Marxist Peruvian President José María Balcázar announced Monday that free market economist Hernando de Soto would serve as Peru’s next prime minister. What was expected to be a rare display of camaraderie between Marxists and free marketers in Peru has since turned sour. On Tuesday, de Soto was blindsided by the surprise appointment of Finance Minister Denisse Miralles as prime minister. De Soto blamed Cerronistas, an extreme faction within the Marxist-Leninist Perú Libre party, for conspiring against him.
Miralles’ appointment is the first major mistake of Balcázar, who Congress elected last week to replace the scandal-ridden former President José Jerí, who was ousted over “undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman,” reports Reuters. Even though Balcázar will only serve as the interim president until a new one assumes the office in July, foregoing de Soto’s economic expertise is a missed opportunity for the South American nation, a conclusion Balcázar himself acknowledged earlier this week.
On Monday, Balcázar told Peruvian news outlet Exitosa that the country must turn to de Soto “to guarantee [Peru’s] economic model and ensure that the new president of the republic…has clear guiding principles and no economic shocks.”
A native of Arequipa, Peru, de Soto founded the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in 1980 to study the relationship between property rights and poverty. At the time of the ILD’s founding, Peru was one of the least economically free countries in the world, scoring 3.66 out of 10 (placing it at 102 out of 110 countries) on the Fraser Institute’s economic freedom index. It had a measly GDP per capita of about $3,800 (in constant 2010 U.S. dollars).
De Soto explored the connection between Peru’s lack of economic freedom and its poverty in The Other Path(1986). In the October 1989 issue of Reason, de Soto condemned Latin American Marxists for treating “the poor as an oppressed proletariat with no interest in entrepreneurship and free markets” and explained the relationship between the country’s regulatory bloat and economic underdevelopment.
De Soto blamed the 27,000 rules created per year—only 1 percent of which were actual laws passed by the Peruvian Congress—for driving Peruvians into the black market, thwarting capital accumulation, investment, and growth by imposing unjustifiable burdens to entering the formal economy. (As an example, de Soto’s team compared the difficulty of registering a small garment shop with the government in Peru to doing the same in New York City. What took the ILD team four hours in the U.S. took them 289 days in the outskirts of Lima.)
Responding to the regulatory strangulation identified by de Soto’s research, the Peruvian Congress passed the Administrative Simplification Law in June 1989, which “oblige[d] the State to remove…unnecessary obstacles and costs for society,” according to Andina, Peru’s state-owned news agency.
But not everyone appreciated de Soto’s work. The Shining Path, a Maoist terrorist group, bombed the ILD’s offices in April 1991 and stormed them in July, resulting in a skirmish with security guards that killed three and wounded at least 20.
Still, de Soto continued advocating for private property rights for Peru’s most vulnerable, which earned him the Cato Institute’s 2004 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty and created lasting impacts for the country.
The World Bank credits the ILD for “conceiving, promoting, and implementing all aspects” of the Registro Predial, an inexpensive property registration system that “registered some 300,000 titles from 1991 to the end of 1995 in urban Lima.” Inspired by this success, the Law to Promote Access to Formal Property was passed in March 1996, establishing the Comisión de Formalización de la Propiedad Informal, “with the principal mandate to formalize existing property in poor urban settlements.” It was a stunning success: “By December 2001 nearly 1.2 million of the country’s previously unregistered residents became nationally registered property owners,” according to Erica Field, a professor of economics at Duke, increasing labor force hours and reducing distortions in labor allocation.
By 2023, Peru’s economic freedom score had doubled, and its real GDP per capita had increased by 73 percent.
Despite Peru’s political turmoil—cycling through five presidents in as many years—Bloombergreports that the country’s economy, “one of Latin America’s most resilient…with growth that outpaces its peers, low inflation and a stable currency,” remains unfazed. On Monday, Balcázar cited de Soto’s technical expertise, ability to build consensus, and international contacts as reasons for his appointment. At the end of the day, these words proved to be meaningless, and it was Miralles, an economic engineer specializing in public-private partnerships, who has led the finance ministry since October, who was sworn in as prime minister.
After his surprise replacement, de Soto told reporters on Wednesday night that he conditioned his acceptance of his appointment on bringing about real institutional changes rather than being used as a mere figurehead. To do so, de Soto told Balcázar he must be allowed to replace the Cabinet of Ministers with people uninvolved in Balcázar’s government, including independent advisers from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. De Soto said Balcázar stipulated to this plan and agreed to his list of cabinet members after a three-hour-long breakfast.
In a statement released by Blacázar around midnight, the president said “it was not possible to reach the necessary consensus…due to the brief and transitional nature of the constitutionally granted mandate.” De Soto, however, has a different explanation; he told reporters that Cerronistas, the farthest-left faction of Perú Libre, did not want to see him and Central Reserve Bank Chairman Julio Velarde continue the trend of turning Peru into a market economy.
Perhaps Miralles’ replacement of de Soto can be explained by her less stringent fiscal policy.
Miralles toldBloomberg in a late January interview that Peru should soften its 2026 fiscal target, 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), after achieving its 2025 target of 2.2 percent—the first time in three years it did so. While the Peruvian economy is expected to grow by 3 percent in 2026, Miralles defended her support of increased deficit spending by optimistically projecting 5 percent growth. On Tuesday, Miralles did an about-face, saying “the government’s policy direction will remain firm and unchanged” and that her council “will act with clear signals of stability, fiscal responsibility, and respect for the rules that build confidence,” according to Andina.
Hopefully, Miralles will be actually committed to fiscal responsibility and policies that foster real economic growth. De Soto, however, believes that the replacement of him and his cabinet is further evidence of the “Venezuelization” of Peru.
On January 29, Coronation Fund Managers disclosed a buy of MercadoLibre(NASDAQ:MELI), adding 53,352 shares in an estimated $112.06 million trade based on quarterly average pricing.
According to a SEC filing dated January 29, Coronation Fund Managers increased its stake in MercadoLibre(NASDAQ:MELI) by 53,352 shares during the fourth quarter. The estimated value of the trade was $112.06 million based on the average closing price for the period. The position’s total value at quarter’s end was $285.59 million, up by $78.93 million from the previous filing and reflecting both new purchases and share price changes.
Coronation Fund Managers increased its MercadoLibre position, bringing the stake to 12.81% of its $2.23 billion reportable AUM as of December 31.
Top holdings after the filing:
NASDAQ:MELI: $285.59 million (12.8% of AUM)
NYSE:SE: $285.19 million (12.8% of AUM)
NYSE:NU: $241.11 million (10.8% of AUM)
NYSE:CPNG: $140.04 million (6.3% of AUM)
NASDAQ:MMYT: $102.76 million (4.6% of AUM)
As of January 28, MercadoLibre shares were priced at $2,268.60, up 19.7% over the past year and outperforming the S&P 500 by 4.68 percentage points.
Metric
Value
Price (as of January 28)
$2,268.60
Market capitalization
$114.02 billion
Revenue (TTM)
$26.19 billion
Net income (TTM)
$2.08 billion
MercadoLibre operates a leading e-commerce and digital payments platform serving businesses and consumers across Latin America.
The company generates revenue primarily through transaction fees on its marketplace, financial services, logistics, and value-added services for merchants and consumers.
It serves businesses, merchants, and individual consumers in Latin America, targeting both sellers and buyers seeking online commerce and digital financial solutions.
MercadoLibre is a leading e-commerce and fintech platform in Latin America, operating at a significant scale with a broad regional footprint. The company leverages its integrated ecosystem of online marketplaces, digital payments, credit, and logistics to drive growth and deepen user engagement. Its competitive advantage stems from a robust network effect and a diversified suite of technology-driven services tailored to the unique needs of the Latin American market.
