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In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered the decision an important step forward that helps alleviate the burden on the Syrian people and paves the way for a new stage of recovery and stability.

The statement expressed Damascus’s gratitude and appreciation to the United States, as well as to brotherly Arab countries and other friends who, through their positions and diplomatic efforts, supported the efforts to end these sanctions, for the sake of regional stability and respect for the sovereignty and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

The statement also highlighted appreciation for the Syrian people, both within and outside the country, who continued to defend their homeland’s right to a dignified life and helped to bring the suffering of its citizens and their legitimate demands to light in various international forums.

According to the statement, Syria considers this measure a starting point for the reconstruction and development phase and urged all Syrians, both within the country and abroad, to join the recovery efforts.

It also reiterated its call to investors from brotherly and friendly countries, as well as Syrian businesspeople, to explore the available opportunities and participate in the reconstruction process.

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The details were revealed in a report published by the international body, which details the actions of the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.

The sources stated that the RSF attacked the camp as part of their siege of the city of El Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur state.

Zamzam is considered the largest camp for internally displaced people in Sudan, having sheltered some 500,000 people before the April attacks.

Since mid-April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in an internal war, following a power struggle between Army Chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

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In a statement, the organization held international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, Israel, and the United States responsible for the lives of the residents who died due to a bomb explosion.

It stated that leaving the inhabitants of the territory to die amid unexploded ordnance raises questions about the role of these groups and is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention and its annexes.

Civil Defenders criticized the work of the so-called US Coordination Center in Gaza.

The organization underscored that despite several conversations we have held with them, we have seen no impact or results to date.

Julius van der Walt, Chief of the United Nations Mine Action Programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, stressed last week that “more than two years of intense Israeli attacks” have resulted in widespread contamination with explosive materials in the coastal enclave.

Van Der Walt noted that this situation not only affects its inhabitants but also the delivery of humanitarian aid and makes reconstruction efforts extremely dangerous.

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The official delivered a new fleet of motorcycles and pickup trucks, along with other supplies such as uniforms and boots made by the armed forces themselves, to guarantee the safety and tranquility of the people and the operational readiness of the officers.

Approximately 300 pickup trucks equipped with cameras, and motorcycles were received by the Bolivarian National Police, the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, the Extortion and Kidnapping Command, Special Operations, the Presidential Honor Guard Special Forces, and the Anti-Drug Command.

In addition to the Commando Action Groups, Tactical Operations Unit, Caracas Police, Directorate of Special Actions, Fire Department, Civil Protection, among others, the Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Peace emphasized the national government’s significant effort to ensure all agencies are adequately equipped, an effort, he stressed, undertaken by the Bolivarian Revolution under the direct instructions of President Nicolás Maduro.

Cabello highlighted the systematic fight against armed gangs, a “dedicated and joint” effort by all security forces, and underscored the popular, military, and police unity deployed throughout the country.

Among the most notable aspects of the year, the Vice President mentioned the reduction of 340 homicides compared to 2014, which he attributed to “joint efforts,” and asserted that Venezuela has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

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Nasralla is locked in a tight race against the also right-wing National Party (PN), whose candidate, Nasry Asfura, leads the preliminary count by the National Electoral Council (CNE) by a margin of just 33,000 votes.

The Liberal candidate and well-known television presenter said that his party has agreed to review the 2,792 ballot boxes with inconsistencies selected by the CNE for the special recount, which began the previous day and represents approximately 500,000 votes.

However, he demanded that, after this step and without delays or acts of corruption, the electoral authority proceed to inspect the 8,845 polling stations challenged by the Liberal Party (PL), which represent approximately 1.8 million ballots affected by biometric failures and other technical errors, he explained.

“Open the ballot boxes, and if more votes are cast for the National Party (PN) because of changes made within the electoral warehouse or for any other reason, I will accept it, but until the votes from those 8,845 polling stations that we have challenged in a timely manner are counted, we will not accept any result,” he warned.

According to his calculations, after reviewing and counting these inconsistencies, the Liberals would obtain 149,155 more votes than the Nationalists.

In the opinion of the Liberal presidential candidate, the law empowers the National Electoral Council (CNE) to order special reviews in these cases, and he reiterated that the objective is to guarantee transparency and that the final result faithfully reflects the popular will.

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“In the context of the Istanbul agreements, the bodies of 1,000 dead personnel were handed over to Ukraine. Russia received the bodies of 26 Russian soldiers killed in action,” Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel this Friday.

Russia and Ukraine previously agreed to continue medical exchanges of seriously wounded or sick soldiers.

Moscow reported that it is ready to send 3,000 other bodies of deceased soldiers to Kiev.

Additionally, Russian authorities proposed a prisoner swap with Kyiv on a 1,200-for-1,200 formula.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine resumed in May direct talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, for the first time in more than three years.

Two more rounds of negotiations have taken place since then, the most tangible results of which have so far been the acceleration of prisoner swaps between the belligerent parties and the repatriation of thousands of bodies of deceased combatants.

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As Washington intensifies its political, economic, and military attacks against Venezuela, opposition to imperialism is also growing inside the United States—particularly among working-class and immigrant communities who experience the costs of imperialism directly. From cuts to social programs and housing insecurity to mass deportations and ICE raids, many are drawing connections between repression at home and US intervention abroad.

Elizabeth Blaney is a key figure in the Los Angeles tenant movement, a co-founder and co-director of Unión de Vecinos and part of the broader Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU). With decades of experience organizing in Boyle Heights against displacement and gentrification, Blaney has also been deeply involved in international solidarity with Venezuela.

This conversation took place in the context of her participation in the recent People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty held in Caracas. In it, she reflects on grassroots opposition to war and how the Bolivarian Revolution has helped radicalize housing struggles in the Los Angeles tenant movement.

How are organized working-class communities reacting to the latest imperialist military escalation against Venezuela?

Among the working-class base we organize with, there is absolutely no support for the war against Venezuela. In East Los Angeles, where I’m from—and in Los Angeles more broadly—the population is majority Latino, African American, and Asian. Most people in our communities are immigrants. Many come from countries that have experienced violence as a direct result of US intervention. Because of that, they understand the situation and recognize the real motivations behind what the US government is doing here in Venezuela. There is strong opposition to war and a clear demand for the United States to get out of the Caribbean.

People also understand that war funding comes directly at their expense. We’ve lost school programs, social services, and benefits. Starting in January, many people will lose Medicaid support. There is a widespread understanding that public resources are being redirected to fund wars. So, beyond solidarity or morality, there is also a concrete economic reason that people oppose war…. They know that they are already paying the price.

This has translated into organization. People want to learn more and get involved in the growing anti-war movement, and our leadership has participated in solidarity protests across Los Angeles. The ongoing ICE raids have also deepened understanding of what is happening to Venezuela: witnessing family members, friends, and neighbors abducted by ICE has generated fear, but also a growing disposition to resist.

Many people now understand that retreating into fear only strengthens the state. They also recognize that the same violence the US government deploys against them is being used against the people of Venezuela and Palestine. This has led to a broad rejection of imperialist aggression—people overwhelmingly oppose the imperialist military buildup in the Caribbean and the Israeli genocide, which is funded and enabled by the United States.

You participated in the recent “People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty” [December 9-11] in Caracas. Getting to it was not easy, since most airlines stopped flying to Venezuela after Trump closed the airspace. Despite these obstacles, the Assembly took place and was a huge success. What can you tell us about it?

Hundreds of people were stranded in airports or had their flights canceled at the last minute because of Trump’s illegal attempt to control Venezuelan airspace. As a result, many delegates who were scheduled to attend didn’t make it.

Despite this, the conference went forward, with between 600 and 800 delegates from around the world present. In that sense, it was a success. Some people traveled through five or six countries just to get here. That level of commitment shows how deeply people oppose US aggression and support the call for peace!

Politically, what stood out most was how clearly delegates connected US aggression against Venezuela to its global impact. People discussed how sanctions and seizures—such as the illegal confiscation of oil tankers bound for Cuba and other countries—directly affect energy access and economic stability elsewhere. This makes it clear that what’s happening in Venezuela is an international issue.

There were also discussions about how war funding drains resources from working people in the United States and promotes speculation in financial and housing markets globally. One session focused specifically on housing, examining how imperialist war drives up rents and housing prices, worsening conditions for tenants worldwide.

Beyond peace, the Assembly’s debates emphasized people’s sovereignty and who has the right to control resources. The conclusion was clear—those resources belong to the Venezuelan people. If they are stolen from Venezuela, nothing prevents similar theft elsewhere.

The Peace Assembly helped develop a shared understanding of how to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty while preparing for what comes next globally. Now the analysis has to go back to our communities.

Members of the Unión del Barrio in an LA concentration against the US military deployment in the caribbean. (Unión del Barrio)

You’ve said on other occasions that the Bolivarian Process, despite being demonized by the media establishment, has helped radicalize housing struggles in Los Angeles. How has that experience shaped your organization?

