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Caracas, January 3, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The United States has launched a military attack against Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday.

Multiple military sites, including Fuerte Tiuna in Caracas, were reported bombed. Social media users reported low flying aircraft and active air defenses.

Unconfirmed videos on social media also showed helicopters flying over the Venezuelan capital, with military analysts claiming that US Special Forces are deployed.

The Trump administration has escalated regime-change threats against Caracas im recent months and vowed to strike land targets.

[Story in development]

The post [BREAKING] US Launches Attack Against Venezuela appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.

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On Friday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro received Qiu Xiaoqi, the special envoy for Latin American and Caribbean affairs for Chinese President Xi Jinping, at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. The high-level meeting took place amid the US escalation of aggression against Venezuela following the recent illegal seizure of oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil, some of which were destined for China, as indicated by news reports.

A public television broadcast showed President Maduro welcoming the Chinese delegation alongside Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Yván Gil. The meeting served to review over 600 existing agreements that consolidate the economic and political alliance between the two nations. Analysts suggest the dialogue also allowed the leaders to strategize against US military aggression and the recently announced naval blockade of Venezuela.

Strategic partnership and brotherly support
During the encounter, President Maduro expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping “for his brotherly support as an older brother” and acknowledged his “powerful message as a leader to the world.” Qiu reiterated that China and Venezuela are proven strategic partners, emphasizing that Venezuela represents a significant opportunity for China.

China has repeatedly condemned the US air and naval aggression launched near Venezuelan waters in the Caribbean since August. Beijing has accused the US of violating international law by seizing the two tankers.

Diplomatic resistance to imperialist aggression
Foreign Minister Gil recently held a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to conduct a joint assessment of the threats and US imperialist aggression against Venezuela. In a statement, Gil noted that the risks of such actions also loom over other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“In this context, China expressed its solidarity and firm support for Venezuela in defending its sovereignty, independence, and stability, as well as its support for regional unity and respect for international law,” Gil explained.

Furthering this stance, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian declared at a December 22 press conference that China “systematically opposes illegal unilateral sanctions which—according to most legal experts—lack any basis in international law and are not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.”

“Venezuela has the right to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries independently,” Lin added, noting that the international community supports Venezuela’s position in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests.

Strengthening the Caracas-Beijing alliance
The visiting Chinese delegation included several high-ranking officials: Liu Bo, the director of the Latin America and Caribbean department of the Foreign Ministry; Wang Hao, the deputy director of that department; Liu Xen, the attaché for the region; and Lan Hu, the ambassador in Caracas.

US Southern Command Hides Locations of End-of-Year Executions; Southern Spear Victims Reach 115

Qiu Xiaoqi, the envoy leading the group, is a career diplomat born in 1956 who previously served as ambassador to Bolivia, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. Since 2021, he has worked to strengthen strategic relations as the special envoy for the region, having visited Venezuela multiple times in recent years.

According to Venezuela’s Presidential Press, this meeting reaffirms the “unbreakable nature of the brotherhood” between Caracas and Beijing. In a geopolitical context defined by resistance to unilateral coercive measures, the arrival of this delegation underscores the importance China attaches to Venezuela as a trade partner, an energy provider, and a key political ally in the pursuit of sovereign development for the peoples of the Global South.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

OT/JRE/SF

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Every day, President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a morning presidential press conference and Mexico Solidarity Media posts English language summaries, translated by Mexico Solidarity’s Pedro Gellert Frank. Previous press conference summaries are available here.

Economic certainty backed by a strong peso and tax collection

President Claudia Sheinbaum debunked claims of a lack of investment certainty. The peso wouldn’t have appreciated without investor confidence, and Mexico registered the second highest currency appreciation via a vis the dollar in Latin America. She cited an El Financiero opinion poll in which 72% of the population views Mexico’s performance in 2026 optimistically.

Strong economy with well-being underway

Mexico has the second lowest unemployment rate worldwide; the peso posted its best gain against the dollar since 1991; the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) and Institutional Stock Exchange (BIVA) had their best year in five years; the number of foreign visitors grew 13.3% through October; and the minimum wage increased 13% at the start of the year, 154% in real terms since 2018.

Tourism that transforms: growth and well-being

In 2025, tourism confirmed the course of the 4T: more visitors, more jobs, and greater economic spending. From January to October, Mexico received 79.3 million foreign visitors (+13.6%) and the number of domestic tourists reached 92.6 million (+3.3%).

Tourism GDP reached 2.71 trillion pesos (US$150 billion), foreign investment grew 40.3%, and tourism employment increased to 5 million jobs. In addition, greater air connectivity with the US and Canada confirms that tourism is an engine of regional development and social well-being.

Mexico, the least affected by tariffs

Thanks to the USMCA and the certainty of the Mexican economy, Mexico is the country least affected by tariffs. An article from the Wall Street Journal was cited supporting this affirmation.

• Fewer tariffs on average worldwide.
• The automotive sector dipped slightly due to lower demand in the US; electronics grew.

Interoceanic Train: truth, justice, and security

Following the train derailment, the President reported on three central actions: comprehensive care and reparations for victims, a thorough and rigorous investigation by the Federal Attorney General’s Office, and ensuring the safety of the railway line. The Ministry of the Navy will recover the affected railcar, and the FGR will report on the results.

Territorialized healthcare: Farmacias del Bienestar

By March, Farmacias del Bienestar will be installed in all 32 states, exclusive to the Casa por Casa Healthcare program. The continued delivery of medical supplies are guaranteed through IMSS, ISSSTE, and IMSS-Bienestar, with support from the Health Routes.

Free public education: memory and future

President Sheinbaum recalled the 1986–1987 UNAM student movement against tuition increases and reiterated that public education must be free. In her government, more high schools and universities are being built, expanding the right to study.

Freedom with rights, not precariousness

Sheinbaum contrasted the right-wing “market freedom”—with insufficient wages—with the progressive vision: democracy, freedoms, and guaranteed rights. She reaffirmed that the State must protect rights and strategically guide the economy, respecting the market and private property, overcoming the neoliberal legacy of poverty and inequality.

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• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera January 2

  January 2, 2026

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, interrupted by an earthquake, with comments on economic update, tourism growth, tariffs, Interoceanic train derailment, Farmacias del Bienestar, and public education.

• 

  Analysis

  Bañogate & Openings for the Right

  December 31, 2025

  A debacle surrounding Chihuahua’s 2026 budget shows if the 4th Transformation of the country is to be complete, it must be implemented in all states and in all aspects of the public sphere.

• 

  Soberanía

  Soberanía’s Top 10 Stories from Mexico in 2025: #5-1

  December 31, 2025December 31, 2025

  US regional threats against Latin America, the judicial election, Gen Z Astro Turf March, poverty reduction efforts, & how Sheinbaum held off Trump’s aggressive policies.

The post People’s Mañanera January 2 appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition called on Friday, January 2, 2026, for an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and rape suffered by some of its members in October 2025 at the hands of Israeli police and prison officials, after they were arrested while attempting to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid.

“The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) condemns these acts in the strongest possible terms and demands an immediate, independent, and credible investigation, as well as accountability for all those responsible,” the organization said in a statement.

RELATED:

New Freedom Flotilla Moves Toward Gaza

The incidents occurred on October 8 in the Israeli prison where the Freedom Flotilla volunteers were taken after being intercepted by the Israeli army, which boarded their boats in international waters.

Among those reporting sexual assaults is German journalist Anna Liedtke, who was aboard the Conscience and reported on December 21 that “Israeli personnel raped her after she resisted a body search.” Also on board was Italian journalist Vincenzo Fullone, who has reported being “subjected to repeated sexual assaults amounting to rape while illegally detained, as has Australian activist Surya McEwen.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition condemned the repeated instances in which the Israeli regime commits such crimes with impunity. “The horrific attack against the Flotilla volunteers must be understood within the broader context of a deeply entrenched system of violence in which Israeli soldiers, police, and prison guards have long operated with impunity,” the Coalition stated.

We condemn grotesque sexual assaults by Israeli forces. We demand accountability amid systemic culture of impunity.https://t.co/tqpcbzHOsA

— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) January 2, 2026

In the statement, the Flotilla reiterated that “sexual crimes constitute egregious violations of human dignity and grave breaches of international human rights law and humanitarian law.”

The group, which did not rule out the possibility of new complainants coming forward “as space becomes available,” affirmed that it will continue to support “the flotilla volunteers who have suffered sexual violence” and maintained that “Palestinians—activists, children, women, men, and the elderly in detention—have suffered far more widespread and systematic sexual violence and torture at the hands of Israel, without credible accountability mechanisms,” in Israeli prisons.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Cuban actress Adela Legrá, renowned for her starring role in the iconic film Lucía (1968) by director Humberto Solás, passed away at the age of 86 in Santiago de Cuba, as reported by the president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Alexis Triana.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on his Twitter account: “A heartfelt farewell to Adela Legrá, Cuban actress, whose portrayal of a humble peasant woman seeking emancipation was immortalized by Humberto Solás in his emblematic ‘Lucía,’ illuminated by her face of authentic Cuban spirit. Our condolences to her family, friends, and Cuban cinema.”

RELATED:

Havana Film Festival: Resistance and Solidarity in the Face of Imperialism

Her passing has generated widespread mourning in the country’s cultural sphere, with condolences expressed by high-ranking state officials, cultural institutions, and figures in Cuban cinema. Adelaida López Legrá, born in 1939 in Guantánamo, was discovered by Solás, who introduced her to the world of cinema and with whom she collaborated on films such as Miel para Oshún (2001) and Barrio Cuba (2005).

Her face, described as “both strong and beautiful,” and her authenticity earned her an irreplaceable place in the history of Cuban and Latin American cinema. Solás highlighted her “extraordinary, raw, and powerful catharsis, full of light and overwhelming sincerity.”

The Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) expressed on social media its “deep respect for a renowned actress, who was much more than just a face on the big screen.” Likewise, the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema and the Gibara International Film Festival, institutions that honored her with the Lucía de Honor Award in 2017, mourned her passing.

Her filmography also includes Rancheador (1976), El Brigadista (1977), Aquella noche larga (1979), Vals de la Habana Vieja (1988), and Nada (2001). Of peasant origin, Legrá brought the essence of rural Cuban women to the screen with a naturalness that resonated with generations.

The tribute was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman, the president of the Hermanos Saíz Association, Yasel Toledo, and cultural projects such as CubaActores and CartelÓN Gráfica Cubana.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo evacuated the National Palace on Friday, along with journalists and federal government employees, after the seismic alert was activated during her morning press conference due to a 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale with its epicenter in the south of the country.

The alert sounded while the president was holding her conference from the Treasury Room, forcing her to interrupt the event and immediately implement the security protocol.

RELATED:

Derailment on Mexico’s Key Trans-Isthmian Line Leaves 13 Dead

According to preliminary information, the 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale had its epicenter in the state of Guerrero, in the south of the country, one of the regions with the highest seismic activity in Mexico.

