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The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Honduras declared Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah, candidate of the National Party, as the constitutionally elected president for the 2026-2030 term on Wednesday, December 24, in a decision that has been described by various sectors as an “electoral coup.”

The proclamation was carried out solely by council members Ana Paola Hall García and Cossette Alejandra López Osorio, in the absence of institutional consensus and without the vote-by-vote recount being completed.

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The measure comes amid serious allegations of irregularities in the vote-counting process, strong foreign interference, and a suspected conspiracy orchestrated before the November 30 elections. The ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), the Liberal Party, and even CNE board member Marlon Ochoa have formally objected to the decision, stating that a transparent recount of votes has not been conducted and that thousands of tally sheets with unresolved inconsistencies remain.

Salvador Nasralla, the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate, categorically rejected the proclamation, asserting that “a large majority of citizens do not support the course the process is taking.” In a message addressed to board members Hall and López, Nasralla accused the electoral body of responding to interests other than the popular will and denounced the system for favoring figures linked to corruption.

Former Foreign Minister Enrique Reina also spoke out on Wednesday, warning of the CNE’s intention to establish a “de facto president-elect.” On social media, Reina wrote: “This is how Honduras wakes up, with an electoral coup underway and a National Electoral Council (CNE) comprised of two illegal members, marching toward declaring a de facto president-elect.”

Consumando el Golpe de Estado Electoral, sin resolver las solicitudes de impugnaciones, escrutinios especiales ni nulidades. Elevan al TJE sin petición de parte. Siempre hay alguien que presenta el documento inicial, como la renuncia falsa de @manuelzr en 2009. Tienen armado el… pic.twitter.com/KY7GT9HHRt

— Enrique Reina (@EnriqueReinaHN) December 23, 2025

His complaint refers to the CNE plenary session on Tuesday, December 23, in which Hall and López refused to review approximately 10,000 tally sheets with inconsistencies, thus dismissing numerous challenges.

Marlon Ochoa, a CNE council member, described the measure as an “electoral coup,” emphasizing that the declaration was made without completing the special recount and without resolving the 288 challenges filed.

This Wednesday, Ochoa filed a formal complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) in Tegucigalpa, accompanied by 10 audio recordings that, he claimed, “prove the electoral fraud orchestrated by the two-party system.”The recordings reportedly include the voices of a former president, a former Liberal Party candidate, foreign presidential advisor Fernando Cerimedo, and other unidentified figures.

Ochoa denounced “the most vulgar and blatant foreign interference in the country’s history,” pointing directly to the United States government. He asserted that Washington deployed “a litany of actions” to influence the elections, including threats of economic sanctions if Asfura, the candidate publicly endorsed by former President Donald Trump, did not win.

Furthermore, he revealed that millions of text messages were sent to remittance recipients warning of their suspension if the U.S.-backed candidate did not prevail, which he considered a “violation of respect for the sovereign will of the people.”

“It is a crime to declare a president with hundreds of tally sheets still unprocessed and with evidence of inconsistencies,” Ochoa stated upon leaving the Public Prosecutor’s Office. He added that, “when one analyzes the universe of tally sheets where the number of voters on the tally sheet matches the number of voters registered on the biometric device, the winner of the elections is not the person they are now trying to declare as president of the Republic.”

The institutional crisis in Honduras is deepening as political and social actors demand transparency, a full audit, and respect for the popular will. The National Electoral Council’s declaration, issued without consensus or full scrutiny, jeopardizes the legitimacy of the 2025 Honduran electoral process.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

A group of UN experts has strongly condemned the partial maritime blockade imposed by the United States on Venezuela, saying it violates fundamental principles of international law.

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From Presstv via This RSS Feed.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil expressed his gratitude Wednesday to Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly for supporting his condemnation of US maritime piracy in the Caribbean Sea.

Gil emphasized on his social media that the seizure and pursuit of Venezuelan oil tankers in international waters constitutes “an act of piracy that not only threatens our economy but also defies fundamental principles of international law.”

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UN Experts Condemn U.S. Maritime Blockade on Venezuela

“We appreciate Iran’s support in denouncing these practices that seek to destabilize our nation and subject our people to an unjust siege,” he stated on behalf of President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan people.

A group of 150 Iranian parliamentarians issued a statement reaffirming that the interception of commercial vessels without authorization from competent authorities should be classified as maritime piracy, in line with the position of Caracas and other international leaders.

Lawmakers stressed that such actions violate international maritime law and the principle of freedom of navigation, and undermine regional stability through the deployment of US military forces.

The Iranian Parliament warned that Washington bears direct responsibility for any escalation of tensions resulting from its operations. It also called for an end to sanctions and unilateral pressure, stating that US intervention in various regions has generated “insecurity, destruction, genocide, and massacres.”

The joint statement coincides with reports indicating that, under the pretext of counternarcotics operations, US forces have attacked 28 vessels in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, resulting in 104 extrajudicial killings.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has intensified with the arrival of winter, amid the Israeli blockade that limits the entry of essential aid. Thousands of displaced people are living in makeshift tents after their homes were destroyed during recent Israeli attacks, which continue despite a declared ceasefire.

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Constant rain and flooding have swept away entire camps, forcing families to manually prop up their structures to prevent collapse. Hundreds of people have begun a new search for safe shelter. In a statement collected by local media, Um Salim, grandmother of several orphaned children, recounted: “More than 20 of us live in a single dilapidated tent, including 17 grandchildren whose parents died during the war. The tent offers no protection from the rain, and all the blankets are soaked. We suffer from everything here.”

Tens of thousands of displaced families in #Gaza — many sheltering in tents and overcrowded schools — face rain, flooding, and deteriorating living conditions.

As winter deepens the hardship, UNRWA teams continue working to support people wherever they are.#UNRWAworks pic.twitter.com/KbhQAO4tRg

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 22, 2025

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 55,000 families have been affected by recent storms across Gaza. This is compounded by a growing health crisis: medical authorities are warning of the spread of cholera and polio, exacerbated by Israeli restrictions on the entry of medical supplies. Doctors Without Borders reports high rates of respiratory infections, with the risk of an increase during the winter season.

The combination of humanitarian, health, and climate emergencies leaves thousands of families in extremely vulnerable conditions in the Gaza Strip.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel launched a powerful appeal for peace and unity in Latin America amid a “grave threat to the peace and sovereignty” of the region. In a letter titled “For Peace and Unity: Listen to the Voice of the People,” disseminated on social media and endorsed by international figures, Esquivel denounces the actions of the Donald Trump administration, which he claims violate international law and seek to revive “a colonial logic” on the continent.

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Nobel Peace 1980 Adolfo Perez Esquivel: Trump’s Policy Actively Undermines International Law

The appeal, which calls for signatures from prominent figures in various fields, underscores the need to defend the self-determination of peoples, demand respect for the UN Charter, and mobilize to preserve Latin America as a territory of peace. “We invite you to add your signature and spread this call,” stated the Argentine laureate.

The document expresses concern over the US military deployment in the Caribbean, particularly its impact on innocent fishermen whose boats have been sunk under the “false pretext” of linking the Venezuelan government to drug trafficking in the United States. In this context, the signatories demand the immediate withdrawal of US armed forces from the Caribbean.

[Appeal from Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. FOR PEACE AND UNITY. “LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE”]

The text strongly rejects the Trump administration’s attempts to invade Venezuela, considering such actions a flagrant violation of UN treaties, agreements, and declarations. It also condemns the threats made by the former US president against Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, and Nicaragua—countries that, according to the statement, defend their sovereignty and resist US colonialism.

The declaration also addresses the global situation, alluding to the US and Israeli bombings of Iran, which “violate the sovereignty of a sister nation.” Within this broader context, the signatories urge an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, reiterating that “dialogue is the only path to conflict resolution.”

One of the central points of the document is the warning about the threat of nuclear war, which “endangers the existence of the planet.” To substantiate its appeal, the text recalls the historical lessons of World War II, the Nazi extermination camps, and the horror of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, emphasizing the importance of listening to the Hibakusha—survivors of the nuclear bombings—as witnesses to human suffering.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Venezuela denounced what it describes as a nuclear intimidation by the United States in the Caribbean Sea. pic.twitter.com/D5R6QoN7rT

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) August 29, 2025

“It is necessary to disarm armed reason,” the message states, concluding with a demand to world leaders: “Listen to the voice of the people,” remember the past to “illuminate the present,” and build peace in our “Common Home,” Planet Earth.

Faced with the “profound uncertainty” generated by wars, conflicts, and famine in various regions, the document warns: “We know how wars begin, but no one knows how they end.” Therefore, the appeal calls for courage and collective action, rejecting the “suspension of conscience” and “mass immorality” that fuels the logic of war.

Finally, the initiative calls upon prominent figures from around the world—religious leaders, labor unions, social movements, Indigenous peoples, human rights defenders, academic institutions, women, youth, artists, and journalists, among others—to join this cause in defense of peace, sovereignty, and the unity of peoples.

🌍 Yesterday was #HumanRightsDay!

This year’s theme: #HumanRights, Our Everyday Essentials — reminding us that rights aren’t abstract; they’re the essentials we depend on daily: safety, dignity, freedom, and equality.

Human rights are:
✅ Positive – They bring joy and security.… pic.twitter.com/hZ1upkWXWs

— Journal of the United Nations (@Journal_UN_ONU) December 11, 2025

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

By Vijay Prashad  –  Dec 21, 2025

Kast’s agenda will not eliminate unrest but may postpone it for a while, only to sharpen its eventual return to the streets.

