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President Trump Says US Has Carried Out Strike Against Drug-Carrying Vessel That Departed From Venezuela – KXL
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Acquired Through MGN Online on 08/15/2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the U.S. has carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela.
The president offered scant details on the operation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday on X that the vessel was being operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization.”
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Grant McHill
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Maduro vows to declare a
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he “would constitutionally declare a republic in arms” if the South American country were attacked by forces that the United States government has deployed to the Caribbean.
Maduro claimed eight U.S. military vessels “with 1,200 missiles” were targeting his country, calling them “the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” AFP reported.
His comments during a news conference come as the U.S. government this week is set to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The U.S. has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro’s government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighboring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.
“In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela,” Maduro said of the deployment, which he characterized as “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”
The U.S. Navy now has two Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham — in the Caribbean, as well as the destroyer USS Sampson and the cruiser USS Lake Erie in the waters off Latin America. That military presence is set to expand.
Three amphibious assault ships — a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and Marines — would be entering the region this week, a defense official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to describe ongoing operations.
The deployment comes as President Trump has pushed for using the military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into U.S. communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has doubled the bounty for his capture to $50 million. The U.S. has, however, made no public threat to invade Venezuela.
Mr. Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against Latin American drug cartels deemed terrorist organizations, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News earlier this month.
Of the eight Latin American drug trafficking groups the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations, one is Venezuelan. It’s not clear if or when the military could take action.
On Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil, citing a United Nations report, told his counterparts in various Latin American countries that the deployment of U.S. maritime forces is built on a “false narrative” as 87% of cocaine produced in Colombia departs through the Pacific and traffickers attempt to move only 5% of their product through Venezuela. Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with access to the Pacific and Caribbean, are the world’s top cocaine producers.
Gil added that the narrative “threatens the entire region” and an attack on Venezuela “would really mean a complete destabilization of the region.”
“Let us immediately demand an end to this deployment, which has no other reason than to threaten a sovereign people,” he added during a virtual meeting of members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States regional group.
Maduro also used his news conference to insist that he was the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election. But ample and credible evidence has shown the contrary, prompting several countries, including the U.S., to not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president.
Maduro, sworn in to a third six-year term in January, added that his government maintains two lines of communication with the Trump administration, one with the State Department and another with Mr. Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell. He called Secretary of State Marco Rubio a “warlord” pushing for action in the Caribbean to topple Venezuela’s government.
Since the July 2024 presidential election, Venezuela’s political opposition has been urging the U.S. and other countries to pressure Maduro into leaving office. Its leader, María Corina Machado, last month thanked Mr. Trump and Rubio for the deployment of the vessels, describing the move as “the right approach” toward Venezuela’s government, which she described as a “criminal enterprise.”
Maduro on Monday, however, warned that U.S. military action against Venezuela would “stain” Mr. Trump’s “hands with blood.”
“President Donald Trump, the pursuit of regime change is exhausted; it has failed as a policy worldwide,” Maduro said. “You cannot pretend to impose a situation in Venezuela.”
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As U.S. fleet steams toward coast, Venezuelans face uncertainty, fear and, for some, hope
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CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. warships steam toward the southern Caribbean. The Trump administration denounces embattled “narco-president” Nicolás Maduro and doubles a bounty on his head to $50 million. Rumors of an invasion, coup or other form of U.S. intervention flood social media.
For the beleaguered people of Venezuela, mired in more than a decade of crisis — hyperinflation, food shortages, authoritarian rule and rigged elections — a new phase of anxiety is once again rattling nerves. Even so, Venezuelans are trying to soldier on.
“We try to keep up our activities, our schedules despite the uncertainty,” said Leisy Torcatt, 44, a mother of three who heads a baseball school in a nation where a passion for sports helps fend off despair.
Students of the little league team for the Los Angeles de Baruta school practice in a park in Caracas.
“Our daily problems continue, but we cannot become paralyzed. … We keep on going forward trying to work out our differences,” she said.
There is an inescapable sense here that matters are largely out of people’s control. The massive anti-Maduro street protests of past years did little to dislodge, or undermine, Maduro, and the opposition has long been deeply divided. Authorities have jailed dissenters and broken up coup attempts.
And now, once again, Venezuela appears to be in Washington’s crosshairs.
“We have already seen it all,” said Mauricio Castillo, 28, a journalist. “It’s not that we have lost faith in the possibility of real change. But we are fed up. We cannot just stop our lives, put them on hold waiting for ‘something’ to happen.”
People shop in the central business district downtown.
Here in the capital, Venezuelans are accustomed to the enhanced martial ritual: more blockaded avenues, more troops on the streets, more barricades shielding the presidential palace of Miraflores, where Maduro launches diatribes against the “imperialist” would-be invaders.
Yet, despite the current naval buildup in the Caribbean, the Trump administration has given very mixed signals on Venezuela.
During Trump’s first presidency, his administration recognized a shadow opposition president, indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and imposed draconian sanctions on the oil and financial sectors. The sanctions effectively collapsed an already shaky economy in what was once South America’s wealthiest nation.
The economic meltdown led to an exodus of some 8 million Venezuelans, almost a third of the population. Most ended up elsewhere in South America, but hundreds of thousands made it to the United States. Trump has signaled emphatically that they are not welcome, ending Biden administration-era protections and stepping up deportations.
A man fixes a Spider-Man costume at the San Jacinto popular market in Caracas.
During the presidential campaign — and since returning to the White House — Trump has repeatedly said, without evidence, that Venezuela had emptied its prisons and sent the worst offenders to the U.S.
But shortly after taking office for his current term, Trump dispatched a special envoy, Richard Grenell, to meet with Maduro, generating hopes of improved relations. Washington later granted Chevron, the U.S. oil giant, a license to continue operating in Venezuela — home to the globe’s largest oil reserves — in a move that provided much-needed hard cash for Caracas, and oil for the U.S. market.