What matters here is not the size of the purchase but the role this holding now plays inside the portfolio. At nearly 13% of reportable assets, this position sits alongside the fund’s highest-conviction ideas, signaling a willingness to concentrate capital where long-term compounding still appears intact. That stands out in a portfolio already heavy on emerging-market growth and platform businesses.
The latest quarter reinforces why. MercadoLibre continues to scale across commerce, payments, and credit at the same time, with its ecosystem driving higher engagement and monetization per user. Revenue growth remains strong (up 39% year over year in the third quarter), margins are expanding, and logistics investments are increasingly paying off through faster delivery and better unit economics. Importantly, the company’s fintech arm keeps deepening customer relationships, giving the platform multiple ways to grow without relying on pure retail volume.
This fund pairs MercadoLibre with names like Sea, Nubank, and Coupang, all bets on digitally native infrastructure in underpenetrated markets. Within that framework, adding here suggests confidence that MercadoLibre’s competitive moat remains intact despite its size.
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This week, guest host Zach Weissmueller is joined by Freddy Guevara, a Venezuelan opposition leader who was imprisoned by the regime of Nicolás Maduro and now lives in exile.
Guevara first entered politics as a student activist opposing Hugo Chávez, later becoming the youngest elected city council member in Venezuelan history before winning a seat in the National Assembly. After the government stripped the assembly of power and escalated repression, Guevara spent three years as a political refugee in the Chilean Embassy in Caracas and was later imprisoned by the Maduro regime. He has lived in exile since 2021 and is now a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, where he studies democratic transitions and political repression.
Weissmueller and Guevara discuss how authoritarianism operated under Nicolás Maduro, including political imprisonment, surveillance, and the foreign alliances that helped sustain his oppressive regime. They examine Maduro’s capture, why many Venezuelans support U.S. intervention, and what a democratic transition would require after decades of dictatorship. Guevara challenges common assumptions in the West about sovereignty and regime change and makes the case that Venezuelans themselves have driven the push to remove Maduro – while explaining how Venezuela’s collapse was not simply the result of corruption but a predictable consequence of socialism in practice.
The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and scholars who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing “free minds and free markets.”
When U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in a predawn raid on Saturday, it should have been a moment of triumph for Venezuela’s democratic opposition. But rather than endorsing the leadership of Edmundo González, whose victory in July’s 2024 election was stolen by Maduro, President Donald Trump announced he’d work with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president for the past six years. After Trump called her “gracious” and claimed she was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” the Maduro-controlled Supreme Court swiftly appointed her as acting president on Saturday, once again sidelining the elected opposition.
Rodríguez is neither gracious nor a reformer. She’s a self-identified communist who has held key positions under both former dictator Hugo Chávez and Maduro, Venezuelan political writer Paola Bautista de Alemán tells Reason. In 2017, Maduro tapped Rodríguez to be president of the illegitimate constituent assembly that usurped the powers of the elected National Assembly to silence the opposition. Later that year, Maduro appointed her to the “Anti-Coup Command,” tasked with taking measures against alleged coup plotters and terrorists, labels routinely applied to peaceful opposition figures.
As vice president, she oversaw the agencies responsible for repression and mass human rights violations. From 2018 until April 2021, Rodríguez exercised direct hierarchical control over the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Venezuela’s feared intelligence service responsible for domestic surveillance and counterintelligence. Under Rodríguez’s leadership, the SEBIN acted as a political police to prosecute perceived enemies of the Maduro regime, including opposition leader Freddy Guevara, whom the agency detained in 2021, two days after Rodríguez publicly accused him of being involved in gang violence. Former SEBIN Director General Cristopher Figuera testified to the United Nations that he communicated with the vice president “practically every day,” including updates on wiretaps and surveillance of politicians.
In 2020, the U.N. concluded there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Rodríguez “knew or should have known” of crimes committed by SEBIN officials, including arbitrary detention and torture. Despite having the authority to prevent these crimes, she failed to do so.
In addition to human rights violations, Rodríguez has been accused of corruption and bribing international officials, as seen in the “Delcygate” scandal. Spanish investigators believe Rodríguez orchestrated a scheme in 2020 to sell 104 bars of Venezuelan state gold to Spanish businessmen through corrupt Transport Ministry officials. The deal allegedly took place at Madrid’s airport, where Rodríguez met with Spanish Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos despite being banned from entering E.U. territory.
The alleged operation extended further. After receiving $62 million in Spanish state aid in March 2021, Spanish airline Plus Ultra allegedly used the funds to repay “loans” to accounts linked to Venezuela abroad. Investigators believe the scheme laundered proceeds from both gold sales and embezzlement of Venezuela’s food distribution program—meaning funds meant to feed hungry Venezuelans may have been funneled into European bank accounts.
On top of this, there are accusations from former Venezuelan officials about Rodríguez’s role in the Cartel de los Soles, the narco-trafficking network allegedly run by senior regime figures. Former Venezuelan General Cliver Alcalá Cordones, now serving a federal prison sentence in the United States after pleading guilty to narcotics-related charges, sent a damning letter to Trump in December 2025. Published by The Dallas Express, the letter claimed that Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, are the cartel’s real leaders, managing illicit gold revenues and narco-trafficking proceeds.
Rodríguez’s track record has earned her sanctions from the U.S., European Union, Switzerland, and Canada for corruption and undermining democracy. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury froze her assets and added her to the Specially Designated Nationals list for her role in solidifying autocracy in Venezuela. The E.U. sanctioned her the same year for actions that “undermined democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.”
By supporting top officials of Maduro’s illegitimate regime, the Trump administration is missing a chance to work with the local political leaders who have both legitimacy and popular support.
When Maduro was captured, González and María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and dedicated it to both the Venezuelan people and Trump, immediately called for González to assume his constitutional mandate as the legitimately elected president. David Smolansky, González’s official spokesperson, laid out the opposition’s vision: free political prisoners, restore democratic order, and welcome back the millions of Venezuelans forced into exile by the regime’s failures. Instead, Trump chose to work with Rodríguez, effectively sidelining Venezuela’s democratically elected opposition and forcing them to watch the U.S. partner with the very regime that stole their victory.
It’s unclear whether Rodríguez will become a reformer who leads the country from Chavismo toward democracy or an authoritarian consolidator with American backing. Venezuelan trust isn’t in Rodríguez, as Bautista, the Venezuelan writer, notes; it’s in Trump’s ability to use force, or the threat of force, to compel democratization. That’s a precarious foundation for building a democratic transition.
Trump is betting he can foster a transition of power by partnering with a sanctioned regime insider whose résumé includes overseeing a torture-linked intelligence service, alleged narco-trafficking operations, and an international bribery scheme. What could possibly go wrong?
President Donald Trump late Sunday predicted Cuba was “ready to fall” after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, warning that Havana can no longer rely on Caracas for security and oil.
Trump said Cuba’s fate is now directly tied to Maduro’s ouster and the collapse of Venezuela’s ability to bankroll allies in the region.
Asked if he was considering U.S. action in Cuba, Trump replied: “I think it’s just going to fall. I don’t think we need any action. Looks like it’s going down. It’s going down for the count.”
The president’s comments during a press gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One come after Saturday’s capture of Maduro and his wife on charges tied to a narco-terrorism conspiracy. The audacious operation has sent shockwaves through allied governments in the region, with Cuban officials calling for rallies in support of Venezuela and accusing the U.S. of violating sovereignty.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. officials say Cuban security forces played a central role in keeping Maduro in power. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuban operatives effectively ran Venezuela’s internal intelligence and security operations – including personally guarding Maduro and monitoring loyalty inside his government.
