela’s case (oil, gas, rare earths, tech metals, gold), Constantini said.

It’s about sending a message to Washington’s geopolitical rivals, including China, Russia and Iran, about preventing Venezuela’s resources from falling into their hands, and letting regional countries know: “if you don’t submit or make your resources available to me when I need, this will happen to you.”

“Just to have a note here, obviously the US doesn’t care about the Venezuelan interest or even the American citizens’ interest related to drug traffickers because the agencies in the US say that the main flow of drugs doesn’t come from Venezuela,” the expert added.

Venezuela Attack Signals Final Breakup of Post-WWII Order

“It’s an extremely serious precedent for the international order. It means that state sovereignty doesn’t work anymore. The head of state immunity doesn’t work anymore. It normalizes regime change by force without multilateral authorization. It reinforces the idea that power supersedes international law,” Constantini explained.

“It marks the end of what remained of international law and the international order after the Second World War… a greater militarization of foreign policy and acceleration of the global order’s fragmentation into competing blocs. This implies that other powers can do the same if they don’t consider a particular government legitimate,” the observer summed up.

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

Venezuela slashes oil production as US embargo halts exports

Al Mayadeen | January 5, 2026

Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, began cutting crude output on Sunday as storage facilities reached critical capacity, a direct consequence of the comprehensive US oil embargo that has reduced exports to nearly zero.

The move adds further strain on an interim government grappling with mounting economic and political pressure.

PDVSA is shutting down oilfields and well clusters after storage facilities near capacity, with stocks of extra-heavy crude piling up. The company is also facing a shortage of diluents, essential for blending Venezuela’s heavy oil for export.

These constraints have forced the company to reduce PDVSA crude output.

Sources confirmed to Reuters that output cuts were requested at joint ventures such as CNPC’s Petrolera Sinovensa, Chevron’s Petropiar and Petroboscan, and Petromonagas. The latter, once operated jointly with Russian state-run Roszarubezhneft, is now under sole PDVSA control.

Chevron Shipments Halted Despite License

Chevron, which holds a US license to operate in Venezuela, had been an exception to the wider export freeze. However, since Thursday, its shipments have also come to a halt. Although Chevron has not yet reduced production, storage capacity is nearing its limit at key facilities such as Petropiar and Petroboscan.

No Chevron-operated tankers have left Venezuelan waters since Thursday, and if delays persist, Chevron Venezuela operations may be forced to scale back output.

Chevron stated it continues to operate “in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” without providing further comment.

Political and Economic fallout from US blockade

The political landscape in Caracas remains tense following the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife by US forces on Saturday.

Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s oil minister, has since assumed the role of interim president.

President Donald Trump declared that an “oil embargo” was fully in effect as part of a broader transition overseen by the US. The US oil embargo on Venezuela has halted tanker movements, impacted international shipments, and left the country’s oil-dependent economy under extreme duress.

Although Rodriguez stated last month that Venezuela would continue producing and exporting oil despite US sanctions, the embargo’s tightening grip has forced PDVSA to slow operations and store crude on vessels.

Export collapse and floating storage build-up

In recent weeks, PDVSA has resorted to using floating storage, loading tankers with crude and fuel as onshore capacity maxes out.

Over 17 million barrels of oil are currently stored aboard ships awaiting departure, according to TankerTrackers.com. No tankers were docked at the Jose terminal on Sunday, halting both export and domestic supply activities.

The Venezuela oil storage crisis worsened as more than 45% of the country’s 48-million-barrel onshore storage capacity was filled, forcing excess fuel oil into open-air waste pools.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s access to diluents has been constrained. In the second half of last year, the country increased imports of naphtha and light oil from Russia to blend its heavy crude. However, these shipments began facing obstacles in December due to the US-led blockade.

Venezuela’s crude output, which stood at approximately 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in November with exports reaching 950,000 bpd, dropped to around 500,000 bpd last month, according to preliminary data based on shipping movements.

Venezuela’s oil production slowdown could have a domino effect, disrupting refining and the domestic fuel supply chain. This poses a serious challenge to the interim government, which relies on oil revenues to maintain basic governance and internal stability.

January 4, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Israel is Having a Party After the Capture of Nicolás Maduro

 José Niño Unfiltered | January 4, 2026

The recent capture of Nicolás Maduro served as a stark reminder that the true center of gravity in Western power politics is not the White House or the Pentagon, but the interests of a globally dispersed Zionist network that views nation-states as mere instruments in their quest to make the world safe for Jewish supremacy.

Israeli officials across the political spectrum rallied behind President Donald Trump’s successful operation to extract Maduro, with government ministers and opposition figures in the Israeli political establishment celebrating the move as a devastating blow to Iran’s global influence operations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the praise, posting congratulations on social media that saluted Trump’s “decisive resolve and the brilliant action of your brave soldiers.” Netanyahu’s statement referenced “bold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice” without explicitly naming the Venezuela operation, though the timing left little doubt about his message.

In another press conference, Netanyahu continued to praise the United States’ operation in Venezuela. He proclaimed:

“I express the full support of the Israeli government for the determined decision and decisive action of the United States regarding Venezuela.

This is about restoring freedom and justice to another region of the world.

Across Latin America, we are witnessing a historic shift — countries returning to the American axis and renewing ties with Israel.”

