SALEM â The City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to borrow up to $447 million to pay for the construction of a new high school.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is expected to reimburse the city around 44% of the total project cost, but that percentage wonât be finalized until after the MSBAâs meeting in February. The MSBA requires communities to commit to paying up to the full amount of a new school project in order to move forward.
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The blocklist was introduced after the White House and other government agencies under the Trump administration signed up for Bluesky last October to post messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. The accounts that joined at the time included the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Transportation, the Interior, Health and Human Services, State, and Defense, in addition to the White House itself.
The move made the White House one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky, and today it remains in the No. 2 position, just behind Vice President J.D. Vance, per stats shared on the tracking site Clearsky. (The site leverages Blueskyâs API to track which accounts are the most blocked and other blocking activity.)
ICE, however, did not join Bluesky in October. According to Bluecrawlerâs Join Date Checker, the account @icegov.bsky.social joined the social network on November 26, 2025.
The account was verified a few days ago according to the independently-run Verified Account Tracker, which suggests that either Blueskyâs team didnât have enough information to apply the verification checkmark, was somehow unaware of the accountâs existence (doubtful!), or was internally debating how to handle the issue. Bluesky hasnât responded to a request for comment.
One tracker now shows the ICE account as being over 60% of the way to being the most-blocked Bluesky account.
ICE today has many accounts across other social media sites, including X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. These accounts tend to be verified on platforms that have a verification mechanism, with YouTube being an exception.
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The decision from Bluesky to host and verify ICE establishes the social network as one thatâs now fitting in more with other, larger social media giants, rather than with the original ethos of the open social web known as fediverse, where the user community is more in control of which accounts gain attention and traction.
The fediverse, which represents a network of independent but interconnected social media platforms, includes apps like Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Flipboard, and, to some extent, Instagram Threads, though Metaâs app isnât fully federated. The U.S. government doesnât have Mastodon accounts, but users can follow accounts like @potus on Threads from their Mastodon accounts, if they choose.
One reason for avoiding Mastodon, an open source federated app that runs on the ActivityPub protocol, could be its smaller size. But also, any government account joining this network could be easily blocked by individual server operators. This wouldnât prevent the account from setting up its own server to post to the fediverse, but other communities could refuse to federate (interoperate) with that server, greatly diminishing its reach.
Reached for comment, Rochko wouldnât confirm whether or not ICEâs participation on Bluesky was a factor in his decision to leave the bridge, saying that the decision was a âpersonalâ one.
When former Space X engineer Josh Giegel launched his North Hollywood tech company Gambit in 2023, he had a vision for the battlefield of the future, one with fewer soldiers and more AI-driven assets.
His software would allow unmanned tanks and swarms of armed drones to communicate and adapt in real time â without human intervention.
The company now employs more than a dozen people and has contracts with the military, which is testing his software. But its growth has been clouded because of a funding dispute on Capitol Hill over the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which provides companies seed capital to develop new technology that can assist the government. Funding for it and related programs expired in September.
The seed fund has been vital to many local tech startups. Gambit received $3.3 million from the program early on and was hoping to get another $5 million of the Small Business Administration money, which is allocated by the military.
Workers at K2 Space in Torrance, where the startup is building high-capacity satellites for Medium Earth Orbit. (K2 Space)
(K2 Space)
âThat funding really helps companies like ours that are putting tech into warfightersâ hands,â Giegel said. âLosing that money becomes more leg work to find other sources.â
Gambitâs predicament is widely shared across Southern California, which has experienced a proliferation of tech startups launched by SpaceX alumni and other entrepreneurs with the support of SBA money.
In 2024, 124 contracts worth $173 million were awarded to 71 California companies through SpaceWERX, an El Segundo-based arm of the Space Force that distributes SBA funding to innovative defense startups.
The money also is disbursed by other branches of the military and departments of the government, which do not take stakes in the companies. Gambit received funds through the Air Force.
Other local recipients of SBA funding include Costa Mesa autonomous weapons maker Anduril Industries, now valued at more than $30 billion; and satellite platform manufacturers K2 Space in Torrance and Apex Space in Los Angeles.
The funds are allocated in phases, with initial feasibility awards up to about $300,000 and as much as $2 million for the development of prototypes. A maximum of $15 million is available through a companion SBA-funded program if the companies can bring in other funding.
âI donât know if I can name a single company that I work with, or that I know of, that did not start with SBIRâ funding, said Maggie Gray, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Shield Capital, which invested in Apex. âWe see SBIR as a crucial part of the defense-tech ecosystem. Itâs kind of the way to get your initial foot in the door with the government.â
Established in 1982, the SBA program provides more than $4 billion to government departments, with the military receiving the lionâs share. But SBA funding ran out on Sept. 30 as lawmakers clashed over proposed reforms.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, introduced a bill that would set a $75-million lifetime cap on funds for individual companies and establish performance benchmarks. The bill also would beef up due diligence to prevent new technology falling into the hands of foreign adversaries and end diversity, equity and inclusion preferences in funds distribution.
The legislation, however, has faced stiff opposition from Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, the ranking Democrat on the committee, who contends the reforms go overboard and would crimp innovation. A bipartisan House bill that would have reauthorized SBA funding for a year failed in the Senate amid opposition by Ernst, who is leaving Congress in a year.
While negotiations have restarted on Capitol Hill, there is no guarantee SBA financing will be restored, though the military and other government agencies could fund startups through their own budgets.