I’m part of the Unión de Vecinos, the East Side chapter of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. We’ve been engaged in internationalist solidarity work for many years. We first came to Venezuela in 2019 and have returned several times since, not only to oppose sanctions but to strengthen the tenant movement in Los Angeles and to be fellow travelers in the march toward socialism.

In July 2023, we organized a brigade of about 25 tenant organizers from across California. For many participants, it was a transformative experience. What people in the United States often don’t grasp is that in Venezuela, there is a real socialist project. Of course, it is not perfect and has contradictions, but it is a true emancipatory project with tangible advances. Housing rights, free university education, and free healthcare already exist here in ways they do not in the US.

Seeing this reality firsthand shifted how our organizers think. It made it clear that socialism is not just an abstract demand but something that can be built in practice. Over the past two years and across our 15 chapters, this experience has fueled profound debates about what it means to build a socialist project in Los Angeles.

We don’t see ourselves as just a housing movement. It is about tenants’ ability to survive, remain in their neighborhoods, and collectively shape their communities. This broader vision was strongly influenced by what we learned in Venezuela. Following a process of internal debates, the LA Tenants Union collectively declared itself a socialist organization in August. That decision would not have been possible without the internationalist exchange with Venezuela.

Another crucial lesson has been learning about participatory democracy. In the United States, democracy is reduced to voting every few years or speaking at meetings with no real power. In Venezuela, democracy is practiced as an ongoing process through communal assemblies and popular consultations. For our organizers, seeing Venezuela’s communal assemblies, which are the communes’ highest decision-making body—with “voceros” [spokespeople] accountable to them—has been especially influential. We are strengthening that model across our chapters.

This work goes beyond visits. We’ve built ongoing relationships with Venezuelan movements like the Movimiento de Pobladores, the Movimiento de Inquilinos, and the Simón Bolívar Institute through regular exchanges and political education initiatives. Reciprocal solidarity is central to our political formation and our ability to challenge dominant narratives in the United States.

At a recent event in El Panal Commune, the Simón Bolívar Institute launched the “Solidarity Committee with the Peoples of the US.” What does this initiative represent for grassroots movements in your context?

Solidarity requires sustained commitment and concrete action. This initiative creates a space where analysis and action converge in a spirit of reciprocal solidarity. At the launch, around ten or eleven organizations from the United States were present, all rooted in working-class communities, in addition to El Panal communards and spokespeople from the Instituto Simón Bolívar. That matters, because this isn’t just about organizations—it’s about the people they represent and organize.

The initiative strengthens our responsibility as organizers and working-class people in the US to fight fascism at home, while opposing imperialism abroad. It also demonstrates that we are not fighting alone. Through this work, we will also be deepening ties with movements in Mexico, Honduras, and Argentina, where people are facing similar crises, particularly around housing. Bringing these struggles together strengthens all of us.

Finally, how have the current ICE raids reshaped the political landscape inside the United States, and how do people connect this repression to US imperialist aggression abroad?

The raids and kidnappings being carried out by the US government against immigrants are a turning point. In practice, the Supreme Court has legalized racism, allowing federal agents to detain people based on skin color, language, or where they gather for work, without due process.

This has sparked resistance well beyond traditional activist circles. While working-class communities have always resisted, many people who were never politically active before are now organizing. Neighborhoods are forming patrols, blocking streets, warning residents, and physically slowing ICE operations.

This has opened space for deeper political conversations. People are increasingly connecting what is happening in their neighborhoods to US aggression abroad. They are asking: if the government can do this here—deporting people, including Venezuelans, or sending migrants to third countries—what stops it from escalating further against countries like Venezuela?

As a result, international solidarity no longer feels distant or abstract. More people are recognizing the shared enemy and taking action in solidarity with Venezuela. That political awakening is one of the most significant developments of the present moment.

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By Zophia Edwards, Corey Gilkes & Tamanisha John – Dic 12. 2025

Amidst US bombs and drug myths about Venezuela as a pretext for regime change, the subordinated position of Caribbean states’ economies within the global economy precludes an unequivocal anti-imperialist position.

It is no exaggeration to say that for over half a millennium the Caribbean has been a stage for imperial incursions. In the past two months, the US has increased its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, including carrying out an airstrike campaign, while claiming that these operations are necessary to protect US citizens from illicit drug trafficking allegedly occurring off the coast of Venezuela. As of November 15th, the US military has launched eleven deadly air strikes on small boats in Caribbean waters and eleven on South America’s Pacific Coast, killing over eighty people. In these operations, the US Navy also raided a tuna fishing boat, detaining the fisherfolk on board for several hours before releasing them.[1] To date, the US government has not provided any proof of its claims that the people it publicly executed are trafficking drugs. These extrajudicial killings have struck fear into the hearts of millions of ordinary people across the region, especially the fisherfolk who depend upon traversing the sea for their livelihoods. 

Meanwhile, Caribbean countries have either blatantly come out in support of the imperial violence at their doorsteps or been hesitant to respond. When these attacks began, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) as well as Guyana expressed enthusiastic support for US militaristic incursions and extrajudicial murders.[2] As tensions escalated, the Guyanese government attempted to backpedal from its original position. However, the T&T Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar, has maintained a pro-US stance. PM Persad Bissessar is on record saying, “I have no sympathy for traffickers, the US military should kill them all violently.”[3] This position by the T&T government was reiterated even after the US murdered two of its citizens, Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, in these airstrike campaigns. T&T allowed the US warship, USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, to dock in the country’s capital between October 26-30 and for US military agents to “address shared threats like transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian missions, and security efforts” on T&T soil.[4] The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – the intergovernmental regional organization – has dragged its feet to take a position, waiting a whole month on October 18, to release a presser wherein it reaffirmed the region as a “zone of peace,” with Trinidad and Tobago excepting itself from this stance. 

The foot dragging is sinister when it is known for a fact that the US propaganda of conducting “anti-narcotics” operations is/are a ruse. These hostile US military aggressions in the Caribbean Sea and on South America’s Pacific Coast are part of a broader US imperial geopolitical strategy aimed at toppling the government of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro. The aim, as Trump has publicly intimated,[5] is to get the Venezuelan government to grant the US more beneficial access to Venezuela’s resources. One might ask: Why are governments, like Trinidad and Tobago, enabling US imperial terror in the region? And why have CARICOM governments not taken an unequivocal anti-imperialist position? The answer lies in the subordinated position of these states’ economies within the global economy. Caribbean states are historically structured to be neoliberal, pro-imperial, and anti-democratic – while political elites are beholden to enacting external interests. Moreover, internal political dynamics – in terms of racial and class struggles – are also a factor, influencing the timing and intensity of these Caribbean governments’ responses to present US imperial terror. 

Debunking the Myth of the Venezuela Narco State
The first order of business is dispelling the myth that Venezuela is a ‘narco-state.’ US officials have framed the current operations—boat strikes, deployments of destroyers and aircraft—as counter-narcotics efforts designed to stem the flow of illicit drugs from Venezuela to the US. However, the Caribbean route is not among the primary conduits for major volumes of cocaine and methamphetamines into the US. Most trafficking flows of narcotics to the US are overland, through Central America and via Pacific routes.[6] It is no surprise therefore that the US government has not provided any proof of its claims that the people it has extrajudicially murdered in the Caribbean Sea or on South America’s coast are engaged in drug trafficking. Additionally, the scale and nature of force being used are far beyond what traditional interdiction operations require – with the Trump administration claiming that interdiction has not worked, hence deadly air strikes are necessary. 

In addition to the lack of evidence of a Venezuelan route being key to drug trafficking into the US, there is also no credible proof linking the Maduro government to organized drug trafficking, despite the Trump regime’s claims, which are parroted uncritically by many Caribbean media and politicians. Within the US’s own intelligence establishment, one report explicitly states: “the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA [Tren de Agua] and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.”[7] The report goes on to say: “Venezuelan intelligence, military, and police services view TDA as a security threat and operate against it in ways that make it highly unlikely the two sides would cooperate in a strategic or consistent way.” These facts stand out, especially given the evidentiary long and sordid history of the US’s leading role in drug trafficking in the Americas, and the US as the #1 supplier of weapons to those involved in the global drug trade in the region. 

The US government’s real motive is to destabilize and topple the Maduro government in Venezuela, in favor of a regime that undermines Venezuela’s sovereignty. Frantz Fanon, Walter Rodney and many others remind us that capitalist imperialism depends upon neocolonial puppet governments occupied by a predatory elite who facilitate accumulation by extractivism, dispossession, and exploitation. Positioned to usurp Maduro in Venezuela by imposition and not elections, is 2025 Nobel “Peace” Prize winner, María Corina Machado. Machado is a key US ally, Trump admirer, supporter of Israel and its bombing of Gaza, and an overall admirer of repressive regimes in Latin America – including El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Machado has been begging for foreign military intervention in Venezuela to remove the Maduro government while professing that her administration, if granted power through non-electoral means, intends to open up Venezuela’s doors to foreign exploiters. If the current iteration of US imperial antagonism in the region leads to regime change in Venezuela, the US is poised to have control over the resources in the southern Caribbean – namely Guyana and T&T – as well as on the South American Coast: again, namely Guyana and then Venezuela. This will give the US direct control over shipping routes in the region, as it prepares for a wider economic confrontation with China. Hence, these alleged “anti-narcotics” operations which have taken the lives of over eighty Caribbean and South American people, are just a smokescreen for deeper US geopolitical interests. 