Protestors rally outside the White House, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Washington, after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a military operation.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.”
Cuba’s government acknowledged Sunday that 32 Cuban military and police officers were killed during the American operation in Venezuela, marking the first official death toll released by Havana. Cuban state media said the officers had been deployed at the request of Caracas and announced two days of national mourning.
Trump confirmed Cuban casualties while traveling back to Washington.
“A lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” he said. “There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.”
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores face ‘worst case scenario’ in U.S. custody, according to expert, with federal indictments on drug and weapons charges.( Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
Trump also took aim at neighboring Colombia, accusing its leadership of fueling drug trafficking into the U.S.
“Colombia is very sick, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said, adding that the country, “is not going to be doing it for a very long time.”
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro speaks during a military ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the presentation of the ‘Sword of Peru’ to Venezuelan independence hero Simón Bolívar on November 25, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
He suggested the U.S. was prepared to act against narco-trafficking networks operating by land and sea, citing recent interdictions.
Trump also revived his long-standing focus on Greenland, arguing the Arctic territory is critical to U.S. security amid growing Russian and Chinese activity.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” Trump said. “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
Trump has framed Saturday’s operation as part of a broader effort to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, invoking the Monroe Doctrine and warning that hostile regimes can no longer rely on one another for survival.
Maduro is set to be arraigned in federal court in New York on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.
Get the Facts: Is Venezuela a primary drug trafficker to the United States?
OK, thank you very much. This is big stuff. And we appreciate you being here. Late last night. And early today. At my direction, the United States armed forces. Conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. Overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea was used to launch *** spectacular assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since. World War II. It was *** force against *** heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas. To bring outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice. This was one of the most stunning. Effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence. In American history. And if you think about it, we’ve done some, Other good ones like the, Attack on Soleimani. The attack on al-Baghdadi. And the Obliteration and decimation of the Iran nuclear sites. Just recently. In an operation known as Midnight Hammer. All perfectly executed and done. No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or frankly in just *** short period of time. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military working with US law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night. It was. Dark, the, uh, lights of Caracas were largely turned off. Due to *** certain expertise that we have. It was dark and it was deadly. But captured along with his wife. Celia Flores. Both of whom now face American justice. Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Jay Clayton for their campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens. I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight. With breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence. You rarely see anything like it. You’ve seen some raids in this country that didn’t go so well. They were an embarrassment. If you look back to Afghanistan or if you look back to The Jimmy Carter days, they were different days. We’re *** respected country again like maybe like never before. These highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with US law enforcement caught them in *** very ready position. They were waiting for us. They knew we had many ships out. In the sea we just sort of waiting. They knew we were coming, so they were in *** ready, what’s called *** ready position. But they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated. If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I’m not sure that you’ll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see. Not *** single American service member was killed and not *** single piece of American equipment was lost. We had many helicopters, many planes, many. Many people involved in that fight. But think of that not one piece of military equipment was lost, not one service member was more importantly killed. The United States military is the strongest and most fearsome military on the planet by far, with capabilities and skills, our enemies can. Scarcely begin to imagine we have the best equipment anywhere in the world. There’s no equipment like what we have, and you see that even if you just look at the boats, you know, we’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by sea. 90%. Each boat kills 25 on average 25,000 people. We knocked out 97%. And those drugs mostly come from *** place called Venezuela. We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, so. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years, so we are going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious. Because that’s what we’re all about. We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela. And that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country, it’s their homeland. We can’t take *** chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind. Had decades of that. We’re not going to let that happen. We’re there now, and what people don’t understand, but they understand as I say this, we’re there now, but we’re. Going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place, so we’re going to stay until such time as we’re going to run it essentially until such time as *** proper transition can take place. As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been *** bust, *** total bust for *** long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could. have been pumping and what could have taken place. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure. And start making money for the country. And we are Ready to stage *** second and much larger attack if We need to do so, so we were prepared to do *** second wave. If We needed to do so. We actually assumed that *** second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not. The first wave, if you’d like to call it that, the first attack was so successful we probably don’t have to do *** second, but we’re prepared to do *** second wave, *** much bigger wave actually. This was pinpoint, but we have *** much bigger wave that. Probably won’t have to do this partnership of Venezuela with the United States of America, *** country that everybody wants to be involved with because of what we were able to do and accomplish, will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe, and it will also make the many, many people from Venezuela that are living in the United States extremely happy. They suffered. They suffered. So much was taken from them. They’re not going to suffer anymore. The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of *** vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de las Solis. Which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans, the many, many Americans, hundreds of thousands over the years of Americans died because of him. Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil. Right now they’re on *** ship they’ll be heading to ultimately New York and then *** decision will be made, I assume between New York and. Miami or Florida. But we have People where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in *** court of law, and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen what we have. It’s It’s both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place. For many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired, Maduro remained in power and waged *** ceaseless campaign of violence, terror, and subversion against the United States of America, threatening not only our people but the stability of the entire region. And you also, in addition to trafficking gigantic amounts of illegal drugs. That inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country, all over, in particular the United States. Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty prison gang Tren de Arragua, to terrorize American communities nationwide, and he did indeed. They were in Colorado. They took over apartment complexes. They cut the fingers of people if they call police. They were brutal. But they’re not so brutal now? And I just have to Congratulate our military, Pete and everybody in our National Guard. Because the job that they’ve done, whether it’s in Washington DC where we have *** totally safe city where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, frankly, and now we have no crime in Washington DC. We haven’t had *** killing. We had the terrorist attack *** few weeks ago. Uh, *** little bit of *** different kind of ***, *** threat, but we haven’t had *** killing in *** long period of time, 67 months, we used to have 2, on average 2 *** week in Washington, our capital. We don’t have that anymore. The restaurants are opening. Everyone’s happy. They’re going, they’re walking their daughters, they’re walking their children, their wives, they walk to restaurants. Restaurants are opening all over Washington DC. So I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank our military, and I want to thank law enforcement. It’s been amazing. And they should do it with more cities. We’re doing it, as you know, and uh we’re doing it in Memphis, Tennessee right now, and crime is down. We’ve just sort of started *** few weeks ago, but crime is down now 77%. And uh the governor of Louisiana called, great person. And he wanted us to help him, as you know, in *** certain very nice part of Louisiana, and we have done that and it’s *** rough, it was *** rough, rough section and we have climbed down. I, I understand it’s down to almost nothing already after 2.5 weeks. New Orleans, it’s down to almost nothing, and we’ve only been there for 2.5 weeks. Can’t imagine why governors wouldn’t want us to help. We also helped, as you know, in Chicago, and crime went down *** little bit there. We did *** very small help because we had no, no. We had no working ability with the governor. The governor was *** disaster and the mayor was *** disaster, but it knocked down crime. But we’re pulling out of there when they need us, we’ll know. You’ll know. You’ll be writing about it. And likewise Los Angeles, where we saved Los Angeles early on where the. Head of the police department made *** statement that if the federal government didn’t come in we would have lost Los Angeles. That’s after long after the fires. That’s when they had the riots in Los Angeles. We did *** great job. We got no credit for it whatsoever, but that’s OK. It doesn’t matter. We don’t need the credit. But we’ll be pulling out when they need us. They’ll call or we’ll go back if we have to. We’ll go back, but we did *** great job in various cities. But the thing, the place that we’re very proud of is Washington DC because it’s our nation’s capital. We took it from being *** crime ridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country. But the gangs that they sent raped, tortured, and murdered American women and children. They were in all of the cities I mentioned, Trendaragua. And