The SpaceWERX program, which has played a critical role in Southern Californiaâs resurgent space economy, was established in 2020, just one year after the Space Force was founded.
Director Arthur Grijalva said the program distributes several hundred million dollars in SBA funding annually across the nation and has not had an issue with foreign influence or companies receiving repeat awards without much to show for it.
âEven though it might be small [funding] for a really big company, itâs really impactful for these small companies, these startups, where if they donât have this funding, they might have to do layoffs, they might have to go into debt, or they might ultimately not be successful,â Grijalva said.
Since September, $94 million in larger contracts has been held up for more than 25 companies, which follow funding for feasibility studies and prototypes, according to SpaceWERX.
The impasse comes at an inopportune time for the Trump administration, which has been overhauling weapons procurement.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced in November a policy to speed up weapons development by first finding capabilities in the commercial market before the government attempts to develop new systems. Last week he visited several L.A.-area defense companies, including Torrance startup Castelion, a manufacture of hypersonic missiles that received SBIR funding.
Kirsten Bartok Touw, managing partner of New Vista Capital, which invested in Castelion, agreed the program may have flaws but said it plays an invaluable role in attracting venture capital to companies that have drawn the funding.
âThat is an important signal to the market, which says, âYou should invest in more of these, because this is a technology we want and need,ââ she said.
A report this month by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that one dollar of the funding distributed by the military attracts more than four dollars of venture capital or other third-party investment.
Markeyâs office said last week he submitted a proposal to Ernst that includes making the SBIR program permanent, increased allocations, a performance metric, foreign due diligence standards and fellowships for underserved small businesses, among other provisions.
âThis bill is [his] second attempt at breaking the logjam and restarting these critical programs to ensure Americaâs most nimble allies â small businesses â are not decimated,â a Markey spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Ernst said last week that the senator âremains focused on ensuring taxpayer investments in R&D do not benefit China and actually deliver cutting-edge technology for our warfighters.â
Giegel said that while he is optimistic future SBA funding might come through for Gambit, he is not counting on it. He now assumes he will have to look for other sources of money to grow the company, which already attracted undisclosed venture capital.
âWeâre trying to find operational relevance faster,â he said.
MEXICO CITY â Hugo ChĂĄvez called the United States âthe empire,â and President George W. Bush âthe devil.â Denouncing capitalism as âthe road to hell,â he pushed an alternative economic model that nationalized key industries and redistributed wealth.
During his 14-year presidency of Venezuela, ChĂĄvez warned of a CIA plot to kill him and steal his countryâs vast oil reserves, declaring: âFatherland, socialism or death!â
Venezuelaâs interim leader, Delcy RodrĂguez, insists her country âwill not be a colonyâ of any imperial force, but appears willing to tolerate President Trumpâs demands that the U.S. get âtotal accessâ to Venezuelaâs oil.
RodrĂguez, Maduroâs vice president, has called for reforms to Venezuelaâs energy sector to attract foreign investment and has freed dozens of dissidents once deemed enemies of the Chavista revolution.
âVenezuela is entering a new political era, one that allows for understanding despite political and ideological differences and diversity,â RodrĂguez said last week. On Thursday, she sat down in Caracas, the capital, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, whose agency helped plot Maduroâs abduction.
âItâs pretty interesting to see how a hard-line Chavista like Delcy has taken a 180-degree turn just one week after assuming the presidency,â said Imdat Oner, a former Turkish diplomat in Caracas.
Some analysts now wonder whether the days are numbered for Chavismo, which allowed ChĂĄvez to concentrate power under a banner extolling nationalism, populism and what he described as âsocialism of the 21st century.â
âI think itâs in intensive care, and I donât think it will leave the operating room,â said Enrique Krauze, a Mexican historian who wrote a biography of ChĂĄvez. The movement has been undermined by the U.S. attack, Krauze said, and discredited by authoritarianism, widespread corruption among leaders and an economic crisis triggered by falling oil prices and U.S. sanctions that prompted a quarter of the population to flee.
The ideas of ChĂĄvez, a charismatic figure who inspired a generation of Latin American leftists, have been irrevocably tarnished, Krauze said.
âVenezuelans are exhausted after 26 years of Chavismo,â Venezuelan journalist Boris Muñoz wrote in Time magazine. âUnderstandably, many are willing to accept American tutelage as the price to pay.â
Other political analysts say Chavismo remains strong, even if aspects of its identity have shifted since its namesake died of cancer 13 years ago.
Chavismo is not a fad. It is a lifestyle and a conviction with principles.
â Wilson Barrios
âWhat is left of Chavismo? Everything,â said Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College. Except for the removal of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who now face drug-trafficking charges in the U.S., ânot a single person has been displaced,â Corrales said. âThe inner circle, the military generals, the colectivos, the governors, the mayors â theyâre all there.â
He noted that ChĂĄvez, despite his fierce anti-U.S. rhetoric, maintained extensive oil trade with the United States. The current deal-making with the Americans, he said, âisnât a departure from anything that Chavismo ever represented.â
In Caracas, where scattered faded portraits of ChĂĄvez still grace walls, there is a sense that little of substance has shifted since U.S. bombs jolted residents awake in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 3. For the many Venezuelans who despised Maduro and his rule, that is disappointing. For those who support the government, itâs a relief.
