9 h. ago US strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific kills four, as Trump accuses Venezuela of taking ‘our oil’

The announcement from Pete Hegseth comes a day after Trump issued a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving VenezuelaThe US military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel it said was engaged in drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth, as Trump further ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela, accusing the country of taking US oil.On Wednesday Hegseth said the “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel engaged in “narco-trafficking operations” had killed four people. The latest strike in the Pacific brings the death toll to 99 since the US began its campaign of striking alleged drug-trafficking boats in September. Continue reading...

Events

22 h. ago Sheinbaum urges UN to ‘prevent bloodshed’ after Trump orders Venezuela blockade

Mexican leader warns of conflict as US president targets sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving VenezuelaWhat action is Trump taking against Venezuela’s oil industry?Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has urged the United Nations to “prevent any bloodshed” in Venezuela, as Donald Trump piled more pressure on the South American country.“The United Nations has been conspicuously absent. It must assume its role to prevent any bloodshed and to always seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” the leftwing president told reporters the morning after Washington announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” entering or leaving Venezuela. Continue reading...

Politics

37 h. ago Trump orders blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela

Move against all sanctioned vessels comes amid escalating campaign against authoritarian leader Nicolás MaduroDonald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.The move comes amid an escalating campaign by the Trump administration against Maduro that has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed dozens of people. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago Trump orders blockade of oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela

Move against all sanctioned vessels comes amid escalating campaign against authoritarian leader Nicolás MaduroDonald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.The move comes amid an escalating campaign by the Trump administration against Maduro that has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed dozens of people. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago Trump orders ‘complete’ blockade of ALL sanctioned oil tankers in and out of Venezuela – piling pressure on Maduro

DONALD Trump has ordered a "total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela - as the US president continues to pile pressure on Nicolas Maduro's regime. Trump's latest power play comes as Washington and Caracas teeter on the brink of all-out war - with tyrant Maduro seemingly running...

Events

39 h. ago Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Maduro

President Donald Trump says he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro

Events

45 h. ago At least three writers withdraw from Hay festival in protest at Machado invite

Writers cited Machado’s support for Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s Nicolás MaduroAt least three writers have withdrawn from next month’s Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia, in protest at an invitation extended to the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado.The main reason cited by them is Machado’s support for Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and her comments in favour of a potential US military intervention in the Caribbean country. Continue reading...

Events

45 h. ago At least three authors withdraw from Hay festival in protest at Machado invite

Writers cited Machado’s support for Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s Nicolás MaduroAt least three writers have withdrawn from next month’s Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia, in protest at an invitation extended to the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado.The main reason cited by them is Machado’s support for Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and her comments in favour of a potential US military intervention in the Caribbean country. Continue reading...

Culture

66 h. ago Venezuela accuses Trinidad and Tobago of taking part in US seizure of oil tanker

Maduro regime accuses Caribbean nation of participating in ‘theft of Venezuelan oil’ as tensions mount in regionVenezuela has accused the government of Trinidad and Tobago of taking part in the US seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast last week, as Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro continues to reverberate across the region.In a statement on Monday, the Maduro regime accused Trinidad and Tobago of participating in “the theft of Venezuelan oil, committed by the US administration on 10 December with the assault on a vessel transporting this strategic Venezuelan product”. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Machado backs Trump’s ‘regime change war’ against Maduro as Venezuela tension escalates with tanker seizure

Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado offers careful praise of Venezuela pressure campaign, which has led to more than 80 dead

Events

6 d. ago Trump expands Venezuela sanctions as Maduro decries new ‘era of piracy’

Six more oil supertankers added to sanctions list, as well as members of Maduro’s extended family, amid rising tensions following tanker seizureDonald Trump has exerted more pressure on Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, expanding sanctions and issuing fresh threats to strike land targets in Venezuela, as the South American dictator accused the US president of ushering in a new “era of criminal naval piracy” in the Caribbean.Late on Thursday, the US imposed curbs on three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, as well as six crude oil supertankers and the shipping companies linked to them. The treasury department alleged the vessels “engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime”. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Warships, submarines and Tomahawk missiles: How the US is preparing for a possible war with Venezuela

The United States had 13 combat vessels in the region by November as it piles pressure onto Venezuela’s Maduro

Events

7 d. ago Venezuela decries ‘act of piracy’ after US forces seize oil tanker off country’s coast

Footage uploaded to X by US attorney general shows its forces landing on the tanker in major escalation of Trump’s pressure campaignUS politics live – latest updatesUS forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whose government called the seizure “an act of international piracy”.Trump confirmed the operation on Wednesday, saying: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela – a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually.” Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Trump's warships seize Venezuelan oil tanker sparking blockade fears: 'Serious escalation'

Donald Trump's pressure campaign against Venezuela has escalated after the administration seized an oil tanker off the coast of the Latin American country.

Events

8 d. ago US fighter jets fly over Gulf of Venezuela in closest approach since Trump’s pressure campaign

An official confirmed the “routine training flight”

Politics

2 w. ago Radar revelation stokes fears Caribbean could be drawn into US

Trinidad PM rejects claims installation is in support of US campaign but opposition says ‘they have sold soul of nation’How the US pressure campaign against Venezuela unfolded in the CaribbeanThe revelation that Trinidad and Tobago has approved the installation of a US military radar installation has stoked fears that the Caribbean could be drawn into the escalating crisis between the US and Venezuela.Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had attempted to allay concerns about a US C-17 aircraft that had landed in the country, claiming it was carrying marines to assist with a road construction project. She also claimed she was told that no marines remained in the country. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump threatens Venezuela’s Maduro with ‘the easy way or the hard way’

Venezuela president vows to defend ‘every inch’ of the country amid military buildup in CaribbeanA visual guide to the US military presence in the CaribbeanDonald Trump has warned Nicolás Maduro he can “do things the easy way or the hard way” as Venezuela’s authoritarian leader responded to the growing US pressure campaign by urging followers to prepare to defend “every inch” of the South American country.Clad in woodland camouflage fatigues, Maduro told a rally in the capital, Caracas, it was their historic duty to fight foreign aggressors, just as the Venezuelan liberation hero Simón Bolívar did two centuries ago. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago World waits to see if Trump will attack Venezuela: President's top military adviser heads to region where US has gathered huge fleet of warships as pressure on Maduro to quit grows

Warships, aircraft and thousands of personnel have been moved into position over recent months, forming a deployment not seen since the US sent troops into Panama in 1989.

Events

3 w. ago Top US military adviser visits Caribbean as Trump ramps up pressure on Venezuela

The United States' top military officer is visiting American troops in Puerto Rico and on a Navy warship in the region

Events

3 w. ago Deadly airstrikes and a military buildup: how the US pressure campaign against Venezuela has unfolded in the Caribbean

US has used claims of a ‘war on drugs’ to justify its attacks, which have resulted in 83 deaths that the UN has called extrajudicial executionsAmid growing tensions between Washington and Caracas, the US has gathered its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama.Donald Trump’s administration has steadily increased pressure on Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of running the “Cartel of the Suns” drug-trafficking organization, and placing a $50m bounty on his head. Continue reading...

Events