Then, in July, the Trump administration hailed the release of 10 U.S. citizens and permanent residents being held in Venezuela in exchange for the return of hundreds of Venezuelan nationals who had been deported to El Salvador.
Meantime, the United States has regularly been sending other deportees back to Venezuela in another sign of bilateral cooperation.
“So far we’ve seen President Trump very clearly endorse a policy of engagement with Venezuela,” said Geoff Ramsey, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research group. “The U.S. is not going to invade Venezuela anytime soon.”
Janeth, 45, a teacher of a community school, poses for a portrait in Caracas.
Others say they’re not so sure, despite Trump’s stated aversion to getting involved in more wars — and the likely negative blowback in much of Latin America, where the prospect of U.S. intervention inevitably revives memories of past invasions, land grabs and support for right-wing dictators.
In the view of U.S. officials, Maduro and drug trafficking are inextricably entwined. The White House labels Maduro the head of the “Cartel of the Suns,” a smuggling network allegedly tied to the Venezuelan government and military. And Trump has reportedly directed the Pentagon to plan possible military action against Latin America cartels. (Maduro denies the drug charges, dismissing them as a U.S. disinformation campaign.)
The massive scope of the U.S. naval employment seems to reflect the policy viewpoint of hawks such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long championed a hard-line stance against Venezuela.
The buildup reportedly includes more than a half-dozen warships, including at least one submarine, and thousands of Marines and sailors. The White House says it’s meant to deter maritime narcotics trafficking, not topple Maduro.
“This is a lot of effort to put into something that’s performance, no?” said Laura Cristina Dib, who heads Venezuelan research at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research group.
1. “Faith in our people” says a billboard with President Nicolás Maduro’s face in Caracas. 2. A patriotic backpack with the Venezuelan flag colors and stars.
In response, Maduro has bolstered militia sign-ups, deployed 15,000 troops to the border with Colombia and insisted there’s “no way” U.S. forces can enter Venezuela. He scoffs at the U.S. contention that the naval buildup is an anti-smuggling effort, noting — correctly — that most cocaine is produced in neighboring Colombia and enters the United States via Mexico.
“It’s ridiculous to say they are fighting drug trafficking with nuclear submarines,” Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s U.N. ambassador, told reporters Thursday.
By most independent accounts, Maduro likely lost last year’s election — monitors disputed his claimed victory — but his many backers are making a high-profile show of support given the U.S. saber-rattling.
1. People walk in front of a politically charged mural near Bolivar Square. The Iranian Forest vessel depicted on the right side of the mural arrived in Venezuela during fuel shortages in 2020. 2. An old military tank at Los Próceres near the Fuerte Tiuna military base in Caracas.
The government has orchestrated public sign-ups of militia members demonstrating their eagerness to fight for the socialist legacy of the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor and predecessor in Miraflores Palace.
“None of us will be afraid when the moment comes to defend our country from foreign aggression,” said Orlando López, 54, a grandfather and proud militiaman. “It’s not justified that the president of some other country wants to impose his will.”
He rejected the notion of a pervasive sense of nervousness.
“The climate in the city is one of tranquility, of peace,” said López, who is part of a more-than-1-million civilian militia force backing Maduro.
On a recent Sunday at Santo Domingo de Guzmán Roman Catholic Church in the capital’s Baruta district, Father Leonardo Marius urged parishioners to ignore the drumbeat of war pounding the airwaves and internet. Venezuelans, he said, should focus on more basic concerns.
“In Venezuela, a half a million children don’t have enough to eat — no one talks about that,” Marius told parishioners in his sermon. “But we love the Hollywood stories of boats and aircraft carriers, the show. … ‘They are coming! They are are disembarking!’ Please! Hollywood has done a lot of damage. Let the stories be.”
An all-girls skating team skates at Los Próceres near the Fuerte Tiuna military base in Caracas.
Across town, at an upscale sports club, Javier Martín, a businessman, said the noise was hard to ignore.
“The atmosphere across the country, but especially here in Caracas, is one of fear, distress, uncertainty,” said Martín. “You see hooded officials on the streets and it makes you feel fear, like you are in a war.”
Venezuelans, he explained, live a kind of “surreal” existence, struggling to maintain their lives and families while always anticipating improvements, and changes, that never seem to come.
“We live cornered every day,” he said. “It’s not sustainable.”
What’s next?
“Everyone expects something to happen,” Martín said. “I just hope it’s positive.”
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas and Times staff writer McDonnell from Mexico City.
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Mery Mogollón and Patrick J. McDonnell
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U.S. guided-missile cruiser spotted crossing the Panama Canal after warships deployed to Venezuela
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A U.S. guided-missile cruiser, USS Lake Erie, was seen crossing the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean on Friday night, after the Trump administration deployed warships near the coast of Venezuela.
AFP journalists saw the naval vessel passing through one of the canal’s locks at around 9:30 pm and navigating east toward the Atlantic.
The United States has said the deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela’s territorial waters, was an anti-drug trafficking operation.
“I didn’t know the ship was going to pass… I was surprised,” Alfredo Cedeno, a 32-year-old health technician, who took photos of the cruiser, told AFP.
MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images
The Lake Erie had been moored for the past two days at the Port of Rodman, at the canal’s Pacific entrance.
Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has doubled the bounty for his capture to $50 million.
The U.S. has, however, made no public threat to invade Venezuela.
Caracas announced on Monday the deployment of 15,000 security forces to the Colombian border for anti-drug trafficking operations.
A day later, Venezuela announced that it would patrol its territorial waters with drones and navy ships.
Maduro also claimed to have mobilized more than four million militia members in response to what he called “outlandish threats” by the U.S. Thousands of civil servants, housewives and retirees lined up in Venezuela’s capital last weekend to join the country’s militia.
Since returning to power in January, President Trump’s attacks on Venezuela have focused chiefly on its powerful gangs, some of which operate inside the United States. But his policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an oil embargo still in effect, failed to dislodge Maduro from power. Last year, the U.S. seized a plane belonging to Maduro and brought it to the U.S.