On a sunny morning last week, about 2,000 Chavistas rallied on a downtown street.
âIt wonât be easy to erase socialism overnight with a few bombs and the kidnapping of a president,â said Wilson Barrios, 37, who works at the Education Ministry.
âChavismo is not a fad,â he said. âIt is a lifestyle and a conviction with principles.â
Leader of the Pink Tide
ChĂĄvez, a former army officer inspired by Marxist thinkers and revolutionaries such as SimĂłn Bolivar and Fidel Castro, was one of the most consequential political figures in recent Latin American history.
His election in 1998 helped unleash Latin Americaâs âpink tide,â in which leftist leaders swept into power from Argentina to Brazil to Ecuador.
His populist rhetoric and mixed-race background appealed to the masses in a nation long run by an elite minority of mostly white pro-business politicians with close ties to the U.S. and foreign oil giants.
At a rally in Caracas in 2024, a supporter holds a statue of late President Hugo ChĂĄvez as his successor, NicolĂĄs Maduro, delivers a speech formalizing his candidacy to run for reelection.
(Getty Images)
Buoyed by record oil prices that inflated state coffers, ChĂĄvez launched social programs that cut poverty rates. His government built homes for the poor and provided free and subsidized staples for those in need. It opened hospitals and schools and slashed infant mortality.
An outspoken critic of U.S. intervention in Latin America and what he saw as rampant materialism in the âimperialistâ United States, ChĂĄvez forged alliances with Washingtonâs adversaries, such as China, Cuba and Iran.
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 2006 a day after Bush gave a speech about the Iraq war, ChĂĄvez declared: âThe devil was here yesterday … this place still smells of sulfur!â
Venezuelaâs unhappy elites tried to unseat ChĂĄvez â mostly notably during a short-lived coup dâetat in 2002 â but he continued to win elections.
The tide began to shift after his 2013 death and the ascension of Maduro, a former trade union leader who lacked the charisma of his mentor. Then came a dramatic decline in oil prices â inevitable in an industry prone to boom-and-bust cycles.
As revenue sank, the economy collapsed amid soaring inflation. Bread and medicine lines stretched for hours. Malnutrition and infant mortality rose. Millions fled the country.
Support for Maduro plummeted, and the opposition handily beat his partyâs candidates in 2015 parliamentary elections. Sanctions on Venezuelaâs oil industry during Trumpâs first term made things worse for Maduro.
From the beginning, Maduro had been deepening the authoritarianism that had begun under ChĂĄvez, a model Corrales said was âbased on the idea that the revolution will never relinquish power.â
Maduro claimed he won a disputed election in 2018, although the U.S. and other countries refused to recognize the results. In 2024, Maduro declared victory again, though tally sheets from voting machines collected by the opposition showed he lost by a wide margin.
Maduro clamped down on dissent, jailing hundreds of activists, ordering government forces to fire on protesters and triggering another exodus of migrants.
These days, the pink tide is far in the rear-view mirror, with conservatives winning recent elections in Ecuador, Argentina and Chile.
John Polga-Hecimovich, a Latin America expert at the United States Naval Academy, said emigration from Venezuela to neighboring countries in recent years has colored many peopleâs views of leftist politics in general and Chavismo in particular.
Across the region, it is now common for right-wing candidates to accuse left-wing opponents of being like ChĂĄvez and wanting to turn their country into âanother Venezuela.â
True believers or pragmatists?
RodrĂguez has deep revolutionary roots. Her father was a Marxist guerrilla who was killed after he abducted an American businessman in 1976. RodrĂguez, an early disciple of ChĂĄvez, whom she still refers to as âcomandante,â said constructing a socialist state was âpersonal revengeâ for her fatherâs death.
But in recent years, as she rose in the ranks of Maduroâs government, RodrĂguez showed a pragmatic side.
To help right the economy, she made deals with business elites and pushed a reform that allows Venezuelans to use the dollar instead of the bolĂvar. She helped change laws to make the energy industry more attractive to foreign capital.
Her efforts attracted the attention of White House officials last year as they weighed a possible operation to remove Maduro.
Now RodrĂguez must walk a fine line, continuing to signal her revolutionary bona fides to hard-line ChavĂstas while placating Trump, who has warned that she will âpay a very big priceâ if she does not comply with U.S. demands.
She denounced the âterrible military aggressionâ carried out by U.S. forces, but also had what she called a âlong and courteous phone conversationâ with Trump, saying that with âmutual respectâ they discussed a bilateral agenda to benefit both nations. He, in turn, called her âa terrific person.â
A pro-government supporter holds paintings of late President Hugo ChĂĄvez during a campaign rally on Nov. 18, 2021, in Caracas.
(Manaure Quintero / Getty Images)
Oner, the former diplomat, said her coziness with Washington does not mean RodrĂguez has abandoned her revolutionary ideology. He believes she and other leaders have sacrificed some key tenets of Chavismo in order to save it.
âThey are doing this for the regimeâs survival,â Oner said. âThey have to be flexible to stay in power, or theyâll lose everything.â
Still, thereâs little doubt, Oner said, that ChĂĄvez would be disappointed.
âHe would feel deeply betrayed by Delcyâs actions.â
Linthicum and McDonnell reported from Mexico City and James from California. Special correspondent Mery MogollĂłn contributed from Caracas, Venezuela.
