How Trump Fixed On a Maduro Loyalist as Venezuela’s New Leader

(Was she in on it? Was this just a threat? A cope from the Trump administration because they can't really control who comes to power next? Or will Delcy wait a couple days for the dust to settle then hand over a portion of Venezuela's oil interests to US businesses to supposedly calm the situation? Rewarding the aggressor by giving them what they want. That wont sit well with the people I can tell you that. We will see.)

from the NYT

...

Weeks earlier, U.S. officials had already settled on an acceptable candidate to replace Mr. Maduro, at least for the time being: Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who had impressed Trump officials with her management of Venezuela’s crucial oil industry.

The people involved in the discussions said intermediaries persuaded the administration that she would protect and champion future American energy investments in the country.

“I’ve been watching her career for a long time, so I have some sense of who she is and what she’s about,” said one senior U.S. official, referring to Ms. Rodríguez.

“I’m not claiming that she’s the permanent solution to the country’s problems, but she’s certainly someone we think we can work at a much more professional level than we were able to do with him,” the official added, referring to Mr. Maduro.

It was an easy choice, the people said. Mr. Trump had never warmed up to the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had organized a winning presidential campaign in 2024, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Since Mr. Trump’s re-election, Ms. Machado has gone out of her way to please him, calling him a “champion of freedom,” mimicking his talking points on election fraud in the United States and even dedicating her Peace Prize to him.

It was in vain. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he would accept Ms. Rodríguez, saying that Ms. Machado lacked the “respect” needed to govern Venezuela. 

U.S. officials say that their relationship with Ms. Rodríguez’s interim government will be based on her ability to play by their rules, adding that they reserve the right to take additional military action if she fails to respect America’s interests. Despite Ms. Rodríguez’s public condemnation of the attack, a senior U.S. official said that it was too soon to draw conclusions about what her approach would be and that the administration remained optimistic that they could work with her.

Mr. Trump declared on Saturday that the United States intended to “run” Venezuela for an unspecified period and reclaim U.S. oil interests, an extraordinary assertion of unilateral, expansionist power after more narrow, and also contested, arguments about stopping the flow of drugs.

... 

read more here 

AI Jimmy Kimmel's Cass Sunstein Moment Used to Back Trump Regime Change in Venezuela

by Scott Creighton

“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”
—1984 [1949] George Orwell 

Someone kindly sent me a video of what they thought was Jimmy Kimmel making a statement about the current situation with Donald Trump kidnapping the leader of Venezuela so he and his rich friends could get their hands on that heavy crude oil our refineries need while also opening up the country to hot money speculators and private equity vulture capitalists. 

It wasn't actually Jimmy Kimmel, it was a 'fan-made' AI compilation of his previous work designed to appear to present the opposition position on the subject while cleverly embedding dark, free market capitalist propaganda into the message i.e.:

"and by the way Maduro is an illegitimate leader who has presided over unimaginable suffering the Venezuelan opposition has every right to want him gone' Jimmy Kimmel AI video at the 5:40 mark below video

This is the same type of Cass Sunstein styled controlled opposition as Bernie Sanders saying it is illegal and wrong to invade Libya but then follows it up with... 'but Gaddafi is an evil dictator who kills his own people'

This is a collection of Jimmy Kimmel statements and writings combined to produce a bit of carefully crafted propaganda which points out OBVIOUS flaws in our current regime but then promotes LIES about life in Venezuela and living under a social democracy.

Its designed to blunt any real opposition to the act by dehumanizing the target of aggression and playing up the 'R2P' bullshit narrative that its GOOD that we did .... (fill in the blank)

Sanders is ALLOWED to remain in office because he serves their interests in this way just like Jimmy Kimmel understands he is EXPECTED to say the OBVIOUS about Trump.. but also poisons the well when it comes to the objective of the regime change: demonizing socialism and leaders who side with BRICS' multi-polar world view.

Trump: We Are in Venezuela Now, and We Are Going to Stay

from AntiWar

Following a military operation that captured President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said the US would run Venezuela until an acceptable government is set up. 

“We are going to run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had,” the President said on Saturday. “We are there now, and we are going to stay until the proper transition takes place.”