On Thursday, Maduro said there was “no way” American troops could invade Venezuela after Washington deployed the warships to the region.
The 567-foot-long USS Lake Erie displaces 9,800 tons and is based in the port of San Diego, California.
Trump targeting cartels in Latin America
President Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against Latin American drug cartels deemed terrorist organizations, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News earlier this month. It’s not clear if or when the military could take action.
For its part, Mexico stressed that it “would not accept the participation of U.S. military forces on our territory.” Earlier this month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted that there would be “no invasion of Mexico.”
In February, the Trump administration designated eight drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations. Six are Mexican, one is Venezuelan, and the eighth originates in El Salvador.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month the administration could use the designations to “target” cartels.
“It allows us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever … to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,” Rubio said. “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations.”
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Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration From Ending Legal Protections For 600,000 Venezuelans – KXL
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States, saying that plaintiffs are likely to win their claim that the Republican administration’s actions were unlawful.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while TPS holders challenge actions by Trump’s administration in court.
The 9th Circuit judges found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior extension of temporary protected status because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit it. Then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration had extended temporary protected status for people from Venezuela.
“In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, wrote for the panel. The other two judges on the panel were also nominated by Democratic presidents.
In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security blasted the decision as more obstruction from “unelected activist” judges.
“For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program,” the email read. “While this injunction delays justice and undermines the integrity of our immigration system, Secretary Noem will use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans.”
Congress authorized temporary protected status, or TPS, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the secretary of DHS to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country. The terms are for six, 12 and 18 months.
The appellate judges said the guaranteed time limitations were critical so people could gain employment, find long-term housing and build stability without fear of shifting political winds.
But in ending the protections soon after Trump took office, Noem said conditions in Venezuela had improved and it was not in the U.S. national interest to allow migrants from there to stay on for what is a temporary program. It’s part of a broader move by Trump’s administration to reduce the number of immigrants who are in the country either without legal documentation or through legal temporary programs.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco found in March that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that the administration had overstepped its authority in terminating the protections. Chen postponed the terminations, but the Supreme Court reversed him without explanation, which is common in emergency appeals.
It is unclear what effect Friday’s ruling will have on the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans in the group of 600,000 whose protections expired in April. Their lawyers say some have already been fired from jobs, detained in immigration jails, separated from their U.S. citizen children and even deported.
Protections for the remaining 250,000 Venezuelans are set to expire Sept. 10.
“What is really significant now is that the second court unanimously recognized that the trial court got it right,” said Emi MacLean, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California representing plaintiffs.
She added that while the decision might not benefit immediately those people who have already lost their status or are about to lose their status, Friday’s ruling “should provide a path for the administration’s illegal actions related to Venezuela and TPS to finally be undone.”
A court declaration provided by plaintiffs showed the turmoil caused by the Trump administration and Supreme Court decision.
A Washington woman who worked in restaurants was deported in June along with her daughters, 10 years and 15 months old, after ICE officers told her to bring her children to an immigration check-in. The father of the baby, who is a U.S. citizen, remains in the U.S. while the woman tries to figure out what to do.
Also in June, a FedEx employee appeared in uniform at his required immigration check-in only to be detained, the court declaration states. He slept for about two weeks on a floor, terrified he would be sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. His wife cannot maintain the household on her earnings.
“I am not a criminal,” he said in the declaration, adding that “immigrants like myself come to the United States to work hard and contribute, and instead our families and lives are being torn apart.”
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. Their country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.
Attorneys for the U.S. government argued the Homeland Security secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program were not subject to judicial review. They also denied that Noem’s actions were motivated by racial animus.
But the appellate judges said courts clearly had jurisdiction in cases where the actions were unlawful. They declined to address whether Noem was motivated by racial animus.
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Grant McHill
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Appeals court blocks Trump administration from ending legal protections for 600,000 Venezuelans
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A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status, or TPS, for Venezuelans while the case proceeded through court.
An email to the Department of Homeland Security for comment was not immediately returned.
The 9th Circuit panel found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the department had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior TPS extension because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit for it.
“In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” the court wrote.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco found in March that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that the administration overstepped its authority in terminating the protections and were motivated by racial animus in doing so. Chen ordered a freeze on the terminations, but the Supreme Court reversed him without explanation, which is common in emergency appeals.
It is unclear what effect Friday’s ruling will have on the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans whose protections expired in April. Protections for another group of 250,000 Venezuelans are set to expire Sept. 10.
Congress authorized temporary protected status as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.
In ending the protections, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow migrants from the two countries to stay on for what is a temporary program.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.
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Venezuela’s Maduro says “no way” U.S. can invade after Washington deploys warships to region
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday there was “no way” American troops could invade Venezuela after Washington deployed multiple warships and 4,000 troops to the Caribbean to pressure the leftist strongman.
The United States said the deployment to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela’s territorial waters, is an anti-drug trafficking operation.
Venezuela has responded by sending warships and drones to patrol its coastline and launching a drive to recruit thousands of militia members to bolster its defenses.
“There’s no way they can enter Venezuela,” Maduro said, vowing that his country was well prepared to defend its “peace, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The United States has, however, made no public threat to invade.
Maduro, who claimed a disputed third term in July 2024 elections, has been in President Donald Trump’s sights ever since the Republican’s first term in office.
Since returning to power in January, Mr. Trump’s attacks on Venezuela have focused chiefly on its powerful gangs, some of which operate inside the United States. But his policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an oil embargo still in effect, failed to dislodge Maduro from power.
MIRAFLORES PALACE/Handout via Reuters
Washington accuses Maduro of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel, Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization.
The United States recently doubled its bounty to $50 million for Maduro’s capture to face drug charges. Last year, the U.S. seized a plane belonging to Maduro and brought it to the U.S., with the Justice Department claiming the jet was exported from Florida in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Maduro, who succeeded socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez in 2013, has accused Trump of attempting to effect regime change.