PEABODY â A former police officerâs law enforcement certification has been permanently revoked following an investigation by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.
The commission, in a decision dated Dec. 18, found that Peabody police officer Gerald Fitzgerald Jr. included false information in a police report that led to a woman being arrested and wrongly charged with serious crimes in November 2023. Fitzgerald resigned from the department about a year later.
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BOSTON â Backers of recreational cannabis have formed a committee to oppose a referendum inching toward the November ballot that would repeal the stateâs 2016 pot law.
The group behind the ballot initiative, Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, wants to effectively halt recreational cannabis sales and prohibit non-medical home growing, among other changes.
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WASHINGTON â After President Trump ordered strikes that led to the capture of Venezuelaâs president, NicolĂĄs Maduro, celebrations erupted in Venezuelan communities across the U.S.
But for many of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants facing possible deportation, their relief and joy were cut by the fear about what comes next from an administration that has zeroed in on Venezuelans as a target.
âMany of us asked ourselves, âWhatâs going to happen with us now?ââ said A.G., a 39-year-old in Tennessee who asked to be identified by her initials because she lacks legal status. Even so, Maduroâs ouster gave her a lot of hope for her mother country.
Venezuelans began fleeing in droves in 2014 as economic collapse led to widespread food and medicine shortages, as well as political repression. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans are now living outside the country â including 1.2 million in the U.S.
Venezuelans migrants walk toward Bucaramanga, Colombia, in 2019.
(Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
A.G. and her now-18-year-old son arrived at the southern border in 2019. Since then, she said, they have built a good life â they own a transport company with delivery trucks, pay taxes and follow the law.
Maduroâs fall left her with mixed feelings.
âHeâs obviously a dictator, many people have died because of him and he refused to give up power, but the reason that they entered Venezuela, for me what President Trump did was illegal,â she said. âInnocent people died because of the bombs. Iâm asking God that it all be for good reason.â
Dozens of Venezuelans and others were killed in the U.S. invasion â more than 100, a government official said â including civilians.
The Trump administration is framing its Venezuela operation as an opportunity for Venezuelans like A.G. âNow, they can return to the country they love and rebuild its future,â said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser.
Katie Blankenship, a Miami-based attorney with Sanctuary of the South who has represented many Venezuelans facing deportation, sees a less promising future.
âWeâre going to see increased targeting of Venezuelans to force them to leave the U.S. into a political and socioeconomic environment thatâs likely only more destabilized and subject to more abuse,â she said.
The Venezuelan community in the U.S. swelled, in part, because the Biden administration expanded pathways for them to enter the country.
Volunteer help a Venezuelan immigrant at the storage units from a volunteer-run program that distributes donations to recently arrived Venezuelan immigrants in need, in Miami, Fla., in 2023.
(Eva Marie Uzcategui / Los Angeles Times)
One of those programs allowed more than 117,000 Venezuelans to purchase flights directly to the U.S. and stay for two years if they had a U.S.-based financial sponsor and passed a background check. Other Venezuelans entered legally at land ports of entry after scheduling interviews with border officers.
By the end of the Biden administration, more than 600,000 Venezuelans had protection from deportation under Temporary Protected Status, a program used by both Republican and Democratic administrations for immigrants who cannot return home because of armed conflict, natural disaster or other âextraordinary and temporary conditions.â
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly referred to Venezuelan immigrants as criminals, singling them out more than any other nationality â in 64% of speeches, an Axios analysis showed. He has said repeatedly, without evidence that Venezuela emptied its prisons and mental institutions to flood the U.S. with immigrants.
One of Trumpâs first acts as president was to designate the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Within two months, he invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport 252 Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador, where they were imprisoned and tortured despite many having no criminal histories in the U.S. or Latin America.
Later, the Trump administration stripped away protections for Venezuelans with financial sponsors and TPS, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling the latter âcontrary to the national interest.â
In a September Federal Register Notice, Noem said that TPS for Venezuelans undercut the administrationâs foreign policy objectives because one result of allowing Venezuelans in the U.S. was ârelieving pressure on Maduroâs regime to enact domestic reforms and facilitate safe return conditions.â In other words, if Venezuelans returned home, that would pressure the government to enact reforms.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, along with U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, left, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, right, participates in a news conference near Camp 57 at Angola prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary and Americaâs largest maximum-security prison farm, to announce the opening of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that will house immigrants convicted of crimes in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, on Sept. 3, 2025.
(Matthew Hilton / AFP via Getty Images)
The administration has offered contrasting assessments of conditions in Venezuela. Noem wrote that although certain adverse conditions continue, âthere are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime.â
Throughout the year, though, the State Department continued to reissue an âextreme dangerâ travel advisory for Venezuela, urging Americans to leave the country immediately.
Conditions for Venezuelans in the U.S. grew more complicated after a man from Afghanistan was accused of shooting two National Guard members in November; in response, the administration froze the immigration cases of people from 39 countries, including Venezuela, that the administration considers âhigh-risk.â That means anyone who applied for asylum, a visa, a green card or any other benefit remains in limbo indefinitely.
After a panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Trump administrationâs use of the Alien Enemies Act in September, the Justice Department appealed. In a support brief filed in December, the Justice Department cited escalating tensions with Venezuela.
David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist and expert on Venezuelan politics, said that invading Venezuela could justify renewed use of the Alien Enemies Act.