Dependency and the Character of the State
Caribbean states are disregarding the lives of the Venezuelan, Latin American, and their own Caribbean populations using external security narratives, largely because there is a true dictatorship of foreign capital in the region. As US Vice-President JD Vance let slip, places like the Caribbean countries were always intended to remain extractive workstations, not autonomous, functioning nations.…at all.[8] T&T, for example, has long been dependent on oil and gas extraction for the bulk of its national income. However, the country has been experiencing a decline in natural gas and crude oil production over the past decade and the country’s liquefaction complex and petrochemical plants producing ammonia, methanol, and other key exports – which depend upon gas input – have been suffering.[9] Combined with the collapse in energy prices in 2014, this situation has produced a decline in foreign exchange inflows and government revenues.[10] With the demand for US dollars far outstripping the supply, T&T is facing one of the most severe foreign exchange crises in the Caribbean, causing uproar across the working, middle, and upper classes of society alike.[11] As such, the T&T government is desperate for the resuscitation of its flailing oil and gas sector. 

The T&T government spent decades developing a “Dragon” gas deal, where Shell would lead operations that funnel gas located in Venezuelan waters to T&T, where it can be exported as LNG. This deal, considered by the T&T state to be the lifeline that would save the local economy from collapse, has become a weapon in Washington, DC’s arsenal against Venezuela. In the midst of the extra-judicial killings in the region, the US has revoked licenses approving the deal and re-approved them under new terms meant to ensure the involvement and profits of US companies. The continued structural dependency of T&T on foreign capital and imperial markets renders its misleaders susceptible to these coercive measures to ensure that Caribbean states align with US capitalist imperialist policies.

Economic coercion is an important part of the context for Kamla Persad Bissessar’s support for imperialism, but her position cannot be traced to this alone. Persad Bissessar and the educated elite and comprador class she represents come out of some of the “best” primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions locally and internationally. Are these elites supposed to provide independent, critical thinkers who would decolonize “post” colonial societies? Are they only unwitting agents of imperialism or are they willing participants? From the time of many states’ flag independence, foreign interventions have secured for the local Caribbean elites’ (or comprador classes) party longevity and/or political dominance, and/or visas and dual citizenships, and/or the ability to accumulate wealth for themselves by exploiting the people and land within their countries. As Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earthand Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa detailed,these elites lack the sort of creativity and vitality to independently develop into an industrial bourgeoisie. They therefore turn to propping up foreign entities and dependent economic relations. Consequently, Caribbean state-making and the establishment of territorial statuses in the context of US and European imperialist capitalism has reproduced institutions that are unresponsive to Caribbean people. 

Whether through hopes of securing or acquiring foreign investment, or due to rank economic blackmail that threatens foreign investments elites through sanctions and other restrictions – many Caribbean states choose to serve US and Western imperialism as an almost ‘practical’ strategy of economic ‘stability.’ However, such imperial service only guarantees continued underdevelopment and economic beggary. Herein, T&T’s misleadership is positioning the country as a beggar to the US and reinforcing US sanctions on Venezuela, which makes it hard for Venezuela to sell its own oil and gas to states that need it, including T&T. Worse still, the US does not want China to remedy this situation between Venezuela and Trinidad. So not only are some Caribbean leaders and party supporters encouraging naked US imperialism cloaked in the deceptive language and rhetoric of “anti-drug trafficking” and “protecting the region,” they are also upholding a condition of dependency of the region on the US, advancing US attempts to subvert Chinese influence in the region, and in the process supporting direct attacks on states in the region’s right to self-determination and sovereignty. 

Moreover, local internal racial and class dynamics are also shaping the timing and intensity of Caribbean governments responses to US aggression in the region. In the post-WWII construction of party politics in T&T, middle-class parties carried forward the colonial divisions between the predominantly African and Indian segments of the population that multiracial worker movements had fought so hard to overcome. Kamla Persad Bissessar, as leader of the party popularly known as the one representing “Indian interests,” is advancing and exploiting this racial wedge to garner support for her pro-imperial policies. This party has actively engaged in criminalizing poor African communities as well as Venezuelan migrants, while downplaying the fact that the many poor and marginalized Indians are similarly caught in the net of US imperialism. Persad Bissessar and her party affiliates’ own ideas of “purity” mixed with class notions of entitlement merge with the supremacist foundations of US local and foreign politics.

It’s bad enough that a Prime Minister — a lawyer — supports extra-judicial murders in violation of International Law, but how does one align with a political ideology that produced people like Senator James Reed, who, circa 1919, openly dismissed dealing with “a removed from Liberia, a removed from Honduras, a removed from India…each (having) votes equal to that of the great United States.” Before one argues that this was long ago, consider what right-wing political commentator Ann Coulter told Vivek Ramaswamy why she’d never vote for him regardless of how his views match hers. We acknowledge that political leaders, seeking re-election, opt for the path of least resistance which in this case means not offending the mighty United States. But this cannot just be naïveté.

It is in this context that Kamla Persad Bissessar has broken with even the basic understanding of what CARICOM is, and is astonishingly peddling the idea that each island seeking its own interest is somehow more progressive than banding together as one bloc! In other words, she and those who support her stance have embraced regional colonial divide-and-conquer tactics. The US has always stood in opposition to a unified body in the region. As then US diplomat Charles Whittaker put it: “A strongly federated West Indies might be detrimental to American interests.” As such, they undermined the West Indian Federation in the 1950s and sabotaged the New International Economic Order throughout the 1970s. The Caribbean misleaders proclaiming disunity as strength subscribe to political ideologies that interlock with a particular brand of politics in the West that has been openly Euro-nationalist and imperialist. Hence, at a time when many resource-rich countries are forming partnerships and alternative trading and security blocs, the political misleaders in the Caribbean calling for further fragmentation should warrant deeper investigation.

Venezuela Condemns US Piracy Before UN as Killings Resume; US Debate Heats Up, and Trinidad Lends Airports to US Military Operations

Media, Political Misleadership, and How the State Weaponizes “Security”
It is important to clarify that crime does exist in the Caribbean region, just as it exists elsewhere throughout the world. The size of Caribbean countries are also important to note, because though it is true that the amount of drugs flowing through the Caribbean are low relative to the global drug trade, the little that does pass through is indeed wreaking havoc, given the geographical and population sizes of these countries. The increase in guns and violent crime associated with the global drug trade in places like T&T has become a critical factor affecting everyday life for ordinary people there. This context has enabled the T&T government to justify and legitimate US military aggression in the name of “fighting” the drug trade in the region. Thus, most people cheering on the US military are simply desperate for a sense of safety. However, it is precisely this need for safety that is being weaponized — to increase unsafe conditions as new US-produced military weaponry and technologies become even more commonplace in the region. 

There is a direct and indirect connection between (geo)political and economic decisions made by successive generations of ruling elites in the Caribbean, and North American narratives of crime, which have –going back to the 19th century in some countries – allowed (and made space for) imperial aggression in the region. Over a number of decades, the United States has taken advantage of crises caused by rising violent crime to pursue its own security interests – even though rises in violent crime in the region is directly linked to US imported and manufactured weapons, and US consumer demands for items that the US state deems “illegal.” To establish and maintain US dominance — and the accompanying cheap labor[12] from the surplus populations which exist in a region notorious for high levels of unemployment and underemployment — the US has deployed constant applications of violence, packaged as maintaining “law and order” in the drive to “progress” and “catch up” with the West. It’s no coincidence that modern policing began in the Caribbean as militarized slave patrols in St Lucia.[13] Then, like now, the purpose is the same: protect wealth from the workers who created it. However, the real effectiveness lay in conditioning the exploited to adopt the values of the elites. To date, Western elite definitions of progress and development for the wider working people in the Caribbean region dominate, even as the dependent status of Caribbean economies make this impossible for the majority of the people in the region. Thus, US reliance on expanding its military apparatus for economic growth is justified through the construction of permanent threats that the US supposedly has to “defend” itself against.

