Latin American Publications!

123 readers
12 users here now

A community for Latin American publications.

NOTE: All the publications in this feed are Latin American in origin; that does not mean they only report on Latin American news.

founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
801
 
 

Carlos Gutiérrez  –  Feb 9, 2026

Maduro has not resigned, has not been removed from office by final judgment, has not been revoked by the people, nor has he voluntarily left office.

The political and legal situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since January 3, 2026, poses one of the most complex constitutional challenges in its recent history. The forced deprivation of liberty of President Nicolás Maduro, as a result of a kidnapping carried out by a foreign state, has created an exceptional scenario, not expressly provided for in the text of the Constitution, but which requires a rigorous, rational, and constitutionally appropriate legal response.

Some sectors have claimed that this circumstance would require the immediate calling of presidential elections. However, a serious analysis of Venezuelan constitutional law shows that this claim has no legal basis.

The Constitution and the categories of presidential absenceThe Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela clearly distinguishes between the absolute absence and temporary absence of the President of the Republic, regulated in Articles 233 and 234, respectively.

Article 233 establishes in a manner that is exhaustive, and therefore closed and not open to extension by analogy, the grounds for absolute absence: death, resignation, removal from office by decree of the Supreme Court of Justice, certified permanent physical or mental incapacity, abandonment of office, and popular revocation of the mandate. The importance of this specific list lies in the fact that it does not allow for broad interpretations: if an event does not fit into one of these grounds, it cannot legally be classified as absolute absence.

In the case of President Nicolás Maduro, none of these grounds have been met. He has not resigned, he has not been removed from office by a final judgment, he has not been recalled by the people, nor has he voluntarily abandoned his post. His absence stems from a force majeure event, consisting of his forced detention by an external actor, which excludes any presumption of political will to abandon the presidency.

For its part, Article 234 regulates temporary absences, which allow for the continuity of the executive branch through the functional replacement of the president, without this implying a break in the popular mandate or the automatic calling of elections.

Forced absence as an exceptional caseThe forced absence of the Head of State is not expressly provided for in the Constitution. However, contemporary constitutional law recognizes that constitutional texts cannot anticipate all possible factual scenarios, especially those arising from extraordinary events that are contrary to international law, such as the kidnapping of a sitting president.

In such cases, it is incumbent upon the constitutional interpreter to preserve the fundamental principles of the constitutional order, including popular sovereignty, the continuity of the State, institutional stability, and the effectiveness of the legal order. The alternative—automatically considering forced absence as absolute absence—would be tantamount to legally rewarding an internationally unlawful act, which is incompatible with the principle of constitutional supremacy.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez Announces General Amnesty Law in Venezuela and Justice System Reform (+El Helicoide)

The role of the Constitutional Chamber and the ruling of January 3, 2026The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, in accordance with Article 335 of the CRBV, is the highest and final interpreter of the Constitution, and its interpretations are binding on all organs of the Public Power. This power is not discretionary: it constitutes a guarantee of unity and coherence of the constitutional system.

In the ruling handed down on January 3, 2026, the Chamber expressly recognized that the facts constituted an exceptional, atypical situation of force majeure that threatened the stability of the State and required an immediate response. Consequently, it issued an urgent and preventive precautionary measure, ordering the Executive Vice President of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, to assume all the powers of the President of the Republic on an acting basis.

It is essential to note that the Chamber did not definitively classify the legal nature of the presidential vacancy as either absolute or temporary. Nor did it replace the powers of other constitutional bodies. Its action was aimed at ensuring the administrative continuity of the State and the comprehensive defense of the Nation, without prejudging the merits of the case.

Why there are no presidential electionsFrom a constitutional perspective, the calling of presidential elections is not applicable, as this is only mandatory when there is an absolute absence of the President. As none of the grounds provided for in Article 233 have been verified, any call for elections in this context would be unconstitutional and would violate the principle of popular sovereignty by disregarding the current mandate. It is clear that if President Nicolás Maduro is released, he will return to his duties as president until 2031, and if he remains kidnapped, the presidency will continue to be held by the acting president.

Furthermore, accepting that an international kidnapping automatically triggers an electoral process would set an extremely dangerous precedent: that the will of the people can be overruled by external forces.

The restoration of constitutional orderThe constitutional solution is clear and consistent with the rule of law. If President Nicolás Maduro is released, he will immediately resume the full exercise of his functions, and the situation of forced absence will cease. If the deprivation of liberty persists, the constitutional mandate exercised by Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez will continue as a mechanism for institutional preservation.

Ultimately, constitutional law is not designed to legitimize force, but to contain it. In times of extreme crisis, the Constitution should not be interpreted with political opportunism, but with legal responsibility, understanding that its ultimate purpose is to protect the State, the people, and sovereignty from any form of imposition, internal or external.

(Internationalist 360°)


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

802
 
 

By Karim Bettache  –  Feb 1, 2026

Imperialism—stripped of its historical grandeur—is simply the hunger for the power to rape children with impunity

We tell ourselves comforting lies about power. We imagine that those who rise to command empires, nations, and vast fortunes do so through merit, through vision, through some Darwinian fitness that the rest of us lack. We tell ourselves that the systems governing our lives—capitalism, monarchy, colonialism, the church—are imperfect but improvable, flawed but not rotten at the root.

We are wrong.

Our world is run by a cabal of pedophiles.

This is not hyperbole. This is not Pizzagate or QAnon conspiracy theory. This is the plain conclusion from decades of exposed scandals, exposed networks, exposed cover-ups—exposed and then ignored, exposed and then buried, exposed and then forgotten while the predators remain in power. The Catholic Church. The British boarding schools. Epstein’s island. The colonial plantations. Always the same pattern: access to children, immunity from consequence, and a system that closes ranks.

The system does not fail to filter out pedophiles. It selects for them. It always has.

The Pattern ExposedConsider the cult. Every generation produces them, and every generation expresses shock when the inevitable revelations emerge. Rajneesh. NXIVM. The Children of God. Jim Jones. The pattern never varies: charismatic authority, ideological totalism, the systematic sexual exploitation of followers—particularly minors. We call these aberrations. We tell ourselves that mainstream institutions are different.

They are not different. They are simply larger.

The Catholic Church has paid billions in settlements to abuse survivors across the globe. The scale defies comprehension: thousands of priests, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of victims, a bureaucratic apparatus dedicated not to justice but to concealment. The Pennsylvania grand jury report alone documented over 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 child victims in a single American state. This was not aberration. This was policy—institutional survival placed above the bodies of children.

The British Empire ran boarding schools designed to “civilize” Indigenous children in Canada, Australia, and beyond. Unmarked graves now dot the grounds of these institutions. Survivors describe systematic physical and sexual abuse. The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission called it cultural genocide. But it was also something else: a vast machine that gave predators unfettered access to children stripped of family, community, and protection.

The Traumatic Legacy of Indigenous Boarding Schools • GBCS

Boarding schools: child abuse factories where European colonizers raped Indigenous children with impunity.

Colonialism itself was a pedophile’s charter. Enslavement meant ownership of bodies—all bodies, including children’s. Domestic servitude placed minors in homes where they had no recourse. The “comfort women” of Japanese imperialism. The child brides of every conquering army. We discuss these horrors in the sanitized language of historicalinjustice, but the truth is visceral and specific: powerful men raping children because they could.

And it is continuing uninterrupted to this day.

The stolen children of Africa during Belgian colonial rule - YouTube

Source

The Royals, The Elite, The UntouchablesThe House of Windsor settled out of court with Virginia Giuffre, a survivor who alleged she was trafficked to Prince Andrew as a teenager. The sum was reportedly twelve million pounds. No admission of guilt. No criminal prosecution. The matter, as far as the palace is concerned, is closed.

But of course Andrew is not unique. Monarchies have always operated this way. The “droit du seigneur” may be historical myth, but the reality it gestured toward was not: those with absolute power have always helped themselves to the bodies of their subjects. The royal mistresses of European courts were often (pre-)teenagers. The enslaved children in aristocratic households had no legal personhood at all.

We imagine this is history. We imagine modernity has reformed these structures.

We imagine wrong.

The Chomsky-Epstein Files: Unravelling a Web of Connections Between a Star Leftist Academic & a Notorious Pedophile

Jeffrey Epstein and the Machinery of ImpunityJeffrey Epstein did not operate alone. He operated a network—a procurement and blackmail operation that serviced the powerful. His client list included financiers, politicians, academics, royalty. His first arrest, in Florida, resulted in a plea deal so lenient that the prosecutor who arranged it later joined the Cabinet of the United States.

Epstein died in federal custody under circumstances that strain belief. Cameras malfunctioned. Guards slept. The most high-profile defendant in America somehow hanged himself unobserved.

The files released in recent years contain sworn declarations that should have shattered political careers. In one such declaration, a witness using the pseudonym “Tiffany Doe” testified under penalty of perjury that she personally witnessed the abuse of minors at the hands of Epstein and Donald Trump during her employment from 1990 to 2000 — imagine the amount of horrors that happened in just those ten years. She described a plaintiff—a child—being threatened by Trump, told she would “disappear like the 12-year-old female” if she ever spoke. She described threats against her own life for coming forward.

Pause on this. A sworn declaration. Under penalty of perjury. Describing the man who would become President of the United States threatening a child with death.

The lawsuit was withdrawn. The plaintiff cited fears for her safety. No trial occurred. The media moved on.

Imagine being twelve years old. A kid who plays in parks. Now imagine a powerful man—a man whose face is everywhere, whose name adorns buildings—telling you that he could have your family killed. Imagine the powerlessness. Imagine carrying that for decades while the world makes that man its leader.

This is not conspiracy theory. This is sworn testimony that our systems chose not to pursue.

“The victim’s claims about child-raping cannibal elites may have seemed like madness at the time. But in the post-Epstein age, many of us realize we dismissed her too easily”

The most recent Epstein file releases document depravity that even Hollywood horror movies avoid. Child sacrifice rituals. Forced abortions. The consumption of human flesh from murdered victims. Donald Trump allegedly penetrated the genitals of twelve year old children to test how ‘tight’ they were while billionaire friends were laughing in the background. The cabal of powerful pedophiles almost pushes one to become religious—it seems we are confronting the thousand-year-old prophesied battle between good and evil. Between us and a demonic horde masquerading as the “free world.”

The biggest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

Source

The Netherlands, and Everywhere ElseEvery nation has its version. In the Netherlands, Joris Demmink—a former high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice—faced years of allegations regarding child sexual abuse. Witnesses came forward. Investigations sputtered. Prosecutions failed. The Prime Minister publicly defended him. The matter, officially, is closed.

Demmink is not unique to the Netherlands. He is the Netherlands’ local example of a global phenomenon: the untouchable predator protected by the very systems meant to deliver justice.

Belgium had the Dutroux affair, which exposed networks reaching into police and government. Britain had Jimmy Savile, who abused almost a thousand children for decades while the BBC looked away — oh, and surprise surprise, Queen Elizabeth was very fond of him. Portugal had Casa Pia. The patterns repeat endlessly.

The child model Gabriela Rico Jiménez, screaming that she had witnessed elites “eating humans.”

Some of you may remember the child model Gabriela Rico Jiménez screaming that she had witnessed elites “eating humans.” In 2009, the young model from Chihuahua attended a high-profile party in Monterrey—allegedly tied to the Elite Model agency. This wasn’t just any party; it was said to host powerful businessmen, politicians, and organized crime figures.

What she saw there broke her.

Jiménez was found outside a hotel in a state of hysteria, shouting about cannibalism and naming powerful people. She was quickly taken away by authorities. Her case remains unsolved. She remains disappeared—either silenced or destroyed by what she witnessed.

Claims about child-raping cannibal elites may have seemed like madness at the time. But in the post-Epstein age, many of us realize we dismissed her too easily.

The Logic Laid BareSomeone recently framed it simply: “Imperialism is the logic of the pedophile.

The statement is jarring. It is meant to be. We are trained to discuss imperialism in grand abstractions—geopolitics, economics, the rise and fall of civilizations. But strip away the academic language and what remains is this: imperialism is the project of taking what you want from those who cannot stop you. It is the logic of predation, scaled up. And the ultimate predation—the final expression of absolute power over absolute powerlessness—is the rape of a child.

Indeed, Imperialism—stripped of its historical grandeur—is simply the hunger for the power to rape children with impunity.

This is not metaphor. This is mechanism. Centralized, unaccountable power attracts those who wish to exploit without consequence. It elevates them because the traits that enable exploitation—ruthlessness, manipulation, the absence of empathy—are precisely the traits that facilitate climbing hierarchies built on domination. Again, the system does not merely fail to filter out predators. It selects for them.

The pedophile seeks access and impunity. Empire, church, and capital provide both. The plantation owner had access to enslaved children and total impunity. The priest had access to altar boys and the protection of the Vatican. The billionaire has private islands, private jets, and prosecutors who return his calls.

Source

Why Nothing ChangesA bitter truth circulates among those who study these patterns: in capitalism, capitalists do not get punished. The system will not reform itself because the system is functioning as designed. It concentrates power. It insulates that power from accountability. It provides those at the top with what they have always sought: the freedom to take what they want.

Epstein is not an aberration. He is a glimpse behind the curtain—a rare moment when the machinery became briefly visible before the curtain was yanked shut. His death ensured that curtain would stay closed.

The files will be released, parsed, discussed. Opinion pieces will be written. And nothing will happen to the powerful men whose names appear in those files. Nothing ever does.

**What Would Change Require?**To end this would require dismantling the very structures that enable it. Not reform. Not oversight committees. Not task forces. Dismantling.

It would require the end of wealth concentration that places individuals beyond the reach of law. It would require the destruction of institutions that prioritize their own survival over the bodies of children. It would require a world in which no one—no president, no prince, no pope—is untouchable.

