12 h. ago Before Maduro’s capture in Venezuela, US spoke with minister who is his loyal ally

Trump administration officials had been in discussions with Venezuela’s hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello months before the US operation to seize the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and have been in communication with him since then, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The officials warned Cabello, 62, against using the security services or militant ruling-party supporters overseen by him to target the country’s opposition, four sources said. That security...

Politics

13 h. ago How US actions in Venezuela and beyond could spell opportunity for China

America’s military action in Venezuela and President Donald Trump’s talk of owning Greenland are stoking concerns that the United States is dismantling the rules-based global order. But this could also be a diplomatic opening for China as it tries to portray itself, in contrast, as a more responsible and stabilising power. Analysts said while this aligned with Beijing’s push to strengthen ties with its neighbours – a strategic move as its rivalry with Washington has intensified – concrete...

Politics

61 h. ago The US has sent a ‘dangerous’ message in Venezuela and China must act, legal expert warns

China needs to legislate to protect itself against the risk of “external suppression” and safeguard its technology and supply chains, a legal expert with a top Beijing think tank has warned. Li Honglei, head of a Communist Party committee that oversees two law institutes under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said tighter national security legislation was needed to make the country more “resilient”. He said the risks had been laid bare by America’s abduction of the former Venezuelan...

Events

61 h. ago US seizes sixth sanctioned tanker as it tightens grip on Venezuela’s oil

US forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader US effort to take control of the South American country’s oil. The US Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of...

Events

3 d. ago Trump prevails in US Senate showdown over Venezuela war powers

US President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to unify his party behind his takeover of Venezuela succeeded Wednesday when all but three Senate Republicans voted to block a resolution opposing further military action in the country. US Vice-President J.D. Vance broke a tie vote in order to stop the resolution. The 51-50 vote followed fiery phone calls from Trump to Republican defectors who last week voted to advance the resolution. Trump’s success in flipping votes effectively ends one of the...

Politics

3 d. ago Trump praises Venezuela’s ‘terrific’ interim president after call

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had held a “long call” with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, the first known contact between the two leaders since the ousting of Nicolas Maduro. “We just had a great conversation today, and she’s a terrific person,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He later said on social media that he and Rodriguez had discussed “many topics”, including oil, minerals, trade and national security. “We are making tremendous progress,” Trump...

Politics

3 d. ago How Putin’s focus on Ukraine war leaves allies Venezuela, Iran and Cuba exposed

As Russian President Vladimir Putin focuses his attentions on Moscow’s war in Ukraine, his strategic allies around the world have been left feeling neglected – or worse. In Venezuela, officials now think their years-long security relationship with Moscow was a paper tiger. They’re not alone: From Damascus and Tehran to Havana, over the last 13 months authoritarian regimes which previously benefited from their close ties to the Kremlin have found Russian support lacking when it mattered...

Politics

4 d. ago Why China may not act in Iran even though it has ‘more to lose’ than in Venezuela

China has “more to lose” compared with Venezuela if Iran’s rulers should fall, according to diplomatic observers, but it is expected to avoid direct intervention. The country is facing a wave of anti-government protests fuelled by economic hardship in which hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters are thought to have been killed. US President Donald Trump has said he was looking at “some very strong options” and this week announced a new set of tariffs targeting countries that maintained...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump sets meeting with Machado as Venezuela frees more prisoners

Washington announced Monday that Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado will meet US President Donald Trump this week as pressure grew on the interim leadership in Caracas to speed up the release of political prisoners. Machado has been sidelined by Washington since US forces seized long-term authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and the Trump administration announced it would be “running” Venezuela. Disregarding Machado and her understudy Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, Trump...

Events

5 d. ago Cuba’s Diaz say ‘no conversations’ with US after Trump threats amid Venezuela tensions

Cuba’s leader said on Monday there were “no conversations” with the United States, after US President Donald Trump urged the communist-ruled island to “make a deal” or pay the price. “There are no conversations with the US government except for technical contacts in the area of migration,” Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on social media after Trump said the nations were in talks following the US military toppling of Havana’s leftist ally Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations...

