1 week ago Growing sense of embarrassment at Fifa over Donald Trump peace prize

Mid-level and senior officials uncomfortable with awardFifa says it still ‘strongly’ supports the peace prizeThere is a growing sense of embarrassment among mid-level and senior officials within Fifa over the awarding of its peace prize to Donald Trump. The US president was handed the award at the World Cup draw in Washington DC in December with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.”Since then, the US has launched airstrikes across Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to the US, where he was put in jail. Maduro appeared in court on 5 January, pleading not guilty to drugs, weapons and “narco-terrorism” charges. Trump has also threatened to invade Greenland because he said the US needs the territory “very badly”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Photos show daily life along Venezuela’s oil coast after Maduro’s capture

Less than two weeks after a U.S. military operation captured former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and as his successor, acting President Delcy Rodriguez, announced plans to reform Venezuela’s energy sector, the country’s largest oil refining hub dominates the northwestern coast. Across the Paraguana Peninsula, fishing boats share the water with oil tankers, as daily life stretches from refinery-side coastal communities and salt flats to the sand dunes of Medanos de Coro National Park.

Culture

2 w. ago Drugs and gangs exist in Venezuela, but don’t be fooled. Trump arrested Nicolás Maduro to plunder our wealth | Andrés Antillano

The US president invokes the usual suspects – drugs, organised crime, illegal migration – but this is simply a grab for resources and powerIn the early hours of 3 January, Caracas and other cities in Venezuela were bombed and the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, was kidnapped along with his wife by US military personnel. In addition to the 100 deaths recorded so far as a result of the attack, approximately 100 more were caused by US attacks on small boats in the previous months, under the pretext of combatting drug trafficking. Although it seems clear that the real intention of Donald Trump’s administration was to seize Venezuela’s wealth, the initial argument to justify the military deployment in the Caribbean was that it was to fight the illegal drugs trade and stop the flow of migrants that the Venezuelan government was allegedly causing by emptying prisons of criminals and sending them to the US.As a criminology professor who has studied Venezuelan drug trafficking for 20 y...

Events

2 w. ago 2026 is already pure chaos. Is that Trump’s electoral strategy? | Moustafa Bayoumi

Less than two weeks into the year, the US is stoking mayhem at home and abroad – with midterms coming in the autumnHave we ever seen a year in recent memory begin with as much deliberate turmoil as 2026 has? Less than two weeks into 2026, we have witnessed Donald Trump deploy US forces to depose and abduct the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, along with Cilia Flores, his wife and close political adviser. The US president then informed the world that the United States would “run” Venezuela for the time being, which he later explained could potentially last for several years.Trump has also threatened – and then seemingly made peace with – the president of Colombia; seized at least five oil tankers in the Caribbean (actions that UN experts label illegal armed aggression); promised US military strikes targeting cartels in Mexico against the wishes of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum; and frightened the people of Cuba with the prospect that Marco Rubio could be their next presi...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s other Latin American feud: why Colombia’s Petro is not Maduro

Leftwing leader rallies his supporters as US president accuses him of drug trafficking and threatens military actionA leftwing South American firebrand calls for his followers to rally in public squares nationwide to defend his country’s sovereignty and decry verbal attacks from Donald Trump. The US president accuses the leader of personally flooding American streets with illegal drugs and imposes sanctions against him and his wife. Threats of military action are followed by a phone conversation between the two leaders.One might imagine that this is a description of the buildup of tensions that led to the 3 January special forces raid on Caracas to capture the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, to face several criminal charges in New York. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Venezuelan soldiers 'bled and collapsed' after US deployed powerful sonic weapon during dramatic Maduro capture, according to eyewitness account

The United States launched a strike on Venezuela on January 3, capturing President Nicolas Maduro on drug trafficking charges.

Events

2 w. ago America used a powerful sonic weapon that left Venezuelan soldiers vomiting blood: Harrowing 'new account of Maduro raid'

The United States launched a strike on Venezuela on January 3, capturing President Nicolas Maduro on drug trafficking charges.

Events

2 w. ago A week in photos from Venezuela after U.S. strike removed its president

Venezuelans navigated a tense week after U.S. forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Politics

2 w. ago Nicaraguan authorities arrest dozens for reportedly supporting Maduro capture

Human rights groups say ‘at least 60 arbitrary arrests’ have occurred for celebrating the US military operationAuthorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday.Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Don't mess with the Scarlet Witch, writes TOM LEONARD: She's Venezuela's Imelda Marcos, draped in Dior with a property empire. Maduro claims her only crime is 'being my wife'

TOM LEONARD: She preferred the revolutionary moniker First Combatant to First Lady and was fond of recalling her humble beginnings in a mud-brick shack.