It would require us to stop telling ourselves comforting lies.

The question is whether we have the stomach for that truth. Whether we can look at the empires we’ve inherited, the systems we participate in, the leaders we elect, and see them for what they are: structures built by predators, for predators, maintained by our collective refusal to see.

The children who were threatened, raped, and silenced could not refuse to see. They lived it. Many still do. The least we owe them is the courage to name what happened. And what continues to happen.

Imperialism is not grand strategy. It is not civilizational destiny. It is a pedophile’s logic, dressed in flags.

(Substack)


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

803
 
 

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.

Delivery of Homes under the Housing for Wellbeing Program

President Claudia Sheinbaum headed an on-line discussion with Sonora and Quintana Roo to formalize the delivery of housing units to families.

In Sonora, Governor Alfonso Durazo reported on plans for 6,500 homes and thanked the government for its support in guaranteeing access to housing. 48 housing units were delivered to people without access to traditional credit. In Quintana Roo, Governor Mara Lezama delivered 80 homes for formal sector workers. The aim is to reduce the housing backlog.

Measles Vaccination Campaign

The Mexican government reports that it has 28 million doses available to contain the measles outbreak. The only way to control measles is through vaccination, and it should be noted that 90% of cases occurred in people who failed to fulfill a complete vaccination schedule.

The priority is on immunizing children from 6 months to 12 years of age. There are over 21,000 vaccination stations, which can be located on the official platform dondemevacunogobmx.

President’s Stance on USMCA

President Sheinbaum responded to Donald Trump’s statements on the United States possibly abandoning the USMCA. Sheinbaum stated she does not consider this to be viable and that the issue has never been raised in direct calls between the two heads of state. The President emphasized that the trade agreement is key for both economies and reiterated that Mexico will maintain a stance of dialogue and in favor of the treaty’s continuity.

Flights to Cuba and Humanitarian Aid

Sheinbaum reported that flights to Cuba are operating normally and announced that on February 12, the first shipment of humanitarian aid will arrive, transported by the Navy. Shipments will continue until 800 tons of aid have been delivered. The President specified that there is no official appeal for collecting aid, although donations from civil society organizations will be considered for their inclusion in subsequent shipments.


The post People’s Mañanera February 11 appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

804
 
 

Caracas, February 11, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s oil output contracted to a two-year low following  Washington’s month-long naval blockade against the Caribbean nation’s crude exports.

The latest OPEC monthly report placed Venezuela’s January production at 830,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from 917,000 bpd in December, according to secondary sources. The figure is the lowest since May 2024.

For its part, state oil company PDVSA reported 924,000 bpd produced in January, down from 1.12 million bpd the prior month. The direct and secondary measurements have differed over the years due to disagreements over the inclusion of natural gas liquids and condensates.

The output contraction was a result of the US Navy imposing a blockade on Venezuelan oil exports and seizing several tankers allegedly involved in Venezuelan crude shipments. The exhaustion of storage capacity forced PDVSA and partners to cut back production.

The blockade came on top of draconian sanctions that have stymied the Venezuelan oil industry for years. Since 2017, Washington has levied financial sanctions, an export embargo, secondary sanctions, and a host of other coercive measures aimed at strangling the country’s main source of foreign revenue.

Following the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan oil began to flow once more under an arrangement imposed by the Trump administration. Commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura have been lifting Venezuelan crude, depositing proceeds in White House-administered bank accounts in Qatar, and offering cargoes to customers all over the world.

On Tuesday, the Venezuelan government denied a Bloomberg report that the country had shipped crude to Israel. According to the business outlet, the shipment would be delivered to the Bazan Group, Israel’s largest refiner. Bloomberg did not specify whether the Venezuelan crude cargo was purchased from Vitol, Trafigura, or another source. As part of the new US-imposed arrangement, the sale marks the first time Venezuelan oil will reach Israel since at least 2020, per Bloomberg.

The Hugo Chávez government broke diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv in 2009. Both Chávez and Maduro were firm supporters of the Palestinian cause, and Caracas has vocally denounced the Israeli genocide in Gaza in multilateral forums.

The Trump administration has sought to leverage its influence over the Venezuelan oil sector to pressure allies such as India to replace imports from US geopolitical rivals, including Russia and Iran. Indian public companies Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum are set to join private refiner Reliance Industries in purchasing Venezuelan oil, with 2 million barrels of Merey crude expected to be delivered in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, Venezuelan supplies are not expected to significantly alter global demand given the present output and the extra-heavy nature of Venezuelan crude blends.

US and European firms have likewise acquired Venezuelan cargoes in recent weeks.

For their part, Venezuelan acting authorities have courted foreign investment and enacted a pro-business overhaul of the country’s oil legislation. The reform offers lower taxes and royalties, as well as increased control over operations and sales, to private corporations, reducing the role played by the Venezuelan state.

Trump administration officials praised the oil reform for “eradicating restrictions” on private investment, while the US Treasury Department has issued several sanctions exemptions to boost US corporate involvement in the Venezuelan oil industry.

A January 29 license allowing US companies to purchase and market Venezuelan crude was followed up with a waiver on diluent exports to Venezuela on February 3. On Tuesday, the US Treasury published General License 48 permitting US exports of goods, technology and software for oil exploration to Venezuela.

The sanctions waivers demand that contracts be subjected to US law and forbid any transactions with companies from Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and China. They also mandate that payments be deposited in accounts determined by the US Treasury.

In early February, US officials confirmed that US $500 million from crude sales had been rerouted to the South American country, to be offered in foreign currency auctions by public and private banks. A further $300 million is expected in the coming days.

However, the initial deal announced by Trump comprised 30-50 million barrels and an estimated $2 billion. Venezuelan authorities have not disclosed what portion of revenues the country will receive, while Trump has said the US will “keep some” of the income.

Senior Trump administration officials have vowed to maintain control over Venezuelan oil exports for an “indefinite” period, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming that the Venezuelan acting government headed by Delcy Rodríguez needs to submit a “budget request” before accessing the country’s oil proceeds.

The post Venezuela: Oil Production Recedes Under US Blockade, Gov’t Denies Israel Shipment appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.


From Venezuelanalysis via This RSS Feed.

805
 
 

This article by Arturo Rivero was originally published by Lafuentelaboral on February 10, 2026.

Trade union organizations warned that the initiative to reduce the workday to 40 hours a week could become a paper-only reduction if Congress approves the current design with no background modifications.

In a joint pronunciation, unions members of the Trade Union Dialogue Table, the General Association of Workers and the National Union of Workers (UNT), among them the National Social Security Workers Union (SNTSS), the Telephone Workers Union of the Mexican Republic (STRM), the Mexican Syndicate of Electricians (SME) and the Workers’ Union of UNAM (STUNAM), noted that the proposal contains provisions that postpone or neutralize the effective reduction of working hours.

According to the document, one of the main risks is that the full implementation of the 40-hour work day is delayed until 2030, maintaining during that period the scheme of six-day work for one break, without advancing to the five-by-two model.

Unions also warned about the modification in the definition of working hours, replacing the concept of “being at the disposal of the employer” with “developing subordinated activities”, which could exclude from pay on-call times, waiting or availability.

Another critical point is the redesign of the overtime regime, which would allow to combine ordinary and extraordinary days of up to 12 hours a day, with possible effects on health, safety at work and the actual income of workers.

They indicated that the intensive use of overtime would increase the tax and social security burden for the worker and could impact the benefit distribution (PTU), raising the company’s deductible costs. Organizations also warned that terminological changes in the law could facilitate work simulation schemes and liability avoidance, particularly if effective collective bargaining is not guaranteed.

In the case of micro and small enterprises, they noted that implementation without adequate public support could encourage informality or staff fragmentation.

In front of this scenario, the signing unions called on the Chamber of Deputies to open a process of broad and binding social dialogue, with union participation and support from the ILO, before moving forward with the approval of the reform.

The post Unions Warn 40 Hour Workweek Reform Could be “Paper-Only” appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

806
 
 

In episode 95 of Soberanía, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth tackle the controversy surrounding the U.S.-Mexico critical minerals agreement, examining what it actually says, what it doesn’t, and why it has sparked widespread concern over national sovereignty and resource control. They contrast the deal with the government’s parallel effort to revoke inactive mining concessions, a move that reaffirms state authority over strategic resources.

Next, they turn to the Mexican politicians who attended CPAC in Washington, including the so-called “migrant deputy” Raúl Torres. At a time of aggressive ICE raids and documented abuses against Mexican nationals, the hosts scrutinize the absence of migrant defense and the optics of aligning with the U.S. far right. Finally, they investigate a damning report from the ICIJ revealing that nearly half of the .50 caliber ammunition seized from cartels in Mexico comes from a single U.S. Army-owned plant, highlighting the contradiction of U.S. demands for Mexican action while Washington profits from the arms flow. The episode closes with a sharp Losers and Haters segment aimed at Felipe Calderón, who uncritically amplified unsubstantiated allegations against López Obrador—an irony not lost on the hosts.


The post The Mining Minefield – Soberanía 95 appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

807
 
 

By Sally Nasser  –  Feb 7, 2026

“Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors,” said the families of young Palestinian men to Swedish journalist Donald Boström when they saw their dead bodies stitched “from the abdomen to the chin.” Israeli soldiers had returned their bodies days after they disappeared from Gaza and the West Bank during a 1992 organ donation campaign in occupied Palestine, launched by Ehud Olmert, then Israel’s minister of health.

More than three decades later, the same suspicions have resurfaced. Last month, more than 1,000 kidney donors gathered for a group photograph during a ceremony celebrating 2,000 living kidney donations in occupied Palestine. The event was organized by the Israeli nonprofit Matnat Chaim (gift of life) which applied to the Guinness World Records for official recognition.

The application was not initially welcomed. In December 2025, when Matnat Chaim first contacted Guinness to register the record, it was rejected for “political reasons.” In a statement at the time, Guinness said it was aware of “just how sensitive this is at the moment,” adding that it had stopped processing applications from the Palestinian Territories or Israel since 2023, except for those submitted in cooperation with a UN-affiliated humanitarian relief agency.

According to Israeli media, the position of Guinness has since changed following legal pressure to resume submissions from Israel. While the annual record-keepers of the “greatest of human achievements” have not yet officially certified Israel’s record, zionist media have promoted the ceremony as evidence that organ donation rates inside the settler population are now among the highest in the world.

Taking into consideration the religious restrictions over organ donations and the small settler population of Israel, this issue poses questions over the accuracy of such a milestone. So where do all of these donations come from?

Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, has called for an independent international investigation rather than international accolades.

“The same authority withholding Palestinian bodies for years now boasts unprecedented ‘donation’ figures,” Al-Bursh said. “Did this generosity appear overnight? Or are there silent bodies excluded from the celebration? The occupation has stolen organs from the bodies of Palestinian martyrs.”

These accusations intensified during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Medical teams and rescue workers tasked with exhuming bodies from mass graves reported signs of organ removal. At Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, out of the 392 bodies found, 165 disfigured bodies remained unidentified.

“The bodies arrived stuffed with cotton, with gaps suggesting organs were removed. What we saw is indescribable,” a doctor at Nasser Medical Complex said, calling it a “violation of the sanctity of the dead and human dignity.”

Euro-Med Monitor has documented similar cases across the Gaza Strip. It reported that the Israeli army confiscated bodies from Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the Indonesian Hospital, and areas along Salah al-Din Road, a route designated for displaced civilians heading to the central and southern parts of the strip. While the organization said dozens of bodies were later transferred via the International Committee of the Red Cross for burial, it warned that Israeli forces continue to withhold many others.

Medical examinations of some of the returned bodies revealed signs of organ removal, including “missing cochleas and corneas as well as other vital organs like livers, kidneys, and hearts,” confirmed the organization.

The allegations first surfaced during the First Intifada. In 1990, Dr. Hatem Abu Ghazaleh, then chief health official in the occupied West Bank, told reporters that organs, particularly eyes and kidneys, were being removed from the bodies of Palestinian martyrs. At the time, international media ignored the testimony from Palestinian medical officials, a pattern that will repeat itself in the years to follow.

The issue resurfaced in 1999 when US anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes launched an investigation into organized “transplant tourism.” Her research led her to Yehuda Hiss, a pathologist and forensic specialist at Israel’s Forensic Institute Abu Kabir.

Israel Kills Dozens in Gaza Despite Partial Rafah Opening

In a July 2000 interview, Hiss admitted to harvesting skin, bones, corneas, cardiac valves, and other tissues from bodies undergoing autopsies. He acknowledged that consent was only required for autopsies, while families were never informed of the organ harvesting that was conducted during autopsy. “Whatever was done here was off the record, highly informal,” Hiss said. “We never asked permission from the family.”

Following the release of the taped interview in the occupied territories, Israeli officials acknowledged that organs had been harvested from the bodies of both Palestinians and Israeli settlers throughout the 1990s, while claiming the practice ended in 2000. Hiss later denied everything.

His protégé, Chen Kugel, was more explicit. “Organs were sold to anyone; anyone that wanted organs just had to pay for them,” he said. Asked whose bodies were used, Kugel replied that organs were taken “from Jews and Muslims, from soldiers and from stone throwers, from terrorists and from the victims of terrorist suicide bombers, from tourists and from immigrants,” adding that Palestinians were the easiest targets because “if there were any complaints coming from their families, they were the enemy and so, of course, they were lying and no one would believe them.”

In 2009, Donald Boström published an article in Aftonbladet detailing an illegal money laundering and organ trade scandal involving rabbis, politicians, and civil servants. One central figure later arrested for his crimes, Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, described his role plainly. “You could call me a ‘matchmaker’,” he said, in reference to his work buying and selling kidneys from the occupied territories on the black market.