The earthquake occurred at 7:58 a.m. local time, according to the National Seismological Service (SSN). The president led the orderly evacuation of the historic building, accompanied by reporters covering the press conference and federal government personnel.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was evacuated, along with the journalists present during her first morning press conference on January 02, 2026, due to a 6.5-magnitude earthquake that was felt in the country's capital. pic.twitter.com/wZ3GcfZkjy

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) January 2, 2026

The president of Mexico after the earthquake: “There are no deaths.”

At the close of her press conference, the Mexican leader specified that as of 9:00 a.m. local time, small aftershocks had been recorded, the largest measuring 4.2 in magnitude in Mexico City.

“So far, no damage has been reported, nor, fortunately, any deaths,” she clarified.

Mexico and earthquakes

Mexico is located in a highly seismic zone due to the interaction of several tectonic plates, so activating the seismic alert is a common prevention mechanism, especially in the nation’s capital.

Although the earthquake’s epicenter was off the coast of the southern state of Guerrero, in the Pacific, its effects were felt in several cities across the country, including Mexico City.

According to the National Seismological Service (SSN), the earthquake was considered “severe,” and they reported that monitoring continues in the areas where it was felt.

Earthquake Impact in Mexico

Evelyn Salgado, governor of Guerrero, stated that after the earthquake, state Civil Protection personnel were touring and inspecting different locations, in coordination with municipal authorities, to rule out any risk to the population following the earthquake, which had its epicenter in the municipality of San Marcos.

“So far, only minor damage has been reported,” she specified.

Meanwhile, the governor of the southern state of Veracruz, Rocío Nahle, reported via her social media that the earthquake was felt strongly in several areas of the state and that state Civil Protection is assessing the situation.

While the state Civil Protection coordination specified that the earthquake was felt in the regions of Tres Valles, Córdoba, Los Tuxtlas, Xalapa, Orizaba, Huatusco, and Coatzacoalcos.

“At the moment, no damage to strategic infrastructure has been reported, and task forces continue to conduct coordinated verification patrols,” they stated.

Mexico records 420 aftershocks following earthquake

The National Seismological Service (SSN) of Mexico has recorded 420 aftershocks following the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that occurred Friday morning with its epicenter in the southern state of Guerrero, which, according to authorities, has not caused major damage.

According to municipal, state, and National Civil Protection Coordination (CNPC) reports, the earthquake was felt in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Morelos, Puebla, Jalisco, Tabasco, Colima, and Hidalgo, although with minor damage.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Washington’s unprovoked aggression against Venezuela, and the likely coming ground attack, are an attempt at reimposing “proud, stable democracy” in the country, in the words of the US front surrogate, Maria Corina Machado.

When you decode the meaning of those words and the pretexts put forth for US aggression, you will find a remarkable culture of terrorism and gangsterism on display. Let us take a look.

The initial pretext was that Venezuela was an exporting “narco-terrorist” state. The knowingly fraudulent story did not merit even laughter by US intelligence agencies and the DEA. In the DEA’s most recent report, Venezuela is mentioned in only a single paragraph. In fact, Venezuela did not merit even a single mention in the one-hundred pages long 2025 UN World Drug Report, just like the EU’s own annual drug assessment report.

Nevertheless, Western media still incessantly report the fabricated charges without comment, while omitting the conclusions from Western intelligence, since it reached the wrong conclusion. The servility could not be more startling.

US propaganda then had to shift its main focus back to its staple: Maduro the dictator must be removed. “Maduro ramps up repression in Venezuela,” noted CNN, which failed to mention that the country is, after all, under a multi-pronged attack by a superpower.

CNN did not mention, either, that no opposition funded and directed by a hostile superpower would ever be tolerated in the West’s best friends, like Egypt, Israel, the Philippines and so on. Countries that routinely murder – not just imprison – their opposition under far less onerous circumstances.

The thought that such “opposition” would parade the capital calling for the overthrow of the government in any of these states is plainly absurd. However, that is exactly what happened in Venezuela, with CIA-sponsored figurehead Juan Guaido in 2019. It is Venezuela alone that must live up to such standards.

The idea that democracy promotion could be the real motivation behind the hostility is too ridiculous to merit even a comment. After all, the West lends its full support and sends hundreds of billions in arms to ICJ- and ICC-indicted Israel, Saudi Arabia (which doesn’t even pretend to have elections), Egypt and so on.

Incidentally, for those interested in actual election fraud in Latin America, there is certainly no shortage of issues to be concerned about. Namely, the election manipulations that are run out of Washington, which is by far the league leader.

Just to pick some examples known to all media offices – though few, if any, care: Trump was effectively “bribing Honduran voters” to “restore [the] narcotrafficking government to power”. Trump demanded that they vote for Tito Asfura, the colleague of the indicted narco-trafficker he just pardoned, Juan Orlando Hernández. Or else the US would withhold aid to the country, effectively “threatening to destroy the Honduran economy unless the country elects the oligarch-run National Party”. “Trump deployed the same strategy in Argentina’s October 2025 midterm elections,” in which he threatened to withhold a $20 billion bailout, “successfully strong-arming voters there into backing the party of the country’s mentally unstable president, Javier Milei.”

With a naval armada outside their shores to display what will happen if countries disobey, Washington thus sends the appropriate message: “you are free to choose as long as it is the right guys; otherwise you will starve.”

Thus, no reason for going to war with Venezuela worthy even of consideration from anyone with two functioning brain cells has been put forth.

The actual reason is explained openly by the aggressors themselves. In Trump’s own words: “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door.” More recently, perhaps tired of the “narco-terrorism” script, Trump conceded that he wants “the oil and land rights.”

Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar boasted that “Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity.”

This pitch was further explained by Washington’s minion Machado in a speech to the America Business Forum. As soon as she leads a “proud, stable democracy” there will be a “massive privatization program,” offering “a $1.7 trillion opportunity.” “We will open markets … And American companies are in, you know, a super strategic position to invest. … This country, Venezuela, is going to be the brightest opportunity for investment of American companies,” which “are going to make a lot of money.”

The only criticism found in the political and media establishment against an attack, then, is tactical concerns. Will it work? Will Trump get away with aggression?

Thus, coup plotter Elliott Abrams explained that Venezuela “previously was” a democracy, and “has a long democratic history,” with which he must mean as a US-run junta and staged colony, if words have any meaning whatsoever. If aggression is successful, “oil production can start rising again … As it was before the Chávez-Maduro years, Venezuela can be a major supplier of oil to the United States and a partner in Latin America.” Hopefully “Cuba, and Nicaragua” will fall too, but aggression could hurt American “clout on the international stage.” Abrams concludes by complaining that the “economic and diplomatic pressure we put on Maduro in the first term was simply not enough.”

“For 26 years, the U.S. has tried to restore democracy in Venezuela through negotiations, concessions, sanctions and a combination of carrots and sticks. Nothing has worked,” noted former OAS ambassador and Harvard lecturer Arturo McGields.

An illegal economic siege, eradicating perhaps 75% of the country’s GDP, and which has killed tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians, a failed mercenary invasion, and numerous coup attempts are not wrong in principle, only tactically unfortunate, since none of it “has worked.”

The euphoria liberals display at this show of sadism is quite revealing. For example, Rebecca Heinrichs pointed out that Cuba could fall if Venezuela is sufficiently squeezed. ”If you pressure” Venezuela “so much” and eliminate “80 to 85% of the revenue” through the illegal naval blockade imposed on them, then ”you are immediately going to have further crises” for the civilian population, and ”they are going to feel that pressure even more, and they will blame Maduro” – Cuba-style, in other words.

James Story, one of the key architects of the illegal regime change operations against Venezuela in recent years, wrote an op-ed repeating all the standard propaganda charges. Story gloated that the recent oil blockade on Venezuelan exports “is a more effective and acceptable way” of overthrowing the government, since “squeezing this revenue stream would” starve the population sufficiently so as to “recognize that life without him [Maduro] in power is preferable to him remaining”.

You will notice the transparent hypocrisy, since the US a month prior to its “total and complete blockade” on Venezuela denounced “Iran’s use of military forces to conduct an armed boarding and seizure of a commercial vessel in international waters [which] constitutes a blatant violation of international law, undermining freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce”.

It is not that Western journalists do not know about Washington’s propaganda plot when it condemned Iran only to then conduct global piracy itself, since it was publicly reported. Rather, connecting the dots would expose the media as totally servile to state propaganda, and give the game away.

To be sure, there is nothing that causes more outrage than Venezuela supposedly collaborating with the “enemy states.” Even if the charges are true, this illustrates the leading principle that must be accepted if you wish to be part of the debate: no country, however weak, has the right to defend itself against unprovoked Western aggression.

Thus, Elliot Abrams demanded the US attack Venezuela due to its supposed “cooperation with China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia, which gives countries hostile to U.S. interests a base of operations on the South American mainland,” with weapons that can “reach U.S. territory from Venezuela”. Abrams has no issues with the “legality” of such strikes, only “doubts about the chances of success.” “Merely starving” the country “will not be enough: it must be forced out of power with military strikes, which will throw the regime’s support structures, including in the military, into disarray and make them fear for their own futures.”

No doubt the Nazi press “criticized” Operation Barbarossa on the same grounds before invading the Soviet Union. Their ideological heirs have learned that “starving” the population is not enough to win; they must smash their opponents “and make them fear for their own futures.”

In fact, without a hint of irony, we read that it is Venezuela with “Castro’s Cuba” who are “attacking” the US “asymmetrically” in Machado’s words – not the other way around, of course. The goal of US aggression is to open “an extraordinary frontier for US investment in energy, infrastructure, technology and agriculture.”

In short, Washington and its allies cannot tolerate that Venezuela is “associated with” those that the Mafia Don has prohibited, as liberal media darling David Frum put it. So the “goal is to restore the Venezuelan democracy that existed before [Hugo] Chávez and Maduro” – which, again, must refer to the US-directed junta and staged oligarchy.

This is what is called “public debate,” in which the outermost “critics” warn that Western aggression simply may not succeed, while the hawks joyfully celebrate that “military strikes” can “make them fear for their own futures.”

The deep totalitarian streak in Western intellectual culture is beautifully illustrated by these statements, as well as the reactions to them: nil.

Loyal and brainwashed Westerners cannot notice that the same type of arguments could just as well be used by Putin if he wished to invade Sweden, Ayatollah Khamenei to invade Israel or Xi Jinping to invade Taiwan.

This shows that Western intellectuals reflexively view world order and violence the same way they claim Putin does: “we have our sphere of influence, and must boss it as we please.” Such simple observations cannot be uttered in cultivated circles, no matter how obvious they may be.

Through such means, the Western media have effectively become servants of one of the century’s textbook examples of an unprovoked campaign of aggression against a sovereign state.

Andi Olluri is a freelance writer on propaganda and foreign affairs, publishing mostly in European and occasionally in American leftist papers. In his professional life, he does research in epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, studying at Sahlgrenska Academy University Hospital (Gothenburg, Sweden).

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

The post Reimposing ‘Democracy’ in Venezuela: Decoding Western Propaganda appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.

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From Venezuelanalysis via This RSS Feed.