Events

3 w. ago ‘Dirty’ and ‘infested with drugs’: behind the New York jail holding Maduro and Combs

A slew of high-profile names have resided in Metropolitan detention center, accused of unsafe, inhumane conditionsAfter US military forces seized Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas during a controversial pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of this country’s most infamous jails: Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, New York.The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in Metropolitan detention center (MDC) until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charge – inducting them into a notorious group that counts Sean “Diddy” Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” as either current or previous members. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago ‘Dirty’ and ‘infested with drugs’: the New York jail holding Maduro and Mangione

High-profile names including Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have resided in Metropolitan detention center, accused of unsafe, inhumane conditionsAfter US military forces seized Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas during a controversial pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of this country’s most infamous jails: Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, New York.The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in Metropolitan detention center (MDC) until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charge – inducting them into a notorious group that counts Sean “Diddy” Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” as either current or previous members. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Maduro and his wife injured ‘bumping heads into safe room door’ when US raided compound

The US military captured Maduro and Flores in the early hours of Saturday morning

Events

3 w. ago People from Venezuela and neighbouring countries: share your reaction to US raid

We’d like to hear from people in Venezuela, as well as from neighbouring countries mentioned by the Trump administration, about how they are responding to recent US actionsAs Donald Trump prepares to make his first public appearance since Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a US court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, there is growing international concern over the shock US military operation in Venezuela, which the UN human rights office has said undermined a fundamental principle of international law.We would like to hear from Venezuelans, both in the country and abroad, about how you are feeling in the wake of these events – either positively or negatively – and what concerns or hopes you have for Venezuela’s future. You might want to share how this is affecting you personally, your family, or people you know on the ground. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago White House refuses to rule out using US military to 'acquire Greenland'

The statement, which said "utilising the US military is always an option," comes days after US commandos seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from their home while they slept

Events

3 w. ago Nicolas Maduro's wife Cilia Flores is seen with bruises and bandages on her face as lawyer claims she suffered 'significant injuries' including rib fracture during Caracas arrest

Mark Donnelly, the lawyer representing Cilia Flores, said she had suffered 'significant injuries' during the couple's astonishing arrest in Caracas on Saturday by US forces.

Events

3 w. ago Nicolas Maduro could face the death penalty after dramatic US capture

US special forces captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife while they were sleeping at their home in Caracas, before he was taken back to New York to face drug-trafficking charges

Events

3 w. ago ‘She was the brains, Maduro was the brawn’: Cilia Flores’ role in Venezuela

Flores, Nicolás Maduro’s wife, wielded far more power than just being a first lady and played a front line role in politicsBefore pleading “not guilty” at her first court hearing after she and her husband, Nicolás Maduro, were captured by US special forces, Cilia Flores made a point of adding, in Spanish: “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”But Maduro himself and others close to the couple agree that she was always far more than that. Before her rendition to New York, Flores wielded power comparable with – and at times greater than – that of other figures from the regime, including Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-president who is now the country’s acting leader. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘She was the brains, Maduro was the brawn’: Cilia Flores’s role in Venezuela

Flores, Nicolás Maduro’s wife, wielded far more power than just being a first lady and played a front line role in politicsBefore pleading “not guilty” at her first court hearing after she and her husband, Nicolás Maduro, were captured by US special forces, Cilia Flores made a point of adding, in Spanish: “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”But Maduro himself and others close to the couple agree that she was always far more than that. Before her rendition to New York, Flores wielded power comparable with – and at times greater than – that of other figures from the regime, including Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-president who is now the country’s acting leader. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump taking ‘drill, baby, drill’ plan to Venezuela ‘terrible’ for climate, experts warn

‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics sayDonald Trump, by dramatically seizing Nicolás Maduro and claiming dominion over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, has taken his “drill, baby, drill” mantra global. Achieving the president’s dream of supercharging the country’s oil production would be financially challenging – and if fulfilled, would be “terrible for the climate”, experts say.Trump has aggressively sought to boost oil and gas production within the US. Now, following the capture and arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, he is seeking to orchestrate a ramp-up of drilling in Venezuela, which has the largest known reserves of oil in the world – equivalent to some 300bn barrels, according to research firm the Energy Institute. Continue reading...

Events