Venezuela

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Maduro Turns to Putin for Help as US Bears Down

Venezuela also reaches out to China and Iran for military support

(Newser) - As the US takes an increasingly aggressive posture against Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China, and Iran for military help, reports the Washington Post . In a letter obtained by the newspaper, the Venezuelan leader asked Vladimir Putin about obtaining missiles, along with upgraded radar and repairs for...

US Reportedly About to Hit Venezuela With Airstrikes

Miami Herald says Trump administration sees the military targets as cogs in drug smuggling outfit

(Newser) - President Trump may be about to escalate his fight against Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro in a big way: The Miami Herald , citing unnamed sources, reports that the Trump administration has decided to launch airstrikes against military installations in the country. The White House accuses Maduro of running a drug-trafficking enterprise...

US Tried to Flip Maduro's Pilot in a Secret Sting

Federal agent promised a lot of cash if pilot delivered Venezuelan strongman to US authorities

(Newser) - The US recently tried to recruit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's top pilot to help capture the embattled leader, according to an in-depth report by the AP . The plan began when an informant approached the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, claiming to have information about planes used by Maduro....

Venezuela: Trump Is Plotting Regime Change

Lindsey Graham appears to confirm Trump wants Nicolás Maduro out—and may strike soon

(Newser) - A top Venezuelan official is accusing President Trump of actively trying to topple the government of Nicolás Maduro. Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's attorney general and a close Maduro ally, told the BBC that there is "no doubt" Trump is seeking regime change and wants to turn Venezuela...

Pentagon Sending Aircraft Carrier to South America

It's the latest US military escalation in the region

(Newser) - Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Friday the military is deploying an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, a move the Washington Post describes as a "major escalation" of the US military presence in the region. Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to...

On a Tropical Isle, Possible Grim Hints of US Strikes

Bodies with burn marks, missing limbs have washed ashore from the Caribbean in Trinidad

(Newser) - In Trinidad, a grim mystery has surfaced along the island's northeastern coast: mutilated bodies washing ashore shortly after US military strikes in the Caribbean. The first corpse, bearing burn marks and missing limbs, appeared in Cumana soon after a widely reported US attack on a boat in early September,...

Seeing No Crime, Ecuador Frees Survivor of US Strike

Trump had said the man would face 'detention and prosecution' in his home country

(Newser) - The survivor of a US strike on a submersible vessel that the Trump administration says was transporting drugs in the Caribbean has been released by authorities in Ecuador. Prosecutors said they had no evidence that Andrés Fernando Tufiño committed a crime in the South American nation, a government...

Trump Threatens Colombia After Accusation on US Strike

Petro says a fisherman with no ties to drug industry was killed

(Newser) - President Trump escalated tensions with Colombia on Sunday, publicly labeling President Gustavo Petro an "illegal drug leader" and announcing he's ending aid to the country. Petro had suggested the death of a Colombian fisherman in a recent strike in the Caribbean was murder, claiming it was a...

Beleaguered Venezuela Celebrates Its First Saints

Revered 'doctor of the poor' and founder of religious order are canonized by Pope Leo

(Newser) - Pope Leo XIV canonized Venezuela's beloved "doctor of the poor" Sunday before 70,000 people at the Vatican, offering the South American nation its first saint and a reason to celebrate during its yearslong economic crisis and new tensions with the US . José Gregorio Hernández, revered by...

Feds Charge Smartmatic With Money Laundering

Prosecutors say the voting technology firm greased election officials' palms in Philippines to tune of $1M

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors have charged voting technology firm Smartmatic with money laundering and other crimes arising from more than $1 million in bribes that several executives allegedly paid to election officials in the Philippines. The payments, between 2015 and 2018, were made to obtain a contract with the Philippines government to...

Southern Command's Boss Quits as Pentagon Sends Forces

Adm. Alvin Holsey has held the job, overseeing the area that includes the boat strikes, for less than a year

(Newser) - The head of the US Southern Command, whose job includes overseeing military operations in the area where the Pentagon has been carrying out fatal strikes on what the Trump administration describes as drug-running boats, announced Thursday that he's leaving the position. Adm. Alvin Holsey has been in the...

Trump Confirms CIA Covert Ops in Venezuela

But president won't say if he gave the green light to 'take out' Maduro

(Newser) - President Trump has confirmed authorizing covert CIA operations in Venezuela. Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Trump also floated the idea of military strikes against drug cartels there, citing two motivations: claims that Venezuela has "emptied their prisons into the United States" and ongoing concerns about narcotics...

Trump Announces Another Deadly Strike in Caribbean

He says 6 were killed in small boat 'just off the coast of Venezuela'

(Newser) - The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, President Trump said Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, Trump said in a Truth Social post. It's the fifth deadly...

Venezuela Shuts Norway Embassy After Nobel for 'Witch'

Move follows Peace Prize for opposition leader Machado

(Newser) - Venezuela has shut down its embassy in Norway just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . The Venezuelan government did not mention Machado's award in its official statement, instead framing the closure as part of a broader restructuring of its foreign service....

Peace Prize Winner on Call: 'I Certainly Do Not Deserve This'

Nobel award recognized Maria Corina Machado's fight for democracy in Venezuela

(Newser) - Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado learned early Friday that she'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in an emotional phone call, captured on video , from Kristian Berg Harpviken of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. "Oh my God," Machado told Harpviken, per CBS News . "I am...

Venezuela Warns of 'False Flag' Plot to Attack US Embassy

Maduro ally says security has been stepped up

(Newser) - Venezuela warned Monday of an alleged plan by extremists to attack the shuttered US Embassy complex in Caracas with explosives, coming as bilateral tensions simmer over Washington's military deployment in the Caribbean. Jorge Rodríguez, head of the National Assembly and of Venezuela's delegation for dialogue with the...

Hegseth: Military Destroyed Another Boat, Killing 4 Aboard
US Strike Kills 4 Off Venezuela
Oct 3, 2025 4:55 PM CDT

US Strike Kills 4 Off Venezuela

Hegseth provides no evidence that boat was carrying narcotics

(Newser) - The US military killed four men on a boat in international waters near Venezuela on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a post, claiming without presenting evidence that the vessel was involved in smuggling narcotics and those on board were linked to terrorist organizations. It was the fourth...

Pentagon Looks at Options to Strike Venezuelan Drug Targets

Operation could begin in weeks, insiders say

(Newser) - The Pentagon is working on plans to attack drug traffickers inside Venezuela, an operation that could begin in weeks, people familiar with the operation told NBC News . President Trump posted last weekend that military had destroyed a boat in the Caribbean that he said was carrying narco-traffickers and drugs for...

Colombia's President Slams US Boat Strikes as 'Murder'

Petro demands answers as US strikes spark legal and ethical debate

(Newser) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro has labeled recent US airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean as an "act of tyranny," raising pointed questions about their legality and human cost. In a BBC interview , Petro argued that using military force against such vessels—reportedly resulting in 17...

Trump Says Military Carried Out 2nd Strike on Venezuelan Boat

President says strike killed '3 male terrorists'

(Newser) - President Trump announced that the US military again targeted a boat he says was carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel.
  • "This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the
...

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