On December 14, the predictable happened: José Antonio Kast, the candidate of the far-right Republican Party, prevailed over Jeannette Jara of the Communist Party of Chile by 58.16% to 41.84%. Kast ran as the candidate of the Cambio por Chile (Change for Chile) platform and was backed by all the parties of the traditional right and the center-right. Jara, on the other hand, was the candidate of Unidad por Chile (Unity for Chile), which comprised the parties of the center-left, including the bloc of Chile’s current president, Gabriel Boric, the Frente Amplio or Broad Front.

In the first round of the election, Jara had been the lead candidate with 26.58% of the vote, while Kast won 23.92%. But this was misleading. The two right-wing candidates who immediately endorsed Kast, Johannes Kaiser (with 13.94%) and Evelyn Matthei (with 12.46%), provided him with an arithmetical advantage of 50.32%. The question for Jara was whether she could surpass 30%. That she ended up with over 40% is itself a remarkable achievement. It is not easy for the Chilean population, marinated in anti-communism for several generations (particularly during the military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990), to consider voting a Communist into the presidential palace, even if her opponent is a man of the extreme right.

Kast’s arrival in La Moneda, the presidential palace, is part of the Angry Tide that has been sweeping Latin America from El Salvador to Argentina. His victory is not entirely unique. It follows the collapse of the liberal agenda that tried to maintain rigid economic austerity policies alongside limited social programs; and it is the result of the left’s failure to build a strong agenda to fulfill the demands of the social uprisings that have punctually erupted against austerity and hierarchy.

The child of the dictatorshipJosé Antonio Kast is a product of Chile’s long shadow, where the unresolved legacies of the military dictatorship seep into the present. Born in 1966 to a German immigrant family, Kast emerged from the conservative heartlands of Chilean politics, first as a member of the Independent Democratic Union, the party most faithfully aligned with Augusto Pinochet’s project. His political formation is inseparable from that history: an unrepentant defense of the neoliberal order imposed by force and a moral authoritarianism dressed up as “tradition”.

Kast’s father (Michael Martin Kast Schindele) served in the Wehrmacht (the German army) and was a member of the Nazi Party. After Germany’s defeat, Michael Kast fled Allied custody in Italy, returned to Bavaria, then escaped the postwar denazification process and emigrated to Argentina and then Chile via the Vatican’s ratlines. In Santiago in 1950, Kast started a sausage company and built a fortune. His elder son, Miguel Kast (a “Chicago Boy”) served as Minister of Labor and president of the Central Bank under the military government of General Augusto Pinochet. The entire family supported Pinochet. When asked about Pinochet by La Tercera in 2017, José Antonio Kast said, “I defended his government, but I never even had a coffee with him. You don’t have to be very imaginative to think that if he were alive, he would vote for me. Now, if I had met with him, we would have had a cup of tea at La Moneda”.

Kast cannot be held responsible for his father. He has said that Nazism is an ideology with which he disagrees, and one should take him at his word. On the other hand, the easy facility with which he embraces Pinochet’s military dictatorship should give one pause. During the social uprising in Chile in 2019, Kast reinvented himself as the defender of the ordinary Chilean against migrants, feminists, socialists, communists, and Mapuche demands against the cruel social order. Kast borrowed from the global far right: law-and-order fantasies, nostalgia for old hierarchies of race and gender, and a ruthless contempt for social movements that dare to challenge entrenched inequality.

Petro’s Strategic Dilemma: Chile and Venezuela

What makes Kast dangerous is not his originality, for there is nothing original about his ideas or his place in society. It is his familiarity that is dangerous. Despite the end of the military dictatorship thirty-five years ago, the structures set in place by Pinochet remain. This includes the Constitution of 1980, which now appears eternal because two attempts to revise it (in 2022 and 2023) failed. Crucially, Chile’s reality includes property relations reorganized during the dictatorship to favor the oligarchy, including Pinochet’s own relatives. During the dictatorship, Pinochet privatized one of the major mining companies, Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), which was taken over by Pinochet’s son-in-law, Julio Ponce Lerou, (then married to Pinochet’s daughter Verónica). This sort of dictatorship-driven piracy remained intact after the dictatorship ended (Pinochet’s granddaughter now runs the company).

These features of the oligarchy and its Pinochet-era consolidation are crucial to Kast’s prominence and rise. He speaks a language long used in Chile to justify this inequality: that markets are sacred, that discipline is virtue, and that memory must be silenced. In moments of crisis, figures like Kast do not arise by accident. They are summoned by elites when democracy threatens to become too democratic, when the people begin to ask for dignity rather than permission. He will be sworn in on March 11, 2026.

**Will Chile rise again?**A massive social uprising that began in October 2019 brought together many sections of Chile’s society that had felt the hard edge of neoliberal austerity. This was not a spontaneous rebellion, but the product of decades of accumulated grievances rooted in inequality, privatization, and social humiliation, grievances that had long been contested by various social forces organized into movements and platforms. That protest led to the victory of the center-left’s Gabriel Boric in 2021, but Boric’s government was simply unable to break with the consensus and provide the country with a new agenda for new times. It was almost a caretaker government from one right-wing president (Sebastián Piñera, 2010-2014 and 2018-2022) to another. The streets are calmer now than they were in 2019, but the structural conditions that produced that uprising have not been dismantled.

When I met Boric before he took office, he was certain that his government would be able to reform the pension system and perhaps address the healthcare, education, and housing crises. Nothing was really achieved, and even constitutional reform failed. With the promise of social mobility no longer available to the population, particularly the youth, discontent rose. The center-left lost its legitimacy, and that discontent turned to disillusionment once again. There is a widespread sense of political exhaustion and betrayal. Institutions appear incapable of translating popular demands into real change, reinforcing the idea that voting (even if compulsory) cannot inaugurate a new world. This demoralization is a real social force, one that led a large section of Jara’s voters to vote to block Kast rather than to vote for Jara with enthusiasm.

Chile’s median age is 38. Many young Chileans entered adulthood amid the social uprising over the past decade, then a pandemic, and finally what appears to be permanent inflation. With the failure to ratify a new Constitution and with the victory of Kast, this young Chilean voice for a different future is certainly going to feel muted. But it will not remain silenced for long. It will have to come to terms with Kast’s horrendous program: the continued militarization of the Mapuche territory in the south, the criminalization of protest, and the expansion of a state that prepares for containment, not redistribution. Kast’s agenda will not eliminate unrest but may postpone it for a while, only to sharpen its eventual return to the streets. When Kast sends the police to beat the protestors, his followers will undoubtedly take refuge in the language of legality, while his opponents will speak of the regime’s illegitimacy. If Kast cannot deliver policies to contain inflation and unemployment, inequality will rise and produce its own fury.

If a new social uprising does form, what will be its core issue? And will those who lead it be able to generate a credible political project capable of channeling that anger toward transformation? If there is no such project, a repeat of 2019 might move from explosion to disappointment and then to utter dejection. It will be up to Jara and others around her to craft an agenda to defend citizens’ constitutional rights against the Kast government and then to shape a project that is credible and desirable. The social uprising of 2019 is not a closed chapter; it is an unfinished sentence. Within that unfinished sentence were the Boric years (2022-2026), a delay more than anything. Dignity remains the demand. It may reassert itself, but only when patience runs out again.

(Peoples Dispatch)

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

The Astinor company will focus on ship repairs in 2026.

The Cuban Business Unit Alcides Pino (Astinor), founded in 1959 by Che Guevara in Gibara, Holguin, undertook its largest project with the construction of 12 modern fishing vessels.

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Astinor Director Boris Manuel Reyes explained that since 2021, they have been using fiberglass-reinforced plastic, a novel technology that saves energy, guarantees durability, and marks an advance in Cuban shipbuilding.

The Company also produces various fiberglass-reinforced plastic products, such as food service counters, small boats, tanks ranging from 200 to 24,000 liters, and 21-meter shrimp boats, which are the largest in Cuba.

Since there are approximately 200 fishing vessels currently out of service, the company will focus on ship repairs in 2026. The goal is to boost vessel exports and specialized services that also aid the country’s sector.

🐟La Unidad Empresarial de Base Concha Azul, del municipio holguinero de #RafaelFreyre ejecuta procesos de captura y acuicultura con el propósito de recuperar las capacidades de producción y el crecimiento de su actividad industrial.
Información precisa 👇https://t.co/aD8RiZMGYZ pic.twitter.com/kgiOCCVnQ3

— Yaima Deyá Ramírez (@YDeyaACN_Cuba) December 9, 2025

The text reads, “The Concha Azul Base Business Unit, in the municipality of Rafael Freyre in Holguin, is carrying out capture and aquaculture processes to recover production capacities and the growth of its industrial activity.”

The first two vessels, lobster boats, were sent to the La Coloma Industrial Enterprise in Pinar del Rio province. Later, smaller fishing boats were built for the provinces of Camagüey, Las Tunas, and Puerto Cabaña in the Mariel special development zone.

Three of the remaining eight vessels are currently undergoing testing. This process is one of the final tasks of the year and ensures the quality of the vessels before their final delivery.

Astinor has facilities in Gibara, and its workforce prioritizes safety and fair wages, with many employees boasting over 40 years of service. Since its inception, the company has implemented safe and innovative technologies: first wood, then ferrocement, and currently fiberglass.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Cuba: President Miguel Diaz-Canel assured that the new act of piracy and maritime terrorism in Caribbean waters by United States forces is a serious violation of international law and deserves total global condemnation. pic.twitter.com/xZIfYM05FJ

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 24, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: Granma

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Special rapporteurs warn naval actions violate international law and threaten human rights.