The law says the president can invoke the Alien Enemies Act not only in times of âdeclared war,â but also when a foreign government threatens or carries out an âinvasionâ or âpredatory incursionâ against the U.S.
âNow it will be difficult, I think, for the court to say, âNo, you canât use this,ââ Smilde said.
With U.S. officials promising improved conditions in Venezuela and encouraging citizens to return, Smilde said, they could invoke the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who donât leave willingly.
âThereâs several layers to this,â he said, âand none of it looks very good for Venezuelan immigrants.â
This couple from Venezuela shared their story of why they left their three children back in their home country and spoke of the the experiences of their travel to the United States at the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento on June 16, 2023.
(Jose Luis Villegas / For The Times)
Jose, a 28-year-old Venezuelan living east of Los Angeles, fled Venezuela in 2015 after being imprisoned and beaten for criticizing the government. He lived in Colombia and Peru before illegally crossing the U.S. border in 2022, and now has a pending asylum application. Jose asked to be identified by his middle name out of fear of retaliation by the U.S. government.
The news this week that an ICE agent had shot and killed a woman in Minnesota heightened his anxiety.
âYou come here because supposedly this is a country with freedom of expression, and there is more safety, but with this government, now youâre afraid youâll get killed,â he said. âAnd that was a U.S. citizen. Imagine what they could do to me?â
People visit a memorial for Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Jose qualifies for a work permit based on his pending asylum, but his application for one is frozen because of the executive order following the National Guard shooting.
The news of Maduroâs arrest was bittersweet, Jose said, because his mother and grandmother didnât live to witness that day. He said his mother died last year of kidney failure due to lack of medical care, leaving him as the primary breadwinner for his two young sisters who remain in Venezuela with their father, who is disabled.
Still, he said heâs happy with what Trump has done in Venezuela.
âPeople are saying heâs stealing our petroleum,â he said, âbut for 25 years, Cuba, China and Iran have been stealing the petroleum and it didnât improve our lives.â
Many Venezuelans were encouraged by news that Venezuela would release a âsignificant numberâ of political prisoners as a peace gesture.
For Jose, thatâs not enough. Venezuelaâs government ordered police to search for anyone involved in promoting or supporting the attack by U.S. forces, leading to detentions of journalists and civilians.
âVenezuela remains the same,â he said. âThe same disgrace, the same poverty and the same government repression.â
A.G. said she was heartened to hear Noem say Sunday on Fox News that every Venezeulan who had TPS âhas the opportunity to apply for refugee status and that evaluation will go forward.â But the administration quickly backtracked and said that was not the case.
Instead, Noem and other administration officials have doubled down on the notion that Venezuelans without permanent lawful status should leave. Noem told Fox News that there are no plans to pause deportation flights despite the political uncertainty in Venezuela.
Tragesser, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman, said the agencyâs posture hasnât changed.
âUSCIS encourages all Venezuelans unlawfully in the U.S. to use the CBP Home app for help with a safe and orderly return to their country,â he said.
BOSTON â Massachusettsâ two U.S. senators have joined other Democrats and a handful of Republicans in passing a war powers resolution to limit President Donald Trumpâs military action in Venezuela, as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote on a similar measure.
The Senate voted 52-47 Thursday to approve a resolution that prohibits further U.S. military action in Venezuela, unless Congress authorizes it. The move comes after Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro and his wife, who were brought to New York to face drug trafficking and weapons charges.
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METHUEN â A bid by Mayor D.J Beauregard aimed at increasing government efficiency through cutting down on City Council oversight failed resoundingly.
The council voted 7-2 on Monday against approving an ordinance, proposed by Beauregard, to raise the dollar limit from $25,000 to $50,000 on contracts not requiring council approval.
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Shanee Mitchell, a police chief in Collingdale, Delaware County, was placed on administrative leave over a dispute about her work schedule, her lawyer said.
BOSTON â The Healey administration is pumping an additional $250 million into the state-subsidized health care system to help offset the impact of now expired federal tax credits, which have driven up premiums for many people insured through the federal health care exchange.
On Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey and other state officials said they are moving ahead with plans to increase spending on the ConnectorCare program by $250 million, for a total of $600 million this fiscal year.
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BOSTON â An expected vote by the U.S. Senate on a war powers resolution to restrict U.S. military action in Venezuela has become a campaign issue in the Democratic primary race between incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and challenger U.S Rep. Seth Moulton.
The Senate on Thursday is poised to vote on a war powers resolution, filed by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, to halt President Donald Trumpâs use of military force against Venezuela. The move comes after Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro and his wife, who were brought to New York to face drug trafficking and weapons charges.
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WASHINGTON â A highly confidential CIA assessment produced at the request of the White House warned President Trump of a wider conflict in Venezuela if he were to support the countryâs democratic opposition once its president, NicolĂĄs Maduro, was deposed, a person familiar with the matter told The Times.
The assessment was a tightly held CIA product commissioned at the request of senior policymakers before Trump decided whether to authorize Operation Absolute Resolve, the stunning U.S. mission that seized Maduro and his wife from their bedroom in Caracas over the weekend.
Announcing the results of the operation on Sunday, Trump surprised an anxious Venezuelan public when he was quick to dismiss the leadership of the democratic opposition â led by MarĂa Corina Machado, last yearâs Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Edmundo GonzĂĄlez Urrutia, the opposition candidate who won the 2024 presidential election that was ultimately stolen by Maduro.