Thousands of civil servants, housewives and retirees lined up in Venezuela’s capital last weekend to join the country’s militia after Maduro called on citizens to respond to “outlandish threats” by the U.S.
On Tuesday, Caracas petitioned the United Nations to intervene in the dispute by demanding “the immediate cessation of the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean.”
Venezuela on Monday announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to the Colombia border to fight drug trafficking. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that the government was deploying the troops to bolster security in Zulia and Tachira states, which border Colombia.
U.S. targeting Latin American drug cartels
President Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against Latin American drug cartels deemed terrorist organizations, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News earlier this month. It’s not clear if or when the military could take action.
For its part, Mexico stressed that it “would not accept the participation of U.S. military forces on our territory.” Earlier this month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted that there would be “no invasion of Mexico.”
In February, the Trump administration designated eight drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations. Six are Mexican, one is Venezuelan, and the eighth originates in El Salvador.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month the administration could use the designations to “target” cartels.
“It allows us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever … to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,” Rubio said. “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations.”
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Venezuela deploys warships, drones after U.S. sends guided-missile destroyers to region
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Venezuela on Tuesday deployed warships and drones to patrol the country’s coastline after the United States dispatched three destroyers to the region to pressure strongman President Nicolas Maduro.
In a video on social media, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced a “significant” drone deployment as well as naval patrols along its Caribbean coast, including “larger vessels further north in our territorial waters.”
The move comes amid escalating tensions with Washington, which sent three guided-missile destoyers and 4,000 Marines towards Venezuela last week to curb drug trafficking.
On Tuesday, a U.S. source told AFP that President Donald Trump was dispatching two more ships to the Caribbean to crack down on drug cartels.
A guided missile cruiser, the USS Erie, and a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, the USS Newport News, are due in the region next week, the source familiar with the move told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Despite the dramatic military build-up, analysts have downplayed the possibility of a U.S. invasion or U.S. strikes on Venezuela.
On the streets of Venezuela, many people also shrugged off the threat as posturing.
Maduro, who claimed a third term in July 2024 elections marred by fraud allegations and a crackdown on the opposition, has been in Mr. Trump’s sights ever since the Republic’s first term in office, from 2017 to 2021.
But his policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an oil embargo still in effect, failed to dislodge Maduro from power.
“I think what we’re seeing represents an attempt to create anxiety in government circles and force Maduro to negotiate something,” International Crisis Group analyst Phil Gunson told AFP.
Since returning to power in January, Mr. Trump’s attacks on Venezuela have focused chiefly on the activities of the South American country’s powerful transnational gangs.
Washington accuses Maduro of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel, Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization.
The United States recently doubled its bounty to $50 million in exchange for Maduro’s capture to face drug charges. Last year, the U.S. seized a plane belonging to Maduro and brought it to the U.S., with the Justice Department claiming the jet was exported from Florida in violation of U.S. sanctions.
“Outlandish threats”
Maduro has accused Mr. Trump of attempting to effect regime change and launched a drive to sign up thousands of militia members. Thousands of civil servants, housewives and retirees lined up in Venezuela’s capital over the weekend to join the country’s militia after Maduro called on citizens to respond to “outlandish threats” by the U.S.
Ariana Cubillos / AP
On Tuesday, Caracas petitioned the United Nations to intervene in the dispute by demanding “the immediate cessation of the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean.”
Venezuela on Monday announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to the Colombia border to fight drug trafficking.
“Venezuela is a clean territory, free of drug trafficking,” Maduro said in his weekly television program. “…free from coca leaf crops, free! Free from cocaine production.”
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that the government was deploying the troops to bolster security in Zulia and Tachira states, which border Colombia.
“Here, we do fight drug trafficking, here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” he added, announcing the seizure of 53 tons of drugs so far this year.
JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images
In a separate announcement Tuesday, Defense Minister Padrino said an ongoing operation in Venezuela’s northeastern corner had resulted in the dismantling of shipyards where criminals intended “to manufacture semisubmersibles and boats to transport drugs by sea” to markets in Europe and North America.
Semisubmersible vessels — known as “narco subs” — cannot go fully underwater but are popular among international drug traffickers as they can sometimes elude detection by law enforcement. The vessels are often spotted in Colombian waters while heading to the United States, Central America and Europe.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Housewives, retirees in Venezuela line up to join militia in response to what Maduro calls
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Civil servants, housewives and retirees alike lined up in Venezuela’s capital Caracas over the weekend as thousands volunteered to join the country’s militia in case there is a U.S. invasion.
President Nicolas Maduro called on citizens to respond to “outlandish threats” by the U.S. and sign up over the weekend to the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian corps linked to the South American country’s armed forces.
The show of force is also intended to send a message to Washington, which has issued a $50 million bounty for Maduro — who is accused by the Trump administration of leading a drug cartel — and has stationed three warships off Venezuela’s coast for what the U.S. says are anti-drug operations.
Last week, Maduro denounced “the renewal of extravagant, bizarre and outlandish threats” from the U.S.
Militia registration centers were set up in the capital’s squares, military and public buildings and even in the presidential palace Miraflores.
Volunteers could also sign up in the Mountain Barracks, which is home to the mausoleum of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, in a densely populated area with large housing projects and crumbling brick houses.
Ariana Cubillos / AP
“Have you previously served?” a militia member dressed in camouflage asked Oscar Matheus.
“I’m here to serve our country,” the 66-year-old auditor told AFP. “We don’t know what might happen, but we must prepare and keep resisting.
“The homeland is calling us. Our country needs us,” said 51-year-old Rosy Paravabith.
U.S.-made machine gun on display
Dubbed the Bolivarian Army by Chavez, the Venezuelan Armed Forces do not hide the militia’s political bent.
“Chavez lives!” is now their official greeting.
Former Venezuelan socialist president Chavez came to power in 1999 and died in office in 2013. Maduro has been in power since, though the U.S. does not recognize the validity of his last two elections.