The policy of withholding Palestinian bodies continues today. As of January 27, 2026, the National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies and Disclosing the Fate of the Missing reported that the Israeli occupation was holding the bodies of 776 Palestinians, including 77 children under the age of 18 and 10 females. These figures include only those killed during the ongoing genocide, excluding many more bodies withheld for decades. Just last Wednesday, Israel proved once again the validity of organ theft allegations, as it returned 54 decomposed bodies and 66 boxes full of human remains to Gaza via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

As long as Palestinian remains are confined to Israeli morgues and so-called cemeteries of numbers, families are denied the right to properly bid farewell to their loved ones. For Palestinians, celebrations of organ donation records cannot be separated from a long and brutal history of Israel’s occupation of death itself.

(Al-Akhbar)


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

808
 
 

France and the United Kingdom are reportedly involved in the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the prominent son of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, as he was seen as the man who could reunite Libya after the NATO-backed uprising.

Saif al-Islam was killed by unknown gunmen who stormed his home in the town of Zintan on February 3.

Gaddafi’s political team said in a statement that “four masked men” killed him in a “cowardly and treacherous assassination,” adding that he tried to fight off the assailants, who shut off the security cameras at the house “in a desperate attempt to conceal traces of their heinous crimes.”

“Our sources on the ground in Libya told us that they suspect that British intelligence used local proxies to assassinate the man seen by many as the one who could reunite Libya, 15 years after NATO bombed Libya into a failed state during their campaign to kill Muammar Gaddafi,” said British broadcaster and former Press TV presenter Afshin Rattansi.

🚨MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S SON SAIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI ASSASSINATED

Who did it? Our sources on the ground in Libya told us that they suspect that British intelligence used local proxies to assassinate the man seen by many as the one who could reunite Libya, 15 years after NATO bombed… pic.twitter.com/Bn0cUGTGmm

— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) February 3, 2026

He also hinted at France’s involvement in the assassination, saying, “We also know that France has deep motives in Libya, we know from Wikileaks cables that France wanted a ‘greater share in Libya’s oil production’ in 2011, and [former President Nicolas] Sarkozy was negotiating to reserve as much as 35% of Libya’s oil production.”

According to his remarks, Saif al-Islam was seen by many as “the most likely candidate to win any Presidential election” and unite the country after years of instability, especially as he had support from tribes that originally fought against his father in 2011.

“Watch now as the US, UK, and France start to steamroll ahead with the long-delayed elections in Libya, now that the one leading candidate who would have united Libya, and not followed their orders to allow Libya to be a de facto colony that is perpetually looted for its oil reserves, is now dead.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s (SVR) press bureau noted that Saif al-Islam’s assassination came as France has reportedly been preparing “neo-colonial coups d’etat” in Africa and seeking opportunities for “political revenge” on the continent.

The report said the influence of the former colonial power in African countries is waning, as they refused “to serve as puppets of the financial and political oligarchy of French globalists.”

“Whether inspired by the American operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or imagining himself as the arbiter of the fate of African peoples, [French President Emmanuel] Macron has authorized his special services to launch a plan to eliminate ‘undesirable leaders’ in Africa,” the SVR press bureau added.

Libya has been struggling for stability since 2011, when the country’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in a NATO-backed uprising.

According to the Cradle, intelligence from foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, organized an army led by members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) to overthrow the Libyan regime.

The al-Qaeda-linked LIFG, which was formed to fight alongside Osama bin Laden’s “Afghan Arabs” in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, took control of the capital Tripoli and toppled the government.

After the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his hometown fell under the control of Libya’s branch of Daesh terrorist group, serving as its most significant base outside of West Asia, while the country descended into civil war and chaos.

On the Assassination of Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi: Another Tale of Imperialist Treason

Saif al-Islam, his father’s close advisor from 2000 until 2011, was captured and imprisoned in Zintan in 2011 after trying to flee the North African country following his father’s death.

He was freed in 2017 as part of a general pardon and had lived in Zintan since.

According to the SVR, France was also involved in the attempted coup against Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore, whose government distanced itself from Paris since the fall of then-Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in the 2022 coup, last month.

“Our intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours. They had planned to assassinate the head of state and then strike other key institutions, including civilian personalities,” Burkina Faso security minister Mahamadou Sana stated.

Traore also helped to found the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

The SVR added that France was also seeking to destabilize the governments of Mali, the Central African Republic, and Madagascar.

(PressTV)


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

809
 
 

This article by María del Pilar Martínez originally appeared in the February 10, 2026 edition of El Economista.

Following the approval by the Joint Committees of the Senate of the Republic of the reform to Article 123 of the Constitution, the “fine print” in the overtime scheme has raised alarms in the specialized sector

The technical analysis by the firm Loyo Pérez y Asociados reveals that the reform, far from guaranteeing rest, institutionalizes an “elastic workday” that could extend the effective working time up to 52 hours per week, and will have a lower cost for companies.

In an interview with El Economista, Jorge Loyo, a labour specialist and managing partner of the firm, warned that the current ruling presents a “legal schizophrenia” that puts the occupational health of Mexican workers at risk.

“A 40-hour week is being promoted, but by legally raising the overtime limit from 9 to 12 hours per week, what is really being done is institutionalizing an effective workweek of 52 hours,” Loyo stated.

The crux of the criticism lies in the economic impact of excessive working hours. Under the current legal framework, extreme fatigue is penalized financially: after the ninth hour of overtime, the pay is triple. However, the approved ruling crosses this line.

“We are facing a reduction in the cost of overtime. With the reform, the employer has a margin of 12 hours of double pay. This incentivizes extending the workday to a total of 12 hours, because hours 10, 11, and 12, which were previously paid triple, will now cost the employer less,” the specialist explained.

Another weakness identified by the analysis from Loyo Pérez y Asociados is the lack of tax incentives. By reducing the cap on regular working hours while maintaining the same salary, the hourly cost for companies immediately increases by 20%.

According to Jorge Loyo, this financial pressure, coupled with the gradual implementation that will last until 2030, could push small and medium-sized enterprises towards underreporting of employment:

“The formal contract will state 40 hours, but the employment relationship will operate under the shadow of the 52 effective hours allowed. Without tax incentives to compensate for the increased labor costs, many SMEs will shift the relationship towards informality in order to survive financially.”

Although the ruling seeks to align with the standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the specialist points out that the safeguard of 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts was ignored.

“The success of a reform of this magnitude will not come from a nominal reduction on paper, but from a Tripartite Social Dialogue that prioritizes productivity over fatigue. As it stands, the reform gives employers tools to extend the workday more cheaply than before,” Loyo concluded.

The post Workweek Reform Lowers Overtime Pay appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

810
 
 

This article by Bertha Becerra originally appeared in the February 9, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

Four years after filing its complaint with the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, the Independent Union of Supply Chain Transporters (SITRABICS) achieved recognition as a union at a Hyundai supplier in Baja California.

“Although it was a real ordeal to find justice, we finally achieved it. And any worker who is determined to raise their voice to improve their labour rights has to be willing to fight against anything. And we are the example,” said Jesús Iturbero Salinas, general secretary of SITABRICS, in an interview with El Sol de México.

“In our case, it was four and a half years, from October 2021 when I was fired until February 3, 2026, when we finalized everything. This perseverance in defending our rights proved us right,” he added.

The union leader announced that the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism recognized that there were real violations of workers’ rights by the then company Liber Gennesys Group, now Transportista Kamu, S. de R. L, which is an integral part of the Hyundai Motor Group supply chain in Baja California.

“There were real violations of the rights of the workers who were fired for organizing to form our independent union within the company,” he accused.

The outcome of the MLRR was that both governments agreed to implement a remediation plan that includes various actions and stages that the Kamu company has to fulfill to compensate for the damage.

Iturbero Salinas recounted that after complicated negotiations they achieved the recognition of STRABISC as an independent union organization and representative of its 300 members within the company, the reinstatement of two union leaders with payment of back wages and compensation for the general secretary, as well as the signing of a Protocol of Coexistence and Exercise of Union Freedom between the company and the union.”

On February 3, the protocol between SITRABICS and the company Kamu was signed at the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration in Tijuana.

“The union representatives of SITABRICS will carry out union activities at the workplace to address the needs of our affiliated colleagues,” assured the leader of SITABRICS.

On Wednesday, February 4, two union leaders were reinstated and returned to the activities they performed before being dismissed, with respect for their legal guarantees and union leave.

He commented that this is the first case handled by the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRLM) regarding transportation in Baja California. “While the investigations by both the Mexican and US governments took a very long time, in the end, the facts speak for themselves. We thank God and celebrate. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Jesús Iturbero Salinas, secretario general del Sitrabics / Foto: Ángeles García / El Sol de Tijuana

The SITABRICS Case is the First Resolved Under USMCA in T​ransport Sector

When you speak of Calvary, what do you mean?

The complaint regarding our problems was filed in June 2025. In fact, we learned of the resolution in November 2025, but we were not allowed to make it public because negotiations with the Kamu company had not yet concluded. Therefore, the Mexican and U.S. governments could not take the Remediation Plan for granted.

How many people were laid off?

Ten workers were laid off. However, only three of us were reinstated. Apparently, neither government found sufficient evidence to reinstate the other two. The reinstatement was carried out with all the guarantees stipulated by the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

How did it end up, in your case?

I accepted the severance package. There was an offer of reinstatement for the three colleagues; however, in my case, due to the organization’s needs, I had to accept the severance package because I will be dedicated to the union. I remain as secretary of SITRABICS. I have access to the Protocol for Coexistence and the Exercise of Union Freedom between our union and the company, no longer as an employee but as the union’s general secretary.

How would you rate this MLRR resolution?

I would describe it more as a success than a triumph, because the Remediation Plan that was achieved opens the door to give hope to workers in the sector that justice can indeed be done in labour matters.


Jesús Iturbero recalled that the Kamu company wanted to prevent independent unionization. “They put every obstacle and complication in our way. What made everything more difficult was the way they were covert, disguised. Even the United States government had a very hard time investigating and getting to the bottom of how they operated.”

“Even we weren’t clear on who the boss was. There were many things that kept falling apart. Also, since it was a transport company, there was no experience with the MLRR. It was the first union to file a complaint regarding transport, which is not a fixed company, but a mobile job.”

“All of this complicated and slowed down the investigation by both the Mexican and U.S. governments to understand this case. The Legal Department, which supported us, had to piece together a whole puzzle. There were many interviews with the workers.”

The post Hyundai Supplier Union Wins Recognition appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

811
 
 

This article by Andrea Becerril and Georgina Saldierna originally appeared in the February 10, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. The Senate unanimously approved in committee the constitutional reform that gradually establishes a 40-hour workweek. The bill was immediately sent to the Senate leadership, where it received its first reading, and will be voted on by the full Senate in tomorrow’s session.

The senators from the PRI, PAN, and MC parties, who had previously opposed the initiative, agreed yesterday during the meeting of the Constitutional Points, Legislative Studies, and Labor and Social Welfare committees that the presidential initiative should be passed in its entirety, except for a modification regarding inclusive language. However, they insisted that once the reform to the Constitution is enacted, the necessary changes to the Federal Labor Law should be implemented immediately.

The PAN coordinator, Ricardo Anaya, the PRI members Claudia Anaya and Carolina Viggiano, as well as Alejandra Barrales, from MC, insisted that they cannot wait the 90 days that the reform gives to Congress to adapt the LFT, since as the initiative of President Claudia Sheinbaum is written, there may be negative effects for workers, especially due to the new overtime regime.

Senator Anaya proposed adding to that reform to Article 123 another transitional provision that also specifies a gradual regime in the case of overtime, because, since the number of overtime hours that the worker can work will increase from nine to twelve, their tax regime will be modified.

Currently, the PRI senator pointed out, the nine-hour workday is exempt from taxes for minimum wage workers, but when it is raised to twelve, there will be an increase in Income Tax (ISR) and it will also affect profit sharing.

Speaking on behalf of the PT, Senator Gonzalo Yañez expressed a similar concern. He stated that all arguments in favor of the reform are undermined by the issue of overtime pay. He also complained that initiatives presented by legislators from his party since 2023 had not been taken into account. Nevertheless, he said, they would vote in favor.

The PAN coordinator, Ricardo Anaya, stated that it should have been explicitly established that there would be two days off starting with the 40-hour workweek, but since it involves a reduction in working hours, his parliamentary group would approve it. He also insisted that the secondary legislation be approved immediately and not wait the 90 days stipulated by the reform.

His fellow party member, Marco Cortés, justified his vote in favor, saying, “There was dialogue with all sectors to reach a consensus.” He added that this would increase rest time and allow “families to live better.”

Senator Barrales proposed from the beginning of the meeting, chaired by the president of the Constitutional Points Commission, Oscar Cantón Zetina, that a statement from members of independent unions be read, but the majority bloc decided that it should be at the end.

Speaking on behalf of Morena, Senator Simey Olvera emphasized that this is a historic reform, since 109 years after the 48-hour week was established in the Constitution, it will be reduced to 40 hours.

The only change made to the presidential initiative, proposed by the president of the Commission for Gender Equality, Malú Micher, was to change the word “minors” to “minor persons”, within the framework of inclusive language that is present throughout the initiative.

The final vote was 48 in favor and zero against.

The post Mexican Senate Committees Approve Gradual 40 Hour Work Week appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

812
 
 

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—US Southern Command reported a new extrajudicial execution against a small vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, February 9. It reported that the killing was carried out according to orders issued by US Southern Command chief General Francis L. Donovan. The announcement marks a new downgrade in the chain of command identified for this US operation, which initially pointed to US President Donald Trump, then to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and now to General Donovan.

The operation, conducted by the Southern Spear Joint Task Force, resulted in the murder of two unidentified civilians. A third occupant survived the initial strike, though analysts have noted the recurrent fact that those who survive US attacks on small boats in the region often end up perishing or being killed during alleged rescue operations. This was recently observed following the January 23 strike, where the sole survivor later was pronounced missing.