Washington’s unprovoked aggression against Venezuela, and the likely coming ground attack, are an attempt at reimposing “proud, stable democracy” in the country, in the words of the US front surrogate, Maria Corina Machado.

When you decode the meaning of those words and the pretexts put forth for US aggression, you will find a remarkable culture of terrorism and gangsterism on display. Let us take a look.

The initial pretext was that Venezuela was an exporting “narco-terrorist” state. The knowingly fraudulent story did not merit even laughter by US intelligence agencies and the DEA. In the DEA’s most recent report, Venezuela is mentioned in only a single paragraph. In fact, Venezuela did not merit even a single mention in the one-hundred pages long 2025 UN World Drug Report, just like the EU’s own annual drug assessment report.

Nevertheless, Western media still incessantly report the fabricated charges without comment, while omitting the conclusions from Western intelligence, since it reached the wrong conclusion. The servility could not be more startling.

US propaganda then had to shift its main focus back to its staple: Maduro the dictator must be removed. “Maduro ramps up repression in Venezuela,” noted CNN, which failed to mention that the country is, after all, under a multi-pronged attack by a superpower.

CNN did not mention, either, that no opposition funded and directed by a hostile superpower would ever be tolerated in the West’s best friends, like Egypt, Israel, the Philippines and so on. Countries that routinely murder – not just imprison – their opposition under far less onerous circumstances.

The thought that such “opposition” would parade the capital calling for the overthrow of the government in any of these states is plainly absurd. However, that is exactly what happened in Venezuela, with CIA-sponsored figurehead Juan Guaido in 2019. It is Venezuela alone that must live up to such standards.

The idea that democracy promotion could be the real motivation behind the hostility is too ridiculous to merit even a comment. After all, the West lends its full support and sends hundreds of billions in arms to ICJ- and ICC-indicted Israel, Saudi Arabia (which doesn’t even pretend to have elections), Egypt and so on.

Incidentally, for those interested in actual election fraud in Latin America, there is certainly no shortage of issues to be concerned about. Namely, the election manipulations that are run out of Washington, which is by far the league leader.

Just to pick some examples known to all media offices – though few, if any, care: Trump was effectively “bribing Honduran voters” to “restore [the] narcotrafficking government to power”. Trump demanded that they vote for Tito Asfura, the colleague of the indicted narco-trafficker he just pardoned, Juan Orlando Hernández. Or else the US would withhold aid to the country, effectively “threatening to destroy the Honduran economy unless the country elects the oligarch-run National Party”. “Trump deployed the same strategy in Argentina’s October 2025 midterm elections,” in which he threatened to withhold a $20 billion bailout, “successfully strong-arming voters there into backing the party of the country’s mentally unstable president, Javier Milei.”

With a naval armada outside their shores to display what will happen if countries disobey, Washington thus sends the appropriate message: “you are free to choose as long as it is the right guys; otherwise you will starve.”

Thus, no reason for going to war with Venezuela worthy even of consideration from anyone with two functioning brain cells has been put forth.

The actual reason is explained openly by the aggressors themselves. In Trump’s own words: “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door.” More recently, perhaps tired of the “narco-terrorism” script, Trump conceded that he wants “the oil and land rights.”

Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar boasted that “Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity.”

This pitch was further explained by Washington’s minion Machado in a speech to the America Business Forum. As soon as she leads a “proud, stable democracy” there will be a “massive privatization program,” offering “a $1.7 trillion opportunity.” “We will open markets … And American companies are in, you know, a super strategic position to invest. … This country, Venezuela, is going to be the brightest opportunity for investment of American companies,” which “are going to make a lot of money.”

The only criticism found in the political and media establishment against an attack, then, is tactical concerns. Will it work? Will Trump get away with aggression?

Thus, coup plotter Elliott Abrams explained that Venezuela “previously was” a democracy, and “has a long democratic history,” with which he must mean as a US-run junta and staged colony, if words have any meaning whatsoever. If aggression is successful, “oil production can start rising again … As it was before the Chávez-Maduro years, Venezuela can be a major supplier of oil to the United States and a partner in Latin America.” Hopefully “Cuba, and Nicaragua” will fall too, but aggression could hurt American “clout on the international stage.” Abrams concludes by complaining that the “economic and diplomatic pressure we put on Maduro in the first term was simply not enough.”

“For 26 years, the U.S. has tried to restore democracy in Venezuela through negotiations, concessions, sanctions and a combination of carrots and sticks. Nothing has worked,” noted former OAS ambassador and Harvard lecturer Arturo McGields.

An illegal economic siege, eradicating perhaps 75% of the country’s GDP, and which has killed tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians, a failed mercenary invasion, and numerous coup attempts are not wrong in principle, only tactically unfortunate, since none of it “has worked.”

The euphoria liberals display at this show of sadism is quite revealing. For example, Rebecca Heinrichs pointed out that Cuba could fall if Venezuela is sufficiently squeezed. ”If you pressure” Venezuela “so much” and eliminate “80 to 85% of the revenue” through the illegal naval blockade imposed on them, then ”you are immediately going to have further crises” for the civilian population, and ”they are going to feel that pressure even more, and they will blame Maduro” – Cuba-style, in other words.

James Story, one of the key architects of the illegal regime change operations against Venezuela in recent years, wrote an op-ed repeating all the standard propaganda charges. Story gloated that the recent oil blockade on Venezuelan exports “is a more effective and acceptable way” of overthrowing the government, since “squeezing this revenue stream would” starve the population sufficiently so as to “recognize that life without him [Maduro] in power is preferable to him remaining”.

You will notice the transparent hypocrisy, since the US a month prior to its “total and complete blockade” on Venezuela denounced “Iran’s use of military forces to conduct an armed boarding and seizure of a commercial vessel in international waters [which] constitutes a blatant violation of international law, undermining freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce”.

It is not that Western journalists do not know about Washington’s propaganda plot when it condemned Iran only to then conduct global piracy itself, since it was publicly reported. Rather, connecting the dots would expose the media as totally servile to state propaganda, and give the game away.

To be sure, there is nothing that causes more outrage than Venezuela supposedly collaborating with the “enemy states.” Even if the charges are true, this illustrates the leading principle that must be accepted if you wish to be part of the debate: no country, however weak, has the right to defend itself against unprovoked Western aggression.

Thus, Elliot Abrams demanded the US attack Venezuela due to its supposed “cooperation with China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia, which gives countries hostile to U.S. interests a base of operations on the South American mainland,” with weapons that can “reach U.S. territory from Venezuela”. Abrams has no issues with the “legality” of such strikes, only “doubts about the chances of success.” “Merely starving” the country “will not be enough: it must be forced out of power with military strikes, which will throw the regime’s support structures, including in the military, into disarray and make them fear for their own futures.”

No doubt the Nazi press “criticized” Operation Barbarossa on the same grounds before invading the Soviet Union. Their ideological heirs have learned that “starving” the population is not enough to win; they must smash their opponents “and make them fear for their own futures.”

In fact, without a hint of irony, we read that it is Venezuela with “Castro’s Cuba” who are “attacking” the US “asymmetrically” in Machado’s words – not the other way around, of course. The goal of US aggression is to open “an extraordinary frontier for US investment in energy, infrastructure, technology and agriculture.”

In short, Washington and its allies cannot tolerate that Venezuela is “associated with” those that the Mafia Don has prohibited, as liberal media darling David Frum put it. So the “goal is to restore the Venezuelan democracy that existed before [Hugo] Chávez and Maduro” – which, again, must refer to the US-directed junta and staged oligarchy.

This is what is called “public debate,” in which the outermost “critics” warn that Western aggression simply may not succeed, while the hawks joyfully celebrate that “military strikes” can “make them fear for their own futures.”

The deep totalitarian streak in Western intellectual culture is beautifully illustrated by these statements, as well as the reactions to them: nil.

Loyal and brainwashed Westerners cannot notice that the same type of arguments could just as well be used by Putin if he wished to invade Sweden, Ayatollah Khamenei to invade Israel or Xi Jinping to invade Taiwan.

This shows that Western intellectuals reflexively view world order and violence the same way they claim Putin does: “we have our sphere of influence, and must boss it as we please.” Such simple observations cannot be uttered in cultivated circles, no matter how obvious they may be.

Through such means, the Western media have effectively become servants of one of the century’s textbook examples of an unprovoked campaign of aggression against a sovereign state.

Andi Olluri is a freelance writer on propaganda and foreign affairs, publishing mostly in European and occasionally in American leftist papers. In his professional life, he does research in epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, studying at Sahlgrenska Academy University Hospital (Gothenburg, Sweden).

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

The post Reimposing ‘Democracy’ in Venezuela: Decoding Western Propaganda appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.

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The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterated its support for the Islamic Republic of Iran amidst escalating tensions sparked by confrontational statements from the United States government.

“Venezuela expresses its firm solidarity with the Iranian people and government, calling for an end to interventionist positions that jeopardize regional stability,” stated an official communiqué released by the Bolivarian nation.

RELATED:

Venezuela and Iran Reaffirm Strategic Cooperation Amid U.S. Threats

The statement, issued by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, expressed “deep concern regarding the recent confrontational rhetoric issued by the United States government against the sister Islamic Republic of Iran.” It also denounced the use of “the language of force, which deviates from the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations” and represents a risk to international peace.

Venezuela warns against the use of digital platforms to destabilize Iran, describing these practices as a “technique typical of Fifth Generation Warfare.” Furthermore, it condemned the “Unilateral Coercive Measures” imposed by Washington, which it considers a strategy of external pressure that “violates the sovereignty and social peace of the sister nation of Iran.”

The Bolivarian Government, true to its commitment to peace, reaffirmed that “the only path to lasting stability is sovereign dialogue and diplomacy, without foreign interference.” It also urged the international community to promote spaces for understanding that respect “Iran’s inalienable right to resolve its internal affairs within the framework of its own legality and autonomy.”

This statement reinforces Venezuela’s position in defense of the self-determination of peoples and its rejection of any form of external interference, especially in contexts of geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

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By Julia Kassem – Dec 31, 2025

As America plans to drop its entanglements in West Asia and renew a focus on China, America’s proxy powers are scrambling for influence.

Netanyahu’s recent summit with Cyprus and Greece underscored an Israeli inclination to undercut Turkish regional influence and consolidate regional energy control through the IMEC/East Med project, rivaling the Qatari-funded Turkey-Syria pipeline. Playing into Cyprot and Greek historically-charged anxieties about a neo-Ottoman revival, Netanyahu sent this clear message to Ankara at the summit in saying, ‘those who fantasize… they can reestablish their empires and their dominion over our lands…forget it’.

While “Israel” and Turkey – along with the Gulf states – historically operated as US proxy projects in the region, they are now reaching a point of contention for the prime role as the region’s middle-manager as American policy itches to shift eastward. Despite his close friendship and alliance with Trump, Tom Barrack, the business mogul assigned to manage Middle East policy, resembles the Obama-era pivot to Asia policy in action: leverage neo-Ottomanism as a regional overseer playing a role in asserting passive US dominance as the US moves to Indochina. This comes as the Trump administration spells out a recently-unveiled National Security Strategy more focused on China and less on securing energy in the Middle East.