they were sent by Maduro to terrorize our people and now Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela. There will no longer be threats. For years I’ve highlighted the stories of those innocent Americans whose lives. We’re so heartlessly robbed by this Venezuelan terrorist organization, really one of the worst, one of the worst, they say the worst. Americans like 12 year old Jocelyn Nungary from Houston. Beautiful Jocelyn. Nungarary, what happened to her? They, uh, as you know, they kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by Trende Aragua. Animals they murdered Jocelyn. And Left her dead under the bridge. There was *** bridge. *** bridge that will never be the same to so many people after seeing what happened. As I’ve said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives, and they came from mental institutions and insane asylums. They came from prisons and jails. The reason I say both, they sound similar actually. Prisons, *** little bit more. *** little bit more hostile, *** little bit tougher. *** mental institution isn’t as tough as an insane asylum, but we got them both. They sent from their mental institutions. They sent from their jails, prisons. They were drug dealers. They were drug kingpins. They sent everybody bad into the United States. But no longer, and we have now *** border where nobody gets through. In addition, Venezuela. Unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets, and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars. They did this *** while ago, but we never had *** president that did anything about it. They took all of our property. It was our property. We built it. And we never had *** president that decided to do anything about it. Instead they fought wars that were 10,000 miles away. We built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations, and they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country, considered the largest theft of property in the history of our country. Massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies, and we didn’t do anything about it. I would have done something about it. America will never allow foreign powers to rob our people or drive us back into. And out of our own hemisphere, that’s what they did. Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region. And acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US interests and lives, and they used those weapons last night. They used those weapons last night, potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border. All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy dating back more than two centuries. And uh not anymore all the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is *** big deal, but we’ve superseded it by *** lot. By *** real lot. They now call it the Don Ro document. I don’t know. It’s, uh, Monroe Doctrine, we sort of forgot about it. It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don’t forget about it anymore. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Won’t happen. So just in concluding, for decades other administrations have neglected or even Contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in *** very powerful way. In our home region. And our home region is very different than it was just *** short while ago. The future will be, and we did this in my first term. We had great dominance in my first term, and We have far greater dominance right now. Everyone’s coming back to us. The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security. These are core to our national security. Just like tariffs are, they’ve made our country rich and they’ve made our national security strong, stronger than ever before. But these are the iron laws that have always determined global power. And we’re going to keep it that way. We will secure our borders. We will stop the terrorists. We will crash the cartels, and we will defend our citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic. Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the United States. This extremely successful operation should serve as *** warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives. Very importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect. The American. Armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until the United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied. All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand. What happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them. If they aren’t just fair, even to their people, the dictator and terrorist Maduro. is finally gone in Venezuela. People are free. They’re free again. It’s been *** long time for them, but they’re free. America is *** safer nation. This morning It’s *** prouder nation this morning because it didn’t allow. This horrible person and this country that was Doing very bad things to us, it didn’t allow it to happen, and the Western Hemisphere is right now *** much safer place to be. So I want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank General Raisin Kane. He’s *** fantastic man. I’ve worked with *** lot of generals. I worked with some I didn’t like. I worked with some I didn’t respect. I worked with some that just weren’t good. But this guy is fantastic. I watched last night one of the most precise. Attacks on sovereignty. I mean it was an attack for justice and I’m very proud of him and I’m very proud of our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth who I’m going to ask to say *** few words. Thank you very much.
The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States. The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries. There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.Most illegal fentanyl enters the U.S. from Mexico, per UNODC and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Illicit fentanyl can also be diverted, or stolen, from legal sources as medical professionals use the drug.Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said. The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.Venezuela’s role in cocaine traffickingVenezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat. From harvest to productionCoca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru. Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.”Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States.
The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries.
There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.
Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.
After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said.
The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.
Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.
Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3
On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.
The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
Venezuela’s role in cocaine trafficking
Venezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S.
Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.
While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.
Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat.
From harvest to production
Coca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.
The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru.
Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.
“Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said.
The United States launched a “large scale strike” by military forces in Venezuela on Saturday, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The U.S., which said Maduro would face criminal charges in the U.S., where he was indicted years ago, has a long history of military interventions in Latin America.
Here are the major U.S. interventions in Latin America since the Cold War.
1954: Guatemala
On June 27, 1954, Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, then-president of Guatemala, was driven from power by mercenaries trained and financed by Washington, after a land reform that threatened the interests of the powerful U.S. company United Fruit Corporation (later Chiquita Brands).
In 2003, the U.S. officially acknowledged the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s role in this coup, in the name of fighting communism.
1961: Cuba
From April 15 to 19, 1961, about 1,400 Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA and they launched the Bay of Pigs invasion to liberate Cuba. The plan was to use exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro’s communist government.
At the time, there was a strong fear of the Soviet Union. But the mission went horribly wrong and became a black eye for both the administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
The fighting left more than 100 people on each side.
After the Bay of Pigs, the CIA tried to hatch more plots to overthrow Castro that included poisoning his cigar, among other implausible ideas. Other plans were in place under a Kennedy administration plan called “Operation Mongoose.”
No other attack of that magnitude was ever launched against Castro after the April 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco.
1965: Dominican Republic
In 1965, citing a “communist threat” in the Dominican Republic, the U.S. sent Marines and paratroopers to Santo Domingo to crush an uprising in support of Juan Bosch, a leftist president ousted by generals in 1963.
1970s: Support for dictatorships
Washington backed several military dictatorships in Latin America during the 1970s, seeing them as a bulwark against left-wing armed movements in a world divided by Cold War rivalries.
It actively assisted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during the September 11, 1973 coup against leftist President Salvador Allende.
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger supported the Argentine junta in 1976, encouraging it to quickly end its “dirty war,” according to U.S. documents declassified in 2003. At least 10,000 Argentine dissidents disappeared during that time.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil joined forces to eliminate left-wing opponents under “Operation Condor,” with tacit U.S. support.
1979: Nicaragua
In 1979, the Sandinista rebellion overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua. U.S. President Ronald Reagan, concerned about Managua’s alignment with Cuba and the Soviet Union, secretly authorised the CIA to provide $20 million in aid to the counterrevolutionaries, the Contras, partly funded by the illegal sale of arms to Iran.
The Nicaraguan civil war lasted until April 1990 and claimed 50,000 lives.
1980: El Salvador
President Reagan also sent military advisers to El Salvador to crush the rebellion of the Farabundo Marta National Liberation Front, or FMLN, in a civil war that lasted for 12 years and resulted in 72,000 deaths.
1983: Grenada
On October 25, 1983, U.S. Marines and Rangers intervened on the island of Grenada after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was assassinated by a far-left junta, and as Cubans were expanding the airport, presumably to accommodate military aircraft.
At the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Reagan launched Operation “Urgent Fury” with the stated goal of protecting a thousand U.S. citizens.
The operation, widely deplored by the United Nations General Assembly, ended on November 3, with more than 100 dead.
1989: Panama
Maduro’s capture came 36 years to the day after U.S. forces arrested former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega rose to prominence in Panama’s military government before taking control in 1985. He spent years on the CIA’s payroll, assisting U.S. interests in Latin America, before falling out of favor with Washington in the late 1980s.
Former President George H.W. Bush ordered the U.S. military to invade Panama in late 1989, sending 24,000 troops to topple Noriega’s government. The operation left 23 American soldiers dead and hundreds more injured. “Operation Just Cause” officially left 500 dead in total. NGOs have listed the toll in the thousands.