On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking… pic.twitter.com/fa5vppjcCy

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 10, 2026

This incident marks the 37th extrajudicial execution in the region since September 2 of last year. To date, according to Orinoco Tribune’s statistics, 125 civilians have been assassinated by US forces: 48 in the Caribbean Sea and 77 in the Eastern Pacific.

Analysts explain that despite the US regime’s use of the narco-terrorism narrative to justify its aggression against Venezuela, 61.6% of the killings have occurred in the Pacific Ocean, where Venezuela has no coastline. The remaining 48 victims in the Caribbean include nationals from Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, further undermining Washington’s attempts to pin the blame for international narcotic trafficking networks on Venezuela. The international community continues to watch with alarm as Washington acts as judge and executioner on the high seas under the pretense of “confirmed intelligence.”

US piracy in the Indian Ocean
In a separate but connected act of international piracy, US imperialist forces conducted a maritime interdiction and boarding of the oil tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean on Feb. 9. The boarding followed an aggressive month-long pursuit, spanning approximately 10,000 miles, that began in the Caribbean.

The seizure took place after the tanker avoided the illegal US naval blockade against Venezuela following the January 3 military attacks. Those attacks resulted in the killing of more than 120 people and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores.

A video released by the US War Department showed US soldiers fast-roping onto the vessel from a helicopter launched from the mobile base ship USS Miguel Keith, with the destroyers USS Pinckney and USS John Finn nearby.

Interior Minister Cabello: Venezuela Will Remain a Territory Of Peace; US Extrajudicial Killings Surpass 100

According to mainstream media reports, the Aquila II departed the Jose terminal in Anzoátegui, Venezuela, on December 2025 as part of a fleet of approximately 16 tankers that successfully broke the US war actions. At the time of its departure, it was carrying between 700,000 and one million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude oil bound for China. It was intercepted while heading toward the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.

This interdiction marks the eighth tanker seizure by US forces and the second since the January 3 US attacks. Analysts claim that this operation provides further evidence that the US does not control all Venezuelan oil exports, contrary to reports from the White House and mainstream media.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

OT/JRE/SL


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

813
 
 

The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, asserted that Venezuela is exercising full control of its sovereignty while advancing in the construction of new diplomatic and energy relations with the US under principles of mutual respect and collaboration.

Through social media, the legislator reported on an interview he gave to US journalist Robert Stephen Schmitt, of the far-right Newsmax television channel, in which Jorge Rodríguez explained the guidelines of the Chavista foreign policy.

Jorge Rodríguez: “President Maduro and Celia Flores should be freed immediately”

And no snap elections.

Sorry for linking to a Nazi outlet, but various types of creeps claiming the U.S. dictatorship succeeded in overthrowing Chavismo are WRONG. https://t.co/CFi8rhAJtn

— Joe Emersberger (@rosendo_joe) February 10, 2026

“We are working on new diplomatic and energy relations with the United States of America, for the common good of our nations,” Jorge Rodríguez said in his message.

The website of Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and Information stated that during the dialogue, the head of the Venezuelan legislature emphasized that these ties aim to promote cooperation and mutual benefit, especially in the hydrocarbons sector.

Jorge Rodríguez pointed out that Venezuela maintains an open-door foreign policy as long as it is based on the recognition of Venezuela’s legitimate authorities and respect for self-determination.

Strengthening foreign policy with Washington represents a path to finding joint solutions internationally without compromising the integrity of the republic, the parliamentarian emphasized. In this regard, he reaffirmed Venezuela’s commitment to defending national sovereignty and consolidating a diplomacy of based on peace in this new scenario of strategic cooperation.

During the interview, he also addressed the issue of the Amnesty Law currently under parliamentary debate. Jorge Rodríguez indicated that the law, unanimously approved in its first reading, is being promoted for all sectors of the opposition residing abroad, including those who instigated violence, so that they can return to the country in accordance with the law.

What Does Venezuela’s Amnesty for Democratic Coexistence Bill Propose?

When asked about the military attack carried out by US forces on January 3 and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, the legislator described the event as “very traumatic” but stressed that it was received with “great maturity” by an “incredibly mature” country.

(Telesur)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SL


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

814
 
 

A shooting at a school in British Columbia has left eight dead, while two more people were killed at a nearby home believed to be linked to the incident.


From Presstv via This RSS Feed.

815
 
 

By Essam Elkorghli  –  Feb 7, 2026

The son of President Muammar Qaddaffi, Saif Qaddafi, was assassinated on Feb. 3 by local forces, some of whom contributed to the destruction of a flourishing Libya. A background to the murder and Libya’s struggles for reconstruction.

In 2011, as NATO was bombing Libya, the son of Muammar Qaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi (hereafter, Saif), told a reporter that they would fight NATO. He was then pressed by the reporter on what plans they have for that. Saif said: “We have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya.” [1]

His plan was fulfilled and he never pursued what other political leaders had done, which is, fleeing their countries and being in exile under mysterious yet privileged conditions.

Saif was assassinated in the late afternoon of February 3rd, when four masked gunmen stormed his place in the city of Zintan, 170km southwest of the capital, Tripoli, casting a blow to the prospects of a political imagination many Libyans aspired to since their country was destroyed externally by NATO in 2011 and internally by the political elite running the country ever since. The assassination is not just an attack on Saif for grudges held by political opponents due to animosity against his father, Muammar al-Qaddafi and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya era (1977-2011). It is an attack on the ideas that Libya represented: Pan-Africanism and Pan-Arabism, Anti-Imperialism, and Anti-Reactionism.

Understanding Saif and Libya
Saif was born in 1972 in Libya, where he grew up and was educated until his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics. He became instrumental in portraying the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya differently to western audience and intellectuals at a time of geopolitical reshuffling in the early 2000s. Having mingled with the likes of Anthony Giddens, David Held and many others who are close to the heart of British politics, he understood how to use political power for economic leverage, and vice versa. He was instrumental in returning many of the opposition figures (the conservative capitalist forces who eventually turned on the people in 2011). Being the face of Libyan reforms, he was able to transform the image of the country, which resulted in the lifting of sanctions, the solidification of Libya’s Pan-African orientation, and its burgeoning role in continental integration. He never held a political position and after managing to reshape the external image of the country, he settled with managing Libya’s international charity foundation, the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF). He also led the negotiations between the Libyan opposition and MI6-backed terrorists. These terrorists, who were trained in Afghanistan and have ties to Al-Qaida, formed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which launched numerous terrorist attacks in eastern Libya (Benghazi and Darna) in the mid-90s, backed by the MI6. These talks resulted in an amnesty given to many of the opposition, despite their treacherous history, in cooperation with MI6 and CIA.[2]

He came to prominence again during the events of 2011. On the third day of the demonstrations (20/2/2011), he predicted Libya’s future. He said that if Libyans begin to kill each other now, they will live in a vortex of violence for the next 40 years. Fifteen years later his prophetic words continue to have material reality. The very people he negotiated with to receive amnesty in 2011 were the ones that NATO armed and led the militarized rebellion against the government.

As NATO-backed rebels encroached on various cities and killed Muammar Qaddafi, Saif remained loose until his capture by rebel forces in November 2011, a month after the public lynching of his father. He was set to face trial because the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for accusations of crimes against humanity. He remained in jail until 2017, when the courts in Libya gave national amnesty in the spirit of national reconciliation. Since then, he has been living in Zintan, where the very people who captured him became his protectors, showing how political opinions in Libya have shifted and how much support he has garnered given the demise of the country and the growing gap between the ultra-rich and the poor.

Saif, The People vs US-led Electoral Stint of 2021
Despite his popularity, he never sided with the armed militias and foreign actors. Since his release from prison in 2017, Saif abstained from engaging in the politics of the fighting factions, namely the Turkish and Qatari-backed Tripoli government, and eastern Libya’s House of Representatives and its military arm led by General Khalifa Haftar. Even when Haftar launched a military operation to take over Tripoli in 2019, Saif called for de-escalation and peaceful resolution between the factions, urging them to point their guns at the foreign occupiers.

When Haftar’s 2019-2020 goal of capturing western Libya was shattered, the United Nations Special Mission to Libya brokered peace talks which birthed Libya’s second UN-parachuted government, Government of National Unity (GNU). The mandate of the government was only nine months, with the goal of writing presidential and parliamentary election laws and holding elections by the 24th of December 2021. Given that this was the first opportunity for Saif to engage in politics peacefully, he appeared in a New York Times interview in the summer of 2021, officiating his intent to run for the December elections.[3]

Those who follow the politics of electoralism will know the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the notorious foundation that influenced elections in numerous countries. Most notorious was the legislative coup against Ortega of Nicaragua by orchestrating election laws that undermined the Sandinistas’ popularity. IFES, which is also authoring Libya’s Civic Education textbooks,[4] has its fingerprints on electoral meddling in countries ranging from Ukraine and most recently Romania in 2024, to Libya and other countries which the US targets with Democracy Promotion. This foundation, IFES, has been implementing its democracy promotion directives in Libya since the toppling of the Jamahiriya in 2011, and they were the orchestrators of the 2021 elections.

Saif’s bid in the elections reshuffled the political game and the expectation to pull Libya out of a vortex of violence through electoral politics. In early November 2021, he appeared in southern Libya, in Sabha, and submitted his official papers for election bid. Then came the legal battles to orchestrate means to exclude him from running for the presidency. Many Libyans registered to vote in those elections, numbering 2.8 million. His application was rejected because of allegations that a court issued an arrest warrant for him. However, given the non-bona fide nature of the arrest warrant, and that it emanated without formal evidence and proof of guilt, his lawyer sought to appeal the exclusion from the elections in the District Court of Sabha. Showing how Haftar’s militias, who control Sabha, tried to influence the court’s decision, they decided to bar Saif’s lawyer from accessing the court by blocking the roads with their armed pickup trucks. However, Libyans protested against this blockade and pressured the militias to move aside so Saif’s lawyer could submit the appeal documents. Eventually, the lawyer and the people were successful in reinstating Saif’s bid for the 2021 elections.

What often goes unremarked—or is treated with curious omission—is that Khalifa Haftar is not merely a ‘Libyan warlord.’ He is a U.S. citizen and a longstanding asset, parachuted into the conflict by NATO in 2011, and later installed as the head of Libya’s military. Yet, in a display of either profound political illiteracy or intentional scotoma, many Western analysts prefer to frame him solely as a proxy of the UAE. This selective focus—highlighting convenient regional patrons while ignoring the original imperial hand that placed him—exposes the fickle and often disingenuous nature of their commentary. It dismisses the enduring role of imperialism, which first elevates its puppets and then permits them to be rebranded as local strongmen. True consistency would demand that those who oppose Haftar today should have opposed his NATO-backed entry in 2011; those who critique foreign interference now should have named it then. Their analysis, like the alliances they dissect, remains situational, not principled.

Hafter was acting on behalf of the Americans who wanted to exclude Saif from the elections. This was explicitly said by the US Ambassador to Tunisia (Libya does not have a US embassy). The Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Joey Hood, was asked: “Saif Qaddafi is running for presidential elections that will take place in December [2021]. Do you have an issue with that?” To which Hood replied, “I think the whole world has a problem with that. He is a war criminal and is under UN and US sanctions. Who runs for the presidential elections is something Libyans decide. But we will have many problems with the international community if a man like him is the president of Libya”.[5] To the Libyan people’s dismay, the elections never took place, and the UN-parachuted government, GNU, still holds power. Haftar still dominates eastern and southern Libya, alongside an ad-hoc government that is largely influenced by his sons. Since then, Saif withdrew from the political scene and waited for another opportunity for elections.

Throughout this time, Saif remained silent on the political factions in Libya while speaking incessantly on the need for Arab unity and African unity; he wrote often about Palestine and in defence of resisting imperialism, given that he had firsthand experience fighting the NATO alliance and its reactionary Arabs (UAE, Jordan and Qatar).

To Kill a Man and His Ideas
Saif’s popularity is undisputed and many Libyans long for a charismatic figure to unite under.[6] Neither Haftar nor Abdul Hamid Dbaiba (Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity) have a political project of sovereignty, unity and anti-imperialism. While the US and the larger west see Saif as the largest obstacle to folding Qaddafi’s legacy in Libya, this treacherous assassination, which is done by Libyan hands, will undermine any political imagination in the near future that rids Libyans of their many colonialists (Emirati, American, Turkish, British, Italian, etc.). Some allege the US to have been behind the assassination as Trump’s Senior Advisor to the President of USA on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs and concurrently as Senior Advisor for Africa at the U.S. Department of State, Massad Boulos, confirmed that he met with eastern (Haftar) and western (Dbaiba) in Paris last week in “efforts to forge national unity and long-term stability, consistent with President Trump’s broader peace agenda.”[7] A day after this post, Saif was assassinated.