In statements issued on Dec. 24, four United Nations experts condemned the partial maritime blockade imposed by the United States against Venezuela.

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Ben Saul, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms; George Katrougalos, independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Surya Deva, special rapporteur on the right to development; and Gina Romero, special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, warned that the U.S. blockade constitutes a violation of the most basic norms of international law.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. This unilateral measure is being backed by a large military force deployed in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela.

“There is no right to enforce unilateral sanctions through an armed blockade,” the UN experts said, recalling that a blockade is a prohibited use of military force against another country under Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.

It’s not about drugs, it’s not about democracy — Trump’s blockade is about stealing Venezuela’s oil!

Trump isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. He just announced what amounts to a massive campaign of piracy with the explicit goal of looting Venezuela’s natural resources. And… pic.twitter.com/FbEyAkdaJs

— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) December 17, 2025

“It is such a serious use of force that it is also expressly recognized as illegal armed aggression under the General Assembly’s 1974 Definition of Aggression. As such, it is an armed attack under Article 51 of the Charter — in principle giving the victim state a right of self-defense,” they said.

“The illegal use of force, and threats to use further force at sea and on land, gravely endanger the human right to life and other rights in Venezuela and the region,” the experts warned.

Aggression is a crime subject to universal jurisdiction under international law, which gives all countries the power to prosecute it, although the most senior government leaders retain immunity from foreign prosecution while still in office.

“There are serious concerns that the sanctions are unlawful, disproportionate and punitive under international law, and that they have seriously undermined the human rights of the Venezuelan people and the Sustainable Development Goals,” the experts said.

In November, Washington designated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other senior officials as alleged members of the so-called “Cartel of the Suns.”

Labeled by Trump as a “foreign terrorist organization,” this cartel does not exist, as evidenced by reports from U.S. security agencies themselves. The harassment of the Bolivarian nation has not stopped there, however, as U.S. actions have generated an atmosphere of insecurity and abuses in the Caribbean.

Trump last week said the quiet part out loud when he admitted his “total blockade” of Venezuela was about taking the country’s oil. But as @manolo_realengo explains, the majority of people in Venezuela are ready to defend their homeland.

Watch the Socialist Program on BTNews. pic.twitter.com/72YYRMl1C5

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) December 22, 2025

Since September, U.S. forces have been involved in 28 attacks on civilian vessels in which at least 104 people — who posed no immediate threat to U.S. security — were killed, allegedly for involvement in international drug trafficking.

“These killings amount to violations of the right to life. They must be investigated and those responsible held accountable. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress should intervene to prevent further attacks and lift the blockade,” the experts said.

They called on states to urgently take all feasible measures to stop the blockade and the illegal killings — including through diplomatic protests, General Assembly resolutions and peaceful countermeasures — and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Collective action by states is essential to uphold international law. Respect for the rule of law, sovereignty, nonuse of force, nonintervention and the peaceful settlement of disputes are essential to preserving peace and stability worldwide.”

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Venezuela: Foreign Minister Yvan Gil informed that he received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. pic.twitter.com/kY5pmbuss6

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 24, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: OHCHR

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

By Ben Norton  –  Dec 19, 2025

Donald Trump has openly admitted that he wants to take Venezuela’s oil. Top US officials have made it clear that this is a key reason for their war on the South American nation.

Trump declared an illegal naval blockade of Venezuela on December 16. The US government aims to prevent Venezuela from selling oil to China, to starve Caracas of export revenue.

The Trump administration is also illegally blocking Venezuela from importing crucial goods — including the light crude and chemicals needed to process and refine its own heavy crude.

The US goal is to bring about an extreme crisis in Venezuela — to “make the economy scream” — hoping it leads to regime change.

Trump says US corporations should control Venezuela’s oil

On December 17, a journalist asked the US president, “Is the goal of the blockade of Venezuela regime change?”

Trump replied:

It’s just a blockade. We’re not going to let anybody going through that shouldn’t be going through.

You remember, they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil, from not that long ago. And we want it back.

Another reporter then asked Trump, “On Venezuela, sir, you mentioned getting land back from Venezuela. What land is that?”

Getting land, oil rights, whatever we had. They took it away, because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching. But they’re not going to do that. We want it back.

They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back.

Trump imposes a naval blockade on Venezuela
In these questions, the journalists were referencing a December 16 post on Trump’s website Truth Social, in which the US president announced “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

These US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry are unilateral coercive measures and do not have the approval of the UN Security Council, and are therefore illegal under international law.

In his post, Trump demanded “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they [Venezuela] previously stole from us.”

He was referencing Venezuelan oil, Venezuelan land, and Venezuelan assets, which Trump believes are the property of the United States.

Hugo Chávez’s full nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves.

US corporations have been desperate to get access to the country’s crude since 2007, when leftist former President Hugo Chávez fully nationalized Venezuela’s oil industry.

The Venezuelan government passed a policy mandating that the state oil company PDVSA must have majority ownership of all projects. Foreign firms were only allowed to have a minority stake, in joint ventures.

Major US corporations like ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and ExxonMobil refused to accept these terms, and thus left the country.

The Trump administration has portrayed this nationalization from 18 years ago as an attack on the United States.

Trump boasted of trying to take Venezuela’s oil
This is by no means the first time that Trump has targeted Venezuela’s natural resources.

During his first term as US president, in 2019, Trump launched another coup attempt in Venezuela. He appointed a little-known right-wing opposition politician, Juan Guaidó, as he supposed “interim president” of Venezuela.

Although that coup attempt failed, Trump later admitted that the goal was to “take over” Venezuela and pillage its oil—treating the sovereign, independent country like a US colony.

In a 2023 speech at a Republican Party rally, Trump declared: “Venezuela, how about we’re buying oil from Venezuela? 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.”

Trump’s first secretary of state was CEO of ExxonMobil
In his first administration, Trump’s initial secretary of state was Rex Tillerson, who served as the chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil from 2006 to 2016.

ExxonMobil was one of the major US oil corporations that left Venezuela in 2007, following the full nationalization of the industry under Hugo Chávez.

Ever since, ExxonMobil has been desperate to get back into Venezuela.

In fact, ExxonMobil sued the Venezuelan government in the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a corporate tribunal run by the World Bank Group, which is dominated by the US government.

Tillerson served as ExxonMobil’s CEO when the corporation sued Venezuela. Soon after, he was ushered through the revolving door to the head of the State Department, overseeing US foreign policy.

At UN, Venezuela Accuses US of Oil Theft, Colonial Blockade; Russia and China Condemn Aggression While US Killings Continue

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller claims Venezuela’s oil belongs to the USA
It is not just Trump but also his top aides who insist that Venezuela’s oil belongs to the United States.

Trump’s notorious, far-right deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, is helping to supervise the US war on Venezuela.

In a Twitter post on December 17, Miller claimed that “American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela.”

“Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property”, he wrote.

Miller’s extremely misleading claims earned a community note on Twitter, which pointed out that Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was actually built by Venezuelan workers on Venezuelan land.

The community note added that US investors had been compensated after Venezuela’s oil industry was initially nationalized in 1976.

Miller’s false accusation that Venezuela is responsible for drug production was likewise debunked by the Twitter community note, which pointed to the US government’s own reports, from the DEA, showing that it is actually longtime US ally Colombia, not Venezuela, that is responsible for cocaine that is trafficked into the US.

US naval blockade cuts of Venezuelan exports and imports
The Trump administration launched a war against Venezuela in September. As of December 19, the US military had killed more than 100 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Throughout this war, the Trump administration gradually escalated its aggressive tactics, seeking to destabilize and overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

In December, the US government started to seize oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, in blatant violation of international law.

When Trump was asked what the US government would do with the Venezuelan oil in these tankers, his response was, “We keep it”. This is piracy.

Reuters reported that several supertankers that had planned to collect crude oil in Venezuela were forced to make U-turns and avoid the region, because the US military threatened to steal their cargo.

However, the Trump administration did make one exception: it allowed tankers from the US oil corporation Chevron to go through.

This US naval blockade immediately led to a significant fall in Venezuela’s oil exports.

The Trump administration also blocked Venezuela from importing goods like naphtha, which is used to refine Venezuela’s heavy crude.

The goal of the naval blockade is clear: the Trump administration wants to prevent Venezuela from exporting oil to starve the government of revenue. It also has the supplementary geopolitical effect of denying crude to Washington’s main adversary, given that around 80% of Venezuela’s oil exports are bought by China.

With his blockade, Trump wants to cut off Venezuela’s access to hard currency, cause hyper-inflation, and collapse the economy.

Washington is also trying to block Venezuela from importing crucial goods that would be needed to maintain economic stability. This not only includes the materials needed to refine Venezuela’s heavy crude, but also food.

Venezuela is dependent on importing much of its food. So, with its naval blockade, the US government aims to use hunger as a weapon, to cause mass chaos and social instability in the country, and to destabilize and overthrow the government of President Maduro.

Even the US business press, like Fortune magazine, warned that the US blockade could “devastate” the Venezuelan economy.

The US government’s imperial strategy: “make the economy scream”
In other words, Trump is bringing back the infamous US imperial strategy known as “make the economy scream”. This phrase originated with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.

In 1970, US President Nixon and his top advisor Kissinger met at the White House with Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms.