Trump went on to say that the US is prepared to attack Venezuela again. “We are ready to stage a second, much larger attack if we need to do so.” He continued, “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 fair.” 

The President did not name a new leader of Venezuela. However, María Corina Machado said, “Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power.” Machado is a Venezuelan opposition figure who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. She has endorsed US sanctions and military action against Venezuela. 

Trump did say he had not spoken with Machado, adding that she doesn’t have the respect needed to lead the country. 

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said following the attack that she had activated Maduro’s military plans. “The first thing President Maduro told the people of Venezuela was ‘people to the streets,’ activated as militia, activating all the Nation’s comprehensive defense plans,” the vice president said. “No one will undermine the historic legacy of our Liberator father, Simon Bolivar. The people of Venezuela, in perfect national unity, must mobilize to defend their natural resources and what is most sacred: their right to independence and to the future.”...

read more here 

Lavrov holds phone call with Venezuelan vice president

from RT

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a phone call with Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and expressed solidarity with the people of the South American nation in the face of US aggression.

The conversation took place on Saturday, shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that following large-scale strikes on Venezuela, American special forces had captured and taken the nation’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, out of the country.

“Lavrov expressed firm solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of armed aggression,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Moscow will continue to support Venezuela’s policy of defending the country’s sovereignty and national interests.

Both Lavrov and Rodriguez “expressed their support for preventing further escalation and for finding a way out of the situation through dialogue,” the ministry said. Both sides also voiced commitment to furthering the Russia-Venezuela strategic partnership agreement.

Under the Venezuelan Constitution, Rodriguez is next in line of succession if the president is no longer capable of fulfilling his duties. However, Trump has stressed that the US will be involved in deciding who rules in the oil-rich South American country. 

“We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run and just take over where [Maduro] left off,” he told Fox News in a phone interview on Saturday. “So we're making that decision now.”...

read more here 

Trump Attacks Venezuela to Steal the Oil

Early this morning the Trump regime illegally attacked Venezuela under the cloak of darkness in an effort to steal the heavy crude oil our refineries need to keep their profit margins high. Trump claims its got something to do with drug imports from the country but that's BS and everyone knows it. Everyone except the professional liars on Fox News that is. Supposedly they captured Maduro and his wife and flew them out of the country. Check for news and updates here...

https://nomadiceveryman.blogspot.com/search/label/Venezuela%20coup%202026 

Direct Support

Trump Claims Maduro ‘Captured’ as US Bombs Venezuelan Capital

from Common Dreams

US President Donald Trump claimed early Saturday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was “captured and flown out of the country” after American forces bombed Venezuela’s capital.

Maduro’s alleged capture came after multiple explosions and sounds of aircraft were reported in Caracas, including at a military base at the center of the capital. Following the explosions, Maduro declared a state of emergency and accused the US of “military aggression.” The Trump administration has accused Maduro, without evidence, of heading a drug cartel. 

Vladimir Padrino, Venezuela’s defense minister, said the US attacked both civilian and military sites, and that authorities are gathering information on casualties. Padrino said Venezuela would resist the presence of foreign troops and denounced US “imperialism” and “greed for our natural resources.”

Trump—who in recent months has repeatedly threatened to attack Venezuela, oust its president, and seize the nation’s vast oil reserves—provided few details about the military assault, which followed a monthslong boat-bombing spree in international waters.

The US president did not receive congressional authorization for any of the strikes, and he said the operation was carried out in collaboration with American law enforcement. In 2020, during Trump’s first White House term, Maduro was indicted by the US Justice Department, which at the time offered rewards up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest....

read more here 

Cuba and Colombia respond to US strikes on Venezuela

from RT

Cuba and Colombia have expressed strong concern over an apparent US attack on Venezuela after several explosions were heard in the country’s capital.

The statements came on Saturday morning after several blasts in Caracas, with reports of warplanes, helicopters, and potentially drones operating over the capital. Venezuela’s government said it was the victim of a “grave military aggression” by the US, accusing Washington of striking civilian and military locations in Caracas and the nearby states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira.

US President Donald Trump later confirmed that the US had carried out the attack, stating that Washington had captured and flown Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife out of the country. 

 Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that his nation “denounces and urgently demands the reaction of the international community against the criminal attack by the US on Venezuela.” He added that “our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted. State terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people and against Our America.”...

read more here 

U.S. Captures Venezuelan Leader, Trump Says

from the New York Times

President Trump said on Saturday that the United States had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and was flying him out of Venezuela, in what would be a stunning culmination to a monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump’s administration to oust the authoritarian leader.

Mr. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, his social media platform, and said that the United States had carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela” in an operation that was conducted “in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement.” He said that Mr. Maduro’s wife had also been captured.

In a brief phone interview with The New York Times after the announcement, Mr. Trump celebrated the success of the mission to capture the Venezuelan president. “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” he said. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”

When asked if he had sought congressional authority for the operation or what is next for Venezuela, Mr. Trump said he would address those matters during a news conference at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla.

Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, speaking on a state-run television station after Mr. Trump’s announcement, said that Mr. Maduro’s location was unknown and asked Mr. Trump for proof of life.

Earlier on Saturday, the government of Venezuela accused the United States of carrying out military attacks in the capital, Caracas, and other parts of the country after large explosions were reported at a military base in the city.

The Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency in response to the attacks and said they had occurred in Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, according to a statement from the Venezuelan communications ministry.

Venezuela “rejects, repudiates and denounces” U.S. military aggression, the statement said. It also called on “on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

Trump claims Venezuelan President Maduro captured, flown out of country

from PressTV

Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been captured by US armed forces, US President Donald Trump claims, after Washington carried out a large-scale strike against the country.

In a post published on the social media platform Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said the couple had been flown out of Venezuela.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” he wrote.

Venezuela declares state of emergency after US hits civilian, military targets

from PressTV

At least seven explosions have shaken Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, as low-flying aircraft have been detected in the skies above the city, in what the Venezuelan government said were coordinated US strikes.

Explosions and smoke were reported across Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, at around 2 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT) with power outages near a key military base and reports of low-flying aircraft on Saturday.

People in various neighborhoods rushed to the streets. Some could be seen in the distance from various areas of Caracas.

President Nicolas Maduro announced a nationwide state of emergency, ordered the full activation of national defense plans, and authorized the deployment of comprehensive defense commands across the country in response to the attacks.

In a statement, the Venezuelan government said US forces carried out coordinated strikes on civilian and military targets in Caracas and several other states, describing the operation as a direct act of military aggression aimed at seizing the country’s oil and mineral wealth.

The government urged its supporters to mobilize nationwide in response to the attacks.

“People to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”...

read more here 

[BREAKING] US Claims Maduro Captured During Military Operation Against Venezuela

from Venezuelan Analysis

US President Donald Trump has claimed that US Special Forces have captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a military operation against Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday.

In a social media message, Trump stated that the US had “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and that Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores had been “captured and flown out of the country.”

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed that Maduro and Flores’ whereabouts are unknown and demanded that the Trump administration provide proof of life.

US attacks began around 2 am local time, with loud explosions felt in the capital and nearby states.

How REEs and Regulated Market Economies Beat Gunboat Diplomacy in Venezuela

by Scott Creighton

There wont be Shock and Awe in Venezuela. It's not going to happen no matter how bad TrumpyBear and Little Nazi Marco want to do it oh behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. You see...

... a funny thing happened on the way to regime change. 

Donald Trump has been steadily trying to improve access to something called rare earth elements (REE) since he returned to office in Jan. of 2025. Why? Because China placed severe restrictions on such exports (samarium, graphite, tungsten, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium, antimony, gallium, germanium and others) back in Dec. of 2024 as a response to the U.S. placing harsh sanctions on Chinese semiconductors. China added several more elements to their sanction list in Jan. when Trump came to power and continued with the semiconductor restrictions.

These REEs are critical in the development of everything from cellphones to armor piercing ammunition and AI missile guidance systems. Without them the MIC's endless money glitch grinds to a halt. Now do you understand why he's been so focused on these silly little rocks? Greenland is supposedly full of some of these REEs which explains why TrumpyBear wanted to invade them early on. How's that working out?

 

In April China made it even worse by adding even more restrictions and elements to the list. 