Noriega hid out in the Vatican embassy before surrendering to U.S. authorities on January 3, 1990. He was taken to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. His fall led to the end of Panama’s military dictatorship. He spent more than 20 years in prison in the United States, then extradited to France and Panama. He died in 2017.
The referendum failed, and, two years later, Chile returned to democracy. Kast, despite his preference for autocracy, took advantage of the restored political freedoms. He won a parliamentary seat in 2001 and eventually began running for President. In 2017, he finished fourth. Four years later, after founding his own right-wing party, he came in second, to Boric. Kast conceded defeat without complaint. He stands out from some of his right-wing colleagues for his relatively understated demeanor; he is neither as flamboyant as Javier Milei, in Argentina, nor as gleefully vicious as Nayib Bukele, in El Salvador. A pro-life Catholic with nine children, he opposes gay marriage and trans rights, objects to taxes and big government, and dislikes environmental regulations—but he presents his views in a lawyerly, reasonable-sounding way.
After losing to Boric, Kast built his following by amplifying concerns around uncontrolled immigration and increasing public insecurity. Chile has a higher standard of living than most of its neighbors and is an attractive destination for migrants. In the past decade, some two million migrants have entered the country, which has a population of only nineteen million. As in the U.S., the new arrivals have been blamed for an uptick in violent crime. Kast promised a hardline response: he vowed to deport more than three hundred thousand undocumented migrants, many of them from Venezuela, and to build several maximum-security detention centers to accommodate others. To stem the influx, he would erect fences and dig ditches along the borders with Bolivia and Peru.
Chile has spent a decade oscillating between the center left and the center right, and Kast’s election is a departure—as well as an echo of a regional trend toward authoritarianism. After his victory, he travelled to Argentina, where he met with Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” who delights followers with performative attacks on the opposition. (In a WhatsApp exchange with me after Kast’s victory, Milei credited the ascent of the Latin American right to voters’ impatience with “suffocating taxation” and “the inefficiency, obscene privileges, and hypocrisy of left-wing politicians.”) The two posed for photos next to a chainsaw, the talisman for Milei’s efforts to slash government. Since assuming office, in 2023, Milei has eliminated half of Argentina’s ministries. He has also espoused unswerving loyalty to Trump, echoing many of his positions. In exchange, the U.S. has supplied billions of dollars of bailout money to ease Argentina’s enormous debts. Standing beside Milei, Kast theatrically exclaimed, “Freedom advances throughout Latin America!” But, when reporters asked if he planned to bring the chainsaw ideology to Chile, he hedged, saying only that his team had been “consulting” with friendly governments—including the right-wing administrations in Argentina, Hungary, Italy, and the U.S.
Kast also said that he’d spoken with two conservative candidates whom he’d defeated in the Chilean election, suggesting that he might bring them into his government. They are the former labor minister Evelyn Matthei, whose father was a general in Pinochet’s regime, and a bombastic hard-right politician with the extravagant name of Johannes Maximilian Kaiser Barents-von Hohenhagen. Kaiser, also of German descent, shares many of Kast’s views, but presents them less decorously; he describes himself as a “paleolibertarian” and “reactionary,” and endorses building detention camps for undocumented migrants and entirely closing the border with Bolivia. He calls for Pinochet-era torturers and murderers to be released from prison. Kast does, too, but he says it more elliptically. Earlier this month, as Chile’s parliament was discussing a bill to release aging or infirm repressors from prison, Kast said, “I don’t believe in plea bargaining. I believe in justice. And this means treating people with terminal illnesses, or those who are [no longer conscious], with respect.”
In 2023, on the fiftieth anniversary of Pinochet’s coup, Boric reminded Chileans of the terrible price their country had paid, and announced a national search plan to ascertain the destinies of as many as three thousand citizens who remain missing. There are tens of thousands of people in Chile who survived being attacked by their own government, or who lost loved ones. This means that Kast will likely have to move carefully on issues of “historical memory.” But, half a century after the Pinochet coup, there is a disquieting trend in the hemisphere. That coup, which overthrew a Socialist government allied with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, was abetted by the Nixon Administration and its regional allies—right-wing military regimes that proceeded to wage a series of dirty wars against leftist citizens of their own countries. In Trump’s current standoff with Maduro, whom he has branded a “narcoterrorist,” right-wingers such as Kast and Milei have endorsed pushing him out of office by force.
Four people were killed in a U.S. military strike Wednesday on an alleged drug-running boat in the Eastern Pacific, the Pentagon said. It marks the latest in a series of strikes dating back to early September that the U.S. has conducted on what it claims are drug-trafficking vessels in the region.
In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Central and South America, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters.”
As has been the case with previous such strikes, Southern Command also posted unclassified video showing the boat as it was struck.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Southern Command said.
The victims were described as “four male narco-terrorists.” The U.S. military provided no evidence to support allegations that the boat was ferrying drugs.
The U.S. military has conducted 26 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific or Caribbean since Sept. 2, killing at least 99 people, according to the Pentagon.
In recent weeks, there has been renewed scrutiny on the strikes after the White House, following a report by The Washington Post, confirmed that in the Sept. 2 attack, the same boat was struck twice, or what has been described as a “double tap” or follow-on strike.
Two sources told CBS News that the follow-on strike killed two people who had survived the first strike and were waving overhead. A separate source familiar with the matter told CBS News that the two survivors were attempting to climb back onto the boat.
A total of 11 people were killed by both strikes on Sept. 2, according to the U.S. military.
While video of the Sept. 2 strikes has been shown to some congressional lawmakers in classified briefings, there has been a push for the Pentagon to release the video publicly. However, Hegseth, speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill, said he would not do so.
“Of course we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters.
Some lawmakers and legal experts have contended that the second strike could constitute a war crime.
The vessel strikes have been part of a pressure campaign by the Trump administration on embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of being involved in trafficking drugs to the U.S. and collaborating with drug cartels. Venezuela has criticized the boat strikes, and Maduro denies working with drug cartels. The Venezuelan government has accused the Trump administration of seeking regime change.
The U.S. military seized a sanctioned oil tanker near Venezuela last week. And on Tuesday, Mr. Trump announced he had ordered a “total and complete blockade” on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or departing Venezuela.
On Wednesday, an effort by House Democrats to force votes on two war powers resolutions that would limit the president’s authority to strike Venezuela or continue conducting strikes on alleged drug-running boats failed.
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — At a dance hall in the heart of Buenos Aires, 14 men in elegant dark suits sat at separate tables while across the room, 14 women in dresses and high heels waited to be asked for a dance.
As the first notes of a popular tango began to hum, the male dancers signaled to the women and crossed the dance floor in search of partners. Moments later, the couples’ legs traced the gracious movements of tango at an event that ensures every woman gets to dance.
The women book their sessions in advance with an organizer via WhatsApp, securing a dance and avoiding the interminable wait they’ve endured at other “milongas,” or dancing gatherings, where women outnumber men.
Antje Rickel, of France, left, dances with professional tango dancer Jared Ramos at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Antje Rickel, of France, left, dances with professional tango dancer Jared Ramos at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Women dance with professional tango dancers at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Women dance with professional tango dancers at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Professional tango dancers known as “Taxi Dancers” take a break at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Professional tango dancers known as “Taxi Dancers” take a break at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Among the dancers on a recent Wednesday was Antje Rickel, a 69-year-old French woman in a semi-transparent red blouse and with her hair coquettishly styled up. Her dancing partner was a young man about 5 inches shorter than her. But the difference in age and height was irrelevant to the couple, who felt in perfect communion as they glided across the dance floor to the rhythm of a tango.
