Free Republic

Now that Hugo Chávez is out of the picture, former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich warns President Obama to tread carefully in dealing with the “evil, evil men” that are now running the South American nation. “These guys are so tricky and so evil, quite frankly,” Reich, tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview following the announcement of Chávez’ death on Tuesday. “The people in power in Venezuela today are evil.” … Reich added that Fidel Castro and his brother may be calling the shots in Venezuela. …

Heavily armed criminal groups have moved in the past month to residential and commercial areas from slums in the city’s hills, and violence has exploded over the past 24 hours with firefights breaking out in at least five populous neighborhoods. President Nicolás Maduro’s government has not mentioned any casualties as a result of the clashes. Human rights activists in the area have said at least four civilians were killed on Wednesday and half a dozen have been wounded. The gangs want to control one of the main corridors linking the capital with the west of the country, said a human...

My country, Venezuela, is on the verge of social and economic collapse. This slow-motion disaster, nearly 15 years in the making, was not initiated by falling oil prices or by mounting debts. It was set in motion by the authoritarian government’s hostility toward human rights and the rule of law and the institutions that protect them. -excerpt- I am writing from a military prison, where I have been held since February as a result of speaking out against the government’s actions. I am one of scores of political prisoners in my country .... -excerpt- ... Venezuela’s road to ruin was...

Venezuelan lawmaker Freddy Superlano, a member of the opposition party, is in serious but stable condition after being poisoned in Colombia, his party says. His cousin has passed away. Voluntad Popular, the party of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, said late on Saturday that Superlano was poisoned at a restaurant in Cúcuta, a city near the border with Venezuela. His assistant and cousin, Carlos Salinas, died.

The Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Program reported that the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro's kidnapped Freddy Superlano, leader of the Voluntad Popular party founded by Leopoldo López. "These detainments can lead to forced disappearances and cruel and inhumane treatment to force the victims to make statements, as has been denounced in the past by the UN Mission on Venezuela," Provea wrote on its account on the social network X. The organization published a video on social networks showing how several hooded men put Superlano in a van. According to the information, three other opposition leaders were also kidnapped. Meanwhile, Voluntad...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have signed a strategic partnership agreement. -snip- Since 2022, Russia has already signed strategic partnership pacts with China, North Korea and Iran. -snip- During his visit to Moscow, Maduro is also due to attend commemorative events around the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany, including a military parade on Friday.

Somehow, in today’s upside-down world, the radicalized left has decided that violent gang members are the new underdogs they need to defend. Instead of standing up for law-abiding American citizens, they’ve gone all-in on protecting the worst of the worst—drug traffickers, sex offenders, murderers, and now, even foreign-backed gangbangers. And while they’re busy shedding tears for MS-13 and waving in cartel thugs at the border, everyday Americans are being thrown to the wolves. But now we’ve reached a whole new level of disturbing. A new report from Fox News has dropped—and every single American should be talking about it. This...

The Tren de Aragua rose to power in Nicolas Maduro’s anarchotyranny. Now they’re in Florida. Last week, El American broke the news that members of the Tren de Aragua, the largest criminal organization in Venezuela (after the government), had crossed the southern border and were living in Orlando, Florida. The news came a week after Breitbart had claimed that Venezuelan criminals were crossing the border to live in the U.S.—more than likely continuing their criminal enterprises. The source told El American that the criminals were living in Bogotá, Colombia, and were able to change their identity by bribing Venezuelan officials....

Judge Boasberg blocks Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Tren de Aragua, despite intelligence linking the gang to Venezuela’s government and acts of sabotage in the U.S. As President Trump fulfills his campaign promise to deport criminal illegal aliens, a blatantly corrupt judge is trying to stop him. Judge James Boasberg, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has abandoned all pretense to fairness. I will leave it to others to focus on his conflicts of interest (the FISA Court, his wife, his daughter) and his double standard of justice. This article...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A permit issued by the United States government allowing energy giant Chevron Corp. to pump and export Venezuelan oil will be terminated this week, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, ending what became a financial lifeline for the South American country. Trump’s announcement in his Truth Social network accused the government of President Nicolás Maduro of not meeting democratic conditions for last year’s July presidential election as well as of not moving fast enough to transport back to Venezuela immigrants set for deportation. “We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro,...