It is unclear how many troops are in the Venezuelan militia.
Maduro said this week that the militia alone has more than 4.5 million ready soldiers.
However the most recent independent estimate tallied about 343,000 members in 2020, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“I sign up for Venezuela, long live the homeland!” shouted the volunteers upon registration.
Police officers and military reservists also lined up to reaffirm their commitments.
After registering, volunteers were shown a documentary about the European blockade on Venezuela’s coast between 1902 and 1903, after then-president Cipriano Castro refused to pay a foreign debt.
The 2017 film showed armed farmers, some shooting guns while others analyzed maps, as warships loomed in the distance.
Next, the volunteers were taken through a room with weapons on display: a U.S.-made machine gun, a Swedish grenade launcher, a Soviet RPG launcher and a Belgian machine gun.
An army lieutenant explained how to use each weapon.
“Can this be shot at the sky?” an attendee asked.
“It’s better to shoot it straight,” the soldier replied.
“I want to defend the homeland”
The United States has sent armed forces to the Caribbean in the past.
But this time, the deployment coincides with President Donald Trump’s administration increasing pressure on Maduro by doubling its bounty on him to $50 million earlier this month.
The U.S. alleges Maduro is leading the Cartel of the Suns, a drug trafficking group that has been designated a terrorist organization. Last September, the U.S. seized a plane belonging to Maduro and brought it to the U.S., with the Justice Department claiming the jet was exported from Florida in violation of U.S. sanctions.
On Friday, Maduro described the U.S. moves as an “illegal” attempt at regime change.
“What they’re threatening to do against Venezuela — regime change, a military terrorist attack — is immoral, criminal and illegal,” Maduro said.
On the streets of Venezuela, the topic prompted jokes and worries alike, though experts say it is unlikely the U.S. would take direct action.
Maduro’s opposition has called for people not to enlist — though many were anyway.
“I want to defend the homeland,” said Jesus Borquez, 19.
“I know that because of my age I’m not going to carry a rifle,” 78-year-old Omaira Hernandez said. “But I’m willing to help them.”
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International champion Taiwan beats US champion Nevada for its 18th Little League World Series title
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Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.Video above: Little League team chases World Series gloryLin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same on Sunday.Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He allowed only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. —Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.
Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.
Video above: Little League team chases World Series glory
Lin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same on Sunday.
Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He allowed only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.
Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.
Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.
Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.
The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.
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Prosecutors link LA contract to Smartmatic ‘slush fund’ as voting tech firm battles Fox in court
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MIAMI (AP) — Smartmatic, the elections-technology company suing Fox News for defamation, is now contending with a growing list of criminal allegations against some of its executives — including a new claim by federal prosecutors that a “slush fund” for bribing foreign officials was financed partly with proceeds from the sale of voting machines in Los Angeles.
The new details about the criminal case surfaced this month in court filings in Miami, where the company’s co-founder, Roger Pinate, and two Venezuelan colleagues were charged last year with bribing officials in the Philippines in exchange for a contract to help run that country’s 2016 presidential elections. Pinate, who no longer works for Smartmatic, has pleaded not guilty.
To buttress the case, federal prosecutors are seeking to introduce evidence they argue shows that some of the nearly $300 million the company was paid by Los Angeles County to help modernize its voting systems was diverted to a fund controlled by Pinate through the use of overseas shell companies, fake invoices and other means.
Smartmatic itself hasn’t been charged with breaking any laws, nor have U.S. prosecutors accused Smartmatic or its executives of tampering with election results. Similarly, they haven’t accused Los Angeles County officials of wrongdoing, or said whether they were even aware of the alleged bribery scheme. County officials say they weren’t.
But the case against Pinate is unfolding as Smartmatic is pursuing a $2.7 billion lawsuit accusing Fox of defamation for airing false claims that the company helped rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Fox says it was legitimately reporting newsworthy allegations.
Smartmatic said the Justice Department’s new filing was filled with “misrepresentations” and is “untethered from reality.”
“Let us be clear: Smartmatic wins business because we’re the best at what we do,” the company said in a statement. “We operate ethically and abide by all laws always, both in Los Angeles County and every jurisdiction where we operate.”
Fox questions Smartmatic’s dealings in LA
Still, Fox has gone to court to try to get more information about L.A. County’s dealings with Smartmatic. The network has long tried to leverage the bribery allegations to undermine Smartmatic’s narrative about its business prospects – a key component in calculating any potential damages — and portray it as a scandal-plagued company brought low by its own legal problems, not Fox’s broadcasts.
South Florida-based Smartmatic was founded more than two decades ago by a group of Venezuelans who found early success working for the government of the late Hugo Chavez, a devotee of electronic voting. The company later expanded globally, providing voting machines and other technology to help carry out elections in 25 countries, from Argentina to Zambia.
It was awarded its contract to help with Los Angeles County elections in 2018. The contract, which Smartmatic continues to service, gave the company an important foothold in what was then a fast-expanding U.S. voting-technology market.
But Smartmatic has said its business tanked after Fox News gave President Donald Trump’s lawyers a platform to paint the company as part of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.
Fox itself eventually aired a piece refuting the allegations after Smartmatic’s lawyers complained, but it has aggressively defended itself against the defamation lawsuit in New York.
“Facing imminent financial collapse and indictment, Smartmatic saw a litigation lottery ticket in Fox News’s coverage of the 2020 election,” the network’s lawyers said in a court filing.
Smartmatic has disputed Fox’s characterization in court filings as “lies” and “another attempt to divert attention from its long-standing campaign of falsehoods and defamation.”
LA clerk deposed about trip, gifted meal
As part of its effort to investigate Smartmatic’s work in Los Angeles, Fox has sued to force LA County Clerk Dean Logan to hand over public records about his dealings with Smartmatic’s U.S. affiliate.