They convened to discuss the election of socialist Salvador Allende as the president of Chile (who went on to nationalize some of the world’s largest reserves of copper, angering US corporations and their representatives in Washington — just as Chávez would do with Venezuela’s oil a few decades later).

The CIA was given a clear mission to destabilize and ultimately overthrow Allende’s elected government.

“Make the economy scream”, CIA Director Helms was told.

The CIA was ordered to use the “best men we have”, in a “full-time job.” It was given a budget of $10 million, promising “more if necessary.” That was equivalent to nearly $83 million as of late 2025.

The US ultimately succeeded in sabotaging the Chilean economy, causing high rates of inflation and chaos. The CIA even worked with right-wing labor unions to carry out strikes that paralyzed the country.

Then, on September 11, 1973, the CIA backed a military coup that overthrew Chile’s elected President Allende, and put in power the fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet.

US coup attempts, illegal sanctions, and economic war on Venezuela
This is precisely the imperial strategy that the US empire has used to try to topple Venezuela’s left-wing government, over more than two decades.

Washington has sponsored many coup attempts in Venezuela, including a briefly successful putsch in 2002, which was overturned by the Venezuelan people.

After these coup attempts failed, the US government resorted to economic war.

The Barack Obama administration started imposing sanctions on Venezuela in 2015. The White House even passed an executive order “declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.”

When Trump came into office in his first term in 2017, he levied heavy sanctions against the Venezuelan government and the state-owned oil company, PDVSA.

In 2019, Trump escalated this hybrid war into a full economic embargo on Venezuela.

UN experts made it clear that these unilateral US sanctions on Venezuela were illegal.

The UN special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, wrote that the US sanctions “constitute a violation of international law.”

“The announced purpose of the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign – to change the Government of Venezuela – violates the principle of sovereign equality of states and constitutes an intervention in the domestic affairs of Venezuela”, Douhan stressed.

As the US government steadily increased the number of illegal sanctions, Venezuela’s oil production crashed. The South American nation not only found it difficult to export its crude, but it was unable to import the technologies, parts, and products needed to repair and modernize its oil infrastructure.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) boasted in 2019, during the previous Trump administration’s coup attempt, that Venezuelan crude oil production had collapsed.

The EIA admitted that one of the main reasons for this was the “U.S. sanctions directed at Venezuela’s energy sector and PdVSA.”

The coup attempt that Trump initiated in 2019 failed. So in his second term, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump launched another putsch.

This time, they used the US military to try to directly force President Maduro from power.

(Geopolitical Economy)

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

A major investigative report was canceled, revealing not just one prison and one policy, but a broader shift in how power, profit, and punishment intersect on the world stage.

RELATED:
From CECOT to Venezuela: The Controversial Repatriation of Venezuelan Migrants and Its Challenges

What was meant to be an inside look at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) has become a symbol of media censorship and a troubling example of human rights abuses tied to a global, privatized system of detention.

The Kill Switch: Censoring the Inside CECOT Report

On December 21, 2025, CBS News pulled a much-anticipated 60 Minutes segment titled “Inside CECOT” just hours before it was scheduled to air.

The piece aimed to expose how the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran mega prison, and it raised questions about the legal justifications used to move people across borders and into foreign custody.

Cancellation can be seen as evidence of a larger trend: media silence bought or guaranteed by political or corporate interests.

Even with the broadcast blocked, the segment leaked briefly online after a misstep on a Canadian platform, underscoring the persistent demand for truth-telling, even when editors try to bury it.

Here’s the full 60 Minutes segment on CECOT that Bari Weiss and CBS censored.#BoycottCBS pic.twitter.com/lrZF4I7rOD

— @Ima 🇺🇸💙🔬🔭 (@imatweet25) December 23, 2025

“Welcome to Hell”: What Survivors Describe Inside CECOT

The censored report was meant to document the lived reality of Venezuelan migrants sent to CECOT, a facility designed for tens of thousands of inmates and notorious for its harsh treatment.

Survivor testimonies describe a system of organized brutality that sacrifices dignity and safety in the name of deterrence and control.

Accounts describe pain that begins from the moment detainees arrive in El Salvador. Migrants say they were paraded before cameras in shackles and told they would “never see the light of day again.”

Guards reportedly used fists and wooden batons, delivering beatings that left prisoners bleeding or toothless. Other survivors reported sexual assault, with several alleging guards attacked them in intimate ways.

Isolation and punishment cells, referred to by detainees as “the island,” were used for those who resisted. Those held there describe doors being pounded on, and beatings every half hour as a deliberate form of psychological terror intended to break the will.

Did Bari Weiss try to bury 60 Minutes' CECOT report to protect Marco Rubio?

While Stephen Miller has been the public face of Trump's deportation policy, it was Rubio who arranged to send 250 Venezuelan migrants to his friend Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, where they were publicly… pic.twitter.com/MLBbxyOe06

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 23, 2025

Psychological Warfare and Degrading Conditions

Beyond physical harm, CECOT is reported to employ methods designed to erode people’s mental health and sense of humanity.

Detainees described living in a regime of constant exposure to bright lighting—24/7 illumination that prevents sleep and disrupts circadian rhythms, a tactic that experts say can amount to psychological torture.

Basic needs were routinely unmet. Detainees spoke of a lack of clean water and of being forced to drink from toilets to survive.

There were no mattresses, and medical staff allegedly dismissed injuries, telling prisoners to “drink water” rather than provide care.

Legal Warfare: The Alien Enemies Act and Deportation Strategy

The backbone of the deportation strategy is not just executive whim but a legal framework that enables extraordinary actions.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a relic from early U.S. wartime policy, was revived to justify bypassing conventional immigration courts.

What the law does, in essence, is empower the President to detain or deport individuals from a “hostile nation” during wartime or an invasion-like scenario. In March 2025, President Trump invoked this authority by labeling the Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang, as an invading force.

From there, the policy effectively designated Venezuelan nationals aged 14 and up as potential targets for removal, ostensibly without the usual hearings.

This legal maneuver is controversial because it extends wartime powers into civilian immigration matters, a move many scholars and civil rights groups argue violates core principles of due process and ordinary justice.

You can learn about what’s happening inside CECOT in our latest @AJFaultLines doc. We spoke with a young Venezuelan man with no criminal record wrongly sent to CECOT who described the torture he & other prisoners deported there by the U.S. endured. https://t.co/AjxaGBa74W pic.twitter.com/YNRVTfJcos

— Natasha Del Toro (@ndeltoro) December 22, 2025

The Battle for Due Process

Two questions sit at the center of this debate: Do migrations and gang activity constitute a “war” or “invasion” by a foreign power? And, if not, can a government deport people en masse under the Alien Enemies Act?

The ACLU and Democracy Forward argued that the government’s actions overstepped constitutional bounds and failed to provide meaningful due process.

In December 2025, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that many deported individuals lacked due process rights and ordered the government to arrange hearings for those affected.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, offered a partial green light in April 2025, allowing certain deportations to proceed but insisting that detainees still receive notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal through habeas corpus petitions.

The Global Frontier: Private Prisons and Offshore Detention

As the United States pushes immigration detention beyond its borders, a familiar set of beneficiaries has risen to prominence: private prison operators.

The GEO Group and CoreCivic, two of the largest players in the industry, have reported soaring revenues as the U.S. expands its reach into third-country detention arrangements.

The push to offshore detention has created a robust market for private contractors. In late 2025, projections suggested The GEO Group would approach $3 billion in annual revenue, while CoreCivic anticipated around $2.5 billion.

Under this model, asylum seekers may be held in third countries while their cases wind through U.S. courts. Countries like Ecuador, Paraguay, and Belize have become key nodes in this offshore detention network.

The El Salvador arrangement—where migrants were housed at CECOT—appears to fit within a broader strategy of outsourcing detention to jurisdictions with fewer checks and balances.

In official documents, the U.S. reportedly paid millions to host deportees in CECOT, with estimates ranging from US$4.7 million to US$6 million.

Some memos describe this as “leasing” sections of the prison to preserve exclusive jurisdiction and to bypass certain domestic legal constraints.

Critics argue that paying foreign governments to detain migrants implicates questions of sovereignty, accountability, and human rights.

Some observers argue that the United States uses financial incentives to secure cooperation from countries that host detainees. By offering cash and resources, the U.S. creates a powerful incentive for host nations to act as offshore detention hubs, even when protections for detainees are thin or nonexistent.

60 Minutes pulled their own trailer and abruptly canceled tonight’s “Inside CECOT” episode.

Not because it was wrong. Not because it failed fact-checking.
Because Trump reportedly didn’t like what was about to air.

When a sitting president can pressure a flagship news program… https://t.co/I5N9kN3yYu pic.twitter.com/oin3kq6CbU

— P a u l ◉ (@SkylineReport) December 22, 2025

Geopolitical Fallout and the Human Rights Debate

Labeling migrants as “foreign enemies” and deporting them to high-security facilities abroad has sparked diplomatic tensions and raised questions about international law and basic human rights standards.

The Venezuelan government has been vocal in its opposition, condemning the transfers as kidnappings and even branding them a crime against humanity.

Venezuelan officials have alleged corruption, accusing El Salvador’s government of profiting from migrants’ misery, with claims that high-ranking leaders benefited from each deportation.

Some critics argue that safe third-country arrangements undercut core protections like non-refoulement, which prohibits returning refugees to places where they face significant risk.

Activists contend that sending detainees to a site identified by the U.S. State Department as a torture site constitutes a direct violation.