As previously recorded by this author, the strategic reorientation Netanyahu has mentioned is nowhere more evident than in the Isaac Accords, an initiative whose underlying objective is the normalization of a regional order that guarantees Jewish primacy in the Western Hemisphere.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued the most comprehensive endorsement from Tel Aviv, commending what he called America’s role as “leader of the free world” in executing the operation. Sa’ar specifically expressed hope for renewed diplomatic relations between Israel and Venezuela, which Caracas severed in 2009 over Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

“Israel commends the United States’ operation, led by President Trump, which acted as the leader of the free world,” Sa’ar wrote. “At this historic moment, Israel stands alongside the freedom-loving Venezuelan people, who have suffered under Maduro’s illegal tyranny.”

The foreign minister continued with pointed language about regional security threats. “Israel welcomes the removal of the dictator who led a network of drugs and terror and hopes for the return of democracy to the country and for friendly relations between the states,” he stated. “The people of Venezuela deserve to exercise their democratic rights. South America deserves a future free from the axis of terror and drugs.”

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli from the ruling Likud Party drew the most explicit connections between Maduro’s capture and threats facing Israel, framing the operation as a direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“The capture of Nicolás Maduro is not only good news for the people dwelling in Caracas; it is also a devastating blow to the global axis of evil and a clear message to Khamenei,” Chikli declared. He elaborated on Venezuela’s alleged role in funding Iranian proxy networks. “Maduro did not run a country; he ran a criminal and drug empire that directly fueled Hezbollah and Iran.”

Chikli praised Trump’s approach as validation of hardline foreign policy. “President Trump’s decisive steps have once again proven that strong leadership is the only way to subdue dictators,” he wrote. “This is a direct battle between the values of freedom and the West and the dangerous alliance of radical Islam and communism.” He concluded simply that “the world is a safer place today.”

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party joined the chorus with his own warning to Tehran. “The regime in Iran should pay close attention to what is happening in Venezuela,” Lapid posted, issuing what analysts interpreted as a veiled threat amid ongoing protests in Iran over economic collapse.

Israeli security analysts view Maduro’s removal as potentially restricting Iranian Revolutionary Guard operations against Israeli targets throughout Latin America, cutting off weapons flows to the continent, and disrupting extensive oil smuggling operations between Venezuela and Iran that have helped Tehran evade sanctions.

The American political establishment, whose policies are demonstrably subservient to world Jewry, responded with equally fervent praise, viewing the capture of Nicolas Maduro as a significant strategic victory for the state of Israel.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee delivered some of the most forceful American praise for the operation, explicitly linking the Venezuela action to security concerns in his diplomatic posting. Speaking on Newsmax, Huckabee opened his reaction with religious fervor. “Well, my first reaction was to say, praise the Lord and thank you, President Trump,” the ambassador stated.

He then explained why Americans should view Venezuela through a Middle Eastern security lens. “A lot of people may not make the connection as to why this matters to us in the Middle East,” Huckabee said. “What they don’t know is that Hezbollah is very active in Venezuela.” The ambassador detailed the Iran connection that Israeli officials had emphasized. “There has been a 20-year partnership between Iran and Venezuela,” he explained. “The ties are deep, and Hezbollah operates in 12 different countries throughout South America.” In his conclusion remarks, Huckabee contended that the operation represented a global victory. “Good news for America, good news for the world,” he declared.

Welcome to Empire Judaica.

The chorus of approval from Israel and its advocates lays bare the grim reality for the American people: they are not citizens of a sovereign nation but unwitting actors in a geopolitical drama where they play supporting roles in a global imperium built for and by organized Jewry.

January 4, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

The US Has Invaded Venezuela to ‘Fight Drugs.’ Are Colombia and Mexico Next?

By Adam Dick | Peace and Prosperity Blog | January 4, 2026

On Saturday, United States President Donald Trump held a press conference to boast about his sending the US military hours earlier to bring destruction in Venezuela and drag off the leader of the nation’s government to America for incarceration and prosecution. It was all done in the name of fighting the war on drugs, though few people give much credit to the Trump administration’s repeated assertion that Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro was a drug kingpin responsible for a major share of fentanyl or cocaine shipments into America.

The US government, Trump declared, will “run” Venezuela for an undefined “period of time” that Trump declined to rule out, in answer to a question, could be measured in years. While the US is doing that, be prepared for Trump also to potentially direct the US military to invade at least two additional countries in the Western Hemisphere.

In October, I wrote about how Trump appeared to be making demands and taking actions preparatory for the US going to war in three countries — Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico. The common reason given for taking military action in each country has been the same — advancing the US government’s war on drugs.

The current status is one down, at least two to go. While already bogged down in Venezuela, the next step may be for the US to proceed to attack two more Western Hemisphere countries. Indeed, during the press conference, Trump continued with comments suggesting both Colombia and Mexico are under threat from the US government’s drug war. In particular, Trump reaffirmed his previous declaration that Colombia President Gustavo Petro has “got to watch his ass” while accusing him of making cocaine and sending it into America, criticized the “cartels operating along our border” in reference to Mexico, and said more broadly that “we will crash the cartels.” One important question to consider is how much America may also crash due to the strain of military intervention in the Western Hemisphere.

January 4, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | 2 Comments

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