Instead, Trump said his administration was working with Maduroâs handpicked vice president, Delcy RodrĂguez, who has since been named the countryâs interim president. The rest of Maduroâs government remains in place.
Endorsing the opposition would probably have required U.S. military backing, with the Venezuelan armed forces still under the control of loyalists to Maduro unwilling to relinquish power.
A second official said that the administration sought to avoid one of the cardinal mistakes of the invasion of Iraq, when the Bush administration ordered party loyalists of the deposed Saddam Hussein to be excluded from the countryâs interim government. That decision, known as de-Baathification, led those in charge of Iraqâs stockpiles of weapons to establish armed resistance to the U.S. campaign.
The CIA product was not an assessment that was shared across the 18 government agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, whose head, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was largely absent from deliberations â and who has yet to comment on the operation, despite CIA operatives being deployed in harmâs way before and throughout the weekend mission.
The core team that worked on Absolute Resolve included Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who met routinely over several months, sometimes daily, the source added.
Signs have emerged that Trumpâs team was in communication with RodrĂguez ahead of the operation, although the president has denied that his administration gave RodrĂguez advance notice of Maduroâs ouster.
âThere are a number of unanswered questions,â said Evan Ellis, who served in Trumpâs first term planning State Department policy on Latin America, the Caribbean and international narcotics. âThere may have been a cynical calculation that one can work with them.â
RodrĂguez served as a point of contact with the Biden administration, experts note, and also was in touch with Richard Grenell, a top Trump aide who heads the Kennedy Center, early on in Trumpâs second term, when he was testing engagement with Caracas.
While the federal indictment unsealed against Maduro after his seizure named several other senior officials in his government, RodrĂguezâs name was notably absent.
RodrĂguez was sworn in as Venezuelaâs interim president Monday in a ceremony attended by diplomats from Russia, China and Iran. Publicly, the leader has offered mixed messages, at once vowing to prevent Venezuela from becoming a colonial outpost of an American empire, while also offering to forge a newly collaborative relationship with Washington.
âOf course, for political reasons, Delcy RodrĂguez canât say, âIâve cut a deal with Trump, and weâre going to stop the revolution now and start working with the U.S.,â Ellis said.
âItâs not about the democracy,â he said. âItâs about him not wanting to work with Maduro.â
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Machado said she had yet to speak with Trump since the U.S. operation over the weekend, but hoped to do so soon, offering to share her Nobel Peace Prize with him as a gesture of gratitude. Trump has repeatedly touted himself as a worthy recipient of the award.
âWhat he has done is historic,â Machado said, vowing to return to the country from hiding abroad since accepting the prize in Oslo last month.
âItâs a huge step,â she added, âtowards a democratic transition.â
Israelâs air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanonâs army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israelâs military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanonâs Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel â known as the south Litani area â will be clear of Hezbollahâs armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollahâs disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Mondayâs airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
SIDON, South Governorate â
Israelâs air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.
A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanonâs army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.
At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.
On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israelâs military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.
Mohammad Zaatari
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.
The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanonâs Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel â known as the south Litani area â will be clear of Hezbollahâs armed presence.
The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollahâs disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
Mondayâs airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.
The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.
Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Israelâs air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanonâs army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israelâs military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanonâs Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel â known as the south Litani area â will be clear of Hezbollahâs armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollahâs disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Mondayâs airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
SIDON, South Governorate â
Israelâs air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.
A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanonâs army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.
At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.
On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israelâs military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.
Mohammad Zaatari
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.
The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanonâs Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.
The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel â known as the south Litani area â will be clear of Hezbollahâs armed presence.
The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollahâs disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
Mondayâs airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.
The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.
Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Cuban officials on Monday lowered flags before dawn to mourn 32 security officers they say were killed in the U.S. weekend strike in Venezuela, the island nationâs closest ally, as residents here wonder what the capture of President NicolĂĄs Maduro means for their future.
The two governments are so close that Cuban soldiers and security agents were often the Venezuelan presidentâs bodyguards, and Venezuelaâs petroleum has kept the economically ailing island limping along for years. Cuban authorities over the weekend said the 32 had been killed in the surprise attack âafter fierce resistance in direct combat against the attackers, or as a result of the bombing of the facilities.â
Related video above: What happens next: Venezuela’s future after U.S. capture of Maduro
The Trump administration has warned outright that toppling Maduro will help advance another decades-long goal: Dealing a blow to the Cuban government. Severing Cuba from Venezuela could have disastrous consequences for its leaders, who on Saturday called for the international community to stand up to âstate terrorism.â
On Saturday, Trump said the ailing Cuban economy will be further battered by Maduroâs ouster.
âItâs going down,â Trump said of Cuba. âItâs going down for the count.â
Loss of key supporter
Many observers say Cuba, an island of about 10 million people, exerted a remarkable degree of influence over Venezuela, an oil-rich nation with three times as many people. At the same time, Cubans have long been tormented by constant blackouts and shortages of basic foods. And after the attack, they woke to the once-unimaginable possibility of an even grimmer future.
âI canât talk. I have no words,â 75-year-old Berta Luz Sierra Molina said as she sobbed and placed a hand over her face.
Maduroâs government was shipping an average of 35,000 barrels of oil daily over the last three months, about a quarter of total demand, said Jorge Piñón, a Cuban energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute.