Another such narrative, like the need to “promote democracy” in Venezuela, is also within this vein of western imperialist propaganda. The US and western imperialists maintain that Venezuela is not a democracy, despite thepresence of robust, active citizen’s assemblies and communes, as well as elections that occur under the presence of election observers – including from the US. Nonetheless, the western imperialist narrative maintains that Venezuela is not democratic and thus their people can be bombed for some purported “greater good.” Meanwhile, these same imperialist narratives call genocidal Israel a democracy deserving of “protection” and “defense,” as it exterminates Palestinians and decimates Palestinian land. This propaganda – not analysis based on any facts – readily frames western imperialism as “defensive,” “pro-security,” and “pro-safety” and those not in line with it as “aggressive” and “undemocratic.”[14] In lockstep with imperialists, local political figures too have long used or encouraged the use of dehumanizing language when discussing criminalized people and communities. When the T&T Prime Minister, Police Commissioner, and other influential authority figures refer to human beings as “carcasses,”[15] “pests,” “fleas” or “cockroaches,” the message sent is that these are not citizens or members of society and therefore, not worthy of certain basic courtesies and legal obligations, including the right to life. When this sort of thinking is widespread, issues of social justice fall by the wayside. Instead, heavy often murderous attacks on real or alleged drug runners who come from poor, precarious, vulnerable communities become justified while the power brokers, bankers and their institutions[16] that launder money do not get so much as a paper weight dropped on them.

Likewise, the local and international media is playing a significant role in the unfolding crisis. Save for a few columnists, the local media has been disgraceful, little more than sycophantic stenographers for egregious narratives coming from Washington. Initially, the local media conducted little to no critical research into the many available sources discrediting[17] false allegations connecting the Maduro administration to drug cartels. They parroted language that criminalized the victims of the attacks without presenting any evidence proving that they were guilty of violating any laws. They were silent on the voluminous literature connecting the CIA and the US military to colonial land and resource grabs that violate international and local laws.[18] They also proliferated the myth that Nicolas Maduro “lost” or “rigged” elections in Venezuela, contrary to information provided by election observers. The lack of critical and independent journalism is a clear dereliction of duty, supporting imperialist narratives and providing cover for extrajudicial murder.

Conclusion
The neoliberal era shortly after many states’ independence extended the life of bourgeois colonial thought in the Caribbean, interpreting the human “firstly, [as] a figure that is homo economics, and, secondly, a figure that can only operate within the field of white supremacy and capitalism.”[19] In this environment, Caribbean resistance weakened, having to establish itself alongside the intensification of neoliberal processes – foremost amongst them being state repression and militarist aggression supported by the US hegemon – so that Caribbean peoples could be definitively integrated into a Western capitalist system as “bottom labor-exporting economies,” whose labor commodification was masked by discourses on ‘growth’ and ‘development.’[20] It is in analyzing the characteristics of Caribbean states and governance within them – including how they interpret ‘development’ – that helps us to answer why so many states elect to do imperial service: Caribbean neocolonial (puppet) states are fundamentally anti-democratic with no real regard for Caribbean life within them. 

The T&T government’s deliberate facilitation of US imperial aggression in the region mirrors the position of several African states. The post-genocide Tutsi-dominated regime of Paul Kagame in Rwanda, leveraging its image as a victim of colonialism and genocide, justifies domestic repression of Hutus and expansionist military ventures in neighboring states, notably the Democratic Republic of Congo in close alliance with the United States, France, and Israel. In exchange for U.S. and western military, financial, and political backing, Rwanda facilitates imperial access to Congo’s mineral wealth—coltan, gold, and tin—channeling profits both to Western capital and Rwandan elites. Thus, Rwanda functions as a pro-U.S. imperial proxy, advancing the global system of resource extraction and accumulation on behalf of Western powers. In addition, Rwanda along with a growing list of African states, including Ghana, Eswatini, and South Sudan have accepted the terms of bilateral agreements with the US government to receive people who have been criminalized and deported under the Trump regime’s attack on communities racialized as non-white in the US.[21] By enlisting themselves to be locations for the outsourcing of US racist incarceration policies, they are enabling the geographical expansion of the US military industrial prison complex to more and more corners of the world. These Caribbean and African misleaders will go down in history as active enablers and facilitators of the very imperial greed, oppression, and exploitation that the masses have been resisting since the days of direct colonial domination.

Only invigorated mass resistance that takes power away from Caribbean neocolonial (puppet) elites engaged in imperial service can rectify these conditions. Global Africans in the Caribbean and around the world must claim power and reclaim movement histories that fought back against capitalist imperialism. 

Endnotes

[1]https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/venezuela-says-u-s-warship-raided-a-%E2%80%A6

[2]https://www.caribbeanlife.com/trinidad-guyana-us-moves-venezuela/

[3]https://newsday.co.tt/2025/09/03/kamla-says-kill-all-traffickers-as-tru%E2%80%A6

[4]https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/world/us-warship-docks-trinidad-venezeul%E2%80%A6

[5]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/17/trump-maduro-venezuela

[6]https://www.unodc.org/unodc/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2025.ht%E2%80%A6

[7]https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/32f71f10c36cc482/d9%E2%80%A6

[8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1bd-D1PIZg&pp=ygUZIGogZCB2YW5jZSBnbG9i%E2%80%A6

[9]https://www.finance.gov.tt/2020/03/16/effect-of-the-oil-price-collapse-%E2%80%A6

[10]https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/cr14271.pdf; https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2024/06/04/Trinidad-and-T%E2%80%A6.

[11]Chamber of Industry and Commerce 2025; University of the West Indies Campus News 2024.

[12]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAJgGFtF44A

[13]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kavkiH9YHag&pp=ygUaanVsaWFuIGdvIHBvbGlj%E2%80%A6

[14] See, for example, the Trilateral Commission’s “The Crisis of Democracy” in which influential thinkers who shaped US policy complained that decolonising countries were exercising too much democracy, which needed to be contained, leading to the proliferation of NGOs all over the peripheralized world.

[15]https://trinidadexpress/.com/news/local/kamla-state-resources-won-t-be-wasted/article_5d0c61fd-d633-4dd3-8e3e-6995a454c774.html

[16]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcpZPGOksp0

[17]https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/2025NationalDrugThreatA%E2%80%A6; https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/32f71f10c36cc482/d9%E2%80%A6

[18]https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/455652.Dark_Alliance; https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/1628-whiteout?srsltid=AfmBOor%E2%80%A6; https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/the-politics-of-heroin-%E2%80%A6; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxbW0CCuT7E

[19] Bogues, Anthony. 2023. “Sylvia Wynter: Constructing Radical Caribbean Thought.” BIM: Arts for the 21st Century11(1): 33–41, p.37.

[20] Henry, Paget. 2000. “Caribbean Marxism: After the Neoliberal and Linguistic Turns.” In Caliban’s Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, Africana Thought, New York: Routledge, 221-46, p.228.

[21]https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/more-african-nations-are-receiving-t%E2%80%A6

Zophia Edwards is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Fueling Development: How Black Radical Trade Unionism Transformed Trinidad and Tobago (Duke University Press). She is also a member of the Global Pan-African Movement North America.

Corey Gilkes is an independent researcher who writes from an anticolonial perspective, applying factual revisionist historical analyses to interpret current events. Gilkes has published pieces in trinicenter.com, wired868com, globalcommment.com, and his own blog page at coreygilkes.wordpress.com. He is also currently working on four book projects.

Tamanisha John is an Assistant Professor at York University. She is a member of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), Caribbean Solidarity Network (CSN), and the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC). @tamanishajohn (Twitter and Instagram)

(Pambazuka News)

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

Trump accuses Canada of imposing tariffs of 400% on U.S. dairy products.

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed that the United States raised dozens of issues in trade talks with Canada and Mexico. Each country has “several matters on the table” toward the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) of 2026.

RELATED:

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Despite Washington’s negotiations, Canada will not accept the elimination or reduction of protections for the dairy sector, he said and defended the regulated production system, which has been in place for 50 years and is recognized by the USMCA.

The regulated production system limits tariff-free imports of U.S. dairy products to 3.5% of the total demand. President Donald Trump criticizes it and accuses Canada of imposing tariffs of 400% on U.S. dairy products.

Meanwhile, Carney acknowledged that sectoral agreements to reduce tariffs imposed by Washington on Canadian steel, aluminum, and energy are unlikely, which continues to strain bilateral relations.

🚨BREAKING

A new OECD report states that Canada subsidizes/distorts its milk price by 28%

The world is going to crush us for this. pic.twitter.com/RjgaB2f2b3

— Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@Tablesalt13) November 3, 2025

The Canadian primer minister indicated that the list of trade demands presented by Washington is only part of what will be discussed in the renegotiation of the USMCA in 2026, where “everything” will be included in negotiations.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer presented Washington’s negotiating priorities for the USMCA to Congress, which included eliminating the Canadian management system and protectionist measures in the culture and media sectors.

In October, Canada and the United States were close to an agreement on steel exports, which are subject to a 50% tariff. However, a critical Canadian advertisement on tariffs, broadcast on U.S. television, provoked Trump to suspend the negotiations.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | The Presidents of the United States, Canada, and Mexico held a private meeting after the 2026 World Cup draw, reaffirming their commitment to collaborate on trade issues amid increasing regional tensions. pic.twitter.com/OP547xgUFH

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 9, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Less than 2% of the population residing in Gaza professes Christianity.