Survivors also report deceptive tactics—being told they were being flown back to Venezuela, only to land in El Salvador amid hundreds of police.

By treating people as commodities for a growing private prison industry and leveraging wartime powers to bypass rights, current policy risks creating a permanently branded underclass that is profitable to detention interests and political structures alike.

Accountability and a Way Forward

True accountability goes beyond a single, suppressed documentary. It requires dismantling the “carceral logic” that places corporate profits and political messaging above fundamental human rights.

It calls for robust oversight, transparent legal processes, and a commitment to the principle that every person deserves due process, safety, and dignity, wherever they are held.

• Real due process protections for migrants and detainees, including fair hearings and access to legal counsel.
• Transparent contracts and oversight for offshore detention arrangements, with independent monitoring and public reporting.
• Strong international norms that prevent refoulement and ensure humane treatment, even in conflicts or crises.

The story behind the silenced Inside CECOT report is about more than one investigative piece or one prison.

It is about a global shift, one that treats vulnerable people as variables in a political or profit-driven calculation.

Sources: CBS – BBC – Context – Al Jazeera – teleSUR – Al Mayadeen – Human Rights Watch – Mixed Migration Center – France 24

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Submission does not imply automatic registration, as each ticket must meet legal requirements.

On Wednesday, Roberto Burneo, the president of the Peruvian National Elections Board (JNE), announced that the 2026 general elections will feature an unprecedented number of candidates, with 34 presidential tickets and more than 1,400 parliamentary lists.

RELATED:

Peruvians Rally in Support of Pedro Castillo

He confirmed that 6,963 candidate resumes were registered, surpassing the previous years. He stated that, two out of 38 accredited parties did not register presidential lists because they failed to pass their internal primary elections.

Burneo added that three parties were still online to register candidates, including Faith in Peru, which would bring the total number of presidential tickets to 35, and that JNE’s digital system can handle a large number of registrations.

While most parties submitted 100% of their candidate lists, the legal deadline for submitting applications was December 23. Submission does not imply automatic registration, as each ticket must meet legal requirements and pass established review stages.

El @JNE_Peru informa que se han registrado 34 fórmulas presidenciales y 1383 listas de candidatos que corresponden a Senadores, Diputados y Parlamento Andino, entre los partidos que aún no han terminado de registrar estan:
-Primero la gente
-Fe en el Perú
-Ciudadanos por el… pic.twitter.com/7136IXUodx

— #PorEstosNo 🇵🇪 Movimiento Ciudadano 🇵🇪 (@PorEstosNo2026) December 24, 2025

The text reads, “JNE reports that 34 presidential tickets and 1,383 lists of candidates for Senators, Representatives, and the Andean Parliament have been registered. Among the parties that have not yet finished registering are People First, Faith in Peru, and Citizens for Peru. They have until noon on December 24th to register.”

Among the candidates are the former mayor of Lima, Rafael Lopez, from the ultraconservative Popular Renewal party, and former congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, from the Fujimorist Popular Force party, who will seek to reach the Presidency for the fourth time.

The general elections will be held on April 12, 2026, with a likely second round on June 7. Peruvians will elect a president, two vice presidents, 130 members of the Lower Chamber, 60 senators, and 5 representatives to the Andean Parliament for a five-year mandate.

Each ticket includes candidates for president and vice presidents, who must correct any deficiencies before final registration. JNE emphasized that transparency and rigor in the review of candidate lists are fundamental to the legitimacy of the process.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Ecuador and Peru pledged to work together to combat organized crime and illegal mining, particularly along their shared border. pic.twitter.com/sfl1lJNysm

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 16, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE – teleSUR

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

They reject open-pit mining in environmentally sensitive areas.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Argentines marched through the streets of Mendoza to reject the approval of mining projects they say put the province’s water resources and ecosystems at risk.

RELATED:

Argentina’s Provincial Senate Approves Extractivist Mining Plan, Environmental Red Flags Ignored

The march moved from the city center to the Government House, with banners, flags and chants directed at Gov. Alfredo Cornejo. Demonstrators demanded the repeal of Laws 9,684 and 9,685, recently passed by the provincial Legislature.

The measures authorize environmental impact declarations for mining operations at Cerro San Jorge, in the town of Uspallata, and for nearly 30 extractive projects in Malargüe.

“Water is not negotiable” was the main slogan of the march, which stretched for more than seven city blocks and included assembly members from about 15 regions of Mendoza, social leaders and environmental activists.

No lo vas a ver en ningún canal de Televisión. Pero así está #Mendoza desde hace más de 20 días, una multitud en calles y rutas defendiendo el Agua💧contra el avance de la minería contaminante por gobiernos y políticos corruptos. Devuelvan las coimas. #ElAguaDeMendozaNoSeNegocia pic.twitter.com/zj9Htq6GTm

— Lautaro Jimenez (@LautaroJimenezB) December 23, 2025

The text reads, “You won’t see it on any TV channel. But that’s how Mendoza has been for over 20 days: crowds in the streets and on the roads defending water against corrupt governments and politicians who are pushing through polluting mining. Return the bribes!”

The demonstration began around 10:30 a.m. at Plaza Belgrano, where participants invoked the legacy of Gen. Jose de San Martin, defended shared environmental assets and reaffirmed Mendoza’s history of social struggle.

Specifically, protesters rejected the PSJ Cobre Mendocino mining project, formerly known as the San Jorge mine, located near the town of Uspallata. The project is being promoted by the Swiss company Zonda Metals GmbH and the Alberdi Group.

The project had already been rejected by the provincial Legislature in 2011 because it involves open-pit mining in an area considered environmentally and hydrologically sensitive.

Demonstrators also upheld Law 7722, enacted in 2007 after a wave of social mobilization and regarded as a symbol of water protection in Mendoza. The law bans the use of toxic substances such as cyanide and mercury in metal mining.

Nevertheless, right-wing politicians backing the mining project argue that the law does not prohibit the use of chemicals such as methyl isobutyl carbinol, sodium isobutyl xanthate, anionic polyacrylamide and calcium oxide.

Miles en las calles de Mendoza para decir NO a San Jorge y volver a rechazar en las calles el proyecto minero que pone en riesgo a la comunidad de Uspallata y toda la cuenca del Rio Mendoza. No hay licencia social para la minería contaminante. pic.twitter.com/tJmH4rebxb

— La Izquierda Diario (@izquierdadiario) December 23, 2025

The text reads, “Thousands took to the streets of Mendoza to say NO to San Jorge and once again reject the mining project that endangers the Uspallata community and the entire Mendoza River basin. There is no social license for polluting mining.”

In recent remarks, Gov. Cornejo downplayed the hydrological impact of mining activity and said the largest water consumption comes from agriculture and residential use. According to him, the problem lies not in mining but in waste, a position that drew strong backlash from protesters.

The date chosen for the protest, Dec. 23, was also symbolic. It recalls the massive demonstrations of 2019, when then-Gov. Rodolfo Suarez sought to amend Law 7722 and was forced to reverse course after a wave of protests that included road blockades and clashes with security forces.

Those protests gave rise to what became known as the “Parientazo Day,” centered in the Uco Valley, a region that has once again become key to environmental resistance. That same territory holds deep historical significance: It was there that San Martin met with Pehuenche communities before crossing the Andes Mountains.

Centuries later, that legacy is being invoked by Mendoza’s grassroots assemblies to promote what they describe as a new “liberating campaign,” this time in defense of water and against the advance of large-scale mining.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Argentina: The Central Workers Union condemned the United States' aggressions against Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/4a8AQw731X

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: Pagina 12 – El Extremo Sur

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Welcome to Part 1 of our special year-end episode on Soberanía! In this segment, we delve into the top 10 stories about Mexico from 2025, covering stories 10 through 6.

Join us as we discuss the opposition’s missteps, the ambitious Plan Mexico, the influence of US actors in Mexico, mass Morena demonstrations, and Claudia Sheinbaum’s impactful first year in office. Don’t miss this engaging recap with our hosts and special guest, Samuel, as we prepare to reveal the top 5 stories in the next episode.

Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

Donate to our Holiday Drive!

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• 

  Soberanía

  Soberanía’s Top 10 Stories from Mexico in 2025: #10-6

  December 24, 2025

  The opposition’s missteps, the ambitious Plan Mexico, the influence of US actors in Mexico, mass Morena demonstrations, and Claudia Sheinbaum’s impactful first year in office.

• 

  Analysis

  The Transnational Corn Market

  December 24, 2025

  Without state regulation and as a result of “free trade”, transnational corporations are increasingly controlling the basic food market and imperiling Mexican food sovereignty.

• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera December 23

  December 23, 2025December 23, 2025

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on travel across the country, ENCODAT, cardiac care, new ISSSSTE clinics, Texas navy accident, economic activity, and scrapping the video game tax.

The post Soberanía’s Top 10 Stories from Mexico in 2025: #10-6 appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

U.S. military deployments and threats endanger LATAM peace.

On Tuesday, China denounced the aggressions carried out by the United States against Venezuela during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

RELATED:

Cuba Accuses U.S. of Violating International Law at UN Security Council

Sun Lei, China’s special envoy to the United Nations, said Washington’s military deployments and blockade lack any basis in international law and pose a threat to peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He said the threat of direct U.S. attacks on Venezuelan territory, along with rhetoric from the administration of President Donald Trump, has exacerbated tensions, causing deep concern within the international community.

Lei condemned as a serious violation of international law the expansion of the U.S. military deployment on the high seas, carried out under the false pretext of combating international drug trafficking.