Riparian resources also come into play as a key resource objective in the Middle East. Turkey’s extended hand in Syria culminates a decades-long quest to control Northern Syrian dams and water resources, while “Israel” draws its boundary in Lebanon from a 1920s lobbying attempt from Zionists to the British ahead of the San Remo conference that birthed Sykes-Picot: the Litani River as a “natural boundary” better used by the colonizing Zionists than the “backward” indigenous Lebanese. “Israel’s” eye on the Litani continues the age-old objective of securing a “security boundary” and key riparian resources, now to fuel its AI-driven espionage economy, which is rather water-intensive.

This came as Turkey and “Israel” came earlier this year at the point of conflict in Syria – a battlescape between Zionist and neo-Ottoman visions of regional dominance, operating under a US tutelage now scrambling to mend them together. The US needs to reinforce a joint Turkish-Israeli effort to encircle Lebanon’s Resistance, but both Tel Aviv and Ankara’s growing rivalry may hamper such efforts. As the Qur’an states in Surat al-Hashr: “Their malice for each other is intense: you think they are united, yet their hearts are divided.”

“Israel” is also contending with another rising competitor and growing threat from Saudi Arabia, which, before recently, was regarded as a cohabiting ally that could be affixed into a regional normalization vision. Normalization, a stamp of legitimacy for “Israel” in the Arab and Muslim world, is a tool for the US to faciliate closer and direct cooperation between regional Arab states and the Zionist entity in the process of facilitating a controlled exit of direct US presence in the region, which previously played as a direct curator to disparate regional proxies that posed as foes for their constituencies.

These shifting dynamics are actualized in the disparate positions in the US right, with pundits of Trump’s circle and fanbase quarreling over the future management of US exceptionalism and dominance in the world. Just as Tom Barrack and Bolton spar over weighing a commitment to the Turkish-Qatari axis vs. an Israeli one, with Trump’s current Syria/West Asia envoy advocating the former and Bolton arguing for a traditional neo-con commitment to Zionist primacy, Tucker Carlson represents a pro-Qatari approach, arguing that the US relationship with Qatar – who gifted the US a $400 million Air Force One fleet back in July – is “so much more important” than the US’ relationship with “Israel”, reflecting the growing Republican disillusionment with the Zionist entity. Meanwhile, figures like Laura Loomer and Ben Shapiro are pushed to retain support for “Israel” amongst a rapidly critical right-wing base skeptical of continued “Israel”-first approaches to “America-first”: the Republican and right-wing youth, who are breaking from the party’s traditional support for “Israel”. Less than 25% of Republicans under 45 support unconditional funding for “Israel”, and the vast majority (65%) advocate a candidate that would reduce funding to the Zionist entity.

Yes, to many segments of the US right-wing establishment, America’s “greatest ally” is proving itself to be its greatest liability. Picture Trump’s cordial and lavish welcome to Saudi Crown Prince King Salman, eager to welcome $1 billion in Saudi investment – and contrast it with the 5+ unceremonious visits Israeli PM Netanyahu made to Washington to beg for support of green lights amid towering red flags for US sustainability in the region.

“Israel”, like Ukraine, is draining the US pockets – a dynamic that defined new Republican resentment against Ukraine in Washington’s latest failed proxy war against Russia. “Israel’s” promise to pave a Trump Riviera over the graves of Gaza residents is less attractive – and realistic – for Trump than working with the Qataris or Saudis, whose lavish gifts and billions in investments in the US are an attractive invitation toward securing reciprocal real estate investments across the Middle East.

Still, the US is desperate to quickly fissure the growing competition and rivalry into continued coordination that can stay on track with Washington’s regional objectives via the “Abraham Accords”. Saudi Arabia insists that it will not recognize “Israel” until a Palestinian State is first established – an objective viciously fought, even in paltry, PA-run terms under the international status-quo limited vision for a “Palestinian State” – with “Israel” lobbying the current US administration to completely “annex” the occupied West Bank, remove recognition of Palestine and the Palestinian issue from all international domains, be it UNRWA or their institutional presence by closing the Palestinian consulate in Washington.

Syria’s Collapse: How Assad’s Fall Reshaped West Asia’s Strategic Balance

Despite the Adelson cash pushing to forcibly extinguish the Palestinian cause and a uniquely Zionist vision of preferred US power play in the region, Saudi Arabia is in a better position to leverage itself against the US, in fact, bending Washington to concessions. Riyadh consistently builds up its own power, shedding off the shackles of US security guarantees and the security-for-oil exchange that defined the old status quo between itself and Washington, shattered in the failed US-backed Saudi-led siege on Yemen. In drawing a new security agreement with Pakistan, challenging “Israel’s” qualitative military edge, and eying nuclear energy, Riyadh is shedding its reputation as a mere US proxy and as a relatively more independent contender for regional power. Since China’s brokering of a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March 2023, a Middle East more reflective of emerging multipolar dynamics emerges and shifts the scene away from a region whose states were pigeonholed into a partisan binary of bipolar power dynamics.

Meanwhile, “Israel” shifts its objectives from regional dominance to mere survival, working to consolidate any chance of future strategic success. While “Israel” has attempted for over two years to pass off tactical successes – such as assassinating leaders in Lebanon, genocide in Gaza, and occupation in Syria – as strategic successes, both Washington and “Israel’s” own public are less convinced. Israeli public opinion has remained consistently confused and disillusioned with the so-called “success” that Netanyahu attempts to pass off in pursuit of quick-victories, which have sunk the Likud party in the mud under a regional war of attrition. The US attempts to bring about the material cooperation in practice that could support the “Abraham Accords” on paper by encouraging the UAE’s cooperation with “Israel”, as seen in Sudan (with the UAE’s backing of the RSF) and its support for the STC in Yemen. For “Israel”, it is an objective existential to its regional survival to ensure that these arenas of cooperation aren’t just symbolic and organizational but strategic, directed in its attempts to prepare a position of advantage for itself in a post-ceasefire renewed battle against the Axis of Resistance. Yet curating the UAE’s construction of a strategic airbase on the Red Sea’s Zuqar Island or commissioning intelligence infrastructure on Mayun and Socotra Islands has done little to compensate for the US failures to secure control of international waterways challenged by Ansar Allah’s resistance.

Against Saudi Arabia, they even represent an added layer of a flexed projection of power in clearing Riyadh’s grip on Yemen, given Riyadh’s recent overtures toward a more coexisting relationship with Iran instead of a previously combative one. “Israel” is running out of chances to prove the existence of its command over strategic depths lost to mishaps that started out as “quick victories” and the loss of its ability to retain the upper hand in conflicts against the Palestinian, Lebanese, Iraqi, or Yemeni resistance. Despite trying to scrape by any kernels of victory in violations of ceasefires or in treacherously leveraging its disproportionate control over global technology and supply chains (like, for example, exploding pagers or infecting phones with spyware), the Zionist entity has led the US in a pattern of successive losses in the region: the loss of key waterway control over the Red Sea, the loss of regional dollar denominated trade, and the loss of ensuring regional security.

This latest stage of declining US imperialism in West Asia, the growing contradictions between different sets of US allies – namely Turkey, the GCC, and “Israel” – and the centrality of Palestine in actualizing regional and global events and dynamics reaffirm the success of Al-Aqsa Flood. Perhaps the Palestinian Resistance envisioned a break to occur as a result of the demonstration of the Resistance’s power in shattering the Israeli illusion of security or the brutality of “Israel’s” crushing attacks on the Palestinians in response. But, as Yahya Sinwar always envisioned, the impact of Al-Aqsa Flood in advancing the growing contradictions between the US regime and “Israel” and the US allies in the region represents a material vision that dwarfs Zionism’s ideological vision, fading into historical oblivion with its dated and fading attempts at reviving a dying colonialism; coincidentally the title of Franz Fanon’s historical recount of the Algerian revolution. Likewise, Western settler-colonialism’s first monumental loss in the Arab and Muslim world in Algeria precedes and has spelled the fate of Zionism, its last.

(Al Mayadeen – English)

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From Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond via This RSS Feed.

Zohran Mamdani, 34, was sworn in as mayor of New York City on Thursday, becoming the first Muslim mayor in the metropolis’s history. During a ceremony held on the steps of Manhattan City Hall, Mamdani promised a “future for Palestinians here, because New York must be a city of hope and justice for all.”

Mandari, a member of the Democratic Party and identified as a democratic socialist, placed his hand on the Holy Quran as he took the oath of office, in a historic event attended by figures such as actress Susan Sarandon, former presidential candidate Cynthia Nixon, and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in the Columbia University protests against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

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Zohran Mamdani Vows a New Era for New York City

The new mayor signed his first executive order revoking a series of decrees issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, including the ban on boycotting Israel that had been in place since February 2024. He also reversed the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James officiated part of the ceremony, while Senator Bernie Sanders administered the oath of office at the public event, which was attended by a large crowd of supporters. Palestinian flags waved alongside signs bearing slogans such as “Free Palestine,” reflecting the new mayor’s commitment to the Palestinian cause.

🚨 BREAKING: Mayor Mamdani says that he will keep open the recently-created Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

“That is an issue that we take very seriously, and as part of the commitment that we've made to Jewish New Yorkers, to not only protect them, but to celebrate…” pic.twitter.com/jjub9FKU4z

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) January 1, 2026

Mamdani has described the Israeli offensive in Gaza as “genocide” and has stated his support for complying with any arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “If Netanyahu enters New York and I don’t do everything I can to stop him, I won’t consider myself mayor of New York,” he told local ABC News last November.

In his inaugural address, Mamdani also emphasized the urgency of addressing the city’s high cost-of-living crisis and promised to govern with bold and sweeping public policies. “We will begin today to govern expansively and boldly, unafraid to face the challenges,” he told the attendees.

#UnitedStates | The new Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, in his speech after declaring victory in the 2025 elections, stated that he had overthrown a political system and that working hands are not the hands that usually choose power, but against all odds, he won. pic.twitter.com/DG6mmWhqKl

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) November 5, 2025

His election in November 2025 marked a record voter turnout, solidifying a progressive momentum in one of the world’s most diverse cities. With this swearing-in, Mamdani not only represents a milestone in the religious and cultural diversity of American politics, but also emerges as a key figure in the debate on civil rights, social justice, and foreign policy in the United States.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Of the total number of deaths, 19 were caused by motorcycle accidents.

On Friday, the Dominican Republic Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported that 29 traffic fatalities occurred during the Christmas and New Year holidays, 31% less than the previous year.

RELATED:

Dominican Republic Warns of Increased Femicides

COE’s Awareness for Life 2025–2026 operation recorded 245 traffic accidents with 307 people injured, in addition to 769 cases of alcohol poisoning and 163 cases of food poisoning, including 52 minors between the ages of 11 and 17.

The National Health Service (SNS) submitted the list of minors treated for alcohol poisoning to the Attorney General’s Office and the Ministry of Public Health so that legal and preventative measures can be taken.