âThe question to which we donât have an answer, which is critical: Is the U.S. going to allow Venezuela to continue supplying Cuba with oil?â he said.
Piñón noted that Mexico once supplied Cuba with 22,000 barrels of oil a day before it dropped to 7,000 barrels after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mexico City in early September.
âI donât see Mexico jumping in right now,â Piñón said. âThe U.S. government would go bonkers.â
Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist at American University in Washington, said that âblackouts have been significant, and that is with Venezuela still sending some oil.â
âImagine a future now in the short term losing that,â he said. âItâs a catastrophe.â
Piñón noted that Cuba doesnât have the money to buy oil on the international market.
âThe only ally that they have left out there with oil is Russia,â he said, noting that it sends Cuba about 2 million barrels a year.
âRussia has the capability to fill the gap. Do they have the political commitment, or the political desire to do so? I donât know,â he said.
Torres also questioned whether Russia would extend a hand.
âMeddling with Cuba could jeopardize your negotiation with the U.S. around Ukraine. Why would you do it? Ukraine is far more important,â he said.
Torres said Cuba should open its doors to the private sector and market and reduce its public sector, moves that could help prompt China to step in and help Cuba.
âDo they have an alternative? I donât think they do,â he said.
Rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry
On Monday, Trump told NBC News in an interview that the U.S. government could reimburse oil companies making investments in Venezuela to maintain and increase oil production in that country.
He suggested that the necessary rebuilding of the countryâs neglected infrastructure for extracting and shipping oil could happen in less than 18 months.
âI think we can do it in less time than that, but itâll be a lot of money,â Trump said. âA tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then theyâll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.â
It still remains unclear how quickly the investment could occur given the uncertainties about Venezuelaâs political stability and the billions of dollars needed to be spent.
Venezuela produces on average about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, down from the 3.5 million barrels a day produced in 1999 before a government takeover of the majority of oil interests and a mix of corruption, mismanagement and U.S. economic sanctions led output to fall.
___
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press reporters Milexsy DurĂĄn in Havana, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires and Joshua Boak in Washington, D.C., contributed.
WASHINGTON â President Donald Trumpâs invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president and his wife drew swift and harsh rebukes from area members of Congress, who branded the military action as âregime change,â a ârogue attackâ and an unauthorized act of war.
On Friday night, the United States carried out a major military operation in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during the overnight raid in Caracas and removing them from the country. They landed in New York on Saturday to face federal charges related to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, Trump said in a press conference from his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
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CARACAS, Venezuela â Like many other Venezuelans, RamĂłn Arape said the image of ex-President NicolĂĄs Maduro in U.S. custody was a stunning â and welcome â sight.
âI confess that I felt a sense of relief when I saw the photo of Maduro in the hands of los gringos,â said Arape, 59, a welder and father of three.
Less reassuring, however, were President Trumpâs comments about Washingtonâs determination to take over the government and the oil industry, the nationâs defining natural resource.
âWeâve already had it with outsiders â Cubans, Iranians, Chinese â and now the Americans come along and want to name leaders and sell our oil?â said Arape, referring to a series of foreign allies sought out by the socialist governments of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo ChĂĄvez. âItâs a violation of law and sovereignty.â
Many Venezuelans are hoping for a deliverance, but not, it seems, at the cost of selling off the countryâs riches. How that plays out with Trumpâs view that Venezuela âstoleâ a U.S.-built oil industry is one of the big questions as Washington embarks on a massive nation-building endeavor in South America.
Like many other nations, Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in the 20th century, a process begun in the 1970s under a U.S.-allied government in Caracas. Several U.S. oil giants later made claims of illegal expropriation against the government of ChĂĄvez, Maduroâs mentor. But few here seemed inclined to believe in Trumpâs assertion, made on social media, that Venezuela must return âall of the Oil, Land and other Assets that they previously stole from us.â
Sunday was just a day after the shocking events that saw U.S. forces sweep into the capital and snatch Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Miraflores Palace, the seat of government, and fly them out of the country â and, eventually, to New York, where both face drug-trafficking charges. Both deny the charges, calling them U.S. propaganda.
Venezuelans with internet access had the opportunity to view the unlikely image of Maduro, bundled up for distinctly non-tropical temperatures and flanked by federal agents, doing a perp walk at a military base in New York and apparently telling onlookers: âHappy New Year.â
In the Venezuelan capital, life was slowly returning to a semblance of normalcy on Sunday, albeit on a weekend pace.
Cars and some public transport circulated on streets that had been deserted the day before. People ventured cautiously from their homes after spending much of Saturday indoors, fearing the explosions and a potential aftermath. Many went to church in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation. Sermons called for peace.
There was a palpable sense of relief that the threat of war had abated, at least temporarily. Many were still absorbing the almost unbelievable turn of events that has surely transformed the nationâs future â albeit in still unpredictable ways.
But there was an overriding determination, among both supporters and critics of the ousted president, that the countryâs oil and other resources were sacrosanct, and not to be handed over to the United States â or anyone else.
âReally it was very emotional to finally see Maduro and Cilia handcuffed and prisoners,â said Fernando GonzĂĄlez, 29, a plumber who says he supports MarĂna Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime opposition leader. âThose two have to pay for their crimes. For that we thank Trump. But thatâs not to say we are in agreement with everything he seems to want to do.â
The presidentâs determination to ârunâ Venezuela â and take over its oil â didnât go down well with GonzĂĄlez, a fervent nationalist in a country with a long history of nationalist activism.