The Chinese diplomat also strongly criticized Trump’s statements attributing to the United States ownership of Venezuelan oil, natural resources and other assets.

🇻🇪 Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto assured that Venezuela achieved a "great diplomatic victory" at the UN Security Council session, highlighting that not even Washington's historical allies support military actions that contradict the United Nations Charter. pic.twitter.com/5P4TjPwWAr

— Sprinter Press (@SprinterPress) December 24, 2025

China defended the principles of the United Nations Charter, underscoring its fundamental tenets for international relations, including sovereign equality, noninterference in internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of disputes.

“The U.S. actions, which interfere in the sovereignty and legitimate interests of other countries, constitute a serious violation of the UN Charter and of international law, threatening peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Sun stressed.

Finally, he urged the U.S. to heed the call of the international community and immediately halt its actions by respecting freedom of navigation and the security and liberties of countries in accordance with international law. This includes lifting U.S. sanctions and promoting peace, stability and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“China opposes all acts of unilateralism and bullying. All countries must defend their sovereign dignity. We oppose any measure that violates the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and interferes in the sovereignty and security of a third state,” he emphasized.

Venezuela denounced before the United Nations Security Council a plan of continental aggression by the #UnitedStates, based on the Monroe Doctrine, which seeks to divide the region in order to conquer it. pic.twitter.com/rzSkveovDe

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: UN

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

This article by Ana de Ita originally appeared in the December 23, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

The Mexican corn market is increasingly controlled by transnational corporations. While farmers had to protest on highways and international bridges at the end of this year demanding fair prices for their corn and other staple grain crops, corporations have continued to import it.

Free trade agreements are tools used by transnational corporations to erase borders and operate in multiple countries, taking advantage of the various benefits offered by each. As a result of the implementation of the old NAFTA, commodity trading companies and several of the companies that use these grains as inputs established subsidiaries in Mexico and, without state regulation, are increasingly controlling the country’s basic food market.

Total corn imports are projected to reach nearly 20 million tons by October 2025 and could end the year at around 23.6 million tons. Archer Daniels Midland, Bartlett, and Cargill, global agribusiness giants, account for almost half of all white and yellow corn imports, having collectively imported 9.7 million tons by October 2025.

Altagracia Gómez Sierra is the head of Grupo Minsa, the family firm which enriched itself over decades from the fruits of dubious privatizations and the bank bail-out FOBAPROA, and is now a close economic advisor to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

These corporations influence international prices through both real and speculative movements. All three grew and strengthened by taking advantage of the market vacuum left by CONASPUO and the complete liberalization of agriculture brought about by NAFTA and the USMCA. Imports of white corn reached 839,000 tons by October, competing directly with domestic production and putting downward pressure on prices. Cargill “de México” absorbed the largest volume of white corn imports, 215,000 tons, equivalent to 26 percent of the total, while 200,000 tons of Sinaloa’s fall-winter harvest remain unsold.

In 2004, Cargill purchased a bulk cargo terminal in Veracruz to receive its imports. It sells only to large buyers. It supplies flour mills, including Maseca and Minsa, which can also import directly, as well as large mills that produce nixtamalized corn dough for tortilla factories. In 2025, Minsa did not import any corn directly, and Maseca imported only 23,200 tons. Cargill has its own brand of corn flour, Optimasa.

Cargill can also buy corn directly from Mexican farmers, but it uses the international price as a benchmark and leverages its import capabilities to negotiate more effectively. In the yellow corn market, Cargill accounts for approximately 7 percent of total imports, with 1.4 million tons purchased from Cargill International. Bachoco, Campi, and SuKarne import directly, but also through Cargill de México or ADM México.

Cargill has established itself in the country as the leading integrated grain trading company. ADM, for its part, defines itself as being involved in the transformation of natural products into ingredients, producing oils, thickeners, sweeteners, probiotics, biofuels, and other products from staple grains and oilseeds. It also distributes its corn imports to other companies that use it as an input. Bartlett Logistic de México is a low-profile company located in Aguascalientes, a subsidiary of Bartlett Grain Company. It is a leading exporter of U.S. grains.

It imported 5.4 million tons of corn to Mexico through October of this year, representing 27 percent of the total, a concerning level of concentration. It is responsible for 18 percent of imported white corn. This year, it opened a rail bulk terminal in Nuevo León.

Unlike Cargill, it can supply smaller companies or mills and does not engage in processing. Its main strength lies in the import of yellow corn, at 5.3 million tons. The control of the corn market by transnational corporations makes it essential for the State to establish checks and balances in favor of producers and consumers. The agreement between the government and the National Front for the Rescue of the Countryside on a mechanism for pledging grain harvests is a first step in the right direction.

Farmers will receive credit secured by their harvest, allowing them to meet their financial obligations without having to sell their produce at a loss and while waiting for better market conditions. Furthermore, by removing a significant volume of grain from the market, this will help manage supply and contribute to higher prices.

The government will cover storage costs and interest. Farmers will be able to negotiate better terms with buyers. Furthermore, the government will begin building a technical grain reserve to guarantee the country’s food security.

Ana de Ita is Director of the Center for Studies on Change in the Mexican Countryside

• 

  Soberanía

  Soberanía’s Top 10 Stories from Mexico in 2025: #10-6

  December 24, 2025

  The opposition’s missteps, the ambitious Plan Mexico, the influence of US actors in Mexico, mass Morena demonstrations, and Claudia Sheinbaum’s impactful first year in office.

• 

  Analysis

  The Transnational Corn Market

  December 24, 2025

  Without state regulation and as a result of “free trade”, transnational corporations are increasingly controlling the basic food market and imperiling Mexican food sovereignty.

• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera December 23

  December 23, 2025December 23, 2025

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on travel across the country, ENCODAT, cardiac care, new ISSSSTE clinics, Texas navy accident, economic activity, and scrapping the video game tax.

The post The Transnational Corn Market appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

Sixteen water treatment plants will be built along the Sonora River.

On Monday, the Mexican government, the state of Sonora, and Grupo Mexico conglomerate established a US$124 million fund for the Comprehensive Environmental and Social Justice Plan in Cananea.

RELATED:

Mexican Students Develop AI-Powered Rover to Boost Mine Safety

The funds will provide severance pay to 650 miners, compensation to 53 widows, and an end to the longest strike in the history of the Mexican labor movement, which lasted 18 years. The fund will also address environmental damage caused by the sulfate spill to the Sonora River.

Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez informed that Grupo Mexico contributed 70% of the funds, the government 22%, and the state of Sonora 8%. The conglomerate contributed US$83.7 million, in addition to previous deposits of US$3.2 million granted in 2018 and 2019.

Sixteen water treatment plants, a regional water quality laboratory, and monitoring stations will be built along the Sonora River. Additionally, the Ures Regional Hospital, with 60 beds and specialized services, will be constructed.

The plan was presented alongside Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo, Environment Secretary Alicia Barcenas, Labor Secretary Marath Bolaños, Environmental Attorney Mariana Boy, IMSS-Bienestar owner Alejandro Svarch, and National Water Commission (Conagua) Director Efrain Morales.

⚠️☠️ Otro desastre minero que le cuesta la vida a 2 jóvenes trabajadores en la mina Buenavista del Cobre, de Grupo México.

Urge que se publiquen los reglamentos de la Ley de #Minería para mejorar la regulación de esta industria que vulnera derechos sistemáticamente. 🚫⛏️ pic.twitter.com/9nFEsDqRvu

— Cambiémosla Ya (@cambiemosla_ya) October 30, 2025

The text reads, “Another mining disaster has claimed the lives of two young workers at the Buenavista del Cobre mine, owned by Grupo Mexico. The regulations for the Mining Law must be published to improve the regulation of this industry, which systematically violates rights.”

The National Mining Union and the Mexican government signed an agreement guaranteeing severance pay in accordance with the original collective agreement, access to social security, and pensions for 650 workers at the mines.

President Claudia Sheinbaum highlighted the consensus reached as a historic event for Sonora and Mexico. The agreement represents social and environmental justice, as well as comprehensive compensation for workers and communities.

Miners’ leader Napoleon Gomez recalled the workers’ sacrifices during the 18-year strike, who endured extreme conditions and sometimes went without pay. He thanked Sheinbaum, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Labor, and stated that such a conflict must not be repeated.

The union will monitor the agreement and demand resolution to strikes such as in Taxco and Sombrerete, which have lasted more than 18 years. Gomez reaffirmed the dignity and rights of the workers as the basis of the agreement reached.

He also denounced discrimination by Grupo Mexico owner German Larrea, who hired outside personnel and blacklisted workers. Gomez emphasized that the miners are the ones who extract, transform, and produce the wealth that allowed Larrea to accumulate a millionaire fortune.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Mexico: A recent official report has shown that the number of Mexicans living in poverty has decreased, representing a historic turning point in its social structure. pic.twitter.com/FzTJ420w9g

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: La Jornada

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Paramilitaries press offensive in North Darfur as army launches drone strikes in Nyala.

On Wednesday, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed control of the town of Abu Qumra, near the border with Chad, following an offensive aimed at expelling armed groups allied with the regular army from their last remaining positions in the Darfur region.

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The RSF said troops from their allied Sudanese Founding Alliance, known as Tasis, “have taken full control of the Abu Qumra area” in North Darfur state. They added that the forces “have continued their successful advance toward the Um Buru area” and had “fully liberated” it.