Saif’s last public message was sent to one of his relatives, which really shows how much it aches to see Libya destroyed and transformed from the richest country in Africa to what it is today. Saif said:

“For the people whom you said that they were martyred in 2011, was it for this? Is it that we can’t dig a well in Sirte without the permission of the Turks, the American Ambassador, British Ambassador, and French Ambassador? Why didn’t you say that you wanted all of this from the beginning without the thousands being killed and the 500 billion that Libya wasted, and all this destruction resulting in orphans and widows”. *[8]*

As Libya enters a new chapter of resistance—against the neocolonial project and the treacherous regimes that enforce it—the true struggle comes into sharp focus. These regimes, whose true allegiance lies with their Atlanticist masters, deliberately impoverish the people. They dismantle the last vestiges of social welfare through subsidy cuts and orchestrate embezzlement via the private sector. History’s long arm, however, will not be stayed. It is already writing its indictment: the very local actors who conspired with NATO in 2011 have since been named in the correspondence of Jeffrey Epstein. This was no coincidence; Epstein, a kingpin of predation, had set his sights on Libya’s frozen assets across Africa, Europe, and America. His operations, facilitated by intelligence agencies like the Mossad, aimed to siphon billions through legalistic channels. This nexus—of betrayal at home and criminal conspiracy abroad—reveals the true nature of the forces that have besieged the nation.[9] 

Muammar Kadhafi’s Son Saif Al-Islam Assassinated in Libya

History will forget those people, for they have chosen to have no heritage. In the final accounting of a nation’s soul, it is not the momentary clamor of the crowd that echoes through history, but the unwavering fidelity of its children. Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi stood, unbroken, for the sovereignty and unity of his homeland and for the Pan-African dream of a liberated continent, a testament to a courage that transcends the physical. His legacy is forever scarred, not by defeat, but by the bitter venom of betrayal—by those who sold their birthright for foreign whispers and hollow promises. They traded the sacred soil of Africa for the sterile comfort of being accepted by their colonizers, believing that survival was the same as living. His vision, however, endures in the collective struggle for African unity and freedom. It is the vision of linking arms with brothers and sisters from Cairo to the Cape, from Dakar to Dar al-Salam, not in subservience to old empires or new masters, but in sovereign solidarity. It is the conviction that our true strength lies not in isolation, but in unbreakable fraternity against those who would divide, plunder, and impoverish our peoples. Yet there is a death far deeper than the grave: the death of honor, the death of loyalty. It is a spiritual decay that follows the traitor, the defector, and the agent, a perpetual shadow from which no sun can offer warmth. They are the walking dead of history, condemned to wander without glory, without dignity, and without a name worthy of remembrance. For true life is measured not in breath, but in the undying pride left etched upon the conscience of a nation and the future of a continent united in purpose and freedom.

The brave does not die الرجل لا يموت

The revolutionary الثوري لا يموت

The courageous does not die الشجاع لا يموت

The hero does not die البطل لا يموت

Even if rested in the grave حتى ولو وُضِعَ في القبر

The coward dies يموت الجبان

The traitor dies ويموت الخائن

The defector dies ويموت المرتد

The agent dies ويموت العميل

While the brave ones, they are alive أما الشجعان فهم أحياء

With glory بالمجد

With honor والشرف

With the pride that they leave behind وبالفخر الذي يتركونه

And with the reputation they leave behind وبالصيت الذي يتركونه

For their children, for their families لأولادهم وأهلهم

For their nation ولأمتهم

As for the cowards, they are dead أما الجبناء هم ميتون

Even if they were eating, drinking, strolling in the markets, and residing in hotels

حتى ولو كانوا يأكلون ويشربون ويمشون في الأسواق ويسكنون في الفنادق

They are dead because they have no glory ميتون لأنهم بلا مجد

No dignity وبلا كرامة

No honor وبلا شرف

With no good reputation, no remembrance وبلا سمعة حسنة وبلا ذكر

To leave behind for their children يتركونه لأولادهم

– Muammar Qaddafi

(Struggle La Lucha)


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

816
 
 

This article by María del Pilar Martínez originally appeared in the February 10, 2026 edition of El Economista.

With the 17th General Congress of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) approaching, two new figures have emerged in the leadership race. Fernando Salgado Delgado, Deputy General Secretary of the National Committee, and Alfonso Sánchez, General Secretary of the CTM Federation in Mexico City, have joined the race for General Secretary.

Alfonso Sánchez was emphatic in requesting that the transition be carried out through a clear process and with strict adherence to the statutes governing the confederation’s internal affairs. For Sánchez, this unprecedented moment represents an opportunity to relaunch the CTM and position it strongly on the national and international stage, taking advantage of the new labor justice model and the challenges posed by global trade.

For his part, Fernando Salgado Delgado focused his speech on the importance of institutional cohesion. The Deputy Secretary General acknowledged the value of Aceves del Olmo’s decision as a step that prioritizes the union’s stability. Salgado advocated for an orderly renewal process, where unity is the guiding principle for defending the rights and aspirations of the working class. His vision includes providing union representation for informal workers and placing particular emphasis on training in the face of advancing industrial automation.

A key point of agreement between the two candidates is their willingness to engage in dialogue. Neither Salgado nor Sánchez rules out the possibility of joining a single national unity ticket, as initially proposed by Tereso Medina, who was the first to put himself forward for this leadership change. This strategy aims to avoid internal divisions and present a united front to the government and the business sector.

Sánchez mentioned that, while he has a legitimate aspiration to lead the CTM, the primary objective should be the greater well-being of the workers and the building of strategic alliances, even with the Presidency of the Republic, to ensure that the country’s development is not based on cheap labor.

With the upcoming February 24th congress, the CTM is preparing to chart its course for the 21st century. Candidates agree that current challenges, such as reducing the workweek to 40 hours, regulating artificial intelligence in the workplace, and renegotiating the USMCA, demand leadership capable of evolving.

The post Mexico’s Largest Trade Union Federation Adds 2 to Leadership Race appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.


From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

817
 
 

By Samidoun – Feb 9 , 2026

“Samidoun… the Voice of the Prisoners and Their Arm in the Diaspora” is the title of an article written by comrade Mohammed Khatib three years ago in Al-Akhbar newspaper.

Mohammed is the son of the displaced village of al-Mallahah, occupied in 1948, and the son of Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Today, he is imprisoned in a Greek jail on the island of Crete. In this article, he sheds light on the importance of the role played by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and its role in supporting Palestinian prisoners and their causes.

We republish this article today because of its direct relevance to Mohammed’s own case of detention, and because it represents a living testimony to the experience of imprisonment and the ongoing struggle for freedom, and in order to reinvigorate the role of our people in the camps and across the diaspora.


Samidoun: The Voice of the Prisoners and Their Arm in the Diaspora

Mohammed Khatib
Friday, 17 February 2023

Two years ago, specifically in February 2021, the so-called Zionist entity’s minister of war, Benny Gantz, placed the Samidoun Network on the so-called “terrorist list.” So who is this network, and why has it received such attention?

The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, known simply as “Samidoun,” was founded in 2011 in Canada. Over time, it has become one of the most important international–Palestinian organizations confronting the Zionist movement outside occupied Palestine. Its first officially founding activity was in solidarity with Sheikh Khader Adnan, who at the time was waging an open hunger strike.

Today, Samidoun includes in its ranks hundreds of international supporters from approximately 20 countries, as well as dozens of Palestinian and Arab youth who have found themselves new refugees in several European capitals, extending to North and South America, as a result of wars, displacement, and siege in their countries—especially over the past ten years.

Organizing Identity
Samidoun presents a revolutionary model in organizational, militant, and popular work in the diaspora. This experience is distinguished by the nature and identity of the network and by the diversity of its Palestinian, Arab, and international cadres. Over years of work, a deeply rooted conviction has crystallized: that the struggle for the freedom of Palestinian, Arab, and international prisoners, and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, means a radical transformation in the region and the world—one that goes beyond Palestine’s geographic boundaries and serves the interests of all peoples and liberation movements, especially those confronting fascism, racism, and capitalism in the heart of the major imperial centers, such as the United States and Canada, as well as the old/new colonial powers in Europe.

Based on this conviction, it is natural that Samidoun supports solidarity campaigns with political prisoners in the prisons of the United States, Greece, Turkey, the Philippines, and elsewhere. It is also natural that it adopts a supportive position toward political prisoners in Arab prisons, including the ongoing campaign in support of political detainees in the prisons of the Palestinian Authority, and in confronting the security coordination apparatuses with the Zionist entity in the occupied West Bank, in addition to confronting all forms of repression and corruption.

To promote the prisoners’ cause, Samidoun launched an educational campaign in five foreign languages, presenting the history of prisoners detained in Zionist prisons prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords. It is also currently preparing to launch an international campaign demanding the release of the bodies of martyrs withheld by the occupation, and opposing the so-called “numbered graves,” in which the occupation has held hundreds of martyrs since the launch of the Palestinian revolution to this day. The logic of this campaign is rooted in duty toward the families of the “martyr-prisoners,” and in the pursuit of unity of the people, the cause, and the rights, and in building bridges of struggle and return between exile and homeland.

Zionist Attacks… Organizing Continues
Zionist campaigns against Samidoun never cease, through constant incitement and attempts to criminalize it under various pretexts, including linking it to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, by association with what are called “organizations designated on terrorist lists.”

Over the past ten years, Samidoun’s cadres have been subjected to all forms of repression and restriction, including direct threats, deportation and expulsion, and even threats with weapons, beatings, and arrest. In a country like Germany, for example, the network faces an ongoing and systematic Zionist and fascist campaign of repression, in addition to multiple forms of state terror.

Yet all attempts at repression and intimidation have failed to affect the development and trajectory of the work. On the contrary, Samidoun’s membership continues to expand, with increasing numbers of Palestinian and Arab youth joining it in more than one country, and these youth now lead activities across different arenas. This stems from a belief that continuous confrontation with the Zionist enemy and its allies is, in fact, one of the most important sources of strength and the accumulation of impact and action.

For example, Samidoun works to organize the global week of solidarity with the prisoner and national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front, who was abducted by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces on 15 January 2002 and imprisoned with his comrades in Jericho Prison for four years, before occupation forces re-abducted him on 15 March 2006. The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, one of the most important organizations affiliated with Samidoun, also organizes solidarity campaigns with the Lebanese Arab prisoner Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French prisons since 1984. Part of the struggle to free Abdallah has involved transmitting his thought and positions to wide popular spaces after his case had been marginalized for decades.

Based on this militant and political vision, Samidoun supports the struggles of political prisoners around the world by forging direct relationships between the Palestinian prisoners’ national movement and revolutionary movements worldwide, within a vision whose essence lies in the strategic importance of the prisoners’ movement and the position it represents as one of the most important bases of daily confrontation and resistance—and as the trusted national leadership of the Palestinian people. Accordingly, Samidoun views the prisoners’ movement as the first line of defense for our people, and as a national reference with an effective and influential role in Palestinian political decision-making and in shaping the strategy of return and liberation.

Ben-Gvir Claims 100 Doctors Volunteered To Execute Palestinian Prisoners Despite Ethics Ban

Resistance and the Masses
Samidoun aligns itself with the armed Palestinian and Lebanese resistance, and considers the liberation of prisoners a fundamental task achieved through resistance action. At the same time, it recognizes the particular importance of the popular, media, political, and cultural role in amplifying the prisoners’ voices and defending their rights internationally. It also sees this responsibility as one that must remain firmly on the agenda of the Palestinian people in the diaspora, and on the programs of supporters of Palestine, liberation forces, and international boycott movements.

As part of what Samidoun does to realize this vision, it publishes on its website, in ten languages, near-daily reports on the occupation’s crimes against women prisoners and prisoners, and calls on its supporters and all those it reaches to write letters to the prisoners and address messages to them.

Samidoun bases the formulation of its positions and work strategy on the militant vision articulated by the prisoners themselves, conveyed daily from inside Zionist prisons. It also follows articles, studies, books, and various directives issued by the leadership of the prisoners’ movement, translating and disseminating them among its members and supporters.

Samidoun also expresses—without deviation—its principled position toward the Zionist entity: that it is a racist settler-colonial entity that must be removed by force from all of occupied Palestine, from the river to the sea. It likewise affirms that the right of return for Palestinian refugees is the core of the Palestinian people’s cause, just as the prisoners’ issue is the cause of freedom in its comprehensive sense. Accordingly, the goal is the liberation of the land and the human being.

* Coordinator of the Samidoun Network in Europe

(Samidoun)


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

818
 
 

By Francisco Dominguez – Feb 7, 2026

Continuous US threats against Cuba and Venezuela are a grave threat to democracy throughout the region

Donald Trump’s order that the US military attack Venezuela on January 3 2026 led to heavy bombardment of four cities (Caracas, Miranda, La Guaira and Maracay), focusing on military and civilian targets, leading to the violent kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both of whom were taken prisoner and flown to New York City.

The US government’s narrative to justify this blatant violation of international law evolved from bogus charges about the Venezuelan government being responsible for “drug-trafficking” and “narco-terrorism,” attempting to obscure the real objective: taking possession of Venezuela’s oil — the world’s largest reserves — by military force.

After the US military assault on Venezuela, Trump claimed that Venezuela had taken “our oil away from us” and had stolen “our assets.” In the same vein, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a leading right-wing ideologue in the US administration, said that since the US “created the oil industry in Venezuela,” its nationalisation in 1976 “was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property.”

The US war fleet deployed in the Caribbean (Operation Southern Spear) had nothing to do with fighting “drug trafficking” or “narco-terrorism” but everything to do with violent “regime change” to control Venezuela’s oil.

In fact, Trump announced he was putting Venezuela under temporary US control: “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” and that major US companies would move into Venezuela.

The US war fleet – the largest in 30 years – is still deployed off the coast of Venezuela and, at a US Senate hearing, Marco Rubio repeated Trump’s threat: force could even be used to ensure “maximum co-operation – from the interim president – if other methods fail.”

In short, the Venezuelan interim government has a US gun pointed at its head.

Then the Department of Justice (DoJ’s) false contention that Venezuela was run by the non-existent drug Cartel de los Soles, allegedly headed by President Maduro and the Bolivarian government, was dropped.

The designation of the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation was in November 2025. On January 6 2026 (three days after the kidnapping of Venezuela’s head of state), the US DoJ referred to it as “patronage system,” thus admitting it isn’t real.

Between September 2025 and January 2026, Operation Southern Spear involved the blowing to smithereens of 29 small boats and the extrajudicial killing of well over 100 alleged drug-traffickers and narco-terrorists.

Yet US authorities squarely refuse to provide any information about the individuals executed or present any evidence. After President Maduro’s kidnapping, US strikes against small boats have altogether stopped.