“He has great control,” said Rickel of her young dancing companion, Jared Ramos, a professional tango dancer with the Che Che Tango Premium “milonga,” where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers.”
Held on Wednesdays and Fridays, the program offers dance aficionados like Rickel the opportunity to practice tango steps, going from one dancer’s arm to another’s. A two-hour session goes for 55,000 pesos (about $37) for foreigners and about $30 for Argentine nationals and residents.
The dance events are organized by dancers Alejandro Justiniano and Sara Parnigoni, who present it on social media as “a tango space where you can be sure you’ll dance like you’ve always dreamed.”
Justiniano said that the male dancers are carefully chosen, with most being professional dancers or tango teachers who perform at different events. “We’ve looked for dancers with a lot of experience,” he said.
Beth Wolff, of German-Argentine, front right, dances with a professional tango dancer at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Beth Wolff, of German-Argentine, front right, dances with a professional tango dancer at the Che Che Tango Premium, where people can book guaranteed two‑hour dances with professional partners known as “Taxi Dancers,” in Buenos Aires, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
He came up with the idea after observing the “long faces” of many women who would spend evenings at dance events watching from the sidelines. Justiniano created what he calls a “mini milonga,” something a little more intimate so that “for two hours they can reach their full potential in their dancing.”
Ramos, a professional tango dancer, said women face several challenges at other “milongas.”
“There are 10 women for every man,” he said, which means many women are left out. Adding to the problem, he noted, is the fact that “not all of them dance well.”
PETIT GOÂVE, Haiti (AP) — Amizia Renotte sat on a broken piece of concrete and pointed to a large pile of dirt where her house once stood before the outer bands of Hurricane Melissa crumpled it as the storm lashed Haiti’s southern region.
The Atlantic hurricane season may be over, but thousands of people like Renotte in this Carribean country and beyond are still looking for food and struggling to rebuild their lives nearly two months after the Category 5 storm pummeled the northern Caribbean region as one of the strongest Atlantic storms in recorded history.
“We ran. We had nothing to save,” Renotte said as she recalled waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by floodwaters.
Melissa killed at least 43 people across Haiti, many of them in Petit-Goâve, where residents are still digging out from under the storm that unleased deadly flooding.
Huge piles of dirt and mud now smother this southern coastal town, which once bustled with farmers and street vendors.
The groan of heavy machinery fills the air as crews slowly clear debris scattered by La Digue River, which swept away children, cars and homes in late October.
“People lost everything,” resident Clermont Wood Mandy said. “They lost their homes. They lost their children.”
Hunger persists
Petit-Goâve held a mass funeral in mid-November to say its goodbyes to loved ones, but hunger and frustration remain.
On a recent morning, people crowded around a small convenience store stocked with pasta, butter, rice and other basic items produced locally after receiving cash donations.
In line to buy something was 37-year-old Joceline Antoine, who lost five relatives in the storm.
“My house is destroyed,” she said.
Lola Castro, a regional director with the U.N.’s World Food Program, or WFP, who recently traveled to Petit-Goâve, said in a phone interview Friday that Melissa has deepened Haiti’s crises.
“Around 5.3 million people don’t have enough to eat every day in Haiti,” she said. “That’s a huge challenge.”
Castro noted that Petit-Goâve was an agricultural community that depended heavily on crops, including plantain, corn and beans.
“They have lost their income. They have lost their means of living,” she said.
‘No community will be forgotten’
Jamaica also is struggling to recover from Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in the western part of the neighboring island in late October, causing an estimated $8.8 billion in damage.
The storm killed at least 45 people, and 13 others remain missing, with an additional 32 deaths under investigation, according to Alvin Gayle, director-general of Jamaica’s emergency management office.
Authorities have reported 30 confirmed cases of leptospirosis — an infection transmitted from animals — and another 84 unconfirmed ones, with 12 related deaths. There were also two cases of tetanus, one of them fatal.
“These figures underscore the scale of the human impact and the seriousness with which the ministries, departments and agencies of government continue to approach the recovery effort,” Gayle said.
More than 100 shelters remain open in seven of Jamaica’s parishes, housing more than 1,000 people.
Meanwhile, some 160 schools remain closed.
“No community will be forgotten,” Gayle said.
Jamaica recently announced that it obtained a $150 million loan to help restore electricity as quickly as possible, with officials saying they expect power to fully be restored by the end of January.
Jamaica also has obtained a $6.7 billion package for reconstruction efforts over three years from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean; the Caribbean Development Bank; the Inter-American Development Bank Group; the International Monetary Fund; and the World Bank Group.
Call for funding
In Cuba, hundreds of people remain in makeshift shelters nearly two months after the hurricane made landfall in the eastern region of the island hours after it hit Jamaica.
No storm-related deaths were reported in Cuba, where authorities evacuated more than 700,000 people from coastal areas.
Nearly a month after the storm, the U.N. said that about 53,000 people in Cuba had been unable to return to their homes, including 7,500 living in official shelters.
Castro, of the WFP, said that Hurricane Melissa affected 6 million people overall in the Caribbean, including 1.2 million in Haiti.
Around 1.3 million people in the region now need food, security or other type of support, with WFP so far helping 725,000 of them, Castro said.
She said she hopes that number will grow, noting that the agency’s $83 million appeal is only 50% funded.
Ron Curtis, an English professor in Montreal, lived for 40 years with a degenerative spinal disease, in what he called the “black hole” of chronic pain.
On a July day in 2022, Mr. Curtis, 64, ate a last bowl of vegetable soup made by his wife, Lori, and, with the help of a palliative care doctor, died in his bedroom overlooking a lake.
Aron Wade, a successful 54-year-old stage and television actor in Belgium, decided he could no longer tolerate life with the depression that haunted him for three decades.
Last year, after a panel of medical experts found he had “unbearable mental suffering,” a doctor came to his home and gave him medicine to stop his heart, with his partner and two best friends at his side.
Argemiro Ariza was in his early 80s when he began to lose function in his limbs, no longer able to care for his wife, who had dementia, in their home in Bogotá.
Doctors diagnosed A.L.S., and he told his daughter Olga that he wanted to die while he still had dignity. His children threw him a party with a mariachi band and lifted him from his wheelchair to dance. A few days later, he admitted himself to a hospital, and a doctor administered a drug that ended his life.
Until recently, each of these deaths would have been considered a murder. But a monumental change is underway around the world. From liberal European countries to conservative Latin American ones, a new way of thinking about death is starting to take hold.
Stephanie Nolen is exploring access, attitudes and approaches to medically assisted death around the world.
Over the past five years, the practice of allowing a physician to help severely ill patients end their lives with medication has been legalized in nine countries on three continents. Courts or legislatures, or both, are considering legalization in a half-dozen more, including South Korea and South Africa, as well as eight of the 31 American states where it remains prohibited.
It is a last frontier in the expansion of individual autonomy. More people are seeking to define the terms of their deaths in the same way they have other aspects of their lives, such as marriage and childbearing. This is true even in Latin America, where conservative institutions such as the Roman Catholic church are still powerful.
“We believe in the priority of our control over our bodies, and as a heterogeneous culture, we believe in choices: If your choice does not affect me, go ahead,” said Dr. Julieta Moreno Molina, a bioethicist who has advised Colombia’s Ministry of Health on its assisted dying regulations.
Yet, as assisted death gains more acceptance, there are major unresolved questions about who should be eligible. While most countries begin with assisted death for terminal illness, which has the most public support, this is often followed quickly by a push for wider access. With that push comes often bitter public debate.
Should someone with intractable depression be allowed an assisted death?