US seizes 2nd oil tanker in 2 weeks off Venezuela coast

(I asked Google AI what gives the U.S. the authority to sanction other nations and it came back with an explanation of specific U.S. laws that give the PRESIDENT authority IN THE U.S. to impose sanctions... but failed to answer my question. What gives the U.S. international authority to sanction other countries? Why should any other nation respect those declared sanctions as if they are legitimate international law? The UNSC can issue sanctions like they try to do against Israel all the time but the U.S. unilaterally imposing a sanction against Venezuela because TrumpyBear wants to steal their oil? That's just piracy. Is it any wonder that other nations are turning away from the U.S. these days and turning to countries like Russia and China? They don't unilaterally sanction anyone to my knowledge. This is absurdly illegal and immoral.)

from Daily Sabah

The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday, a move Caracas denounced as “theft and kidnapping,” as Washington intensified its pressure campaign, U.S. officials said.

It was the second time in two weeks that U.S. forces had interdicted a tanker in the region and came days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" heading to and leaving Venezuela.

"In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the U.S. Coast Guard, with the support of the Department of War, apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela," U.S. Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a post on X.

The post was accompanied by a nearly eight-minute video of aerial footage that showed a helicopter hovering just above the deck of a large tanker at sea.

Caracas slammed the seizure as theft and kidnapping, saying "those responsible for these serious events will answer to justice and to history for their criminal conduct."

A post from Homeland Security identified the vessel as the Centuries and said it was "suspected of carrying oil subject to U.S. sanctions."

Centuries is a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged oil tanker, according to TankerTrackers, an online service monitoring oil shipments and storage...

read more here 

‘Grotesque colonial fantasy’: Venezuela's UN envoy hits back at Trump over oil remarks

from PressTV

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations has condemned US President Donald Trump’s claims about the ownership of Venezuela’s territory and resources, saying he is seeking to revive 19th-century imperialism and turn the Latin American country into a colony.

Samuel Moncada made the remarks on Thursday, two days after Trump ordered a blockade of oil tankers transiting Venezuela and alleged that the nation had stolen US “oil, land and other assets.”

“President Trump intends to turn back the clock of history and impose a colony on Venezuela,” Moncada said during a UN General Assembly meeting marking the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations...

read more here 

The Trumpening: From Venezuela to Gaza to Immigration - Pure Fascism

Saying a U.S. president is fascist is like saying ice cubes would be a hot commodity in hell. It's obvious. But Trump is a special kind of fascism. He's out in the open like Pinochet or Mussolini. Every recent event has been exposed as him and his administration running the country on behalf of Big Business. Every single one. So much for populism.

The Trumpening https://nomadiceveryman.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Trumpening 

Direct Support

Why Did Trump Send His Warships to Venezuela?

from Venezuela Analysis

Ever since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998, the United States has attempted to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. They have tried everything short of a full-scale military invasion: a military coup, selecting a substitute president, cutting off access to the global financial system, imposing layers of sanctions, sabotaging the electricity grid, sending in mercenaries, and attempting to assassinate its leaders. If you can think of a method to overthrow a government, the United States has likely tried it against Venezuela.

However, in 2025, the escalation became unmistakable. The US sent its warships to patrol Venezuela’s coast, began sinking small boats and killing those on board as they left the South American mainland, and seized an oil tanker bound for Cuba. The quantity of attacks on Venezuela has increased, suggesting the quality of the threats has now reached a different magnitude. It feels as if the United States is preparing for a full-blown invasion of the country.

Donald Trump came to office saying that he was opposed to military interventions that did not further US interests, which is why he called the illegal US war on Iraq a waste of “blood and treasure”. This does not mean Trump is against the use of the US military – he deployed it in Afghanistan (remember the “Mother of all Bombs”) and Yemen, and has fully backed the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. His formula is not for or against war categorically, but about what the US would gain from it. With Iraq, he stated that the problem was not the war itself, but the failure to seize Iraqi oil. Had the US taken Iraq’s oil, Trump would likely have been in Baghdad, ready to build – with Iraqi treasure – a Trump hotel on one of the former presidential properties...