Paradoxically, US pundits, politicians and retired generals have pointed to DEA’s (the Drug Enforcement Administration) and UNODC’s (the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) repeated reports that over 85 per cent of the cocaine produced in Colombia reaches the US trough the Pacific, that a tiny proportion (5–7 per cent) tries – not always successfully – to use Venezuela as a transit route and that Venezuela’s contribution to fentanyl trafficking is zero.

Trump’s pardon for former Honduras president Juan Orlando Hernandez who was serving 45 years in prison for having shipped 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US, confirmed that the US military attack on Venezuela was definitely not about drug-trafficking.

Interestingly, Trump dismissed extreme right-wing politician Maria Corina Machado out of hand as a replacement of President Maduro because she “is not respected,” ie she does not enjoy support in Venezuela (even less after her abject servility to Trump led her to give the US president her Nobel Peace Prize medal).

This means the Bolivarian state is shaken but intact.

No sooner had Trump and Rubio accepted the limitations of what they could impose on Venezuela, and, grudgingly, recognised the interim president’s authority, Washington launched a smear campaign against Delcy Rodriguez, saying she was “compromising on the heritage of President Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez.”

A UK daily went as far as to report of secret meetings held by Rodriguez to hand over President Maduro. The corporate media seek to portray her as a “Trump asset” falsely claiming her appointment as interim president had been the “result of prolonged negotiations.” The obvious aim is sowing divisions in the Chavista movement.

Rodriguez’s appointment as interim president by the Supreme Court has the full support of the National Assembly, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the armed forces. This has ensured constitutional continuity and secured political normality.

Her very first statement (January 4 2026) as interim president was to demand the immediate release of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores firmly stating: “The only president of Venezuela is President Nicolas Maduro.”

She also implemented a Maduro executive decree placing the country in state of upheaval and activated the National Defence Council.

On the same day, a special extraordinary summit of Celac (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) took place prompted by the US attack on Venezuela at which Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto demanded Celac request the immediate withdrawal of all US military forces in the Caribbean with Cuba demanding “due respect for Venezuelan territorial integrity and independence and the immediate release of the Venezuelan leader and his wife.”

The following day Venezuela demanded an urgent meeting of the UN security council at which the US attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president were deemed unjustifiable crimes, and the immediate release of Nicolas Maduro and his wife was demanded.

Cuba Warns Airlines It Has Less Than 24 Hours of Fuel

In response to Trump’s contention that the US was running Venezuela, interim Rodriguez retorted: “The government of Venezuela rules in our country and no-one else; there is no external agent that governs Venezuela.” On January 7 2026 at a mass march of women to demand the president’s safe return, Interior Minister and PSUV general secretary Diosdado Cabello spoke pointed out that US military actions had generated deep anti-imperialist sentiment in the country.

The mainstream media have also focused on the updating of Venezuela’s existing law ruling over the nation’s oil industry — the Hydrocarbons Law — which is deliberately misrepresented as US-forced privatisation.

The law was unanimously approved by the National Assembly and strongly supported by the labour movement and is, in fact, a reform of the existing Anti-Blockade Law and very similar to Cuba’s Law of Investments — both having the same aim: to attract direct foreign investment to their blockaded and sanctioned economies given their inability to generate sufficient resources domestically.

In line with Rodriguez’s policy, Foreign Minister Gil Pinto condemned the forced sale of Venezuela-owned oil company Citgo operating in the US as one of the most outrageous acts of “theft, criminality, and judicial piracy in modern history.”

Encouraged by the attack on Venezuela, Trump will impose tariffs on imports from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba and has deployed two warships to the north of Cuba. This is gunboat diplomacy on steroids.

Naturally, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel slammed the aggression: “We will face this new onslaught with firmness, equanimity, and the certainty that reason is absolutely on our side.”

Gil Pinto also condemned it as a flagrant violation of international law, an attack on national sovereignty and said that free trade should not be subject to coercion. He added: “To consider Cuba a threat to the national security of the United States of America is absurd and poses a serious threat to its very existence as a nation.”

Both statements typify the independent governments leading sovereign nations.

US gunboat diplomacy is seriously jeopardising Venezuela’s, Cuba’s and Latin America’s sovereignty. The struggle against the Monroe Doctrine continues.

For the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the US war fleet illegally deployed in the Caribbean!
No War on Venezuela! No War on Cuba! No War on Latin America!
For the immediate and unconditional release of President Maduro and Cilia Flores!

(Morning Star)


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

819
 
 

The president of the Venezuelan Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (AVAVIT), Vicky Herrera, announced that between February and March, at least six airlines will resume their flights to Caracas: Plus Ultra, TAP, Turkish Airlines, Latam, Avianca, and GOL. Wingo already resumed its Bogotá–Caracas route on January 16 and plans to reactivate flights from from Medellín on March 1.

Latam Airlines Colombia announced this Monday that it will resume its flights between Bogotá and Caracas starting on February 23, with four weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The company plans to increase the service to a daily flight starting April 1, subject to approval by the aeronautical authorities of both countries.

The CEO of Latam Airlines Colombia, Erika Zarante, stated that the company has a “clear and sustained interest in continuing to grow in Venezuela”: “As a leading airline group in the region, we have the responsibility and the capacity to contribute through robust and sustainable air connectivity,” she said.

With the resumption of this route, travelers to and from Caracas will be able to connect, via Bogotá, with 23 domestic destinations and more than 140 international routes operated by the group in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

Avianca will restart its daily operation on February 12, while Air Europa will resume flights between Madrid and Caracas on February 17, followed by Láser on the 18th. Plus Ultra will restart on March 3 with two weekly frequencies and will expand its flights at the end of the month. Iberia, for its part, maintains expectations of resuming operations in April provided the necessary guarantees are in place.

Turkish Airlines announced that it will reactivate its Istanbul–Caracas route starting on March 3, 2026.

This decision marks the return of one of the most strategic air connections for the country, once again linking Venezuela with the main hub between Europe and Asia.

The airline has designed an itinerary that ensures efficiency and passenger comfort, initially operating with three weekly flights.

Venezuela and US Agree To Reopen Commercial Airspace (+Cybersecurity Center)

(Últimas Noticias)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/CB/SL


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

820
 
 

Venezuela broke a record by producing 125,325 tons of processed meats in 2025. The acting president called for respect for agreed prices to prevent speculation.

The acting president of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, reported this Monday that consumption in January 2026 grew by more than 32% compared to January 2025.

“This is the path we are seeking for our country. That Venezuela does not stop, that Venezuela moves forward, that Venezuela grows and grows with economic peace, with political peace, with social peace,” she said.

From the Río de Oro L’Prado Food Plant, located in the municipality of Baruta in Miranda state, the acting head of state reported that in 2025, Venezuela broke a production record in the processed meat sector.

In this regard, she detailed that Venezuela produced 125,325 tons of processed meats in 2025, “and I have no doubt that this plant (L’Prado Food Processing Plant) contributed its grain of sand to that growth.”

She emphasized that these achievements have increased thanks to the economic dialogue that exists within the National Council of Productive Economy, a meeting space where ideas are debated to strengthen the country’s economy.

She recalled that Venezuela recorded 19 quarters of sustained growth, achieving an 8% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025.

Respect for agreed pricesRodríguez highlighted that what was observed at the Río de Oro L’Prado Food Processing Plant constitutes an example for Venezuela to follow in 2026 by demonstrating the potential of national production.

Rodríguez indicated that the prices agreed upon with national industry must be respected, ensuring that there is no speculation that is harmful to the Venezuelan people.

“That there be no speculation against the people of Venezuela: this must be part of the agreements of the economic and social dialogue that the Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace has put in place,” said Acting President Rodríguez. “It is dialogue to come together, but it is also to come together in the diversity of sectors—the economic sector, the political sector, the social sector—and to keep moving forward to guarantee the future of Venezuela, independence, and sovereignty.”

Rodríguez also noted, regarding the control of permits, that industry was listened to and conclusions were reached about the measures that needed to be adopted—policies for protection, sanitary control, and support for national industry.

“Record growth [was recorded] in the processed meat sector over the last 10 years, but it was also thanks to the economic dialogue that exists in the National Council of Economy, where we listened to the sector, [and] saw the problem—there was a lot of imported processed meat entering without permits, without any type of sanitary control—and immediate measures and protection policies and support for national industry were adopted, and here is the result.”

In this regard, Minister of National Industry and Commerce Luis Villegas highlighted that technical roundtables have been maintained for the meat sector with the aim of eliminating obstacles in procedures and thus protecting national industry.

“We are integrated—the Bolivarian National Armed Force, the Ministry of Food, the Seniat, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce—so that we do not allow the entry of all these processed meats that also do not meet the quality standards of the industry,” said Villegas.

Open-air marketsDuring the event, Minister of Food Carlos Leal Tellería reported that more than 23,000 tons of food are distributed weekly to the Venezuelan people through open-air markets.

He also said that the agrifood sector is growing and emphasized that Venezuela has food reserves for 116 days stored in warehouses and silos to ensure the country’s food security.

Leal Tellería highlighted that there is currently a strong harvest, which allows for permanent supply and the availability of all products with great variety on shelves—across all supermarkets, grocery stores, in private and public redistribution—which “is being strengthened with the Venezuelan Food Production and Distribution Company (Pdval) and mercales and open-air markets.”

The Venezuelan company Pdval was founded in 2017 by two young Venezuelan entrepreneurs. It has dedicated itself to the production and marketing of processed meats and meat products, offering high-quality products to the domestic market. Today, they market under their flagship brand L’Prado and have the entire productive value chain in place.

Juan Lenzo: ‘We Need To Integrate the Communal Economy To Face the Capitalist Maelstrom’

(Últimas Noticias)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/CB/SL


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

821
 
 

By Alan MacLeod – Feb 7, 2026

6 Key findings of this investigation:

    • Right up until his arrest for child sex trafficking, Chomsky was advising Epstein on crisis management, sympathizing with the “horrible way you are being treated in the press and public.”
    • On multiple occasions, Chomsky expressed his desire to visit Little St. James Island, site of Epstein’s infamous sex crimes.
    • Chomsky flew on Epstein’s “Lolita Express” jet, stayed at his mansions in Manhattan and Paris, and regularly met him for dinner and other social occasions.
      Chomsky quietly met with a host of other highly questionable characters, including Steve Bannon, Woody Allen, and Ehud Barak.
    • Chomsky considered Epstein his “best friend,” and his closest advisor, and regularly exchanged gifts with the disgraced pedophile.
    • Chomsky’s relationship with his children broke apart, due in part to their protests over his attempts to name Epstein’s accountant and right-hand man to the board of the family’s trust fund.
    • Chomsky’s relationship with his children broke apart, due in part to their protests over his attempts to name Epstein’s accountant and right-hand man to the board of the family’s trust fund.

Newly released documents have shed light on the unlikely relationship between renowned leftist professor Noam Chomsky and disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Analyzing over 3800 emails and texts involving the academic, MintPress News has uncovered a deep, years-long friendship between the two, one where they became “best friends” and each other’s closest confidants. Chomsky flew on Epstein’s notorious “Lolita Express” jet, stayed at his apartments in Manhattan and Paris, and expressed his desire, on multiple occasions, to visit Little St. James Island, the location of many of Epstein’s worst sex crimes.

Years of exchanging gifts and dining together – events that frequently included other highly controversial characters, such as disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen, far-right political strategist Steve Bannon, and former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, turned the pair into the closest of friends. Chomsky became a key figure in Epstein’s attempts at crisis management, sharing his thoughts about strategies to quash and counter what he called “the onslaught of venomous attacks” against him. Meanwhile, Epstein became the star political philosopher’s trusted legal and financial advisor, a fact that would lead to a near collapse in the relationship between Noam and his children.

This is the story of the previously unknown relationship between the man who The New York Times called “the most important intellectual alive” and the world’s most infamous sexual predator.

Noam Chomsky: Jeffrey Epstein’s Crisis Manager
After 36 survivors – some as young as 14 – came forward, billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was convicted in 2008 on charges related to child sex crimes. He was, however, given only an 18-month sentence, and served only 13 months in a minimum security prison that he was allowed to leave six days per week. The U.S. attorney who struck this lenient deal reportedly stated that he did so under duress, and was told to “back off,” as Epstein “belonged to intelligence.”

Key to Epstein’s crimes becoming known was the testimony of his victim, Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre alleged that Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell operated a worldwide sex trafficking operation, where women and girls were kidnapped and forced to have sex with the world’s rich and powerful. This allegedly included royals like Prince Andrew, politicians such as Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, and academics, like Alan Dershowitz. Epstein reportedly made his fortune by keeping copious evidence of their sex crimes and extorting his clients. Previous Epstein Files releases have strongly indicated that Epstein, like Maxwell’s father and family, worked for Israeli intelligence.

The testimony from Giuffre and others sparked worldwide uproar, eventually forcing the U.S. government to act. In 2019, the FBI arrested Epstein, holding him in a high security Manhattan prison. Just weeks later, he was found dead in his cell, under highly suspicious circumstances.

Epstein was aware that the walls were closing in. Months before his arrest, he sent Chomsky a number of panicked emails, desperately asking for guidance on how to squash the widespread demands for his arrest.

On February 23, 2019, he wrote:

“Noam. I’d love your advice on how I handle my putrid press. Its is spiralling out of control. Do I have someone write an oped? Defend myself. Or try to ignore. Realizing that mobs are dangerous!”

“Can use some advice. The press is painting me as a monster. Congress, Senate being fed by plaintiffs. Lawyers only wanting money. I have no skill with the general public or media… Suggestions??” he asked another time.

Chomsky’s suggestion was generally to remain silent, hoping the situation would blow over. “Ive watched the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public. It’s painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it. I’ve had plenty of experience, though of course not on this scale,” he replied, adding that some of his close friends have also gone through the same thing.