They also claimed that “these areas had witnessed systematic attacks and acts of revenge” carried out by members of the army and its allied forces, accusing them of having “directly attacked local administration leaders and several innocent civilians.”

The RSF offensive seeks to take control of the towns of Abu Qumra, Al Tina, Um Buru and Karnoi, all located along the border with Chad in North Darfur state. The state capital, Al Fasher, was seized last October.

“The Rapid Support Forces attacked the outskirts of Abu Qumra in the Karnoi area early Wednesday and clashed with joint forces and popular resistance,” news agency EFE stated.

No casualties were reported, although the clashes displaced hundreds of residents to other regions. The RSF said their troops “guarantee citizens in these areas that they are not subject to any kind of attack.”

The paramilitaries said they had deployed “military units to protect the civilian population and secure roads and public spaces in and around Karnoi, with the aim of restoring normalcy.”

The rebels have mobilized thousands of fighters to attack three towns in northern Darfur inhabited by members of the African Zaghawa tribe. Massacres motivated by ethnic violence are feared in the area if it falls into the hands of the Rapid Support Forces.

Darfur Gov. Mini Minawi, an ally of the Sudanese army, called on residents of those towns to “defend their lands” and “not allow them to be looted or their homes handed over to the invaders.”

What you don't know about the Sudan war؟؟
To the outside world

The war in Sudan is not between two generals.
nor a civil war
It is existential.
Against mercenaries and several countries ….

Watch the video

The UAE kills Sudan pic.twitter.com/QXaGqYN1uw

— أحمد الشاكر-Ahmed al shaker (@Ahmedalshaker10) November 9, 2025

Attacks Continue Elsewhere

Al Fasher had been the military’s last stronghold across the vast Darfur region, which consists of five states and borders Chad and Libya. That stronghold fell to the Rapid Support Forces in late October.

Since then, the paramilitaries have intensified their offensive, advancing into neighboring Kordofan, a strategic region rich in oil and a key link to central and eastern Sudan, where they already control most western and southern towns.

The new paramilitary offensive on Wednesday coincided with a drone attack carried out the same day by the Sudanese army against several RSF positions in the city of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, including the airport and weapons depots at the city’s university.

Those airstrikes destroyed weapons storage facilities, drone and missile launch platforms at Nyala airport, air defense systems and jamming devices, and also neutralized RSF fighters.

Since April 20234, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the country, while triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 13 million people displaced, according to United Nations figures.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Africa: In Sudan, the attack on a hospital exacerbated the health crisis facing the region amid the armed conflict. pic.twitter.com/RvJyiDrLvI

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 4, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch urges Palestinians to celebrate Christmas.

On Wednesday, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, urged Palestinians from Manger Square in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas despite two years of a continuous offensive by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza.

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Global Sumud Flotilla Aims to Deliver 1000 Health Workers, Rebuild Gaza in 2026 Mission

“What I saw in Gaza is a disaster, but I also saw there a desire to live,” said the cardinal, who visited Gaza City over the weekend, including its only Catholic parish, the Church of the Holy Family.

“It is possible to celebrate in Gaza, it is possible to celebrate in Bethlehem. We need to celebrate not only today, but every day of the year,” Pizzaballa said, while acknowledging that problems remain unresolved.

His words were heard by only dozens of Palestinian families, after two years without Christmas celebrations in solidarity with Gaza and two previous years canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

His Beatitude Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa, addressing Christians in Bethlehem today says “the light of Bethlehem is the Light of the World”, adding that “I saw in Gaza disaster there, the situation is really catastrophic, but I saw there also the desire for life”:

“Dear… pic.twitter.com/RHq8PazV0e

— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) December 24, 2025

The 2025 Christmas marked the first time in years that the drums and bagpipes of thousands of Palestinian Boy Scouts from Beit Sahour, Birzeit and Jerusalem were heard again.

Pizzaballa also said he saw “the light of Bethlehem” — where Christian tradition places the birth of Jesus — and the light in all those who gathered there, once again appealing to the festive spirit of Christmas.

“The light of Bethlehem is the light of the world,” the Latin patriarch said, adding that in Gaza, “in the middle of nothingness, they can celebrate and rejoice despite the nothingness. This reminds us that it is possible to rise from human devastation.”

Pizzaballa, a priest of the Franciscan order, is the highest-ranking Catholic authority in the Holy Land. His title as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, granted in 2020, makes him the pope’s representative in the region and places him in charge of the Catholic churches in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: Medical authorities in Gaza reported that five people were killed due to Israeli aggression, despite the ceasefire agreement. pic.twitter.com/ZThhl9nu4W

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 18, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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This is the second terrorist attack in the Russian capital in the last three days.

In the early hours of Wednesday, two police officers and a civilian were killed in a bomb attack targeting a traffic police patrol vehicle in southern Moscow.

RELATED:

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“Two traffic police officers noticed a suspicious person near a police vehicle. When they approached to detain him, an explosive device was detonated. As a result of the injuries sustained, the two police officers, as well as the person who was with them, died,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

This was the second terrorist attack carried out in the Russian capital in the past three days. The Investigative Committee’s main investigations directorate opened criminal cases for an attack on a law enforcement officer and the illegal trafficking of explosives.

Investigators and forensic experts are currently examining the scene, including conducting genetic, forensic and explosives analyses, in order to determine the mechanism of action of the bomb.

🚨🇷🇺 MOSCOW ROCKED BY NEW EXPLOSION: COPS KILLED AT SAME SITE AS GENERAL’S DEATH

A new explosion reportedly rocked southern Moscow at the exact location where Russian army Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was previously killed earlier this week, and this time, it turned deadly for… pic.twitter.com/M5OicZq6e4

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 24, 2025

“The Investigative Committee chairman instructed forensic experts from the central office to join the investigation in order to identify as soon as possible those linked to this crime, as well as all the circumstances,” authorities said, suggesting the attack may have been a suicide bombing.

According to Telegram channel 112, the two police officers killed were lieutenants ages 24 and 25, who had been serving in the security services for just over two years.

On Monday, the head of operations of the Russian army’s General Staff, Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in a car bomb attack in a neighborhood in southern Moscow. That terrorist act was reportedly carried out by Ukrainian intelligence agents.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Russia called the talks with United States envoys on Ukraine constructive. pic.twitter.com/JvVMo4xRIZ

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 24, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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Despite the so-called ‘ceasefire,’ Israeli attacks and aerial surveillance continue.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that the Zionist regime will “never withdraw” from Gaza and plans to deploy infantry units (Nahal) in areas where settlements were dismantled.

RELATED:

Israel Violates Gaza Ceasefire Agreements 875 Times

He referred to the 2005 Disengagement Plan, championed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which involved abandoning four settlements in the West Bank and 21 in Gaza, where approximately 8,000 settlers lived.

However, after pressure from the United States, the Defense Ministry backtracked and clarified that Katz was speaking in a “security context” and that there are no plans to establish new settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved 19 new Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory. Israel has settled more than 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and 200,000 in East Jerusalem, which hinders the creation of a Palestinian state.

The ceasefire, in effect since October, includes a gradual withdrawal, a ban on new civilian settlements, a permanent Israeli security perimeter, and the “Yellow Line,” which keeps half of Gaza under military occupation.

Nevertheless, the violence perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces since October 2023 has left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead only in the West Bank. The number of airstrikes has also increased, along with house demolitions.

Israel has killed at least 70,492 Palestinians and injured at least 171,195 since the start of its genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/4eDtJGlLqH

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 24, 2025

While Israel was supposed to allow humanitarian aid, restrictions remain, and attacks continue intermittently, with drones monitoring the area, and troops firing on Palestinians who approach the Yellow Line.

On Dec. 19, the United Nations warned that the entire population of Gaza suffers from hunger; 77% of them face acute food insecurity, and thousands of children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers will suffer from acute malnutrition until October 2026.

The death toll in Gaza exceeds 70,900, the majority of whom are civilians, including more than 20,000 children, and the number of wounded has reached 171,000 since the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023.

While the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, in effect since October, stipulated a cessation of hostilities, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of humanitarian aid, Israeli attacks and aerial surveillance continue.

The second phase of the agreement proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump includes a complete Israeli withdrawal, the disarmament of Palestinian militias, the reconstruction of Gaza, and the creation of a transitional government, which remains blocked by Israel.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: Medical authorities in Gaza reported that five people were killed due to Israeli aggression, despite the ceasefire agreement. pic.twitter.com/ZThhl9nu4W

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 18, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: Cubadebate – EFE

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Former employees filed declarations in Sacramento Superior Court describing a toxic work environment.

On Tuesday, The Sacramento Bee reported that two former employees of a private contractor working with U.S. immigration authorities came forward with sworn statements alleging a culture of abuse and sexual harassment at the Sacramento ICE facility in California.

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The allegations added to a growing body of complaints about conditions and misconduct at immigration detention centers across the United States, where more than 65,000 people are currently being held, the highest number in the country’s history.

Civil liberties advocates argue that oversight of these facilities has been weakened after the administration of President Donald Trump cut funding to Department of Homeland Security offices responsible for civil rights monitoring.

Sandy Nogales and Jorge Zinzun, former employees of BI Incorporated, filed sworn declarations in Sacramento Superior Court describing what they called a toxic work environment.

BI Incorporated is a private company that monitors immigrants on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement.

ICE out of California!!

