Free Republic

When Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez gave a speech condemning the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, she was accompanied by two men who can make or break the regime’s future. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino command Venezuela’s police and military, the forces that kept Maduro in power for more than a decade with deadly crackdowns on dissent. Trump said Rodríguez is the de facto leader of Venezuela. She is someone who despite her anti-U.S. rhetoric has privately assured Washington that she will do its bidding with Maduro facing prison, Trump said on Saturday. But Cabello and...

In Venezuela, the main thing we hope and watch for is the whole disaster ending. The people are starving. The aid is not getting through. The oil is gone. The cocaine is out of control. The terrorists are running wild. The torture has started. The oil infrastructure is collapsing. The currency is rotten, with inflation in seven digits. The corruption tops Mobutu's. The country is selling itself out like a raddled street whore to hostile powers in exchange for military weapons and foreign troops to base there, and getting itself into deep-dive debt. Millions are fleeing. The neighbors are angry....

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Venezuela will resist the presence of foreign troops, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a video early on Saturday, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been captured and was being removed from the country. A U.S. attack on the country in the early morning struck civilian areas, Padrino said, and Venezuela is compiling information about dead and injured people.

President Donald Trump reportedly rebuffed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's push for sweeping amnesty during a phone call last week, telling the embattled leader and his senior aides to abandon their demands and leave the country as U.S. pressure intensifies. Trump and Maduro discussed a broad amnesty proposal during a phone call last week, people familiar with the exchange told The Wall Street Journal. Maduro reportedly asked for general amnesty for himself, his senior aides, and their families. Many of those individuals face U.S. sanctions or criminal indictments tied to corruption, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses. People familiar with the...