European countries and Colombia all permit people with irremediable suffering from conditions such as depression or schizophrenia to seek an assisted death. But in Canada, the issue has become contentious. Assisted death for people who do not have a reasonably foreseeable natural death was legalized in 2021, but the government has repeatedly excluded people with mental illness. Two of them are challenging the exclusion in court on the grounds that it violates their constitutional rights.
In public debate, supporters of the right to assisted death for these patients say that people who have lived with severe depression for years, and have tried a variety of therapies and medications, should be allowed to decide when they are no longer willing to keep pursuing treatments. Opponents, concerned that mental illness can involve a pathological wish to die, say it can be difficult to predict the potential effectiveness of treatments. And, they argue, people who struggle to get help from an overburdened public health service may simply give up and choose to die, though their conditions might have been improved.
Should a child with an incurable condition be able to choose assisted death?
The ability to consent is a core consideration in requesting assisted death. Only a handful of countries are willing to extend that right to minors. Even in the places that do, there are just a few assisted deaths for children each year, almost always children with cancer.
In Colombia and the Netherlands, children over 12 can request assisted death on their own. Parents can provide consent for children 11 and younger.
Denise de Ruijter took comfort in her Barbie dolls when she struggled to connect with people. She was diagnosed with autism and had episodes of depression and psychosis. As a teenager in a Dutch town, she craved the life her schoolmates had — nights out, boyfriends — but couldn’t manage it.
She attempted suicide several times before applying for an assisted death at 18. Evaluators required her to try three years of additional therapies before agreeing her suffering was unbearable. She died in 2021, with her family and Barbies nearby.
The issue is under renewed scrutiny in the Netherlands, where, over the past decade, a growing number of adolescents have applied for assisted death for relief from irremediable psychiatric suffering from conditions such as eating disorders and anxiety.
Most such applications by teens are either withdrawn by the patient, or rejected by assessors, but public concern over a few high-profile cases of teens who received assisted deaths prompted the country’s regulator to consider a moratorium on approvals for children applying on the basis of psychiatric suffering.
Should someone with dementia be allowed assisted death?
Many people dread the idea of losing their cognitive abilities and their autonomy, and hope to have an assisted death when they reach that point. But this is a more complex situation to regulate than for a person who can still make a clear request.
How can a person who is losing their mental capacity consent to dying? Most governments, and doctors, are too uncomfortable to permit it, even though the idea tends to be popular in countries with aging populations.
In Colombia, Spain, Ecuador and the Canadian province of Quebec, people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other kinds of cognitive decline can request assessment for an assisted death before they lose mental capacity, sign an advance request — and then have a physician end their life after they have lost the ability to consent themselves.
But that raises a separate, challenging, question: After people lose the capacity to request an assisted death, who should decide it’s time?
Their spouses? Their children? Their doctors? The government? Colombia entrusts families with this role. The Netherlands leaves it up to doctors — but many refuse to do it, unwilling to administer lethal drugs to a patient who can’t clearly articulate a rational wish to die.
Jan Grijpma was always clear with his daughter, Maria: When his mind went, he didn’t want to live any more. Maria worked with his longtime family doctor, in Amsterdam, to identify the point when Mr. Grijpma, 90 and living in a nursing home, was losing his ability to consent himself.
When it seemed close, in 2023, they booked the day, and he updated his day planner: Thursday, visit the vicar; Friday, bicycle with physiotherapy and get a haircut; Sunday, pancakes with Maria; Monday, euthanasia.
All of these questions are becoming part of the discussion as the right to control and plan one’s own death is pushed in front of reluctant legislatures and uneasy medical professionals.
Dr. Madeline Li, a Toronto psychiatrist, was given the task of developing the assisted-dying practice in one of Canada’s largest hospitals when the procedure was first decriminalized in 2015. She began with assessing patients for eligibility and then moved to providing medical assistance in dying, or MAID, as it is called in Canada. For some patients with terminal cancer, it felt like the best form of care she could offer, she said.
But then Canada’s eligibility criteria expanded, and Dr. Li found herself confronting a different kind of patient.
“To provide assisted dying to somebody dying of a condition who is not happy with how they’re going to die, I’m willing to assist them, and hasten that death,” she said. “I struggle more with people who aren’t dying and want MAID — I think then you’re assisting suicide. If you’re not dying — if I didn’t give you MAID, you wouldn’t otherwise die — then you’re a person who’s not unhappy with how you’re going to die. You’re unhappy with how you’re living.”
Who has broken the taboo?
For decades, Switzerland was the only country to permit assisted death; assisted suicide was legalized there in 1942. It took a further half century for a few more countries to loosen their laws. Now decriminalization of some form of assisted death has occurred across Europe.
But there has recently been a wave of legalization in Latin America, where Colombia was long an outlier, having allowed legal assisted dying since 2015.
Paola Roldán Espinosa had a thriving career in business in Ecuador, and a toddler, when she was diagnosed with A.L.S. in 2023. Her health soon deteriorated to the point that she needed a ventilator.
She wanted to die on her terms — and took the case to the country’s highest court. In February 2024, the court responded to her petition by decriminalizing assisted dying. Ms. Roldán, then 42, had the death she sought, with her family around her, a month later.
Ecuador has decriminalized assisted dying through constitutional court cases, and Peru’s Supreme Court has permitted individual exceptions to the law which prohibits the procedure, opening the door to expansion. Cuba’s national assembly legalized assisted dying in 2023, although no regulations on how the procedure will work are yet in place. In October, Uruguay’s parliament passed a long-debated law allowing assisted death for the terminally ill.
The first country in Asia to take steps toward legalization is South Korea, where a bill to decriminalize assisted death has been proposed at the National Assembly several times but has not come to a vote. At the same time, the Constitutional Court, which for years refused to hear cases on the subject, has agreed to adjudicate a petition from a disabled man with severe and chronic pain who seeks an assisted death.
Access in the United States remains limited: 11 jurisdictions (10 states plus the District of Columbia) allow assisted suicide or physician-assisted death, for patients who have a terminal diagnosis, and in some cases, only for patients who are already in hospice care. It will become legal in Delaware on Jan. 1, 2026.
In Slovenia, in 2024, 55 percent of the population who voted in a national referendum were in favor of legalizing assisted death, and parliament duly passed a law in July. But pushback from right-wing politicians then forced a new referendum, and in late November, 54 percent of those who voted rejected the legalization.
And in the United Kingdom, a bill to legalize assisted death for people with terminal illness has made its way slowly through parliament. It has faced fierce opposition from a coalition of more than 60 groups for people with disabilities, who argue they may face subtle coercion to end their lives rather than drain their families or the state of resources for their care.
Why now?
In many countries, decriminalization of assisted dying has followed the expansion of rights for personal choice in other areas, such as the removal of restrictions on same-sex marriage, abortion and sometimes drug use.
“I would expect it to be on the agenda in every liberal democracy,” said Wayne Sumner, a medical ethicist at the University of Toronto who studies the evolution of norms and regulations around assisted dying. “They’ll come to it at their own speed, but it follows with these other policies.”
The change is also being driven by a convergence of political, demographic and cultural trends.
As populations age, and access to health care improves, more people are living longer. Older populations mean more chronic disease, and more people living with compromised health. And they are thinking about death, and what they will — and won’t — be willing to tolerate in the last years of their lives.
At the same time, there is diminishing tolerance for suffering that is perceived as unnecessary.
“Until very recently, we were a society where few people lived past 60 — and now suddenly we live much longer,” said Lina Paola Lara Negrette, a psychologist who until October was the director of the Dying With Dignity Foundation in Colombia. “Now people here need to think about the system, and the services that are available, and what they will want.”