Bay Area faith leaders take action at the ICE field office in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/5cwbyNWOgH

— Diablo Rising Tide (@RTBayArea) December 16, 2025

In a sworn statement, Nogales, a former BI Incorporated employee who spent eight years with the company and oversaw its Sacramento office, said that some case specialists came to view themselves as superior to the immigrants they were tasked with supervising. She singled out a staff member, Luis Ruiz, describing him as someone who exploited the very people he was meant to assist.

Zinzun said he was dismissed in December 2023 in retaliation for reporting Ruiz’s hostile conduct to management. He said that from a neighboring office, he could hear Ruiz repeatedly shouting at, swearing at, and harshly reprimanding undocumented individuals.

The two former employees came forward after reading about a lawsuit filed in October by a 52-year-old undocumented woman who alleges that Ruiz sexually harassed her for 18 months. According to the lawsuit, Ruiz sent her explicit photographs and videos and made unwanted advances during her mandated meetings at the Sacramento ICE facility.

The Sacramento case reflects a broader pattern of abuse allegations at ICE facilities nationwide. Human rights organizations have revealed similar cases in some of the largest immigration centers in the country, including Fort Bliss in Texas and the California City Detention Facility.

The American Civil Liberties Union has called on authorities to close the Fort Bliss facility and halt the rapid expansion of immigration detention.

In her daily morning #pressconference, the President of #Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, condemned the criminalization of #migrants, stating that the best way to reduce mass migration is to #invest in the countries of origin. pic.twitter.com/gjFsOy90FM

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 18, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: Xinhua

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Washington uses terrorism label as political weapon against Venezuela.

During an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday, Cuba accused the United States of blatantly and violently violating international law and undermining freedom of trade and navigation.

RELATED:

UN Security Council Backs Venezuela: President Maduro

Ernesto Soberon, Cuba’s representative to the UNSC, said the United States is using the designation of “terrorism” as a political weapon aimed at discrediting the Venezuelan government through an “arbitrary, fraudulent, unilateral and politically motivated” tactic.

“What moral authority does the U.S. government have to make such designations when it protects and finances terrorist organizations on its own territory, refuses to cooperate with neighboring countries such as Cuba on terrorism issues, and openly speaks of covert actions and sabotage from the United States?” Soberon said.

“It is clear that the purpose of the United States is to justify the costly and extraordinary military deployment in the region, with which it seeks to attack Venezuela and impose its odious hegemony in the hemisphere,” he added.

Soberon warned of provocations intended to “further escalate aggression against Venezuelan territory and seize its natural resources,” recalling that “Venezuela and any other state under attack has the right to legitimate self-defense.”

Hey @marcorubio let’s see you go inside the UN to arrest and prosecute a United Nations member … Venezuela has a President and his name is Nicolas Maduro 🇻🇪 https://t.co/q62PfNQzrX

— Jonni Martinez (@iJonniM) December 24, 2025

“The new U.S. national security strategy, with its so-called corollary of the Monroe Doctrine, seeks to consolidate the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. exclusive zone of influence,” Soberon said.

“This policy validates the dangerous doctrine of peace through force and enshrines cognitive warfare as state policy,” he added, specifying that U.S. actions violate the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

The Cuban diplomat reiterated that the conspicuous, exaggerated, and unjustified naval deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean Sea, as well as the deliberate threat of military aggression against Venezuela, are generating regional instability.

“This reveals a criminal hegemonic purpose that requires universal condemnation,” Soberon said, while rejecting the extension of European Union sanctions against Venezuela.

“Those sanctions run counter to international law and the United Nations Charter, as they seek to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government and are tied to the aggressive interests of the United States,” he emphasized.

“Cuba reaffirms its total and unconditional support for Venezuela and demands full respect for its sovereignty, independence and the unrestricted right to freely decide its own destiny, without external interference,” Soberon concluded.

During a presidential event, the president of #Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, stated that the role of a president is to address the problems of their country and not to interfere in the affairs of other #nations. pic.twitter.com/kBelmkFPE1

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: UN

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Caracas calls U.S. actions against Venezuelan oil tankers “piracy” and warn of aggression during emergency meeting.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his country is receiving overwhelming support from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which held an emergency meeting requested by Caracas amid mounting pressure from the United States.

RELATED:

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“The Security Council is giving us overwhelming support for Venezuela and for the right to free navigation and free trade,” the Bolivarian leader said while touring a Christmas fair in Caracas.

Maduro again described the seizure of vessels by the United States as “piracy” and asserted that “no one will be able to defeat” his country.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said that his country “has obtained a great victory” at the United Nations, where “all the lies of the United States government were dismantled.”

“It was also demonstrated that no country in the world, not even the U.S. historic allies, supports the use or the threat of the use of force to subjugate a free and sovereign nation under the false pretext of combating drug trafficking,” he added.

During a presidential event, the president of #Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, stated that the role of a president is to address the problems of their country and not to interfere in the affairs of other #nations. pic.twitter.com/kBelmkFPE1

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

“It became clear that the threat or use of force against Venezuela, in violation of the Latin America and the Caribbean’s Zone of Peace, responds to a colonial logic driven from Washington under the Monroe Doctrine. Likewise, piracy on the high seas used to appropriate Venezuela’s oil resources — which belong inalienably to its people — was condemned,” Gil pointed out.

Easrlier, Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the U.S. is seeking to impose a colony by blocking sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the South American nation.

The blockade, announced last week by U.S. President Donald Trump, amounts to “a crime of aggression through which the president seeks to turn back the clock of history 200 years to impose a colony in Venezuela,” the Bolivarian diplomat said.

He also described U.S. actions as “a war of plunder and pillage” of oil that constitutes an attack on the entire system of international relations and on the Global South, which is “considered inferior by the current U.S. government.”

During the UNSC session, Colombia condemned “the use of force” and the “unilateral coercive measures” applied by the U.S., which “erode the rule of law and must not be a substitute for dialogue.”

Russia’s representative, Vasily Nebenzya called the U.S. blockade of oil tankers “illegal” and said that “this ongoing intervention could become a model for future acts of force against Latin American countries.”

Venezuela denounced before the United Nations Security Council a plan of continental aggression by the #UnitedStates, based on the Monroe Doctrine, which seeks to divide the region in order to conquer it. pic.twitter.com/rzSkveovDe

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 23, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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Argentina’s government has advanced its targeted energy subsidy reform, shifting costs to consumers while tightening eligibility criteria.

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Argentina’s far-right administration formally concluded the consultation period for its new Targeted Energy Subsidies program (SEF, in Spanish), moving forward this neo-liberal measure.

The National Executive Branch has received the background information and technical evaluations needed to move forward with the definitive restructuring of the subsidies, marking the end of the current transition period.

RELATED: Argentina’s Senate Delays Labor Reform Debate to February 2026

While the authorities claim there is a need to ensure consistency in the economic costs of supply, the service companies’ income is not being adjusted. Instead, the full burden of the tariff is being shifted to consumers—a cost that was previously covered by the state.

El Gobierno Nacional avanza con un nuevo esquema de subsidios energéticos focalizados

👉 Se unifican las categorías en "con" y "sin" subdidios
👉 La ayuda será para hogares con ingresos menores a 3 canastas básicas
👉 Empezará a regir en enero 2026

➡️ https://t.co/v3SFNADk71 pic.twitter.com/mMEG0q71SM

— Secretaría de Energía (@Energia_Ar) November 28, 2025

What’s SEF About?

The initiative includes the adjustment of reference prices for natural gas at the System Transport Entry Point (PIST, in Spanish), propane gas, and the Seasonal Electricity Price (PEST, in Spanish).

The technical guidelines include:

• Basic Energy Basket (CBE, in Spanish): The subsidy will be determined based on a basic consumption block deemed necessary according to the bioclimatic zone of residence.
• Income Criteria: The State will cover the excess only if the cost of the CBE exceeds a specific percentage of the total household income.
• Asset Assessment: Eligibility will be determined through data cross-referencing on property ownership, vehicles less than 10 years old, prepaid health plans, and foreign currency expenditures will be used to determine eligibility.

Thus, access to the subsidy is restricted to households whose total monthly income is less than 3 Total Basic Baskets (CBT, in Spanish), according to the Indec’s measurement. As of December 2025 values, this threshold stands at 3,640,000 pesos.

Regarding the income caps, the previous system allowed earnings of up to 3.5 CBT; the new regulation, however, reduces this margin, meaning the benefit will be withdrawn from a segment of the population previously categorized as middle-income (N3).

Furthermore, the criteria not only considers the total amount but also the proportion that energy expenditure represents of the household’s income.

The State intervenes when the cost of the Basic Energy Basket—defined as the block of minimum necessary consumption according to the bioclimatic zone—exceeds a determined percentage of the household’s income (set between 10 and 15 percent). The subsidy covers only that difference.

Meanwhile, a household is excluded from the subsidy, regardless of its declared income, if any member owns a vehicle less than 10 years old, is the owner of two or more properties, possesses luxury assets, or pays for private health insurance outside of their employment.

Finally, the Tiers N1, N2, and N3 are eliminated, and the system is now divided into “households with a subsidy” and “households without a subsidy.”

Por decisión del gobierno nacional, y a pedido de Estados Unidos, desde enero de 2026 la mayoría de las familias argentinas perderán los subsidios en la luz, el gas y el agua. Con esta medida se pretende ahorrar 1.000 millones de dólares aprox, que irán a las arcas del FMI y del… pic.twitter.com/jpdYJAPn7j

— Luis Barranco (@BarrancoAnaya) December 1, 2025

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Iranian lawmakers have strongly condemned the US for intercepting and seizing oil tankers in the Caribbean.

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