On Friday, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived in Gaza to visit the Church of the Holy Family, the only Catholic parish in the Palestinian enclave, which was attacked in July by the Israeli occupation army.

RELATED:

UN Warns of Crimes Against Humanity as Israel Continues Home Demolitions Across Palestine

Pizzaballa traveled with Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali and a delegation to oversee the humanitarian response and the rehabilitation work at the Gaza parish. The cardinal, considered a papal candidate before the election of Leo XIV, will also preside over Christmas Mass on Sunday.

His visit reaffirms the parish’s connection with the diocese and the Latin Patriarchate’s commitment to accompanying its faithful in hope and prayer during the difficult times for the Christian community.

Pope Leo XIV has spoken on several occasions with the parish priest of Gaza, the Argentinian Gabriel Romanelli, who leads the local Catholic community amidst the humanitarian crisis.

Video showing the funeral of the victims of a tragic Israeli strike on Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza. Three individuals lost their lives.
July 17 2025 #palestine #gaza #Eastern_christians #Christianity pic.twitter.com/gB30s3wW3N

— Eastern christians (@Easternchristns) July 17, 2025

During his last visit in July, Pizzaballa was accompanied by Theophilos III, his Greek Orthodox counterpart, after an Israeli attack that killed three people in the church. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump that the attack on the church was “a mistake.”

According to the latest available data, less than 2% of the population residing in Gaza professes Christianity. Around 400 Christian faithful from Gaza will spend their third Christmas as refugees in the Holy Family parish, surrounded by ruins and nightly gunfire.

Romanelli explained that there will be no outdoor celebrations because the war continues. He noted that the electrical system is down, the water pipes are destroyed, and half of the essential medicines are lacking.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) continues to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/2D81Pgo6rH

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) November 5, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

If re-elected in 2026, Farley Augustine will propose a referendum to achieve autonomy for the island.

On Friday, CNC3TV reported that Tobago Chief Secretary Farley Augustine questioned decisions by Trinidad and Tobago’s central government regarding U.S. military access to his country’s territory.

RELATED:

Dr. Keith Rowley Accuses Prime Minister of Trinidad y Tobago of Undermining National Dignity

“Augustine says if he had the authority, he would have rejected the military radar and U.S. military access to Tobago’s airport. He says the decision should have reflected the will of the people. He’s once again calling for a referendum to discuss what Tobagonians want as part of its autonomy,” the local outlet said.

If re-elected on Jan. 12, Augustine would raise with citizens the possibility of achieving autonomy for the island through a referendum that would be held in mid-2026.

“Speaking in Buccoo on Thursday evening at a Tobago People’s Party political meeting, Augustine said his party has a ‘blueprint’ for Tobago’s development, with a referendum on autonomy as a central element,” the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reported.

THA NOMINATION DAY

THA Chief Secretary and Tobago People's Party leader, Farley Augustine, successfully filed his nomination papers for the THA election.
Augustine also reflected on his 4 years in charge of the island's affairs and the challenges his party faced.
Video by NEIL… pic.twitter.com/HBcbE7EzgW

— T&T Guardian (@GuardianTT) December 19, 2025

The Tobagonian politician warned that he would call for public mobilization if the Trinidad and Tobago’s government does not accept the possibility of a referendum.

“And if the central government is reluctant to make legal provisions for an assembly, we will hold a nonbinding referendum and we will take the data or the results from that referendum and we are going to march forward to Port of Spain and say to Port of Spain this is what the people of Tobago want and we want nothing less than that,” he said, as reported by the local outlet.

Among the reasons cited for seeking autonomy for the island is the fact that Tobago lacks the legal authority to make decisions over natural resources located in its maritime space.

“When we talk about our autonomy, we are not accepting any autonomy bills where we can’t pass laws for our ocean. That is ours. That doesn’t belong to anybody else but us. That’s our own, that’s not theirs,” Augustine said.

"Another Caribbean chess move: Trinidad's airport access for US military as tensions simmer. Critics say this blurs the line between cooperation and becoming a geopolitical staging ground. Watch this space."https://t.co/0943D9FStO

— DestineeButler (@DestineeButler8) December 18, 2025

Previously, on Dec. 15, the government of Trinidad and Tobago, led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, announced it would allow U.S. military aircraft to transit through its local airports in the coming weeks.

Central government authorities, who have backed the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean, also confirmed the installation of a radar system and the arrival of two U.S. military aircraft.

While the Persad-Bissessar administration vows that Trinidad and Tobago is not involved in any war proposal, its authorizations come amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Caribbean, fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has explicitly stated his interest in appropriating Venezuelan natural resources.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | The United States reinforced its threats against the Caribbean region, after installing a military radar in Trinidad and Tobago, near the Venezuelan coast. pic.twitter.com/4oG5MKr17L

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 2, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: CNC3TV – Trinidad and Tobajo Guardian

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

How the December 2025 summit indefinitely locked US$300 billion in Russian wealth to serve as a permanent hostage for Western “reparations loans.”

On the morning of December 19, 2025, a group of European leaders emerged from the European Council Summit with a decision that many are calling a “historic compromise,” but which critics label a desperate act of financial engineering.

RELATED:
Belgium Rejects the Utilization of Frozen Russian Assets

The European Union has finalized a €90 billion loan (US$105 billion) for Ukraine; a move aimed at staving off the country’s looming bankruptcy by the second quarter of 2026.

The decision marks a critical turning point in the years-long saga of the Russian central bank assets, which were frozen in February 2022. While the EU stopped short of the outright confiscation demanded by hawks in Washington and Warsaw, they have effectively placed these billions under an “indefinite freeze”.

🇷🇺🇪🇺 Europe is so poor, it now needs to steal Russian assets to keep Ukraine going.

With an estimated GDP of $29T to Russia's $7T, they still can't outproduce us.

Honestly, I believe stealing the frozen assets plays into Russia's interest, foreign investors pull out in fear.… pic.twitter.com/28nZGjylgR

— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) December 12, 2025

Anatomy of the Freeze: $300 Billion in Limbo

Following the start of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in 2022, the West acted with unprecedented speed to weaponize the global clearing system. Approximately US$300 billion (€285 billion) in Russian sovereign reserves were immobilized.

The distribution of these funds is a roadmap of Western financial dominance. While the United States holds a mere US$5 billion, the overwhelming bulk—roughly €210 billion—resides within the European Union.

At the heart of this storm is Euroclear, a Belgian-based clearinghouse that alone holds €193 billion of the Russian total. These are complex securities that have matured into cash balances, generating billions in “extraordinary” interest profits that have become the primary target for Western policymakers.

EU leaders decided to borrow cash to fund Ukraine's defense against Russia for the next two years rather than use frozen Russian assets, sidestepping divisions over an unprecedented plan to finance Kyiv with Russian sovereign cash https://t.co/VW3AoPlgWh pic.twitter.com/obt5rDQVAZ

— Reuters (@Reuters) December 19, 2025

The Legal “Sleight of Hand”: Redefining Ownership

For nearly four years, the West has navigated a legal minefield. Outright seizure of the “principal”—the original US$300 billion—was long resisted by the European Central Bank and the Belgian government.

The most significant shift occurred on December 12, 2025, when the European Commission utilized Article 122(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Traditionally reserved for emergency economic measures like natural disasters or energy crises, this article was invoked to label the war in Ukraine a “serious economic difficulty” for the Union itself.

This was a strategic masterstroke for Brussels. By reclassifying the asset freeze as an “emergency economic measure” rather than a purely foreign policy decision, the Commission was able to:

• Neutralize the Veto: It replaced the requirement for a unanimous vote (which countries like Hungary frequently blocked) with a Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) system.
• Indefinite Immobilization: It transformed the previous six-month renewal cycle into an “indefinite freeze.” The assets are now locked until Russia pays reparations—a condition that effectively ensures the money is permanently trapped.

To avoid the label of “thieves,” EU lawyers crafted the Reparations Loan (Regulation 2025/2600). The mechanism is designed as a “limited recourse loan”: the EU borrows €90 billion on capital markets and hands it to Kyiv.

“No matter what pseudo-legal tricks Brussels tries to justify this with, it amounts to outright ordinary robbery… They are like ‘thimbleriggers’ [street con artists] palming off confiscation as a loan,” Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

They feared that such a move would shatter the credibility of the Euro as a reserve currency, leading nations like China, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil to flee Western markets. Now, the funds are blocked until Russia pays for war damages, a condition that effectively ensures the money will never be returned under the current geopolitical climate.

As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen triumphantly stated on Friday: “Every six months, there was a threat that just one member state… not agreeing to the sanctions anymore, the immobilized Russian assets would have been gone. Now they are secured for good and can only be mobilized again with a qualified majority. That’s the big win.”

The EU must make Russia pay for its war of aggression against Ukraine with its frozen assets.