“What the vultures dearly want,” he continued, “is a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts.”

“Hard to say, but it’s the best advice I can think of,” he concluded, sympathizing with all the “torture and distress” the affair has caused. This is not a reference to the vast numbers of girls and women Epstein trafficked, abused, and raped, but to the mental anguish Epstein himself was going through, as his criminal network was being slowly and very publicly unraveled.

In his emails to Epstein, Chomsky denounced what he described as the “culture of gossip-mongers” destroying his stellar character. “These things have a half-life. The best reaction, I think, is to just stay above the furor, wait it out, go on with what matters.”

On December 29, 2018, Epstein asked his unofficial crisis manager for feedback on an op-ed article he wrote about himself in the third person, which he said he would send to The Washington Post and have published.

The fawning, saccharine piece presented Epstein as a near saint suffering outrageous slanders. As it read:

“The critics are wrong on the facts and the law. They also ignore a fact going to the heart of fundamental fairness: In the decade since paying his debt to society, Jeffrey Epstein has led a life characterized by responsible citizenship, numerous acts of generosity and good deeds.  Here are the true key facts: Jeffrey Epstein [is] a successful self-made businessman with no prior criminal history whatsoever.”

It also stated that he “was treated exactly the same (including his time served) as any other state-incarcerated individuals,” for his 2008 conviction, a bizarre claim, considering his lenient sentence and conditions of incarceration.

Despite the fact that this was clearly a sock puppet article (a practice whereby an individual claims to be another entity in order to boost credibility), Chomsky was deeply impressed. “It’s a powerful and convincing statement,” he replied, although he once again advised against drawing even more media attention to the matter:

“Few are willing to think through the arguments and factual details or to try to adjudicate conflicting claims. I’ve seen this happen over and over on other matters… Ugly and bitter as it is, I suspect the best course now is not to stir the pot by raising the issue publicly, opening the door to charges and accusations that can no doubt be answered in the court of logic and fairness — but that’s not the public domain, where innuendo and suspicion and accusation reign.”

Chomsky suggested that, unfortunately, Epstein would simply have to “develop a thick skin” to “fend off whatever ugliness breaks through now and then.” “The great work that you have been doing speaks for itself,” he concluded, without explaining what exactly he was referring to.

Although the emails clearly show the extent to which Epstein trusted Chomsky, his intellect, and his judgment, he did not fully take his advice, and pursued a number of active measures to muddy the waters and improve his public image. One of these was to attempt to produce a documentary film about himself, presenting him in a good light. Epstein went into his Rolodex of influential people, calling in favors to see who would appear on camera endorsing him.

If his texts are to be believed, Chomsky was one of his most enthusiastic backers. “Spoke to Chomsky, he’s all in” he messaged an undisclosed associate in December 2018.

Epstein had leaned on Chomsky’s support previously. In 2017, he asked the professor to write a few paragraphs on why he continued to value his friendship for an article in Forbes magazine, the gist of which, according to Epstein, would be “why people still want his advice after all of his personal travails.” It appears that the article was never published.

Chomsky is often described as an “intellectual rock star,” or an “American Socrates.” The father of modern linguistics, he is more well known for his political work and activism, which has seen him become an icon of the left. First coming to public attention for his opposition to the Vietnam War, he has written in excess of 150 books on politics, social science, and the media.

His first wife, Carol, with whom he had three children, died in 2008. In 2014, he subsequently married Valeria Wasserman, a Brazilian translator 35 years his junior. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 2023, leaving him unable to speak or meaningfully converse. Until his final public appearances, however, he continued to defend Epstein, even after the latter was found dead in his cell.

In 2020, when asked about Epstein’s sex crime convictions, Chomsky was adamant: “There is a principle of Western law, that once a person has served a sentence, he is are the same as everybody else. It seems to be forgotten. Why this obsession but not with more significant characters?” he said, also attempting to deflect, noting that far worse people than Epstein regularly donate to his university, M.I.T.

One of his last interviews was with The Wall Street Journal, who questioned him directly about his connections to the disgraced billionaire. Chomsky was unusually blunt. “That is none of your business. Or anyone’s,” he stated, adding, “I knew him and we met occasionally.”

However, as this investigation will show, that is a self-serving and misleading description of an extremely close relationship forged over many years.

Flying on the Lolita Express, Dreaming of Epstein’s Rape Island
For years, Jeffrey Epstein allowed Chomsky to periodically live a life of extreme luxury, plying him and his wife with gifts, and providing them access to his property, vehicles, and staff.

Emails show that, in May 2016, while he was in New York City for a lecture, Noam met up with Epstein and stayed at his residence. The location in question is very likely to be Epstein’s palatial, seven-floor 51,000 square feet (4,700m²) mansion. A former hospital turned into a single apartment, the property is filled with paintings of naked women and other highly sexualized art, and was where Epstein would traffic and rape his slaves, as well as hold wild sex parties for his powerful guests. Chomsky described it as “that lovely apartment where you once put us up,” indicating he stayed there on more than one occasion.

When federal agents raided the property in July 2019, they found a framed photo of Epstein with the Chomskys on a bedside table.

This was not the first time that Chomsky had tasted some of New York’s most luxurious residences, courtesy of Epstein. In 2015, the billionaire booked him into the $1400-per-night Manhattan Suite at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side.

And in order to travel in style, he flew aboard Epstein’s private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express” – a reference to the child sex crimes widely alleged to have regularly taken place aboard.

Many years ago, internet sleuths combing through the Facebook profile of Valdson Vieira Cotrin – Epstein’s Parisian butler – were shocked to find an image that appeared to show him arm-in-arm with Chomsky. The latest tranche of emails proves this photo to be accurate.

“Dear Jeffrey, We had a wonderful day. Valdson took good care of us. Drove us to the Louvre, went to pick us up, brought us to your wonderful apartment for a delicious meal. We just missed your company,” Valeria wrote, attaching a selfie for him to enjoy.

The property in question was Epstein’s 7,400-square-foot apartment at 22 Avenue Foch in Paris’ exclusive 16th arrondissement, just a stone’s throw away from the Arc de Triomphe.

Other emails show Epstein was offering his other properties to the Chomskys. “You should also feel free to use my Palm Beach house, for just you and [REDACTED]. You will be well looked after. It’s very warm. Anytime this or next month,” he wrote in February 2016. Noam was tempted. “Lovely offer. Don’t think we’re not thinking about it. Hard,” he replied.

Chomsky, however, had his eyes set on an entirely different property of Epstein’s: the one on Little St. James Island. On multiple occasions, he signalled his eagerness to visit what would come to be known as one of the most notorious houses on the planet.

Epstein’s 70-acre private island became world renowned after U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George alleged that dozens of girls, some as young as 12-years-old, were imprisoned and raped at the property. The compound, full of occult symbolism, was put up for sale in 2022 in order to pay for a host of lawsuits.

In February 2016, he offered to send the Lolita Express to Boston to pick up the Chomskys, and take them to Little St. James Island. “Can’t tell you how tempting the invitation is. Have to somehow work out the schedule,” Noam replied.

A few months later, Noam was still dreaming of visiting. “Valeria’s always keen on New York. I’m really fantasizing about the Caribbean island,” he told Epstein in July 2016.

Despite all this, there is no indication in the files that any of the Chomskys saw or partook in any sex crimes or illegal activities with Epstein.

Dining With “Dear Friends” and War Criminals

Jeffrey Epstein, needless to say, was a highly politically-connected man. From princes to presidents, the billionaire trafficker was a central figure among the global elite. One of his closest associates was Donald Trump. Previously disclosed files show Epstein describing himself as “Trump’s closest friend,” and claiming that it was he who introduced the president to his wife, Melania.

Trump’s unlikely electoral victory in 2016 sent shockwaves around the world. But through Epstein, Valeria Chomsky saw a way to directly influence U.S. governmental policy, asking her friend to suggest to the new president that her husband should become his policy advisor. “Once you asked me who I would like to see talking to Noam. Here is a guy!” she said, just days after Trump’s November 2016 victory. “Can you arrange it? He could make good use of Noam’s advices,” she added, also stating that she should also be appointed a political analyst in the White House.

While she may have been joking about her own appointment, the idea that Epstein could arrange something like that for her husband was not far-fetched. Epstein, by this time, had already set Noam up with meetings with influential world leaders. In the summer of 2015, he organized a dinner with former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, a man Chomsky had strongly denounced in print. “I hope [REDACTED] and you enjoyed yesterday as much as the Barak’s and I” Epstein wrote to Noam that September.

At the same time as the Barak meeting, Chomsky planned a trip to Israel, a move that would likely have angered many in the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. In October of that year, however, he cancelled the visit. Not because of Israel’s crimes against Palestine, but because Valeria tore a muscle and had to concentrate on recovering.

In 2018, Epstein invited the Chomskys to a small, private dinner party with Barak and Trump strategist Steve Bannon. For many leftists, the idea of sharing a room with an Israeli prime minister, the world’s most notorious pedophile, and an oft-described “fascist” white supremacist thinker would sound like a nightmare.

Chomsky, however, described his regret at missing out on the opportunity due to work commitments, emailing Bannon directly. “My wife Valeria and I were quite disappointed to have missed you the other night, and hope that we can arrange something else before too long. Lots to talk about,” he wrote.

Months later, they personally invited Bannon to his Arizona home. “Jeffrey is a very dear friend, and we look forward to meeting you. Would it be possible for you to come 4pm tomorrow?” Valeria wrote.

Images of the famous leftist intellectual arm-in-arm and laughing with the driving force behind the alt-right and many of Trump’s most racist and punitive policies caused commotion when they were released as part of a previous Epstein Files disclosure.

Flying on the Lolita Express to Attend a “Pedophile Convention”
Chomsky, however, had long been mingling with controversial figures, thanks to his Epstein friendship.

In October 2015, the emails show, he flew from Boston to New York City with Epstein on his private jet in order to attend a soirée at Epstein’s notorious Manhattan town house with the disgraced film director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn.

Allen’s proclivities, if anything, were even more well-known than Epstein’s. His long-term, high-profile relationship with actress ended spectacularly in 1992 after their adopted seven-year-old daughter, Dylan, alleged that he had, for some time, been molesting her.

At the same time as this, Allen had been having an affair with another of Farrow’s adopted children, 22-year-old Soon-Yi Previn. Just five years later, Allen married Previn.

Allen was a frequent guest at these Manhattan dinners, noting that Epstein was like “Dracula with young female vampires to serve him.” Epstein left even less to the imagination when discussing his time with Allen, describing their meetings as a “pedophile convention.”

Chomsky was unrepentant about his actions. When asked directly by The Wall Street Journal, he said, “If there was a flight, which I doubt, it would have been from Boston to New York, 30 minutes.” There is now pictorial evidence that Chomsky did indeed fly with the billionaire molester on his plane. On his association with Allen, he replied, “I’m unaware of the principle that requires that I inform you about an evening spent with a great artist.”

“Deep, Sincere, And Everlasting Friendship”
The overwhelming image that emerges from nearly 4000 newly released documents concerning the pair is a deep, years-long friendship between Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Epstein. The two would exchange jokes, and talk money, politics, medical problems, and legal troubles. Epstein became Chomsky’s closest friend above all others.

“Dear Jeffrey, We count you as our best friend. I mean ‘the’ one. It is always great to see you,” Valeria Chomsky wrote in 2017.

The world-renowned linguist said as much, signing off one note to Epstein with the words: “Like real friendship, deep and sincere and everlasting from both of us, Noam and Valeria.”

The billionaire showered the Chomskys with gifts, such as a food hamper from Carnegie Deli, an iconic New York City Jewish eatery, and a cashmere sweater for Noam’s 87th birthday. On one occasion, Epstein organized a private car to take the couple to the airport.

The Chomskys reciprocated in kind. In 2016, Noam contributed to Epstein’s birthday book. A previous edition of Epstein’s birthday book contained lurid illustrations of him receiving massages from young girls, and a hand-drawn picture of a naked woman from Donald Trump, replete with language that many have taken to be allusions to sex with underage girls.

There is no indication what Chomsky contributed, nor that he ever saw the book, but Epstein was “thrilled and touched by it,” according to an email.

Epstein and the Chomskys met frequently, and, judging by their interactions, greatly enjoyed their time together. As Valeria wrote, “I am very enthusiastic about these meetings.” Another time, she made Epstein promise to “include her in the next photos,” according to an email from Epstein’s executive assistant, Lesley Groff. Prosecutors are currently weighing up charging Groff for her alleged role in Epstein’s sex crimes, which include scheduling massage appointments from women and girls. Groff has denied all wrongdoing.

A sign of how close the relationship became is that Epstein grew notably fond of Valeria’s cooking. One email from Noam notes that she prepared his “favorite dessert” (possibly a passion fruit mousse, judging by other emails discussing her culinary exploits) ahead of his February 2016 visit to their Massachusetts home.

Epstein and Noam shared their deepest feelings and emotions with each other, as well as lighter topics. Epstein sent messages with subject lines such as “thought you might find this amusing.”

In one exchange, the pair even made sexual jokes with each other. Epstein wrote that he thought of Noam and Valeria as if they were “Pluto and its moon.” Chomsky responded, “Who’s Pluto” in this situation, to which Epstein shared a picture of the Disney character of the same name with its ears sticking up. After Chomsky agreed that he did look like the dog, Epstein quipped that “At your age, if anything sticks up, be proud.” “Ouch,” Chomsky replied, to which Epstein said, “Good, it still has feelings as well,” referencing Chomsky’s penis.