âThis is all a farce if they get rid of Maduro just to appropriate and sell the oil,â he said. âIt canât be that way. We want progress, change, but a transition led by Venezuelans. It canât all be at the will of the Americans.â
GonzĂĄlez saw a role for the United States: âTo help us deal with this social drama of an impoverished country.â But, he added: âThey must respect our will.â
Arape, the welder, summed up the sentiment of many. âWe didnât go through all this so that Trump can name his people and take over our oil,â he said.
On Saturday, Trump had said, âWeâre going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.â On Sunday, however, administration officials walked back that statement, saying the U.S. would pressure the Venezuelan government to acquiesce to U.S. demands.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the threat of more military action would serve as âleverageâ over the Venezuelan government.
In Caracas, confusion about the future was a prevalent sentiment, among both critics and supporters of Maduro.
âWe would like to know who is really in charge,â said William Rojas, 31, a father of two who lives in the El Valle district, long a Maduro stronghold.
In his news conference Saturday, Trump said that Maduroâs vice president, Delcy RodrĂguez, had been named interim president, a fact seemingly confirmed Sunday by Telesur, the government broadcast outlet. But RodrĂguez, in an address Saturday from Miraflores Palace, demanded that Washington return the âkidnappedâ Maduro, whom she called the âsoleâ president of the country.
âDelcy RodrĂguez says that Maduro remains the president, but heâs no longer here,â said Rojas. âAnd how were they able to whisk him away? Who betrayed our president?â
He added, âWe canât live with the idea that the ones who really govern us are Trump and Marco Rubio! We are totally confused.â
Amid all the prevailing ambiguity, authorities called on people to revert to everyday patterns â as though Maduro were still around.
There were still no official casualty counts from Saturdayâs raid. In an address, the defense secretary, Gen. Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez, called the operation a âcowardly kidnappingâ that was carried out âafter cold-bloodedly assassinating a large part of the presidentâs security detail, soldiers and innocent civilians,â according to Telesur.
Padrino urged Venezuelans to return to their jobs and to school, adding, âI call on the Venezuelan people to peace, to order, to not fall to temptations or a psychological war, to threats, to the fear that they want to impose upon us.â
Special correspondent MogollĂłn reported from Caracas and staff writer McDonnell from Boston.
Deposed Venezuelan leader NicolĂĄs Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to ârunâ the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Video above: U.S. strikes Venezuela, captures President Maduro in overnight operation
Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas â an act that Maduro’s government called âimperialist.â The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the countryâs rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.
Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said RodrĂguez, who didnât give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to âfixâ the countryâs oil infrastructure and sell âlarge amountsâ of oil to other countries.
Video below: ‘We are going to run the country,’ Trump says of Venezuela
Trump says US will ârun the countryâ
The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.
Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
âWe’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,â Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this âextremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.â
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a âcorrupt, illegitimate governmentâ fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels â the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.
Video below: Fact checking President Trump’s Venezuela claims
Early morning attack
Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off âalmost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro â where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and his clothes.
âWe think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,â Caine said. âNot to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.â
Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an âimperialist attackâ and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions â at least seven blasts â sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.
Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. âAirlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,â he posted.
Under Venezuelan law, RodrĂguez would take over from Maduro. RodrĂguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuelaâs high court ordered that she become interim president.
âThere is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, âand his name is NicolĂĄs Maduro Moros.â
Video below: President Donald Trump’s full comments on Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro capture
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Venezuelaâs ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduroâs predecessor, Hugo ChĂĄvez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.
Maduro took over when ChĂĄvez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
âMaduro, hold on, the people are rising up!â the crowd chanted. âWe are here, NicolĂĄs Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!â
In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.
âHow do I feel? Scared, like everyone,â said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. âVenezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldnât sleep.â
In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted âLiberty! Liberty! Liberty!â
Questions of legality
Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. âThere are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,â said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.
Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.â
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Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Deposed Venezuelan leader NicolĂĄs Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to ârunâ the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas â an act that Maduro’s government called âimperialist.â The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the countryâs rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.
Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said RodrĂguez, who didnât give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to âfixâ the countryâs oil infrastructure and sell âlarge amountsâ of oil to other countries.
Trump says US will ârun the countryâ
The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.
Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
âWe’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,â Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this âextremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.â
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a âcorrupt, illegitimate governmentâ fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels â the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.
Early morning attack
Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off âalmost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro â where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and his clothes.
âWe think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,â Caine said. âNot to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.â
Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an âimperialist attackâ and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions â at least seven blasts â sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.
Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. âAirlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,â he posted.
Under Venezuelan law, RodrĂguez would take over from Maduro. RodrĂguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuelaâs high court ordered that she become interim president.
âThere is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, âand his name is NicolĂĄs Maduro Moros.â
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Venezuelaâs ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduroâs predecessor, Hugo ChĂĄvez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.
Maduro took over when ChĂĄvez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
âMaduro, hold on, the people are rising up!â the crowd chanted. âWe are here, NicolĂĄs Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!â
In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.
âHow do I feel? Scared, like everyone,â said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. âVenezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldnât sleep.â
In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted âLiberty! Liberty! Liberty!â
Questions of legality
Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. âThere are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,â said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.
Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.â
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Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