Provinces with the most accidents were Santo Domingo (12.24%), the National District (9.4%), San Pedro de MacorIs (8.8%), San CristObal (7.7%), La Altagracia (7.7%), and Puerto Plata (6.9%). Of the total number of deaths, 19 were motorcycle fatalities, two were pedestrian accidents, and eight were in light vehicles.

The National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (INTRANT) also reported 25,108 roadside assistance calls, while the General Directorate of Transit and Land Transportation (DIGESETT) issued 21,996 fines for traffic violations.

Director general PN supervisa operativos preventivos en distintos puntos del Gran Santo Domingo por festividades de recibimiento del Año Nuevo 2026

📰 Amplíe: https://t.co/oyOMKSLtZt pic.twitter.com/5zLxBW27Xw

— Policía Nacional República Dominicana (@PoliciaRD) January 1, 2026

The text reads, “The Director General of the National Police oversees preventative operations at various points in Santo Domingo for the New Year 2026 festivities.”

Among the fines issued, 6,773 were to motorcyclists without helmets, 2,416 to drivers without licenses, 1,732 for driving without insurance, 1,689 for running red lights, and 957 for not wearing seatbelts.

The Public Works’ Military and Police Commission assisted 3,138 roadside calls, while Civil Defense responded to 297 domestic emergencies, including minor accidents and blood pressure checks.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Out-of-Hospital Emergency Care (DAEH) attended to 1,231 people, and the SNS reported that public hospitals received 3,068 patients throughout the holidays.

The COE’s operations involved more than 48,000 first responders, 1,301 assistance posts, 250 ambulances, 44 rescue units, 14 vehicle extrication teams, 21 mobile workshops, and three helicopters from the Ministry of Defense.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Dominican Republic: Immigration authorities detained 573 Haitian migrants, of whom 458 were deported through different border control checkpoints. pic.twitter.com/JdpzRiHVHZ

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) August 22, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE – El Nacional

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

La Paz city is once again the stage for a battle over Bolivia’s economic soul. As President Rodrigo Paz pushes forward with an aggressive economic overhaul, the streets have filled with resistance. Workers, miners, and teachers are sending a clear and defiant message: “Bolivia is not for sale.”

RELATED:
Bolivian President Paz Convenes Mayors to Discuss Emergency Decree 5503 Amid National Strike

At the center of this storm is Supreme Decree 5503, a sweeping 121-article measure that critics say represents the final burial of Bolivia’s nationalization project and the return of a painful neoliberal “shock doctrine.”

Neoliberal shock therapy has begun in Bolivia. Fuel subsidies have just been cut by the new pro-US govt, massive inflation begins:

Gas prices ⬆️ 83%
Diesel ⬆️ 163%
Bus fares ⬆️ 100%
Food ⬆️ 100+%

Unions have given the govt 24hrs to reverse the decision or mass protests begin. pic.twitter.com/6kcZPSAe64

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) December 19, 2025

Anatomy of a “Shock”: What Is Decree 5503?

Supreme Decree 5503 was introduced by the Paz administration as a response to what it calls a structural and terminal economic crisis.

With a declared $30 billion fiscal deficit and dangerously low international reserves, the government has framed this decree as an emergency fix to avoid total collapse.

But behind the technical language lies a radical economic experiment. The decree aims to move Bolivia away from a state-led rentier model toward what the government calls “capitalism for all.”

In practice, that means opening the economy to market forces and foreign capital, at a staggering social cost.

Among its most controversial measures:

• The “Sharp Increase in Fuel Prices” (Gasolinazo): Fuel subsidies have been eliminated overnight, triggering price hikes of 84% for gasoline and 162% for diesel.
• Dismantling State Oversight: Import and export controls have been scrapped, effectively removing the state’s regulatory role in trade.
• Extra Powers for the Central Bank: The Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) has been granted authority to engage in international currency operations and financial swaps to manage the country’s dollar shortage.

The government has promised a 20% minimum wage hike and a new PEPE cash transfer program to cushion the blow. But for most Bolivian families, these gestures cannot keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living.

Bolivia's workers unions announce an indefinite general strike against the neoliberal austerity measures announced this week.

No dialogue or negotiation, all the measures must be repealed first. No honeymoon period for the right-wing govt. https://t.co/t3Ku9ycQN4 pic.twitter.com/A74D708N4N

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) December 19, 2025

Structural Changes: The “Fast-Track” to Neocolonialism

Beyond fuel prices, Decree 5503 introduces a new legal and institutional framework that critics say places Bolivia’s natural wealth at the mercy of transnational corporations.

Through the creation of an Extraordinary Investment Promotion and Protection Regime, the administration has effectively rewritten the rules of state sovereignty.

Key aspects include:

• “Positive Administrative Silence”: Investment projects now receive automatic approval if the state fails to respond within 30 days, turning bureaucratic silence into corporate green lights.
• 15-Year Legal Stability: New investors in energy, mining, and agribusiness get 15 years of guaranteed rules, shielding them from future tax or regulatory changes.
• Bypassing Parliament: Strategic projects can now be approved directly by presidential decree, without any legislative debate or oversight.
• International Arbitration: Disputes with foreign firms will now go to international tribunals, stripping Bolivia of jurisdiction over its own resources.

To make this new model work, the decree also creates a Single Window for Strategic Investments (VUIE), a fast-track mechanism to bypass what neoliberal economists call the “obstacle state.” For many Bolivians, this is not efficiency; it is the legal infrastructure of neocolonial exploitation.

US companies want to build huge data centers in Bolivian areas with large Indigenous populations. They also no doubt want access to Bolivia's massive lithium reserves. The rightwing Paz government will not hesitate to be vendepatrias.
Only Indigenous & unions can stop this. pic.twitter.com/v9LzoLRZ34

— UAINE (@mahtowin1) December 30, 2025

Beyond Gasoline: The Plunder of Strategic Natural Resources

Though the “gasolinazo” has stolen public attention, Decree 5503 goes much deeper than fuel prices. It lays out the groundwork for a wholesale privatization of strategic natural resources, from lithium and mining to agriculture and pipelines.

• Lithium and the Salt Flats: The decree’s vague language about “circuits for resource development” is widely understood as an opening for foreign control over lithium extraction in the world-famous Salar de Uyuni. Critics warn this could accelerate the privatization of one of Bolivia’s most valuable assets.
• Mining and Metals: Projects in gold, tin, silver, and zinc now qualify for the new 30-day “Fast-Track” approval. Environmental and community safeguards risk being pushed aside for the sake of investor timelines.
• Hydrocarbons and LPG: While fuel prices skyrocket, the decree quietly authorizes private companies to use state-owned pipelines and storage for their own imports, an unprecedented move toward privatization of infrastructure.
• Agro-industrial Wealth. The end of domestic “fair price” requirements for basic food exports like soy, sugar, and meat will allow agribusiness elites to chase global profits while undermining Bolivia’s food security.

The pattern is clear: under the pretext of attracting investment, sovereignty over Bolivia’s strategic industries is being handed back to those who see the nation’s natural wealth as mere commodities for extraction.

BREAKING: The new President of Bolivia is now working to terminate lithium mining contracts with China & Russia, in favor of a deal with the United States.

President Rodrigo Paz's Foreign Minister said, "We are looking for a long-term relationship with U.S., relations based on… pic.twitter.com/5yOI36eFLD

— George (@BehizyTweets) December 13, 2025

The Workers’ Offensive: “Bolivia Is Not For Sale”

The social and political backlash has been immediate. The Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB), the country’s most powerful labor federation, has mobilized in massive protests, joined by miners, factory workers, and educators.

For nine consecutive days, La Paz has been the epicenter of marches, hunger strikes, and street confrontations. Protesters accuse the Paz administration of governing for the rich while imposing IMF-style austerity on the poor.

The “Bolivia Is Not For Sale” March, stretching from Calamarca to the capital, has become a symbol of national resistance. Union leaders like Mario Segundo Quispe describe the struggle as one of dignity and survival: “This is a government of millionaires, not of the humble.”

COB leader Claudio Choque has dismissed government accusations of political manipulation, insisting the mobilizations are legitimate social and labor demands aimed at defending Bolivia’s resources.

For many, the memory of Bolivia’s neoliberal “shock therapy” in the 1980s, when thousands lost their jobs amid privatization, feels painfully alive again. And this time, workers say, they will not allow history to repeat itself.

#Bolivia | The Workers’ Central Union (COB) declared a national strike and widespread mobilization to reject the Supreme Decree 5503, known as the “gasolinazo,” which eliminates fuel subsidies and facilitates the transfer of resources to private entities.https://t.co/n0Uvmghwj0

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 22, 2025

Financial Sovereignty and the Central Bank’s New Role

Decree 5503 not only reshapes the economy it also redefines the country’s financial sovereignty. The Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), once a bastion of public accountability, now gains extraordinary powers under the guise of technical necessity.

These powers include:

• International Financial Operations. The BCB can now perform currency swaps and gold-backed transactions to stabilize the economy amid a severe dollar shortage.
• Capital Repatriation Program. Wealth held abroad can return tax-free under the new “Regularization and Repatriation of Capital” program, as long as it stays in the country for two years or is “invested productively.”
• Tax Amnesty for the Elite. Progressive economists argue this measure effectively launders elite capital, allowing powerful families to repatriate offshore wealth without penalty, a stark contrast to the heavy burden falling on workers and the poor.

Although the government sells these policies as emergency “technical corrections,” critics see a surrender to financial orthodoxy that abandons the principles of economic sovereignty forged during the nationalization era.

Most lithium reserves:

🇦🇷 Argentina: 23 million tons
🇧🇴 Bolivia: 23 million tons
🇨🇱 Chile: 11 million tons
🇦🇺 Australia: 8.9 million tons
🇨🇳 China: 6.8 million tons
🇨🇦 Canada: 5.7 million tons
🇩🇪 Germany: 4 million tons
🇨🇩 Congo (Kinshasa): 3 million tons
🇲🇽 Mexico: 1.7 million…

— World of Statistics (@stats_feed) November 13, 2025

The Social Cost and the Road to Abrogation

With Decree 5503, President Paz has charted a sharp turn toward what his team calls “capitalism for all”, but what grassroots movements describe as neoliberalism reborn.

By declaring a sweeping National Economic, Financial, Energy, and Social Emergency, the administration has effectively created a fast lane for privatization, deregulation, and external control.

The decree’s supposed social protections, a 20% wage increase, and the PEPE program for vulnerable families, barely scratch the surface of an inflationary shock that threatens to erode living standards overnight.

At the institutional level, ministries have been ordered to restructure budgets within ten days to accommodate the new economic model.

Combined with the 15-year guarantees for foreign investors, the policy risks cementing a long-term dependency on external capital and corporate governance.

In the streets, however, resistance is still alive and growing. The banners of “Bolivia Is Not For Sale” and the chants of miners and teachers echo a century-long struggle for sovereignty and dignity.