Watch⤵️ #EUCO pic.twitter.com/48aldi5jbv

— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) December 19, 2025

Financing or Extortion? The Debt Trap for Ukraine

The €90 billion loan, intended for 2026 and 2027, is structured as a “limited recourse loan.” This means Ukraine is only obligated to repay the EU if and when it receives reparations from Russia. If no reparations are paid, the EU “reserves the right” to use the frozen Russian assets to pay back the creditors.

This structure is fraught with irony. It ties Ukraine’s financial survival to the permanent dispossession of another sovereign nation’s wealth, all while bypassing the United Nations—the only body with the legal authority to adjudicate such reparations.

“Now we have a simple choice: either money today or blood tomorrow. And I am not talking about Ukraine only; I am talking about Europe. This is our decision to make, and only ours.”, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the urgency of the funding.

While EU outlets frame this as “justice,” it is another perspective, one of profound alarm. Why were the assets of nations involved in the illegal invasion of Iraq never frozen? Why has there been no similar move against assets related to the ongoing crisis in Gaza?

The message to the world is clear: your wealth is only safe in Western banks if your foreign policy aligns with Western interests. This “financial imperialism” has accelerated a tectonic shift in the global economy. The BRICS+ nations are no longer just discussing “de-dollarization”; they are actively building alternative clearing systems to avoid the “Euroclear trap.”

It should be emphasized that Russia is not the first victim of this doctrine. The “freezing” of Russian wealth follows the template set by the seizure of Venezuelan gold in the Bank of England and the “blocking” of US$7 billion of Afghan central bank reserves by the U.S. In both cases, the West used its control over financial infrastructure to pursue regime change or political leverage, often at the expense of the civilian populations who suffered as their national wealth was locked away.

Zelensky in Brussels on frozen Russian assets:
“Both morally and legally, this is the right thing to do. Some may fear lawsuits from Russia, but that is far less dangerous than Russia at your border. While Ukraine defends Europe, Europe must support Ukraine.” pic.twitter.com/FNLdvfXF9q

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) December 18, 2025

A New Financial Iron Curtain

As we close out 2025, the “rules-based order” has chosen a path from which there may be no return. By indefinitely immobilizing Russian assets to back a €90 billion loan, the European Union has prioritized short-term military funding over the long-term stability of the international legal system.

The “neutrality” of global finance is officially dead. In its place, a new Financial Iron Curtain is falling, dividing the world between those who remain within the Western clearinghouses and those who are seeking refuge in a new, multipolar architecture. The victory celebrated in Brussels today may well be the catalyst for the ultimate decline of the Euro’s global standing tomorrow.

Sources: teleSUR – Al Jazeera – RT – TASS – EuroNews – Al Mayadeen – European Parliament – Brookings

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

They cite at least 95 deaths in Caribbean and Pacific operations authorized by the Trump administration.

On Dec. 17, Sen. Dick Durbin and nine other Democratic senators asked the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on 25 military strikes on boats authorized by the administration of President Donald Trump in the waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific.

RELATED:

Tobago’s Chief Secretary Augustine Questions U.S. Military Access to Airport

Initially justified under the pretext of combating international drug trafficking, those actions have left at least 95 confirmed deaths in what could constitute extrajudicial killings, murder, and war crimes.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, Cory Booker, Alex Padilla, Peter Welch and Adam Schiff.

🚨BREAKING: Under Pete Hegseth’s orders, the U.S Military just bombed and sank a boat – this time in the Eastern Pacific,
– killing its four occupants.

They claim the boat contained narcotics and have offered zero proof.

pic.twitter.com/aOc0yvYyoY

— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) December 5, 2025

The following is the letter addressed to Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee:

“Since September, the Trump Administration has summarily executed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on alleged drug smugglers in vessels at sea. This is not a time to mince words. These strikes are extrajudicial killings and shocking violations of fundamental principles of due process and the right to life under U.S. and international law.

The Administration’s claims that the people it is killing are guilty of crimes, affiliated with a criminal or terrorist organization, or ‘combatants’ in a nonexistent armed conflict, do not render these extrajudicial killings any less unlawful.

This Committee must address the serious concerns that these strikes may violate U.S. criminal laws, and that Department of Justice attorneys who gave President Trump and Secretary Hegseth legal cover to summarily execute suspected criminals have violated their ethical obligations.

We respectfully request that you immediately convene a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to ensure that those who authorized these extrajudicial killings are held to account. There is not, nor can there be, any justification for state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings.

Summary executions have no place in a constitutional democracy operating under the rule of law, no matter how heinous the accusations a government makes against someone. Nor can governments fabricate an armed conflict or falsely label people ‘combatants’ to kill them.

This is why U.S. officials and Members of Congress from both parties have long condemned extrajudicial killings, including of alleged drug traffickers, when committed by other nations.

For instance, Secretary of State and then-Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bipartisan resolution in the Senate in 2020 condemning the state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals as part of the Duterte government’s ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines. Just last year, then-Senator Rubio introduced a resolution condemning the Maduro regime in Venezuela for the use of extrajudicial killings.

Former President Duterte is now facing crimes against humanity charges for his spree of extrajudicial killings of alleged drug traffickers. For decades, under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights have condemned extrajudicial killings by foreign governments as significant abuses of internationally recognized human rights.

Drug trafficking is a terrible crime. And it must be addressed with robust, effective, and lawful measures, including interdicting vessels transporting such drugs, prosecuting violators to the full extent of the law, and supporting the needs of impacted families and communities. Instead of intensifying such efforts, President Trump has weakened them.

Just recently, President Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former President of Honduras who was convicted of helping to smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States as part of what U.S. authorities have characterized as ‘one of the largest and most violent-drug trafficking conspiracies in the world.’ This follows the President’s pardon of another drug kingpin, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who created the largest online black market for illegal drugs in our nation’s history.

At the same time, this Administration has diverted thousands of Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law-enforcement agents from their critical drug enforcement missions to carry out the President’s radical anti-immigrant agenda.

This Administration has also shuttered the critical Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, unilaterally terminated hundreds of grants that provide critical funding to state and local law enforcement, and is slashing the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program by more than a third, from about US$298 million to US$196 million.

Not surprisingly, federal drug prosecutions under this Administration have dropped to the lowest level in decades. The American people want real solutions to crime and the drug epidemic—not extrajudicial killings committed in their name. In accordance with the Committee’s oversight responsibilities, we urge you to schedule an immediate hearing on this outrage.”

What norms is the United States violating in the Caribbean? pic.twitter.com/3Zk9LQ3KsY

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 18, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: Durbin Senate

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

The humanitarian aid seeks to alleviate the energy crisis caused by the U.S. blockade.

Two Liberian-flagged ships from Mexico, the Ocean Mariner and the Eugenia Gas, will transport 80,000 barrels of fuel to Cuba in the coming days to alleviate the blackout crisis caused by aging power plants and a lack of foreign currency.

RELATED:

Cuba Condemns U.S. Attack on Venezuelan Oil Tanker

While the Eugenia Gas loaded at the Pajaritos complex of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and sailed toward the Cuban port of Moa, the Ocean Mariner is still loading at the same facility. Cuba needs nearly 110,000 barrels of fuel per day to cover its basic needs, of which 40,000 come from domestic production.

Half of Cuba’s fuel comes from Venezuela, Mexico, and, to a lesser extent, Russia. The reduction in Mexican shipments, from nearly 25,000 barrels per day to around 5,000, along with the U.S. naval deployment off the coast of Venezuela, has worsened Cuba’s energy situation.

The island has faced an energy crisis since mid-2024 due to breakdowns at aging power plants and a lack of resources to fix them, due to the U.S. blockade. In one year, the energy system suffered five total blackouts and several partial ones.

Previously, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum framed these shipments as humanitarian aid and noted that relations with Cuba have always been a source of contention with the United States since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a naval blockade against sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, which also threatens to intensify the crisis in Cuba. The measure aims to curb the supply of Venezuelan hydrocarbons.

#VivaLaUniónDeLosPueblos #CHCh
El pueblo venezolano movilizado en la calle en rechazo al robo del buque petrolero iraní skipper el cual ejecutó el gobierno de los Estados Unidos delante de los ojos del mundo la ONU en silencio total la OEA en silencio total pic.twitter.com/v98DtF1p0Y

— Brichar2017 (@brichar2017) December 15, 2025

The text reads, “The Venezuelan people mobilize to reject the theft of the Iranian oil tanker Skipper, which was carried out by the United States government before the eyes of the world. The UN and the OAS remained completely silent.”

The Cuban Foreign Ministry described the naval blockade as an act of piracy and maritime terrorism, and denounced that the United States seeks to prevent Venezuela from freely trading its natural resources, including supplies to Cuba.

President Trump declared that the objective of the naval blockade is to “recover our oil.” He added that Venezuela “took away” all of U.S. energy rights and reiterated his intention to recover land and operations that U.S. companies previously held in that country.

However, U.S. oil companies are showing no interest in returning to Venezuela: the Trump administration consulted with companies about resuming operations if President Nicolas Maduro were overthrown, and the response was a resounding “No.”