Fox’s lawyers also questioned Logan in a deposition about a dinner a Smartmatic executive bought for him at the members-only Magic Castle club and restaurant in Los Angeles and a Smartmatic-paid trip that Logan made to Taiwan in 2019 to oversee the manufacturing of equipment by a Smartmatic vendor. U.S. prosecutors claim that vendor was deeply involved in the alleged kickback scheme in the Philippines. The five-day trip included business class airfare, hotel and numerous meals as well as time for sightseeing, Fox said.
“The trip’s itinerary demonstrates that the trip was not a financial inspection or audit. It was a boondoggle,” Fox said in court filings.
Logan, who did not report the gifts in his financial disclosures, said in his 2023 deposition that the meal at the Magic Castle was a “social occasion” unrelated to business and that he was not required to report the trip to Taiwan because his visit was covered by the contract.
Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for Logan’s office, said in a statement that the bribery allegations are unrelated to the company’s work for L.A. County and that the county had no knowledge of how the proceeds from its contract would be used. All of Smartmatic’s work has been evaluated for compliance with the contract’s terms, Sanchez added, and as soon as Pinate was indicted he and the other defendants were banned from conducting business with the county.
As for the trip to Taiwan, Sanchez said another county official joined Logan for the trip and the two conducted several on-site visits and conducted detailed reviews of electoral technology products that were required prior the start of their manufacturing. Logan’s spouse accompanied him on the trip, but at the couple’s own expense, the spokesman added.
“Unfortunately, this is an attempt to use the County as a pawn in two serious legal actions to which the County is not a party,” Sanchez said.
Smartmatic has settled two other defamation lawsuits it brought against conservative news outlets Newsmax and One America News Network over their 2020 U.S. election coverage. Settlement terms weren’t disclosed.
Prosecutors claim bribe paid in Venezuela
U.S. prosecutors in Miami have also accused Pinate of secretly bribing Venezuela’s longtime election chief by giving her a luxury home with a pool in Caracas. Prosecutors say the home was transferred to the election chief in an attempt to repair relations following Smartmatic’s abrupt exit from Venezuela in 2017 when it accused President Nicolas Maduro ‘s government of manipulating tallied results in elections for a rubber-stamping constituent assembly.
Smartmatic has denied the bribery allegations, saying it ceased all operations in Venezuela in 2017 after blowing the whistle on the government and has never sought to secure business there again.
“There are no slush funds, no gifted house,” the company said. Instead, it accused Fox of engaging in “victim-blaming” and attempts to use “frivolous” court filings “to smear us further, twisting unproven Justice Department allegations.”
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Peltz reported from New York.
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‘I thought I was going to die there’: Voices of migrants deported to a Salvadoran prison
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CARACAS, Venezuela — In March, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to declare Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang a foreign terrorist group.
Shortly after, the U.S. sent more than 250 Venezuelans who it said were a part of the gang to El Salvador, where they were jailed for months in one of the country’s most notorious prisons, the Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT.
Many of the men insist that they have no ties to the gang and were denied due process.
After enduring months in detention, the men were sent home in July as part of a prisoner exchange deal that included Venezuela’s release of several detained Americans.
Venezuela’s attorney general said interviews with the men revealed “systemic torture” in the Salvadoran prison, including daily beatings, rancid food and sexual abuse. The men have been adjusting to life back in Venezuela, which most fled because of their home country’s political and economic instability.
The Times photographed four of the Venezuelans — Arturo Suárez, Angelo Escalona, Frizgeralth Cornejo and Ángelo Bolívar — as they got reacquainted with their families and life outside prison.
Arturo Suárez records a song at a studio in Caracas’ Catia neighborhood. He composed the song in prison in El Salvador.
Arturo Suárez, 34
Suárez, a musician, was detained in North Carolina while gathered with friends to record a music video. Ten people were arrested that day. Inside the Salvadoran prison, he said, music was forbidden and guards beat him repeatedly for singing. But he refused to stay silent. From his cell, he wrote a song that spread from cell to cell, becoming an anthem of hope for the Venezuelans imprisoned with him.
“From Cell 31, God spoke to me,” the lyrics go in part. “He said, son, be patient, your blessing is coming soon…. Let nothing kill your faith, let nothing make you doubt because it won’t be long before you return home.”
1. Suárez holds a heart he fashioned in prison out of tortillas and toothpaste, with letters made from threads of the white shorts he wore. 2. This tattoo of a bird enabled his family to identify Suárez in videos released by the Salvadoran government.
Suárez checks his phone beneath a poster welcoming him home in Caracas.
I thought I wasn’t going to make it out of there. I thought I was going to die there.
Posters depicting Suárez and other Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador are seen in Caracas’ El Valle neighborhood.
Angelo Escalona, 18
Escalona had turned 18 just three months before Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him in the same raid that swept up his friend Suárez, the musician. His dream was to become a DJ, and Escalona had saved up to buy equipment that he showed Suárez just before they were arrested. He had no tattoos, no criminal record and was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, he said.
When the deportation flight landed in El Salvador, he and the other Venezuelans tried to resist being taken off the plane. “We all fastened our seat belts because we’re Venezuelans — we weren’t supposed to be there” in El Salvador, he said. “But the Salvadoran police boarded the plane and started beating the people in the front.”
1. Angelo Escalona said that the other Venezuelan prisoners called him “El Menor,” or the minor, because at 18 he was the youngest of the deportees.
2. A poster family members held during protests demanding his release says, “Your family has not abandoned you.”
3. Escalona’s aunt displays a poster with a letter his mother wrote to him upon his release. “Son, I love you,” it says in red.
When we arrived [at the prison], they told us, ‘Welcome to the real hell — no one leaves here unless they’re dead.’
A view of Caracas’ Antímano neighborhood, where Frizgeralth Cornejo lived with his family before traveling north to the United States.
Frizgeralth Cornejo, 26
In mid-2024, Frizgeralth Cornejo made the long trek through the Darién Gap, the dangerous jungle separating Central and South America and made his way north with three friends. Hoping to obtain asylum in the United States, he had applied for an appointment with immigration officials through Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app.