To them, this fight is not just about wages or fuel prices; it is about defending the right of the Bolivian people to decide the fate of their own resources.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Bolivia: Sectors affiliated with the Workers' Union continued protesting against a decree that eliminates subsidies for hydrocarbons and threatens the natural resources. pic.twitter.com/s820l3z8Un

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 29, 2025

Sources: teleSUR – The Left Chapter – El País – 5503 Decree – La Izquierda Diario

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Mexico created a Technical Secretariat to coordinate the university, technological, and polytechnic subsystems.

The Education at a Glance 2025 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighted that postgraduate education reduces unemployment and increases salaries by up to 83%.

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Mexico Launches Justice Plan for Cananea Miners

In OECD countries, tertiary education reduces unemployment by 4.9%, compared to 12.9% for those who did not complete upper secondary education, which highlights the importance of investing in education.

This understanding varies in Mexico, where unemployment represents 2.7% for those without upper secondary education, 3.6% for those with upper secondary education, and 4.3% for those with tertiary education.

However, Luis Chiba, the director of Kumon for Mexico and Latin America, stated that it is necessary to invest in education from an early age and warned that gaps in reading and English proficiency limit academic and professional performance in the region.

Kumon, a company specializing in extracurricular classes, announced it will strengthen its presence in Latin America. They will offer after-school classes in mathematics, English, and reading comprehension, seeking to raise the quality of education in the region.

Your skills are often influenced by where you grew up, and who your parents are.

Finding the factors behind skill differences between groups can help countries ensure all adults have a chance to succeed.

Learn more: https://t.co/EBCbOUGSNF | #OECDCentre4Skills pic.twitter.com/XH2ZFtJBDT

— OECD ➡️ Better Policies for Better Lives (@OECD) January 1, 2026

Guillermo Paras, general manager of Kumon, described education as a strategic decision and noted that English is key to university admissions, meeting employment requirements, and participating in global business.

Previously, the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (Secihti) established a new Technical Secretariat to coordinate the university, technological, and polytechnic subsystems.

At the National Council for the Coordination of Higher Education (Conaces), Secretary of Education Mario Delgado and Secretary of Science Rosaura Ruiz approved the 2025–2026 work program and created 12 commissions to start it.

Ruiz highlighted the historical connection between education and science, programs such as postgraduate scholarships, the SaberesMX platform, and initiatives to strengthen mathematics instruction from the basic education level.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Mexico: Authorities announced the recovery of 2,158 objects of historical and cultural interest during 2025. pic.twitter.com/Qs057BlYcd

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) January 2, 2026

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE – La Jornada

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The U.S. actress denounces Palestinian suffering and calls for a greater flow of aid to Gaza.

On Friday, Angelina Jolie visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt, to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and observe humanitarian operations on the ground.

RELATED:

Gaza’s Actual Death Toll Could Reach 680.000, UN’s Albanese Warns

Her visit aimed to assess the situation of Palestinians who have been transferred to Egypt for medical treatment and to examine the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the Israeli offensive launched in October 2023. Images published on social media show Jolie speaking with authorities, Red Crescent workers, and drivers of trucks transporting humanitarian aid.

Human rights defenders and Gazans themselves have consistently denounced the insufficient entry of aid into the enclave due to the blockade maintained by Israel, despite a cease-fire agreement stipulating its obligation to increase the daily entry of food, fuel and medicine.

For the past two decades, Angelina Jolie has been noted for her humanitarian work on behalf of migrants and refugees in various parts of the world. She has held several honorary roles with a long and significant history at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

🇵🇸 Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to oversee humanitarian support efforts and express solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Read more: https://t.co/fU7cxvHxuD pic.twitter.com/uEVFOXCATY

— Roya News English (@RoyaNewsEnglish) January 2, 2026

From 2001 to 2012, Jolie served as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, undertaking more than 40 field missions to remote areas worldwide to learn about the conditions and needs of displaced people.

Subsequently, she served as Special Envoy for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, from 2012 to 2022, a period during which Jolie visited countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Colombia and Ecuador to meet with refugees and local authorities.

Since 2022, the U.S. actress has been more directly involved with grassroots organizations working on humanitarian issues. Over the years, Jolie has maintained a forceful position regarding the situation in Gaza.

“Gaza has become a mass grave for Palestinians and those helping them. As Israeli forces resume and expand their military offensive by air, ground and sea on the Gaza Strip, forcibly displacing people and deliberately blocking essential aid, Palestinian lives are once again being systematically destroyed,” Jolie said in April 2025.

“The people of Gaza are facing severe suffering and a humanitarian tragedy, and what I have seen of the stories of Palestinians is beyond description,” she said at the Rafah crossing on Friday.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: The Gaza Government Operations Room announced that 200,000 prefabricated housing units are urgently required to shelter displaced families and provide safe living conditions. pic.twitter.com/4kHAPllWoi

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) January 1, 2026

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Sources: EFE – EUPAC

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Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—To close the year on their version of a “positive note,” officials from the US empire have announced the extrajudicial murder of at least eight civilians—and potentially as many as 13—as part of their controversial Southern Spear Operation. Analysts have characterized this latest escalation as a continuation of their imperial “killing spree” targeting small boats under the guise of a so-called “war on drugs,” marking what observers describe as a bloody and cold-blooded conclusion to 2025.

On Tuesday, December 30, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) carried out three separate strikes against three small boats in an undisclosed location. These attacks resulted in the summary execution of three victims, while an estimated five survivors were reportedly abandoned to the elements, despite official claims that search and rescue orders were in place.

On Dec. 30, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted kinetic strikes against three narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy. These vessels were operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence… pic.twitter.com/NHRNIzcrFS

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 31, 2025

Just 24 hours later, on December 31, the violence continued with two additional strikes against two separate small boats. These end-of-year executions claimed five more victims at another unspecified location. Legal and military experts across the world, including from within the US itself and the United Nations, have labeled these actions as extrajudicial killings and war crimes. President Trump has attempted to sell the attacks as an effort to crack down on illegal drug flows from Venezuela, despite the fact the nation has been proven to be less than a marginal actor in international narcotics networks.

Experts point out that this recent wave of violence is defined by a deliberate increase in administrative opacity. For several weeks, SOUTHCOM has strategically withheld information regarding the specific countries off whose coasts these executions occur. In these latest reports, the US colonial military has further blurred geographical data by failing to specify whether the strikes took place in the Caribbean Sea or the Eastern Pacific. Legal and military experts have condemned this lack of transparency as a calculated tactic to shield US imperialism from international accountability for their continued maritime massacres, judicial overreach, and blatant disregard for human life.

Incorporating these latest acts of aggression, the totals for Operation Southern Spear have reached what monitors are calling devastating levels. As of the end of 2025, the campaign has resulted in the following:

Statistics

| Category | Total Count | |

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|

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| | Strikes | 35 | | Small Boats Sunk | 36 | | Confirmed Victims | 115 (five survivors not counted) |

These figures represent a trail of blood across the region where, according to analysts, the US military continues to act as judge, jury, and executioner against defenseless civilians on the high seas.

US Alleges Unverified Land Strikes in Venezuela Amid Rising Civilian Deaths in SOUTHCOM Killing Operation (+Primazol)

In recent months, the US has deployed more than 18,000 troops in the Caribbean and the Pacific as part of their revamped so-called “war on drugs” military campaign. According to statements from the White House, the mission has recently shifted toward the goal of “recovering” Venezuelan oil, which Washington claims belongs to the US settler state.

Analysts and Venezuelan authorities have maintained since the beginning of the campaign that the actual goal is regime change: aiming to remove the democratically elected government of President Nicolás Maduro, in order to facilitate the colonial exploitation of natural resources.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

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“Our deepest condolences for the loss of life caused by the fire,” the Cuban Foreign Minister stated on social media. Rodriguez then expressed “solidarity with the Swiss people and government and with the families of the victims.”

He also wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

The fire at the Crans-Montana ski resort has killed approximately 40 people and injured around 115 others of various nationalities, according to the latest reports.

According ti reports, ñbetween 80 and 100 people are seriously injured, so the death toll could rise.

The fire broke out at a crowded bar called Le Constellation on New Year’s Eve in the canton of Valais, in southwestern Switzerland.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

jdt/ro/jqo

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At the Cuban embassy in Guatemala City, members of the state mission and their families shared heartfelt words remembering the epic struggle waged from the 1950s to the present.

In his keynote address, Minister Counselor Roberto Socorro emphasized the significance of the revolutionary triumph, the decisive role of its leader, Fidel Castro, and detailed key events of the revolution.

At an event held at the premise of the National Coordination of the Medical Brigade, the Cuban ambassador to Guatemala, Nazario Fernandez, acknowledged the achievements and congratulated the healthcare professionals who have been providing their solidarity and support in the most remote and unexpected places for 27 years.

At the same time, the Cuban diplomatic representatives urged them to continue working diligently for the health of the Guatemalan people.

The head of the Medical Brigade, Dr. Mariheta Cutino, reaffirmed their commitment to fulfilling the mission entrusted to them by the Revolution.

From the evening of the 31st onward, every moment on social media, and still today, has been dedicated to Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro in the centennial year of his birth.

jdt/ro/znc

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Describing the negative context of the anniversary, the PSP explained that Latin America is going through dark times in which imperial measures are expressed with greater force and sharpness, with the aim of encircling “not only territories, but also the thought, hope, and common sense of the people.”

Therefore, it added, “as another year of the Cuban Revolution is commemorated, something deeper is also confirmed: another year of resistance, struggle, and moral victory for a people who do not surrender.”

The PSP also stated that the situation has never been easy for Cuba, but never as challenging as it is now, although the fervor that ignited consciences 67 years ago remains intact.

“Yesterday’s struggle is the pulse of the present. And the revolutionary dream, far from fading, continues to fuel the construction of the new man, as Che envisioned him: with ethics, solidarity, and historical commitment,” he states.

He also affirms that “Cuba remains standing, with its dignity intact, resisting the inhumane blockade and the media war” waged by the powerful empire that seeks to isolate it from the world.

“And yet, Cuba showed to the world that the revolution is not only defended: it is also shared. It did so with education, with healthcare, with science at the service of the people, with solidarity transformed into a bridge and not empty rhetoric,” which Fidel Castro summarized in the phrase “Homeland is Humanity.”

jdt/ro/mrs

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In a message addressed to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the United Left Movement (MIU) affirmed that January 1, 1959, is a memorable date in its historical, political, libertarian, and independence dimensions.

The note highlighted the significance of this year, in which the centennial of the birth of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro (1926-2016) is commemorated, “whose humanist, integrationist, internationalist, unitary, solidarity-based, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonialist legacy continues to guide the innovative resistance struggle of his people.”

Furthermore, the MIU condemned the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, which it described as inhumane and contrary to the will of the majority of the countries that make up the United Nations.

It also recognized the effort and sacrifice of the Cuban people in the struggle to defend the sovereignty of their homeland.

“We reaffirm our friendship and fraternal relations with the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), with its State and Government authorities, and with the heroic and combative people,” the statement reads.

For its part, the Central Coordination of the Caamanista Movement highlighted the island’s resistance and endorsed the condemnation of U.S. aggression against countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Colombia.

