Free Republic

A former Green Beret has taken responsibility for what he claimed was a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the socialist government said ended with eight dead. Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a pre-dawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital. An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserting Venezuelan soldiers at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia....

Latin American artists from throughout the hemisphere convened in Cúcuta, Colombia, Friday, on the border with Venezuela, for the Richard Branson-sponsored “Venezuela Aid Live” concert to demand dictator Nicolás Maduro allow international aid into the country. The long list of diverse artists — many who have been household names in Latin America for decades — did not shy away from making political statements in support of Venezuela’s legitimate president, Juan Guaidó, and demanding that Maduro step aside. Several artists indulged the audience in what has become a common back-and-forth chant at anti-socialist protests: “Maduro, ¡el coño de tu madre!” or...

McALLEN — Convicted Gulf Cartel captain Carlos Landin Martinez wants his bling back. But the federal government says Landin bought the jewel-encrusted pendant of the patron saint of lost causes with drug money and so it's theirs. Neither side will budge, so it'll be up to a South Texas jury to decide the case named United States of America vs. Two Pieces of Jewelry. The pendant of the patron St. Jude which he was wearing when he was nabbed by a federal agent is 10 karats of gold studded with 128 diamonds, 36 emeralds and one ruby, hanging from a...

McALLEN — Even as he earned accolades for his work as a homicide detective, Carlos Landín-Martinez allegedly managed a massive drug-smuggling organization with tentacles that stretched as far as Florida, witnesses testified Tuesday. The man federal authorities have identified as the Gulf Cartel’s second-in-command of Reynosa operations led a double life, they said — working officially to fight crime in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas while actively committing it on the side. As testimony began Tuesday in the second day of Landín-Martinez’s trial on drug trafficking, conspiracy and money laundering charges, prosecutors outlined the segmented but tightly organized system through...