Changes in family structures and communities, particularly in rapidly urbanizing middle-income countries, mean that traditional networks of care are less strong, which shifts how people can imagine living in older age or with chronic illness, she added.
“When you had many siblings and a lot of generations under one roof, the question of care was a family thing,” she said. “That has changed. And it shapes how we think about living, and dying.”
How does assisted dying work?
Beyond the ethical dilemmas, actually carrying out legalized assisted deaths involves countless choices for countries. Spain requires a waiting period of at least 15 days between a patient’s assessments (but the average wait in practice is 75 days). In most other places, the prescribed wait is less than two weeks for patients with terminal conditions, but often longer in practice, said Katrine Del Villar, a professor of constitutional law at the Queensland University of Technology who tracks trends in assisted dying
Most countries allow patients to choose between administering the drugs themselves or having a health care provider do it. When both options are available, the overwhelming majority of people choose to have a health care provider end their life with an injection that stops their heart.
In many countries only a doctor can administer the drugs, but Canada and New Zealand permit nurse practitioners to provide medically assisted deaths too.
One Australian state prohibits medical professionals from raising the topic of assisted death. A patient must ask about it first.
Who determines eligibility is another issue. In the Netherlands, two physicians assess a patient; in Colombia, it’s a panel consisting of a medical specialist, a psychologist and a lawyer. The draft legislation in Britain would require both a panel and two independent physicians.
Switzerland and the states of Oregon and Vermont are the only jurisdictions in the world that explicitly allow people who are not residents access to assisted deaths.
Most countries permit medical professionals to conscientiously object to providing assisted deaths and allow faith-based medical institutions to refuse to participate. In Canada, individual professionals have the right to refuse, but a court challenge is underway seeking to end the ability of hospitals that are controlled by faith-based organizations and that operate with public funds to refuse to allow assisted deaths on their premises.
“Even when assisted dying has been legal and available somewhere for a long time, there can be a gap between what is legal and what is acceptable — what most physicians and patients and families feel comfortable with,” said Dr. Sisco van Veen, an ethicist and psychiatrist at Amsterdam Medical University. “And this isn’t static. It evolves over time.”
Jin Yu Young in Seoul, José Bautista in Madrid, José María León Cabrera in Quito, Veerle Schyns in Amsterdam and Koba Ryckewaert in Brussels contributed reporting.
President Trump on Saturday said that the airspace surrounding Venezuela should be considered closed, ratcheting up tensions with the Maduro regime and offering yet another sign that he is considering striking targets on land.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump posted on Saturday morning.
For two decades, Venezuela cultivated anti-American allies across the globe, from Russia and China to Cuba and Iran, in the hope of forming a new world order that could stand up to Washington.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico unveiled plans Wednesday to build what it claims will be Latin America’s most powerful supercomputer — a project the government says will help the country capitalize on the rapidly evolving uses of artificial intelligence and exponentially expand the country’s computing capacity.
Dubbed “Coatlicue” for the Mexica goddess considered the earth mother, the supercomputer would be seven times more powerful than the region’s current leader in Brazil, José Merino, head of the Telecommunications and Digital Transformation Agency.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning news briefing that the location for the project had not been decided yet, but construction will begin next year.
“We’re very excited,” said Sheinbaum, an academic and climate scientist. “It is going to allow Mexico to fully get in on the use of artificial intelligence and the processing of data that today we don’t have the capacity to do.”
Merino said that Mexico’s most powerful supercomputer operates at 2.3 petaflops — a unit to measure computing speed, meaning it can perform one quadrillion operations per second. Coatlicue would have a capacity of 314 petaflops.
CALI, Colombia—They see themselves as the cowboys of the drug trade, highly experienced crews that ferry narcotics on small boats across the open seas, running on a mix of bravado, skill and dreams of a massive payday.
Now, designated as terrorists by the Trump administration, they face not only the perils of a capricious sea but the new danger of getting blown out of the water by the U.S. military. The trade’s unofficial motto—“deliver or die”—has never rung so true.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — No one wants a weasel on their Thanksgiving table, but swapping turkeys for other animals was once surprisingly common.
Trading turkeys – for wildlife management, not dinner – was a key part of one of North America’s biggest conservation success stories. After dwindling to a few thousand birds in the late 1880s, the wild turkey population has grown to about 7 million birds in 49 states, plus more in Canada and Mexico, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.
In many cases, restoration relied on trades. The exchange rates varied, but Oklahoma once swapped walleye and prairie chickens for turkeys from Arkansas and Missouri. Colorado traded mountain goats for turkeys from Idaho. The Canadian province of Ontario ended up with 274 turkeys from New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, Missouri and Iowa in exchange for moose, river otters, and partridge.
“Wildlife biologists don’t suffer from a lack of creativity,” said Patt Dorsey, director of conservation for the National Wild Turkey Federation’s western region.
West Virginia in particular appears to have had an abundance of turkeys to share. In 1969, it sent 26 turkeys to New Hampshire in exchange for 25 fishers, a member of the weasel family once prized for its pelt. Later trades involved otters and bobwhite quail.
“They were like our currency for all our wildlife that we restored,” said Holly Morris, furbearer and small game project leader at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. “It’s just a way to help out other agencies. We’re all in the same mission.”
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Wild turkeys were abundant across the U.S. until the mid-1800s, when the clearing of forestland and unregulated hunting led the population to plummet. Early restoration efforts in the 1940s and 50s involved raising turkeys on farms, but that didn’t work well, Dorsey said.
“Turkeys that had been raised in a pen didn’t do very well in the wild,” she said. “That’s when we started capturing them out of the wild and moving them around to other places to restore their population, and they really took off.”
In New Hampshire, wild turkeys hadn’t been seen for more than 100 years when the state got the West Virginia flock. Though those birds quickly succumbed to a harsh winter, another flock sent from New York in 1975 fared better. With careful management that included moving birds around the state dozens of times over the ensuing decades, the population has grown to roughly 40,000 birds, said Dan Ellingwood, a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. That’s likely well beyond the expectations at the time of reintroduction, he said.
“Turkeys are incredibly adaptive,” he said. “Winter severity has changed, the landscape has changed, and yet the population really took off.”
Turkeys play an important role in a healthy ecosystem as both predator and prey, he said, and are a popular draw for hunters. But the restoration effort also is important just for the sake of ensuring native species continue to persist, he said.
Dorsey, at the National Wild Turkey Federation agreed, noting that turkey restoration projects also helped states revive their populations of other species.
“A lot of good work gets done on the back of the wild turkey,” she said.
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is facing unprecedented American
military and diplomatic pressure to resign and leave his country peacefully. He is unlikely to take the offer.
The days when dictators could live in gilded exile with fortunes in secret Swiss bank accounts are mostly over, primarily because of global mechanisms for adjudicating human-rights abuses and tracking ill-gotten gains. The 63-year-old strongman doesn’t believe he will get lasting amnesty, analysts said, feeling only safe among the cadre of loyal military men with whom he has spent a decade surrounding himself.
The Colombian military said Monday it had opened an investigation into allegations that senior army and intelligence officials advised the leader of an armed drug-trafficking group about how to secretly buy weapons and evade military scrutiny.
The revelations, reported by the major Colombian media outlet, Caracol, have stoked fears that former guerrilla fighters who now smuggle cocaine have infiltrated high levels of the security forces under President Gustavo Petro, a former member of a leftist guerrilla organization. Petro has feuded with President Trump over U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and overseen fraying relations with the U.S. over soaring drug-crop cultivation and cocaine trafficking.