Iranian officials and military personnel are residing in the South American country, with some members being offered political asylum should they need it. Maria Villaroel Maria Villarroel / Published Jan 10 2025. Iran officials and military personnel now reside in Venezuela, with some members of the elite being offered political asylum and properties in the country. Getty Images Iran is increasing its military presence in Venezuela, with officials and personnel, with some members of the country's elite acquiring properties in the Latin American country and being offered political asylum should they eventually need it. The presence comes amid regional conflict...

MIAMI - President-elect Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday after the brief detention of prominent opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had been leading massive protests against Maduro's government. On Truth Social, Trump called on Maduro to ensure the safety of opposition leaders, writing: "Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado and President-elect González are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime. The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela and strongly supported me....

Guyana is revisiting a dark history nearly half a century after U.S. Rev. Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers died in the rural interior of the South American country. It was the largest suicide-murder in recent history, and a government-backed tour operator wants to open the former commune now shrouded by lush vegetation to visitors, a proposal that is reopening old wounds, with critics saying it would disrespect victims and dig up a sordid past. Jordan Vilchez, who grew up in California and was moved into the Peoples Temple commune at age 14, told The Associated Press...

One year ago, Venezuela held a referendum to reaffirm its territorial claims on Guyana's Essequibo region. That ballot ended up being a preview of the country's stolen presidential election in July of this year. The turnout was so low that the electoral authorities lied about the results and never released the full vote tallies. While authorities claimed that 10 million votes were cast, independent analysts believe the number was fewer than 2 million, given the empty polling sites. Immediately following the referendum in December 2023, President Nicolas Maduro began what many portrayed at the time as a march to war...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Guyana is revisiting a dark history nearly half a century after US Rev. Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers died in the rural interior of the South American country. It was the largest suicide-murder in recent history, and a government-backed tour operator wants to open the former commune now shrouded by lush vegetation to visitors, a proposal that is reopening old wounds, with critics saying it would disrespect victims and dig up a sordid past. Jordan Vilchez, who grew up in California and was moved into the Peoples Temple commune at age 14, told...

Venezuela has moved “substantial quantities of [military] personnel and equipment to the border with Guyana amid its territorial dispute over the Essequibo region. The update comes from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., *** The think tank talks about an expansion of a military base on Anacoco Island in the area, with new roads and a bridge getting built in the past few months. A local airport is also being expanded, CSIS also said, citing satellite imagery and social media posts According to the report’s authors, the activity could be preparation for a “manufactured crisis” before...

he Venezuelan government called the military drills of two U.S. planes in Guyana a "provocation" and said the country has "become a new colony" of the North American country. "The Bolivarian Navy strongly rejects the reiterated provocations by the U.S. Southern Command and approved by the government of Guyana, which has become a new American Colony," said Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. He added that the country's defense systems are "activated against any attempt to breach the Venezuelan geographical space."

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela is an exuberant dictator, a lover of military salutes who is being investigated for crimes against humanity, but he’s not reckless enough to invade neighboring Guyana, is he? Would the leader of a country in an ever-deepening economic crisis risk starting Latin America’s first interstate war this century? Well, maybe. For a century and a half, Guyana and Venezuela have quarreled over Essequibo, a stretch of the Amazon that both countries claim. Guyana has long governed the territory, but Venezuela also claims sovereignty over it, citing maps drawn in colonial times. Last year, Maduro expressed...

on the 3rd of December 2023 Venezuela 0:02 hosted a nationwide referendum on 0:04 whether or not their country should 0:05 Annex 2third of guyana's territory their 0:08 Geographic neighbor immediately to the 0:09 east this region of Guyana is known as 0:11 the esao and it's a huge piece of land 0:14 only slightly smaller than the US state 0:16 of Florida is but guyan themselves were 0:18 not welcome to vote in the Venezuelan 0:20 referendum calling for the partition of 0:21 their own country a couple days later on 0:23 the fifth of December the Venezuelan 0:25...

Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali obliterated a BBC reporter who accused him of contributing to climate change by allowing oil drilling off its coast. BBC journalist Stephen Sackur slammed Ali for allowing the drilling, asking id he had the "right" to do so. "Let's take a big picture look at what's going on here. Over the next decade, two decades, it is expected that there will be $150 billion worth of oil and gas extracted off your coast," Sackur said.