Trump asserted that the naval blockade would continue until Washington gains control of Venezuelan oil, while he maintains a bellicose rhetoric that is escalating diplomatic and military tensions in the region.

This stance prompted members of the U.S. House of Representatives to push for an emergency vote to halt the use of U.S. armed forces inside or against Venezuela without the Congress’s authorization, but the initiative failed.

The United States government's threats against Venezuela and the military deployment in the #CaribbeanSea were condemned by Ernesto Soberon, the representative of #Cuba to the United Nations. pic.twitter.com/xIwQ4xYopD

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 18, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE – La Jornada

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Viral reports on social media and international forums warn of a possible cyberattack on the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) rapid vote counting system (TREP), amid growing suspicions of an attempted “electoral coup.”

The accusations are based on the dissemination of IP addresses and network ranges allegedly linked to the electoral body’s technological infrastructure.

RELATED:

Electoral Coup in Honduras: Xiomara Castro Demands a Vote-by-Vote Recount

According to material circulating on digital platforms and cybercrime forums such as BreachForums, lists of internal IP addresses associated with Honduran electoral system networks have been shared, including private segments not publicly accessible, suggesting a possible network mapping or leak.

One of the images, titled “Hack the Elections,” and another corresponding to an online chat where users coordinate cyber actions—including threats of DDoS attacks—have generated concern among cybersecurity experts.

IT specialists consulted on social media emphasize that, although there is no conclusive evidence of a completed hack, the revealed elements do show a reconnaissance and preparation phase for a possible cyberattack, which represents a real risk to the integrity of the electoral process.

These warnings are compounded by inconsistencies in the official data: the registered voter registry is estimated at approximately 6.5 million voters, but the number of votes cast has already exceeded 7 million, even though the TREP system reports only 91% of the vote count completed. This discrepancy has raised alarms among political and social sectors, who denounce the possibility of manipulation or alteration of the results.

Honduras Elections breach is on #BreachForums thanks to @Sc0rp10nn1 this is awesome if someone wants to really hack some elections shit,https://t.co/6aOFxZJRsH
IP: 27.126.241.124https://t.co/thRYFPK44Xhttps://t.co/9ADdGlthlK
IP: 100.28.91.7 pic.twitter.com/mDW8ErlcDs

— DR54HACKS (@hackysackysack) December 19, 2025

The allegations point to a suspected fraud in the making, in which sectors of the traditional two-party system are allegedly involved, which, if confirmed, would constitute one of the most contested electoral processes in the country’s recent history.

Various actors are demanding absolute transparency, independent technical audits, and public appearances by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to guarantee that the results reflect the popular will.

To date, the electoral authorities have not issued a technical statement addressing these specific allegations, while the case continues to gain prominence both nationally and internationally.

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From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

The Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Yván Gil, posted on his Telegram account a press conference in which the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, presented a summary of his tenure. Rubio, who served 14 years as a legislator and has been in his current position for a year, failed to highlight a single concrete achievement in foreign policy.

Instead, he reiterated unsubstantiated accusations against the Venezuelan government, which he described as “an illegitimate regime” and “a grave threat to regional security” and to the security of the United States.

RELATED:

Venezuela Reclaims Its Sovereign Control Over Energy Resources

Rubio stated that “the Maduro regime actively cooperates with FARC and ELN dissidents to traffic cocaine into U.S. territory,” and added that “there are drug trafficking organizations that operate openly in Venezuela with the cooperation of the Maduro regime.” He also labeled these organizations “criminal terrorist groups” and stated that they constitute “the most significant threat in the region,” linking them to Iran and Hezbollah.

Analysts point out that Rubio’s discourse lacks factual basis and aligns with a foreign policy marked by interventions, the promotion of regime change, and support for the Latin American far right. His stance has been rejected by broad sectors of the American people, who oppose new military or sanctions-based adventures in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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From Venezuela, official and social voices have responded to these statements, emphasizing that the accusations seek to justify the appropriation of natural resources, especially oil, minerals, and land. Messages that make clear their intentions to seize natural resources legitimately belonging to the Venezuelan people.

Latin America and the Caribbean reaffirm their commitment to peace and sovereignty and reject any attempt at interference or war for resources. The region insists that the solution to global challenges lies not in confrontation, but in dialogue and mutual respect.

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An Iranian Foreign Ministry official denounces Canada’s fresh sanctions on the country’s officials.

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From Presstv via This RSS Feed.

The US military's "lethal" strikes target two more vessels as US President Donald Trump reiterates possibility of war with Venezuela.

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This article by Ivan Evair Saldaña originally appeared in the December 19, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) must resolve at least 69 tax disputes involving billions of pesos in the first quarter of next year, as it is legally required to issue rulings no later than March 1st.

In total, the country’s highest court will close 2025 with 108 pending tax matters, ranging from injunctions to appeals, requests for the power of attraction and requests for reassumption of competence, among others, which must be resolved within six months according to article 17 of the constitution, derived from the judicial reform of 2024.

According to data from the SCJN, these 69 cases were inherited by the new plenary from its previous members; therefore, the deadline to resolve them began to run on September 1st, when the current nine ministers took office.

Among the most significant issues are lawsuits filed by companies against tax credits related to the Manufacturing, Maquiladora and Export Services Industry Program (IMMEX), designed to avoid double taxation on the temporary import of inputs destined for export.

The Tax Administration Service (SAT) reported that between 2019 and 2023, operations were carried out through this program that reached a taxable base of approximately 279 billion pesos, for which the tax authorities failed to collect around 44 billion pesos in value-added tax (VAT).

The Court must clearly define whether there was tax evasion or whether the operations were legal, in order to avoid uncertainty for both companies and the tax authority.

The discussion of this matter has been postponed at least twice during the year: the first time, on February 27, by the previous plenary session, and the second time, on October 1, by the new members, based on a project prepared by Minister Yasmín Esquivel Mossa regarding the contradiction of criteria 8/2025.

Another pending matter is the direct appeal for review 2526/2025, filed by Totalplay, a company owned by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, related to a tax credit of 621.9 million pesos. This is the last tax case involving Grupo Salinas awaiting resolution before the Supreme Court, as last October the full court resolved eight tax disputes totaling over 48 billion pesos, with rulings in favor of the Tax Administration Service (SAT).

• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera December 19

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on poverty reduction, USMCA, Asia trade dialogue, social rights, Grupo Salinas tax debt, and Acapulco revival.

• 

  Culture | Labor | News Briefs

  Clara Brugada: Zarco Not Dismissed at Railway Workers Museum

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  Mexico City’s head of government announced the locomotive mechanic, trade unionist, communist and founder the Railroad Workers Museum will receive a tribute in May.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Elected Supreme Court Must Resolve 69 Tax Disputes Within Two Months

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  One pending matter is the last tax case involving ultra-right winger Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s Grupo Salinas, involving 621.9 million pesos.

The post Mexico’s Elected Supreme Court Must Resolve 69 Tax Disputes Within Two Months appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

This article originally appeared in the December 19, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Salvador Zarco Flores “has not been dismissed” as director of the Railway Workers Museum nor “have I authorized that his resignation be requested,” Clara Brugada, head of Government of Mexico City, announced yesterday in a statement.

The local leader announced “a grand public event to honor the railroad workers of Mexico and our colleague Salvador Zarco, whom I will propose as an honorary and lifetime member of the Museum’s Advisory Council, which will be formed as soon as possible.”

Brugada’s statement was issued five days after La Jornada (12/13/25) published that a part of the cultural community supported the activist and railway leader to remain in charge of the Railway Workers Museum.

According to the signatories of an open letter at the time, on December 5th, the Director General of Historical, Artistic and Cultural Heritage of the local Culture Department “went so far as to ask her to sign his resignation.”

In her press release, Clara Brugada emphasized the honor it will be for her to “celebrate with Salvador, during the coming May, the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Railway Workers Museum, a unique space in our city dedicated to the vindication of the collective memory of those heroes who, defending their jobs, gave a lesson of dignity to the whole country and sowed the seed of the transformation of Mexico.”

In the document issued this Thursday, the mayor of the country’s capital highlighted that “Salvador is a reference point for the labor movement and the struggles of the workers of this city.

“From a young age he participated in various social and student organizations that broke the silence in the face of the authoritarian regime and fought for a better, fairer and more democratic country, paying the high price of persecution, repression and imprisonment.”

As a member of the “great railway workers’ movement,” Brugada continued, he fought against “the privatization of the nation’s assets, the violation of labor rights and the plundering of public assets during neoliberalism.”

• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera December 19

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on poverty reduction, USMCA, Asia trade dialogue, social rights, Grupo Salinas tax debt, and Acapulco revival.

• 

  Culture | Labor | News Briefs

  Clara Brugada: Zarco Not Dismissed at Railway Workers Museum

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  Mexico City’s head of government announced the locomotive mechanic, trade unionist, communist and founder the Railroad Workers Museum will receive a tribute in May.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Elected Supreme Court Must Resolve 69 Tax Disputes Within Two Months

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  One pending matter is the last tax case involving ultra-right winger Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s Grupo Salinas, involving 621.9 million pesos.