But when Cornejo, 26, presented himself at the border, officials accused him of gang affiliation because of his tattoos. Everyone else in his group was allowed through, but not him.
1. Cornejo has lunch with his mother, Austria, and his brother, Carlos, in Caracas’ Antímano neighborhood. 2. Cornejo walks with his brother, Carlos, in the neighborhood of Sabana Grande in Caracas.
Cornejo kisses his mother, Austria.
1. Cornejo shows the neck tattoo that allowed his family to identify him in videos released by the Salvadoran government. 2. U.S. authorities claimed this tattoo linked him to the Tren de Aragua gang.
I never imagined being imprisoned just for getting tattoos.
A view of the neighborhood where the family of Ángelo Bolívar lives in Valencia.
Ángelo Bolívar, 26
Bolívar was living in Texas when he was arrested by ICE agents and sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. His many tattoos are part of a family legacy, one he shares with his mother, Silvia Cruz. His late father was a tattoo artist. His tattoos led to his imprisonment, he said, because authorities saw them as proof of membership in the Tren de Aragua gang. He is now back in the city of Valencia, about 80 miles east of Caracas.
They said I was a gang member because of my tattoos — because I had a watch and a rosary. Even though the ICE agents had tattoos of roses and watches too.
Bolívar and his mother, Silvia Cruz, in Valencia.
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Kate Linthicum, Gabriela Oráa
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Report: U.S. Deploys Warships Near Venezuela – KXL
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Acquired Through MGN Online on 08/23/2017
Washington, DC – The Pentagon is reportedly sending three warships near Venezuela as President Trump looks to ramp up the pressure on Latin American drug cartels. Reuters cites two sources briefed on the matter.
The Trump administration has designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs as global terrorist organizations. In an address on Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his country “will defend our seas, our skies and our lands” while also mentioning “the outlandish, bizarre threat of a declining empire.”
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Tim Lantz
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Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro says he’s deploying 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by U.S.
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Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he would deploy 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by the United States after Washington raised the bounty for his arrest to $50 million and launched anti-drug operations in the Caribbean.
“This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated and armed,” Maduro announced on state television.
Official figures say the Venezuelan militia, founded by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, contains about 5 million people — though the actual number is believed to be smaller.
Venezuela’s total population is around 30 million.
Maduro lambasted “the renewal of extravagant, bizarre and outlandish threats” from the U.S.
“We are also deployed throughout the Caribbean … in our sea, our property, Venezuelan territory,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said.
The administration of President Trump earlier this month doubled its bounty to $50 million for the arrest of Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges.
Washington, which does not recognize Maduro’s past two election victories, accuses the Venezuelan of leading a cocaine trafficking gang called Cartel de los Soles. The Trump administration announced sanctions against the group and Maduro’s administration last month.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump directed the military to target drug cartels in Latin America, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
The U.S. military has also reportedly deployed several vessels to the southern Caribbean, as part of Mr. Trump’s crackdown on Latin American drug cartels. Two sources briefed on the matter told the Reuters news agency that three U.S. destroyers will arrive off the coast of Venezuela soon.
A U.S. official briefed on the planning told the Associated Press that he USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson are expected to arrive soon. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, told the AP the vessels would be deployed “over the course of several months.”
Although he did not mention the recent U.S. actions specifically, Maduro thanked those who expressed their support in the face of what he called “rotten refrain” of threats.
Maduro called on his government’s political base to move forward with the formation of peasant and worker militias “in all industries.”
“Rifles and missiles for the peasant force! To defend the territory, sovereignty, and peace of Venezuela,” declared Maduro.
Last September, the U.S. seized a plane belonging to Maduro and brought it to the U.S., with the Justice Department claiming the jet was exported from Florida in violation of U.S. sanctions.
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Feds say 8 Tren de Aragua gang members among 30 people charged in Colorado gun, drug-trafficking cases
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Federal prosecutors charged 30 people with largely gun and drug-trafficking crimes after a months-long investigation in metro Denver, a mix of federal and local officials announced at a news conference Monday.
Those charged include eight people who investigators believe are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said. He said he considers three of the eight gang members to be “leaders.” Two of the leaders were arrested July 30 in Colombia, court records show.
McNeilly could not say how many Tren de Aragua gang members remain in Colorado, whether the local members were taking direction from leaders in Venezuela, or how many of the 30 people arrested in the operation were Venezuelan nationals.
David Olesky, a special agent in charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the federal charges against eight gang members “diminished” Tren de Aragua’s “influence and capabilities” in the Denver area.
The federal investigation started in October when Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown sought federal assistance to deal with rising crime at the Ivy Crossing apartments on Quebec Street. The subsequent investigation involved at least 40 undercover operations and branched out significantly from the apartment complex.
Federal investigators seized or purchased 69 guns during the investigation, according to court records. Twenty-seven of those guns were connected through ballistics to 67 “separate shooting events,” said Brent Beavers, Denver special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Court records show those incidents included drive-by shootings, an attempted carjacking and a shootout between two large groups, among others.
“By removing these firearms from the street, we’ve disrupted a dangerous cycle of violence, prevented further harm to our community and sent a clear message to criminal networks,” Beavers said.
The defendants in the federal cases announced Monday were not charged in connection with those shootings.
Rather, the majority of defendants face charges of possessing guns, conspiring to illegally traffic guns, distributing drugs and conspiring to distribute drugs in connection with incidents in which they are accused of selling drugs or guns to undercover federal agents.
If convicted, the defendants face between five and 20 years in prison on many of the charges.
Six of the defendants are also charged with conspiring to commit murder-for-hire. An undercover agent asked the defendants in May if they could hire the defendants to kill two people for $10,000. The defendants allegedly agreed to commit the homicides for $15,000, and one defendant also offered to decapitate the victims and return their heads to the undercover agents for an additional $5,000.
Several of the defendants were arrested after they met up to get ready for the killings, according to an affidavit.