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Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado Vows to End Maduro’s Rule in Venezuela

from the NYT

María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this week, vowed on Thursday to bring democracy to her country and end the government of President Nicolás Maduro as she re-emerged on the global stage after more than a year in hiding.

Ms. Machado held a news conference in Oslo alongside Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway as the Trump administration dramatically increased its pressure on Mr. Maduro. On Wednesday, the United States seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of the South American country.

Ms. Machado has been a steadfast supporter of President Trump’s pressure campaign against Mr. Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of flooding the United States with drugs and criminals.

On Thursday, Ms. Machado dodged a reporter’s question about her views on the threat of U.S. military action in Venezuela. But she repeated the Trump administration’s talking points on Mr. Maduro’s government, comparing him to a criminal mastermind engaged in a vast array of illegal activities in partnership with America’s adversaries.

“Venezuela has already been invaded,” she said. “We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents, we have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime. We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels.”...

read more here 

'Blatant theft and act of piracy': US seizes Venezuelan oil tanker in dramatic escalation

from PressTV

The US has ignited outrage after seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker in what Caracas compared to Israel’s pattern of unlawful military aggression and resource appropriation, denouncing the move as a blatant “act of international piracy.”

President Donald Trump boasted on Wednesday that US forces had taken control of the massive tanker Skipper—carrying roughly 2 million barrels of heavy crude—off Venezuela’s coast, declaring, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”

The aggression, executed using helicopters launched from the USS Gerald Ford, marks one of the most dramatic escalations in Washington’s four-month pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro.

Caracas blasted the seizure as “a grave international crime” that “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

“The true motives have always been our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people,” the government said...

read more here 

US announces 'Op Southern Spear' amid push for Venezuela intervention

('... in air strikes on three boats allegedly from Venezuela and loaded with what the president has described as “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl.”\

“Each boat that we sink carries drugs that would kill more than 25,000 Americans.”

But here’s the thing: Although the United States Coast Guard interdicts staggering quantities of illegal drugs in the Caribbean each year, it does not encounter fentanyl on the high seas. South American cocaine and marijuana account for the overwhelming majority of maritime seizures, according to Coast Guard data, and there isn’t a single instance of a fentanyl seizure—let alone “bags” of the drug—in the agency’s press releases.' The Atlantic Sept 2025

---

from WOLA

• The State Department’s March 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report stated: “The Department of State, in consultation with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other relevant agencies, has identified Mexico”—especially its northwest, 3,000 miles from Venezuela—“as the only significant source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues significantly affecting the United States during the preceding calendar year.”
• A New York Times analysis concluded on September 3, 2025, “There is no proof that it [fentanyl] is manufactured or trafficked from Venezuela or anywhere else in South America.”
• In Colombia, Infobae reported in December 2023, “so far the National Police has not detected any fentanyl production laboratory in Colombia.” A senior police official told WOLA that year that the country’s few detections of fentanyl had been stolen from hospitals or pharmacies.

 There is no fentanyl coming out of Venezuela 'killing 25,000 U.S. citizens each year'. That's a crock of shit. Its a lie like the Gulf of Tonkin attack. Like the attack on the U.S.S Liberty. Like Remember the Maine. Trump is just owned by Big Business, Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Banking and is doing what they are making him do.

Maybe it's because the S.S. let a goober take a pot shot at him, maybe because he's remarkably corrupt or maybe because Epstein's files are still out there with pics and videos of him fucking kids. 

The why is less important than the what and the what is he is looking to provoke a major war on behalf of all these players based on completely baseless claims which everyone can see thru immediately.) 

al Mayadeen English

The United States has launched a new military campaign in Latin America, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, under the pretext of the Trump administration's "war on drugs", which has so far yielded fatal operations and skyrocketing tensions amid the growing militarization of the region. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth revealed that, under President Donald Trump's directive, the Pentagon launched the operation, claiming it would "secure our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people."

Southern Command had initially introduced Operation Southern Spear in January, outlining the use of advanced technologies, including long-dwell robotic surface vessels, small robotic interceptor boats, and vertical take-off and landing robotic air units to support counter-narcotics efforts... 

read more here 

Jeffrey Sachs: Venezuela Regime Change - Oil & Gangster Politics

from Glenn Diesen