Events

5 d. ago Cuba’s Diaz says ‘no conversations’ with US after Trump threats amid Venezuela tensions

Cuba’s leader said on Monday there were “no conversations” with the United States, after US President Donald Trump urged the communist-ruled island to “make a deal” or pay the price. “There are no conversations with the US government except for technical contacts in the area of migration,” Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on social media after Trump said the nations were in talks following the US military toppling of Havana’s leftist ally Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations...

Events

5 d. ago Cuba’s president denies being in talks with US after Trump threats

Cuba’s leader on Monday reacted defiantly to US President Donald Trump’s threats to “make a deal” or pay the price in the aftermath of key ally Nicolas Maduro’s ouster in a US military raid. Trump has been ramping up pressure on Cuba, one of the few Latin American countries still run by an authoritarian leftist administration after Venezuelan leader Maduro’s capture on January 3. “We’re talking with Cuba,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday, hours after urging Havana to do a deal to head...

Politics

5 d. ago US action in Venezuela fuels Asia’s fears of collapsing rules

America’s capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in a special operation sent shock waves across the world. With characteristically bombastic rhetoric, US President Donald Trump hailed Operation Absolute Resolve as “an assault like people have not seen since World War II” and “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might” in history. His deputies were quick to add that the operation also showed the long arm of the US justice system by accusing...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump says might keep Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO called it ‘uninvestable’

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil major’s CEO called the country “uninvestable” during a White House meeting last week. Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity, during the high-profile meeting on Friday with at least 17 other oil executives. Trump had urged the group to spend US$100 billion to revitalise Venezuela’s oil...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump says might keep Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO called country ‘uninvestable’

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the oil major’s CEO called the country “uninvestable” during a White House meeting last week. Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity, during the high-profile meeting on Friday with at least 17 other oil executives. Trump had urged the group to spend US$100 billion to revitalise Venezuela’s oil...

Politics

6 d. ago Zheng Yongnian on Trump, Venezuela and why China doesn’t want ‘a separate kitchen’

Zheng Yongnian is a leading Chinese political scientist and government adviser, with a focus on the country’s transformation and foreign relations. In his third interview for the Open Questions series, Zheng discusses the “Donroe Doctrine” and its implications for the existing world order – and an emerging one. For other interviews in the series, click here. On Venezuela, you have noted that the US pivot to Latin America could reshape the regional order and that Donald Trump’s warnings to other...

Politics

7 d. ago How the US raid in Venezuela has triggered Brazilian fury and a Chinese opening

Last weekend, following the US military operation in Venezuela abducting its leader, Nicolas Maduro, Brazil’s president denounced the attack as a “flagrant violation of international law” and having “crossed an unacceptable line”. “These acts represent a grave affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community,” Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on social media. Lula, who said attacking countries was “the first step towards a...

Politics

7 d. ago Trump declares US national emergency to protect Venezuela oil money

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, after the ousting of Nicolas Maduro, the White House said. In an order signed on Friday, Trump – who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ousting of Maduro – is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives”, the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order. The action follows a meeting Friday in Washington where Trump...

Politics

8 d. ago Trump ‘cancelled’ second attacks on Venezuela after prisoner release, eyes oil investments

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he called off a second wave of attacks on Venezuela after the government, whose leftist president was removed by Washington, began releasing prisoners. Trump made the comments as he prepared to meet major oil corporations that he said will invest at least US$100 billion in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Trump was implicitly making clear he is ready again to use force to get his way in Venezuela, which he has vowed to force to...

Events

8 d. ago US seizes tanker near Trinidad amid Venezuelan oil crackdown

The US is in the process of seizing the Olina tanker in the Caribbean near Trinidad in the fifth such interdiction of ships in recent weeks as part of Washington’s efforts to control Venezuelan oil exports, two US officials said on Friday. The Olina, which according to public shipping database Equasis was falsely flying the flag of East Timor, had previously sailed from Venezuela and had returned to the region, said an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter. “The vessel’s AIS...

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