Conspiracy to commit murder for hire can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
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Shelly Bradbury
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DC coffee shop owner under fire for encounter with Uber Eats driver – WTOP News
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A delivery driver in D.C. says he was berated and assaulted by a D.C. coffee shop owner — and he posted video of the encounter on TikTok. Police are now investigating.
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In order to view the video you must disable your ad blocker.DC coffee shop owner under fire for encounter with Uber Eats driver
An Uber Eats delivery driver from Venezuela is calling for justice after he claims he was berated and assaulted by a D.C. coffee shop owner.
On Monday morning, delivery driver Gregorio José Amundarain Lávate said the encounter began when he went to Canna Coffee on Florida Avenue in Northwest D.C. to pick up an order.
“He told me that the order was ready. When I went to go look for the order, he told me I need to learn English. And I told him I don’t speak English. That’s when he became upset,” said Amundarain Lávate through a translator.
The driver, who is a native of Venezuela, said he began recording the interaction to have as proof and the video has since gone viral on social media.
“Here I am working, trying to provide for my family that’s in Venezuela, and change my life here for the better, little by little,” he said.
In the video, the cafe’s owner Greg Harris can be seen yelling at the driver, saying, “If you’re getting money in America, learn English,” and “Learn English, this ain’t your … country.”
“He was practically humiliating me just because I didn’t know the language,” Amundarain Lávate said.
WTOP attempted to interview Harris but he declined our request.
Harris posted a picture of the WTOP reporter who requested the interview on his Instagram account with the caption, “Wanna know what happened? Gotta pay for an exclusive.” WTOP does not pay for interviews.
D.C. police said it is investigating what happened as a possible hate crime and a case of simple assault. The owner has not been arrested or charged.
In a statement to WTOP, Uber said action has been taken against the business because of what occurred: “We are absolutely disgusted by this behavior. Uber is proud to help people from many backgrounds find work in their communities, and hate has no place on our platform. We have removed this business from the app and are working to get in touch with the courier to check on his well-being.”
The business also advertises it provides delivery through Grubhub.
In an emailed statement, Grubhub said: “We are aware of the incident with another delivery service at Canna Coffee. Delivery partners should always be treated with respect, and we’re doing a full investigation with this merchant before taking any further action.”
WTOP’s Juan Herrera, Ciara Wells and José Umaña contributed to this report.
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Mike Murillo
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Texas officials declare Venezuelan gang a terrorist group, back Trump claims about migrants
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Officials in Texas on Monday designated a Venezuelan gang called the Tren de Aragua as a “foreign terrorist group” and endorsed former President Donald Trump’s claim that many migrants crossing into the United States were released from prisons in Latin America.
The Tren de Aragua is an international criminal organization that operates in several Latin American countries and engages in extortion, homicide, drug trafficking and smuggling of people, authorities say.
Because of a political and economic crisis in Venezuela, many people from that country are allowed to enter the United States and apply for asylum.
But Texas’s top border official, Mike Banks, argued that Venezuela “has released prisoners with one condition: you leave Venezuela and don’t come back.”
He said the administration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is encouraging such people to come to the United States with what Banks called an open border policy.
Harris is running against Trump in November’s presidential election.
Immigration advocates present a very different picture, asserting that the Biden administration has harshly cracked down on the border with undue restrictions on people wishing to cross and seek asylum.
Appearing at the same news conference as Banks, Gov. Greg Abbott formally declared Tren de Aragua a “foreign terrorist organization.”
CBS News
That allows the authorities to go after the gang under a beefed up anti-terrorism law and also allows for the creation of a task force assigned specifically to fight the group.
Trump said Friday that if he becomes president, he will order large-scale deportations of migrants, beginning in Ohio and Colorado.
The vow came on the heels of his debate with Harris earlier in the week, when he made the debunked claim that migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating residents’ pet dogs and cats.
Trump said Friday he’s going to send those migrants “back to Venezuela,” although most of the migrants in Springfield are Haitian.
Springfield has had to step up security due to threats being made as the viral, false claims about Haitian immigrants continue to circulate after being amplified by Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
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Video: These Venezuelan Election Observers Got Death Threats. Now They’re in Hiding.
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new video loaded: These Venezuelan Election Observers Got Death Threats. Now They’re in Hiding.
transcript
transcript
These Venezuelan Election Observers Got Death Threats. Now They’re in Hiding.
The New York Times spoke to several election volunteers for Venezuela’s opposition party who found that Edmundo González defeated Nicolás Maduro in July. They fled the country after facing death threats from Maduro’s supporters.
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Anthony is in hiding in this Colombian city on the border with Venezuela. He says he was targeted by paramilitary groups called “colectivos,” key enforcers for Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, after volunteering as an election observer for the opposition party. He fled here to Cúcuta, along with these other election workers, who all describe receiving similar threats. We agreed not to show their faces or use their full names for their safety and that of their families they left behind. All of their stories offer firsthand evidence of a post-election crackdown that has largely happened out of the public eye. These vote tallies that they and other observers collected were made public, showing that opposition candidate Edmundo González had actually won the majority vote. While many countries, including the United States, have raised doubts about the election results, Maduro continues to claim victory. He and his supporters are now targeting the opposition as terrorists, with threats in the form of phone messages and showing up at their homes. Anthony was working as a bread maker in Venezuela. The others, a chef, a salesman and an engineer. The Times reviewed evidence that corroborated their stories of being targeted as election observers. All of the men who had been targeted for their political activism before say the threats after this election felt more brazen and direct. Celso Barbosa fled Venezuela himself six years ago. He says these men were the first group of political exiles he helped escape from the country after the July elections. Barbosa recently attended a protest here in Colombia calling for Maduro to transition out of office. Meanwhile, Maduro has yet to release his electoral record, and González has now fled the country for Spain after a top court in Venezuela issued his arrest warrant. These men say that if Maduro is sworn in as president in January, others will soon be forced to flee the country as well.
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