For its part, the Dominican Popular Movement asserted that the Cuban Revolution was the most significant in the region and in almost the entire world.

jdt/ro/gas

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He accuses the Central African Country’s ruling party of manipulating results.

On Friday, opposition candidate and former Central African Republic Prime Minister Anicet Georges Dologuele declared himself the winner of the Dec. 28 election and accused the ruling United Hearts Movement (MCU) of attempting to manipulate the results.

RELATED:

Central African Republic Heads to the Polls on Sunday

“When you come out of an election with good results, you remain calm and wait for the official announcement. But look at what is happening today, all these images circulating on social media. Since elections began in this country in 1981, we have never seen a situation like this, with so much nervousness and so much fear on the part of the ruling party,” Dologuele said.

Following the start of the release of provisional results by the National Electoral Authority (ANE), several candidates challenged the electoral process and denounced irregularities in the transmission of vote tally sheets.

“The ruling party is doing everything possible to manipulate the election results: they are breaking so-called tamper-proof envelopes to extract the official reports and alter them, sometimes even on the spot. I have been told that in Bangui, in a private residence, blank official reports are being filled in with falsified results,” stated Dologuele, who leads the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA) party.

“I am sure of it, because the heads of the polling stations have confessed that they received instructions not to hand over the reports. When my representatives and some of my parliamentary candidates requested them, they were told everything would be changed,” he added.

La gendarmerie sénégalaise a réaffirmé son engagement pour la paix internationale à travers l’action de la SENFPU2, déployée en République centrafricaine au sein de la MINUSCA. Basée à Berberati, l’unité a contribué à la sécurisation des élections présidentielle, législatives,… pic.twitter.com/1wAqTk7lds

— RTS SENEGAL (@RTS1_Senegal) January 2, 2026

The text reads, “The Senegalese police reaffirmed its commitment to international peace through the action of the SENFPU2, deployed in the Central African Republic as part of MINUSCA. The Berberati-based unit contributed to guaranteeing the presidential, legislative, regional and municipal elections of December 28, 2025, which were organized amid a sensitive institutional and security context.”

On Dec. 30, about 48 hours after polls closed, electoral authorities issued a statement demanding that tally sheets be given to candidates’ representatives.

“We received complaints from the candidates, particularly about the delivery of the tally sheets. We raised this matter with the ANE, which led to the publication of the statement,” explained Arsene Gbaguidi, the electoral affairs director of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Dologuele said he would await the decision of the Constitutional Council, which must rule definitively on the results between Jan. 15 and 16.

Seven candidates competed for the presidency, including incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera and former prime ministers Anicet Georges Dologuele and Henri-Marie Dondra. The candidate who obtains more than 50% of the votes will be elected in the first round. If this does not happen, candidates will participate in a runoff.

Touadera was able to run after spearheading a 2023 referendum, which approved a constitutional change extending the presidential term from five to seven years and removing the two-term limit for the head of state. That amendment allowed the 68-year-old president, who has been in power since 2016, to run for a third term.

A major opposition platform, the Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), boycotted the 2025 election, citing unfair conditions and a lack of democratic dialogue.

Since late 2012, the Central African Republic has experienced an intermittent civil war that has caused thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displacements.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Africa: Clashes have reignited in Uvira, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, between government forces and M-23 rebels. pic.twitter.com/KYXXZrkkCh

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) January 1, 2026

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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The award, established by the National Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC) in 2008 as the highest recognition for emblematic figures in world dance, thus distinguishes a supreme exponent of ballet, “perhaps the most extraordinary ballerina of our time,” declared critic Ahmed Pineiro.

Just a few days ago, the artist, decorated with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by King Charles III, gave two memorable performances of the classic Don Quixote in Havana.

Alongside the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) and Cuban dancer Patricio Reve, a guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London and also a principal dancer with the Queensland Ballet (Australia), Nunez exuded charm, vibrant chemistry with her partner, and sublime technical mastery.

Pineiro rememered the Argentine dancer’s career and ties to Cuban ballet, asserting, “Her homeland is, in reality, dance, because for Marianela, ballet has always been more than just her profession; it’s a calling.”

The BNC specialist also highlighted how she was promoted to the coveted artistic rank of prima ballerina at only 20 years old, with her dream company: The Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, he compared the Argentine dancer’s artistry to that of Cuban prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, noting that “as with Alonso’s dancing, in Marianela’s, technique is subordinate to expression, and virtuosity to dramatic truth.”

jdt/ro/msm

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The Venezuelan Ministry for Penitentiary Service announced that, as part of joint efforts with the judiciary, 88 people have been released from prison, who had been incarcerated for their involvement in the violent actions committed by the far-right following the July 28, 2024 presidential election.

This information was made public through a statement issued by the aforementioned ministry on Thursday, January 1, noting that these releases come from the comprehensive review of cases ordered by the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. In this review peocess, the Venezuelan State individually evaluates each case and, in accordance with the law, adopts precautionary measures as part of a humanitarian justice policy aimed at the preservation of peace.

Unofficial translation of the statement is provided below:

The Ministry of Popular Power for Penitentiary Service informs the country that, as part of joint efforts with the Justice System, 88 new releases have taken place in recent hours, of persons who had been imprisoned for crimes committed in the context of violent actions by extremist sectors following the July 28, 2024 electoral process—aimed at generating destabilization and disregarding the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people.

These releases are part of the comprehensive review of cases ordered by the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, through which the Venezuelan State individually evaluates each situation and adopts, in accordance with the law, precautionary measures as part of a humanitarian justice policy focused on the preservation of peace.

Despite the constant siege faced by the nation, the Venezuelan State guarantees priosners dignified treatment, respect for human rights, and comprehensive care, reaffirming the Venezuelan government’s commitment to act in defense of stability, social justice, and national sovereignty.

Caracas, January 1, 2026

Venezuela Releases 99 More Detainees for Post-Election Violence, Incitement of Hatred

This new measure comes a week after the last one reported on December 26, when precautionary measures were granted that led to the release of 99 citizens who had been detained for the same reasons.

Thus, within one week, 187 prisoners who had been incarcerated for the July 2024 electoral violence have been released. This, according to the Ministry for Penitentiary Service, is a concrete expression of the Venezuelan State’s commitment to peace, dialogue, and justice. However, the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office has emphasized that these measures do not imply impunity.

On July 29, 2024, after the results of the presidential election were announced, the far-right opposition, led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, deployed its “terror squads” throughout Venezuela to sow chaos, destruction, and death. Twenty-eight people were killed in the ensuing violence.

On July 29, the day after the election, 21 people died at the hands of the fascists. The far-right groups continued their terrorist actions for 72 hours, causing destruction, siege, and terror, and leaving seven more dead in their wake over the course of those days. Five of these deaths occurred on July 30 and one on August 1. Another woman was killed on August 3, 2024, as reported by Diario Vea.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

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By Roger D. Harris and John Perry  –  Dec 30. 2025

2025 saw progressive governments in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) delegitimized and displaced. Right-wing forces have seized on drug-related crises to attack the so-called Pink Tide governments, driving a reactionary backwash and putting new, neoliberal administrations in power. The irony is that the rise in drug use and crime is driven by neoliberalism’s failure to meet social needs. But this has been successfully cloaked.

A further irony is that governments with the strongest records in limiting the social damage caused by illegal narcotics have been the principal targets of US destabilization campaigns. 

• Contrary to Trump’s ludicrous mistruths, reports from the United Nations, the European Union, and even the US Drug Enforcement Agency certify that Venezuela is essentially free of drug production – no cocaine or marijuana production, and certainly no fentanyl.
• With its community-based policing, Nicaragua is one of the safest countries in the whole region. In contrast, neighboring Costa Rica – under aggressively neoliberal administrations – is beset by a “tsunami of cocaine” and crime “amid a backdrop of growing inequality, high unemployment, and an erosion of investment in education,” according to a special report in the Los Angeles Times.
• Cuba, despite over six decades of punishing Yankee blockades, is arguably the most gang-and drug-free country in the hemisphere.

Despite the reactionary backwash, more than half the region’s population is still governed by progressive administrations, of which the largest countries are Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. 

This could change in 2026, with presidential elections in Colombia and Brazil, where right-wing challenges threaten progressive gains. As the Financial Times observes, “Brazil’s global balancing act is trickier than ever.” Peru, where left-wing President Pedro Castillo was deposed and imprisoned two years ago, may also continue rightwards in elections scheduled for April. Of the current Pink Tide governments, Mexico appears best insulated from an imminent reversal. 

The “Donroe” DoctrinePresiding over these developments is an increasingly assertive US hegemon, citing a “Donroe” corollary to the nineteenth century Monroe Doctrine as justification for the havoc it is wreaking. Now formalized in the National Security Strategy, it claims to “reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence” in LAC.  As Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada warned the UN Security Council, Venezuela is only the “first target of a larger plan” to divide and conquer the region “piece by piece.” 

Through a combination of elections, judicial maneuvers, and extra-parliamentary pressure, including direct interference by Washington, countries that were formerly left or left-leaning have swung sharply to the right. This trend was evident in LAC’s four major elections in 2025 – in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Honduras. 

There were, however, crumbs of comfort for progressives. In Ecuador, the victorious President Daniel Noboa – whose win is likely attributable to electoral fraud – has since lost key popular referendums. In Bolivia, President Rodrigo Paz faces massive popular resistance as he moves to impose austerity economics. And in Chile, the defeated communist candidate Jeannette Jara did nevertheless secure 42% in December’s runoff vote. 

Progressive governments have also shown a degree of unity in opposing US aggression against Venezuela, although Mexico and Brazil have also had to contend with Washington’s direct pressures on them. In Mexico, this included overt military threats.

The rightward shift is starkly illustrated by Chile’s election, where the outgoing Gabriel Boric had been a “flash in the pan” and unfulfilled expectations have “reshaped the political horizon of the left.” In March, when José Antonio Kast takes office, Chile will have a “Nazi” in power – or at least a self-avowed defender of the Pinochet dictatorship and the son of an actual German Nazi. Kast’s first foreign visit after his win was to Argentina’s hard-right Javier Milei, restoring an alliance between the two major Southern Cone countries. Both have large, right-leaning middle classes that sustained dictatorships in the recent past. 

“Trump’s policies have intensified the extreme polarization in which the far right has replaced the center right,” notes Steve Ellner, retired professor at Venezuela’s Universidad de Oriente. 

Across the region, the right now arguably constitutes a significant Washington-aligned force encompassing not only Chile and Argentina but also Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, and El Salvador. All support Washington’s military aggression against Venezuela and genocide in Palestine. As Vijay Prashad observes, this new right bloc shares the libertarian economic doctrines of the Pinochet-era “Chicago Boys” (Kast’s brother was one of them), dramatized by Milei waving a chainsaw to symbolize his attack on the state.