The post Clara Brugada: Zarco Not Dismissed at Railway Workers Museum appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

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

Larger middle class, less poverty

The Mexican government noted that the country is experiencing a record reduction in poverty and unprecedented growth of the middle class. Using data from the World Bank and the National Statistics Institute (INEGI), it reported that poverty levels fell from 41.9% in 2018 to 29.6% in 2025, and that Mexico, along with Brazil, leads the growth in the middle-class in Latin America.

The Fourth Transformation reshapes the country’s social structure

President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasized that, for the first time in recent history, there are more Mexicans in the middle class than living in poverty. She explained that in that in the past presidential administration alone, poverty was reduced by nearly 13 points while the middle class grew by around 21 points—a clear contrast with previous governments.

Mexico strengthens its position ahead of the USMCA review

Sheinbaum reported that agreements were reached with Canada on non-tariff barriers, including energy issues and specific cases such as Calica (the large limestone quarry and port facility near Playa del Carmen), placing Mexico in a stronger position for the upcoming review of the trade agreement.

Trade dialogue with Asia to strengthen domestic production

The government has working groups with India, China, and South Korea to explore trade agreements that boost domestic production without generating inflation or affecting prices, especially in sectors dependent on imported inputs.

From assistance-based policies to social rights

A contrast was drawn between the social programs from the neoliberal period, which were assistance-based and market-conditioned, and the 4T’s Well-Being Programs, which now operate as a policy based on the concept of universal rights, without intermediaries for delivering the aid, and with a priority for Indigenous peoples as rights holders. It was noted that the senior citizen pension/stipend originated with Andrés Manuel López Obrador as head of the Mexico City government and that, under the Fourth Transformation, it has seen the largest increases in history, both in amount and coverage, consolidating a new way of building citizenship through well-being.

Grupo Salinas must pay 51 billion pesos to the Tax Authority (SAT)

The Tax Administration Service (SAT) reported that, following a final ruling by the Supreme Court (SCJN), Grupo Salinas must pay 51 billion pesos (US$2.83 billion) for back taxes from 2008–2013. Sheinbaum noted that this is a legal process, that the money received will benefit the people, and that record tax collection has enabled greater public investment.

Acapulco is being transformed through public work projects, mobility, and social recovery

As part of the Acapulco is Being Transformed with You program, the rehabilitation of the Miguel Alemán Coastal Avenue was inaugurated. It includes safe mobility measures such as sidewalks, sheltered bus stops, signage, 11 safe crossings, 34 playful figures, 400 meters of drainage, and the installation of 800 solar streetlights. In addition, the Marinabús is now operating daily.

Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado reported that the transformation is continuing with the Parque Papagayo full of life, rehabilitated roads with lighting and resurfacing, two new scenic viewing platforms, 200 large-format murals being placed in different neighborhoods, and the recovery of 5,300 homes.

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• 

  Mañanera

  People’s Mañanera December 19

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on poverty reduction, USMCA, Asia trade dialogue, social rights, Grupo Salinas tax debt, and Acapulco revival.

• 

  Culture | Labor | News Briefs

  Clara Brugada: Zarco Not Dismissed at Railway Workers Museum

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  Mexico City’s head of government announced the locomotive mechanic, trade unionist, communist and founder the Railroad Workers Museum will receive a tribute in May.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Elected Supreme Court Must Resolve 69 Tax Disputes Within Two Months

  December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

  One pending matter is the last tax case involving ultra-right winger Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s Grupo Salinas, involving 621.9 million pesos.

The post People’s Mañanera December 19 appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay were scheduled to finalize the treaty in Foz do Iguaçu, a city in southern Brazil, on Saturday, during the MERCOSUR Summit.

However, a lack of internal consensus among the European nations led Brussels to postpone the decision until January, generating discontent among the South American governments, which consider the negotiation process, which began almost three decades ago, to be exhausted.

Warnings from MERCOSUR were swift. Both Brazil, which is relinquishing the bloc’s pro tempore presidency, and Paraguay, which will assume it this Saturday, made it clear that further delays could mean the definitive end of talks with the EU.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira stated that, should the deal not be reached, the bloc will redirect its efforts toward other strategic markets.

Among the alternatives mentioned are Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and several Asian countries, in addition to partners seeking to update existing deals, such as India.

The EU, in turn, ruled out voting on the treaty’s approval within the initially planned terms and granted Italy more time to analyze its domestic impact.

jdt/iff/rc/ocs

The post Brazil: MERCOSUR assesses future after delay in deal with EU first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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“Ukraine’s membership in the Atlantic Alliance, as well as the d eployment of NATO military contingents and offensive weapons on its territory, is absolutely unacceptable to us. We have repeatedly stated and explained our stance on this matter; it is well known,” Grushko told Sputnik on Friday.

Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic prospects are one of the most controversial issues that negotiators from Kyiv, Brussels, and Washington are trying to resolve these days to finalize a peace plan acceptable to Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and entrepreneur Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, held talks in Berlin on December 14 to reach an agreement on the conflict in Ukraine.

A 20-point plan was discussed for five hours, and Witkoff later informed that some progress had been made.

At the conclusion of these consultations, European Union leaders proposed sending a multinational force to Ukraine and ensuring that its armed forces maintain a minimum of 800,000 troops.

It also aims to counter national security risks posed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s eastward expansion.

jdt/iff/otf/gfa

The post Russian deputy FM rules out commitments on NATO presence in Ukraine first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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In a message posted on his Facebook account, the CBS head pointed out that the measure not only provides relief from the sanctions regime but also opens the door to cooperation with international credit rating agencies.

He explained that Syria could initially request a “shadow” sovereign rating, which is advisory and not public, as a first step before moving toward an official assessment when conditions allow.

Al-Hasriya clarified that a credit rating does not imply immediate access to loans, but rather constitutes a tool to offer an objective evaluation of the economic and financial situation, strengthen public policy discipline, prioritize reforms, improve institutional transparency, and facilitate cooperation with investors and international organizations.

The governor emphasized that the Central Bank will play a vital role by strengthening monetary transparency, providing reliable economic data, and promoting financial stability—all fundamental elements for achieving a credible sovereign rating.

The road is long, but the important thing is to begin. Syria will likely start with a low rating, which is common in countries emerging from conflict.

The true value lies in the standard that sets the rating and the roadmap it offers for improvement, not in the rating itself, he stated.

arm/mem/fm

The post Syria seeks reintegration into the international financial system first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation issued a statement urging the US government not to proceed with its escalation of aggression against Venezuela and to avoid committing “a fatal mistake” that would jeopardize regional peace.

In a statement released on Thursday, December 18, the Russian Foreign Ministry added that it remains attentive to the “continuous and deliberate escalation of tension against our friend, Venezuela.”

“We hope that the Donald Trump administration will adopt a rational and pragmatic approach and will not make a fatal mistake and will refrain from continuing to slide toward a situation that threatens unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere,” the official document stated.

Russia stated that it has “special concern” about the decisions taken by the US president regarding the total blockade of vessels entering and leaving Venezuela in order to prevent the country from trading its oil, a measure that poses “a threat to international navigation.”

In the context of the imperialist aggression faced by the Venezuelan people, Russia recalled the words of Liberator Simón Bolívar: “every people has the right to choose their own rulers, and other nations must respect that choice.”

Russia advocates for US-Venezuela dialogue
In light of the events of recent days, Russia reaffirmed its solidarity with the people of Venezuela and the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

💬 #Zakharova:

We note Washington’s deliberate escalation of tensions around Venezuela.

❗️ Russia consistently advocates the normalization of dialogue between Washington & Caracas.

🇷🇺🇻🇪 We reaffirm our solidarity with the Venezuelan people & the Government of @NicolasMaduro. pic.twitter.com/rEKeDOR6eV

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) December 18, 2025

It also emphasized the need to take “appropriate” steps to find solutions to existing problems and discrepancies, respecting the norms of international law.

In this regard, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia calls on “all parties to exercise restraint in order to avoid an unpredictable evolution of the situation.”

President Maduro Says Trump’s Actions Reveal True Intentions for Venezuela, Calls for Great Colombia Unity Amid More Killings at Sea (+Petro)

Emergency UNSC meeting scheduled
The spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations, Laura Miklic, announced that the emergency meeting requested by Venezuela at the UN Security Council has been scheduled for coming Tuesday, December 23.

“I confirm that the Security Council presidency has scheduled a meeting on Venezuela on Tuesday, December 23,” she said on Thursday, December 18.

The permanent representative of Venezuela to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, had urgently requested this meeting from the presidency of the Security Council, which is held by Slovenia, following the latest declaration of a total naval blockade against Venezuela and threats of military attacks made by the US government.

(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content

OT/SC/DZ

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