By 2017, the in-person meetings between Epstein and the Chomskys reduced in frequency. Not because of the mounting wave of evidence about the New York oligarch’s misdeeds, but because the pair had moved west to take up a teaching position at the University of Arizona. “We will be here [Tucson] and you are very welcome as always. Noam misses talking to you,” Valeria told Epstein in November 2018, just months before his arrest.

Publicly a Leftist Intellectual, Privately an Anti-Feminist Sexual Predator Defender
Chomsky would often talk politics with Epstein, and, while outwardly consistently espousing far-left political positions, some of his private conversations sounded more like the words of conservative figures, such as Jordan Peterson or Ben Shapiro.

He was vociferously critical of #MeToo and the modern feminist movement, describing it as a “hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.”

He vehemently defended his friend Lawrence Krauss, a celebrity scientist with a host of sexual assault and other sexual misconduct charges against him, going back over a decade.

And despite complaining about being called a “neo-Nazi” by “cranks,” he compared feminists asking questions about Krauss to Hitler’s brownshirts and religious zealots. As he wrote:

“Cultures unfortunately can be swept by craziness. Nazism for example. Or the Great Awakening. We’re in one of those phases now. If there’s a charge, it’s true, in fact True. Any response is “mansplaining,” another power play, reinforcing the charge. You’ve seen I’m sure what happened to Lawrence. Full and complete response, amounts to zero. Isn’t even considered. It’s like trying to discuss rationally with religious fanatics.”

He also bitterly attacked Venezuela under socialist presidents, Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro. Chomsky had met Chavez in Venezuela, and publicly praised him, stating “I can see how a better world is being created and can speak to the person who has inspired it.”

With Epstein, though, Chomsky described Venezuela as “a major disaster” brought about by “corruption and incompetence.” He characterized the country as a “completely” top-down bureaucracy and not even “remotely like socialism.”

Trusting Epstein Over His Own Children
Over the years, Epstein became not only Chomsky’s dearest friend, but his closest and most trusted legal and financial advisor. This relationship even damaged the bond with his children, who expressed their alarm at what they called a “dramatic and unexplainable” increase in his spending since his 2014 marriage. “This unexpected outflow is placing your financial future at risk,” they warned.

They also strongly objected to their father’s insistence that Epstein’s personal accountant and close associate, Richard Kahn, be placed on the board of the family trust fund, set up to manage the wealth he had accrued over a life of academia and book publishing – wealth that many in the family had access to.

In July 2017, his three children wrote a joint letter in which they stated, “We beg you once again to meet with us and with the people who set up the Trust, the loan, etc., to clarify these issues,” going so far as to contact a professional mediator to help.

Richard Kahn worked closely with Epstein, managing his finances, investments, payments and other aspects of his life, including affairs at Little St. James Island. A 2021 lawsuit describes him as the “captain” of Epstein’s international sex crime ring, claiming that he, “directed, approved, enabled, and justified millions of dollars in payments that fueled the Epstein Enterprise’s sex trafficking, including payments to women who were forced to have sex with Epstein and/or recruited others to be victimized.” Kahn vehemently denies the charges.

In his later years, Chomsky became somewhat estranged from his children, siding with his wife and Epstein on matters, something that caused great distress to them. “On a personal level, we are heartbroken to feel that we are kept at such a distance from you in your new life,” one of his daughters wrote; “We were thrilled to learn that you had found a new partner, but we were grieved when we began to realize that this meant we are rarely able to see you.”

Chomsky bitterly condemned his children’s behavior, characterizing them as “three multimillionaires” who cared more about the money than his own quality of life. Valeria, meanwhile, compared them to Nazis. The saga took its toll on Noam, who described it as a “painful cloud that I never would have imagined would darken my late years.”

The reason any of this bitter and acrimonious split is known or relevant to the public is that Noam and Valeria Chomsky were forwarding all the messages detailing the affair to Epstein, who advised them at every step of the way. Epstein used his financial and legal contacts, and, at one point, sent Chomsky $270,000 – a sum that was likely simply relating to facilitating the academic move his own funds around.

Throughout the whole affair, the pair were deeply appreciative of Epstein’s expertise. “Once again, redundantly, can’t thank you enough for all of your help and concern,” Noam wrote. Valeria was even more effusive in her praise. “You are a hero, Jeffrey!!!” she said.

Epstein encouraged Noam to cut off his children entirely. One of his last messages suggests that he took his advice. “I wanted the release to acknowledge that they are aware that you’ve decided to leave your entire estate to Valeria,” he wrote.

Manufacturing Age of Consent
The immediate response to the newly-released tranche of Epstein Files from many of Chomsky’s millions of followers was one of disgust and disbelief. “I am heartsick,” wrote Indian intellectual Vijay Prashad, who penned two books with Chomsky. “There is no defense for this, in my view, no context that can explain this outrage… From my side, I am horrified and shocked.”

“Chomsky was a major influence on me and millions of others. He is a seminal figure on the global left. But his consorting with Epstein is unforgivable. A shameful coda to a life dedicated to exposing power and lies,” added British journalist, Matt Kennard.

Even before Epstein’s death in 2019, his relationship with Chomsky was already beginning to raise suspicions. Why was one of the world’s most famous leftist academics so insistent on risking his professional reputation and damaging his relationship with his children, all for Epstein? Chomsky is known as one of the world’s sharpest minds. Yet he dogmatically refused to see the obvious moral danger in associating so closely with a notorious pedophile.

Again, there is no indication in the files that Chomsky was involved in any illegal behavior with Epstein, let alone sex crimes. Nevertheless, his decision to involve Epstein so closely in his life is even more objectionable when compared with the actions of Norman Finkelstein, an academic, disciple, and associate of Chomsky’s. In 2015, when Harvard professor Robert Trivers put Finkelstein and Epstein in contact via email, he responded by calling Epstein a pedophile and told him that he should be put to death for his heinous sex crimes. As he wrote:

“My guess is, if Epstein put your daughter at age 15 in such a position, you wouldn’t publicly describe him as a “friend” and person of “integrity.” In fact, I would hope that you’d promptly throttle both Epstein and [his lawyer Alan] Dershowitz.”

The Chomsky/Epstein relationship is one of profound contradictions. The academic publicly presents himself as an anti-state anarchist, but in private, collaborates with the very embodiment of the so-called “deep state.” And while Chomsky has been one of Israel’s loudest critics, his close friend was an Israeli agent.

The revelations have seriously weakened Chomsky’s standing in public, and his dying years will no doubt be marred by a renewed questioning of both his moral character and his body of work.

Ultimately, then, with his financial clout and know, Epstein may have been able to save Chomsky some cash and provide him with a few days of luxury. But it has cost Chomsky something far more valuable: his reputation.

Watch our breakdown of the Chomsky-Epstein Files with Mnar Adley and Alan MacLeod

(MintPress News)


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

822
 
 

The energy blockade imposed by the United States continues to cause great damage to the people of Cuba.

The Cuban government has issued a critical alert to international airlines over the imminent depletion of aviation fuel reserves. This situation, confirmed by various sources to the EFE news agency, is the direct consequence of the total oil siege imposed by the United States.

As of this Monday, air operations on the island are left at the mercy of a pressure policy that seeks to definitively isolate the Cuban people from the rest of the world.

Affected companies, with key routes from Spain, Mexico, Panama, and the United States itself, have not yet detailed how they will overcome this logistical obstacle. The shortage threatens to disrupt flight frequencies and immediately alter the schedules of thousands of passengers.

The measure not only hits the state economy but also strips citizens of their right to mobility and connection with the outside world. The oil blockade constitutes yet another violation of human rights and international law by the United States’ imperialist regime.

Although the island has faced similar crises in the past, particularly during the Special Period following the fall of the USSR, the current severity marks a breaking point. On previous occasions, airlines managed to mitigate the impact through technical stopovers in neighboring countries to refuel. However, the extreme tightening of current sanctions complicates any logistical survival alternative for the Cuban aviation sector.

Trump’s presidential order: a war against subsistenceThe energy stranglehold was launched through a presidential order by US President Trump that uses trade as a weapon of war. By threatening tariffs on third countries that supply oil to Cuba, Washington has established a siege that goes beyond bilateral borders.

Under the unproven pretext of alleged national security concerns and an attempt to portray Cuba as a threat to the United States, a policy of collective punishment has been put in place that ignores the basic needs of the civilian population.

This escalation began at the start of the year with the interruption of Venezuelan supply of oil to Cuba. Since the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998, Venezuela has maintained a consistent supply of energy for Cuba. By closing this vital tap, the US regime has left Cuba in an extremely vulnerable positing, forcing it into negotiations under coercion. While the Cuban government remains open to dialogue, pressure from the White House is attempting to force a political surrender through hunger and lack of fuel.

Cuba’s dependence on imported crude oil is the Achilles’ heel that Washington has chosen to attack with mathematical coldness. Given that the country produces only one third of what it consumes, the cut in supplies from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia creates great disorder in the daily life of Cubans. The impact extends far beyond airplanes: the lack of fuel translates into darkness spreading through all strata of Cuban society.

An emergency plan in the face of the people’s extreme vulnerabilityFaced with the impossibility of importing petroleum or derivatives, Havana has been forced to implement a subsistence plan bordering on the agonizing. Measures include the suspension of diesel sales and drastic cuts in sensitive sectors such as health and public administration.

The closure of hotel infrastructure and the reduction of hospital services highlight the human dimension of this criminal blockade.

Cuba is facing this onslaught at its moment of greatest economic fragility in recent decades. After six years of deep crisis, characterized by runaway inflation and shortages of basic goods, the population is exhausted. Prolonged power outages and medicine shortages were already part of daily life before the oil siege intensified.

The lack of aviation fuel is the latest link in a chain of measures designed to collapse Cuban resistance.

President Díaz-Canel: Cuba Will Respond With Self-Sufficiency Plan to Combat US Strangulation Attempt

(Últimas Noticias) by Randolph Borges

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/CB/SL


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

823
 
 

“As I said yesterday, we consider it very unfair to impose tariffs on those who send oil to Cuba, and we will continue to help (the island) with various types of humanitarian aid,” the head of the Executive Branch reaffirmed from the National Palace.

“At this moment, we are taking all the necessary steps to be able to send oil again, which is very necessary for the people of Cuba, and to ensure that it does not affect the people of Mexico,” the president stated.

She mentioned, as on previous occasions, that most of the crude oil that this nation sent to Cuba was through a purchase contract, just as with any country in the world, and another portion was for humanitarian reasons.

According to Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some 814 tons of humanitarian aid departed for Cuba from the port of Veracruz aboard the Navy’s logistics support ships Papaloapan and Isla Holbox.

Yesterday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked Mexico for “the solidarity, the affection, the ever-warm embrace of Cuba.”

Various voices in Mexico, from members of parliament to social organizations and political parties such as the ruling Morena party and the Labor Party, have expressed their support for the Caribbean nation in the face of the United States’ energy blockade, which they have also described as cruel and anachronistic.

jdt/jha/las

The post Claudia Sheinbaum: Very unfair US measure against Cuba first appeared on Prensa Latina.


From Prensa Latina via This RSS Feed.

824
 
 

Caracas, February 10, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said Venezuela has enjoyed a “very good understanding and relationship” with the Trump White House in the period since the January 3 US attacks.

In an interview with Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt aired on Monday, Rodríguez stated that Caracas and Washington have a “golden opportunity” to build a “win-win” relationship.

“Right now, we have opportunities for mutual respect, for cooperation, to build a win-win situation for both countries, for both peoples,” he said.

Rodríguez confirmed regular contact with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in dialogue “based on mutual respect.” He added that US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is expected in Venezuela in the coming days.

The two governments have fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement in recent weeks, with US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu arriving in Caracas and meeting Venezuelan leaders on February 2.

Rodríguez, the older brother of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, also defended recent legislation  pushed through by the executive and parliament, including an overhaul of Venezuela’s Hydrocarbon Law. On January 29, the National Assembly approved a pro-business reform that lowers taxes and royalties for private corporations while granting them expanded control over operations and sales.

“What we are doing is adapting laws so that it can promote investment especially from the USA,” Rodríguez told Schmitt. “We have an oil industry that needs developing, and if we [the US and Venezuela] can stay on the path of mutual respect and cooperation, we have a bright future ahead of us.”

The parliamentary leader emphasized that the Venezuelan government’s priority is to turn oil revenues into social welfare and promote education and healthcare in a “free market economy.”

The Trump administration’s January 3 military strikes also saw special operations forces kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Rodríguez made one mention of Maduro and Flores in the interview, responding when asked by Schmitt that both should be released “immediately” in accordance with international law.

The Venezuelan president and first lady pleaded not guilty to charges including drug trafficking conspiracy in their January 5 arraignment. The next hearing is scheduled for March 26.

Despite reiterated accusations of “narcoterrorism,” US officials have never provided evidence tying Maduro and high-ranking Venezuelan officials to drug trafficking activities, while specialized agency reports have found the South American nation to play a marginal role in the global narcotics trade.

In his interview with the pro-Trump news channel, National Assembly President Rodríguez additionally ruled out Venezuela holding elections in the near future.

“There will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilization of the country has to be achieved,” he explained. “In Venezuela we have a very clear calendar for elections established in the Constitution.”

Maduro had begun his third six-year term in January 2025, while a new legislature took office on January 5, 2026, for a five-year period. Regional and municipal officials likewise started new four-year terms in the second half of 2025.

Rodríguez mentioned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statements that, according to the Trump administration, the priority is stability in Venezuela. Rubio has claimed that the White House has a three-phase plan of “stabilization, economic recovery and reconciliation, and transition.”

The post Venezuelan Parliament Head Welcomes ‘Win-Win’ Relations with US, Dismisses Short-Term Elections appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.


From Venezuelanalysis via This RSS Feed.

825
 
 

Canadian officials and business leaders have condemned Trump’s threat to postpone the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.


From Presstv via This RSS Feed.

view more: ‹ prev next ›