Crime and the criminalization of migrationBoth left and right agree that organized crime poses a major threat to LAC’s security. Although statistics show that most of the region is safer than a decade ago, violence has surged in some previously safe countries and reactionary forces have pushed crime as an issue in many others. “Polls show that in at least eight countries, including Chile, security is the dominant voter concern, driving many Latin Americans to demand iron-fisted measures and show a greater tolerance for tough-on-crime policies,” reports The New York Times.

The right’s response is captured by the phrase la mano dura (“the iron fist”), exemplified by the torturous prisons of Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador. Such approaches have proven more attractive to electorates in Chile, Honduras, and Ecuador than the community-based strategies advanced by the left – even though they are proven to work. Rafael Correa successfully reduced crime in Ecuador a decade ago. Xiomara Castro, too, achieved a significant decrease in Honduras, where the homicide rate dropped to the lowest level in 30 years. Left-leaning Mexico most dramatically reduced homicides by 37%.

The right’s alarming yet successful rhetoric links rising crime to drug trafficking and immigration. Trump-style measures have been sold to many Latin Americans yet, as Michelle Elner of CodePINK explains*,* in Cuba and Venezuela he is blocking migrants from entering the US “while systematically destroying the conditions that allow them to survive at home.”

This framing resonated even in Chile, which remains Latin America’s safest country despite an increase in gang-related crime. Kast successfully blamed the increase on Chile’s half million Venezuelan migrants, whom he threatens to deport, while also proposing to construct a US-style border wall.

The principal driver of the region’s crime is the drug trade. The unseen elephant in the room is the US – the world’s largest market for illegal narcotics as well as the leading money launderer of drug profits and the cartels’ gunrunner of choice. Yet Washington portrays itself as an ally in drug-related crime prevention, claiming to be tackling “narcoterrorism” not only in Venezuela but also in Colombia and Mexico. 

This is hypocrisy of the highest order. As Venezuelan writer Francisco Delgado Rodríquez points out: “the only culprits are cartels and bandits with Latin American surnames, and their US counterparts or partners never appear, defying common sense given that the volumes of drugs, weapons, and profits generated necessarily require organized structures of their own on US soil.”

Nicaragua-based analyst Stephen Sefton also notes “the central role of the US government in manipulating the regional structures of organized crime and money laundering.” In reality, “US government propaganda uses the alibi of fighting organized crime and drug trafficking to justify its extensive military presence in the region.”

Trump has elevated this hypocrisy to new heights by releasing a former Honduran president who was serving a 45-year US prison sentence for drug trafficking and links to violent crime. Trump’s administration has gone on to murder, on the high seas, over 100 supposed drug traffickers, offering no proof of their crimes, and has committed acts of piracy against commercial vessels leaving Venezuela. This is in open defiance of the Law of the Sea, which the US explicitly cites in a different context – its actions to maintain “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea. 

The surge of drug-related crime, and even more of the rhetoric surrounding it, have coincided with the rise of a powerful Christian right. Once overwhelmingly Catholic, the region has seen rapid growth in conservative Protestant evangelical movements, particularly in Central America. Evangelicals constitute approximately 43% of the electorate in Honduras, 40% in Guatemala and Nicaragua, 37% in El Salvador, 29% in Panama, and 27% in Costa Rice and Brazil. Aligned with the populist right, these movements tend to promote social conservatism and pro-Zionism. 

Regional fragmentation In 2014, the 33 member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declared the region a Zone of Peace, pointedly asserting its sovereignty and its opposition to US military infiltration. In opposition to any such accord, Washington instrumentalizes a “war on drugs,” which Cuba has described as “a pretext to conceal military, paramilitary, and interventionist operations.” 

Biden’s expansion of US military penetration continued seamlessly with Trump – only intensified further. This includes the deployment of a full naval armada off Venezuela’s coast, major military buildups in Puerto Rico and Panama, and the recruitment of Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, and Guyana into the offensive against Venezuela. 

Trump began his new term with mass migrant deportations and sweeping tariffs imposed on the region in January, a lurch toward xenophobia and economic parochialism. In response, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, then head of CELAC, called an emergency meeting, which was then canceled for lack of regional unity. The pan-Caribbean CARICOM has seen unity undermined by Trinidad and Tobago’s servile support of Trump’s armada. In response, Black Studies professor Isaac Saney asks, “Will the Caribbean accept fragmentation as its fate, or will this rupture provoke a renewed Pan-Caribbean struggle for a future beyond empire?”

Indeed, other regional organizations such as the progressive-oriented CELAC and even the US-dominated Organization of American States (OAS) have waned, especially given the latter’s anemic response to US military aggression in the Caribbean. The OAS’s controversy-ridden Summit of the Americas, scheduled for December, has been postponed to 2026. 

Among the region’s most progressive forces, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) has faced setbacks, including the loss of Bolivia following the election of a right-wing president. The influential leadership of Ralph Gonsalves was also lost when he was voted out in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

“The level of fragmentation that we are seeing today among Latin American countries,” Foreign Policy observes, is “the most dramatic in the last half-century.”

President Maduro: Every Battle in 2025 Reaffirms Vitality of the People of Venezuela (+Defense Minister)

Great power competitionWashington’s push to consolidate hemispheric dominance is linked to efforts to counter China, now South America’s largest trading partner and the second largest for the overall LAC region.  China’s regional strategy sharply contrasts with Trump’s. China offers a win-win model of economic cooperation for mutual benefit, while the US proffers a zero-sum model of winners and losers.

China rejects excluding third parties from the region, while the US pledges to “deny non-Hemispheric competitors.” China emphasizes multilateral cooperation and shared Global South priorities, such as reforming international financial institutions, scientific collaboration, and high-tech investment. Beijing criticizes Washington’s “unilateral bullying.” 

Most LAC governments try to triangulate between Beijing and Washington, while also developing new trading partnerships with countries such as India. Under US pressure, however, Brazil and Mexico may impose new tariffs on Chinese goods, although trade with China remains crucial for both. Argentina’s President Milei accepted a US bailout, but nonetheless renewed a currency swap line with China. 

Washington is pressing its client states to take an anti-China stance, which it does not even take itself, by recognizing Taiwan and cutting formal diplomatic relations with the PRC. New rightist presidents in Bolivia and Honduras have promised to do so.

Furthermore, both the US and China need access to lithium, a vital mineral in advanced technology. Argentina, Bolivia and Chile possess around 60% of the world’s known reserves. But while China offers complementary investment and industrial partnerships in return for a share of such resources, the US offers military bases and threats. 

Despite the counter-hegemonic presence of China, the power of the US is such that it can threaten punitive tariffs on all the constituent countries and impose unilateral coercive measures on roughly 35% of the states in the Western Hemisphere. These sanctions, which are collective punishment, are illegal under international law. This is done with relative impunity and little prospect for relief for the victims. And victims there are of the so-called sanctions – especially those imposed on Venezuela and Cuba, which are under country-level embargoes or sectoral restrictions that constitute blockades because the measures are enforced against third countries.  

What Pax Americana looks likeHaiti represents the ultimate outcome of neoliberal whittling down of the state: a hollowed-out government, near-total loss of sovereignty to the US and its allies, and a vacuum in which criminal gangs operate with impunity. This is the logical outcome of enforced submission to empire. 

The US seeks to impose a similar subjugation on Venezuela precisely because Venezuela represents the hope of an alternative socio-economic order. Michelle Ellner rightly argues that Venezuela is a test case: 

“What is being refined now—economic siege without formal war, maritime coercion without declared blockade, starvation without bombs—is a blueprint. Any country that refuses compliance with Washington’s political and economic demands should be paying attention. This will be the map for 21st century regime change.”

Even if Venezuela had not a drop of oil to be exploited, it still would be in the crosshairs of imperialism as are Marco Rubio’s other two “enemies of humanity” – resource poor Cuba and Nicaragua. Havana, made more vulnerable by the blockade on Venezuela, is now teetering on the brink of a disaster not of its own making. Nicaragua, so far treated lightly, faces attacks on its tourism industry and the likelihood of punishing tariffs. Also in line for regime-change is Colombia, whose President Gustavo Petro has emerged as a continental conscience through his criticism of Washington’s deportation policies and his outspoken support for Palestine. 

Nonetheless, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro faces the hardest test, likely with worse to come. He embodies a nation and more broadly a region bravely resisting imperial domination with remarkable resolve. Anti-imperialists hope and believe that such resistance by Latin America’s progressive governments will sustain them during 2026 and beyond.

RDH/JP/OT

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From Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond via This RSS Feed.

Attacks on Southern Transitional Council forces kill at least seven people.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes against positions of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen’s Hadramaut province, marking a direct military escalation against the separatist group.

RELATED:

Why is Yemen’s Anti-Houthi Coalition Facing Instability?

The bombings took place in the Al-Khasah area near the Saudi border, killing at least seven people and wounding more than twenty.  Local media also reported ground clashes between STC forces and militias of the “National Shield,” which remain loyal to Hadramaut Governor Salem al-Khanbashi, a Saudi ally.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Mohammad Al Jaber, publicly accused STC President Aidarous al-Zubaidi of ordering a full closure of Aden International Airport, blocking the landing of a plane carrying an official Saudi delegation.

“We face persistent refusal,” Al Jaber said, referring to Riyadh’s efforts to resolve the crisis. The airport closure was decreed by Transport Minister Abdel Salam Humaid of the Aden-based Yemeni government, an STC ally.

In response, Governor al-Khanbashi – whom the Saudi-backed government recently granted full military powers in Hadramaut – announced the start of a “peaceful operation” to reclaim STC-held camps and military bases in the province.  “The operation is not a declaration of war or an escalation,” he stated, although his forces are already engaged with separatists on the ground.

🇾🇪🇸🇦 Clashes intensify in Hadhramaut: after #Saudi airstrikes on Khasha‘a, STC forces pulled back and National Shield units took control. Saudi jets also hit STC sites in Seiyun and Wadi Hadhramaut, as National Shield aims to push toward Al-Qatn, Shibam and eventually Seiyun. pic.twitter.com/YHZzeWTQ6o

— IWN (@A7_Mirza) January 2, 2026

A Split Between Former Allies

The conflict reveals a sharp divide within the former Saudi-led coalition that fought against the Ansar Allah movement, led by the Al Houthi family and supported by much of Yemen’s population.

While Riyadh backs the internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) government, the United Arab Emirates has militarily and politically strengthened the STC, which seeks the secession of southern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia views the STC’s growing presence in Hadramaut and Al-Mahra provinces – which border Saudi territory – as a threat to its national security.

In late December, Saudi coalition aircraft bombed a shipment of weapons from the UAE at Mukalla port in Hadramaut intended for the separatist group.

Yemeni government leader Rashad al-Alimi supported the decision to “end the Emirati military presence,” calling it an effort to “correct the course” of the coalition and “halt any support for elements outside the state.”

With active fighting in the south and Saudi airpower directly targeting a former ally, the Yemeni conflict grows more complex, further diminishing prospects for a unified peace and deepening the country’s divisions.

The United States bombed Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, Somalia, and Syria in 2025.
Will there be more war in 2026? pic.twitter.com/z5xUoqfdmQ

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 31, 2025

Sources:

Al Mayadeen – Al Jazeera

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.