Page 3 - Venezuela

US strikes another vessel off Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs

Trump praised the Navy's efforts to combat what he called 'cartel terrorists'

US preparing for potential drone strikes on drug targets in Venezuela

Such plans could mark an escalation after US military strikes destroyed at least three small boasts near the Venezuelan coast in recent weeks, likely killing all individuals on board

Earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hits northwest Venezuela, no damage reported

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted northwest Venezuela on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The agency said the epicentre was 15 miles (24 kilometres) east-northeast of the community of Mene Grande in Zulia state, more than 370 miles (600 kilometres) west of the capital, Caracas. Venezuela's government did not immediately release information on the earthquake, which the US agency said had a depth of 5 miles (7.8 kilometres). People felt the earthquake in several states, and in neighbouring Colombia. Many evacuated residential and office buildings in areas near the border. No damages were immediately reported in either country. Mene Grande is on the eastern coast of Lake Maracaibo, an important area for the country's oil industry. Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves. State-owned television did not interrupt its programming during or after the earthquake, including a science-focused segment led by President Nicols Maduro.

Trump admin asks US Supreme Court to end legal protections for Venezuelans

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order allowing it to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants. The Justice Department asked the high court to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that the administration wrongly ended Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans. The federal appeals court in San Francisco refused to put on hold the ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen while the case continues. In May, the Supreme Court reversed a preliminary order from Chen that affected another 350,000 Venezuelans whose protections expired in April. The high court provided no explanation at the time, which is common in emergency appeals. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the new court filing that the justices' May order should also apply to the current case. This case is familiar to the court and involves the increasingly familiar and untenable phenomenon of lower courts disregarding this Cou

Three killed in US strike against Venezuelan 'narcoterrorists', says Trump

Further in his post, calling the drug trafficking cartels as a threat to US, Trump put forth a warning that the government would haunt back

Two Venezuelan military aircraft fly over US naval vessel as tensions rise

Days earlier, the US had struck a purported drug-smuggling vessel it said was headed from Venezuela, killing all 11 people aboard in a strike that drew criticism at home and abroad

US court blocks Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan gangs

A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump cannot use an 18th century wartime law to speed the deportations of people his administration accuses of membership in a Venezuelan gang, blocking a signature administration push that is destined for a final showdown at the US Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country, in a 2-1 decision agreed with immigrant rights lawyers and lower court judges who argued the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not intended to be used against gangs like Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan group Trump targeted in his March invocation. The administration deported people designated as Tren de Aragua members to a notorious prison in El Salvador where, it argued, US courts could not order them freed.

Maduro vows to declare 'republic in arms' if US forces attack Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro on Monday said he would constitutionally declare a republic in arms if the South American country were attacked by forces that the United States government has deployed to the Caribbean. His comments during a news conference come as the US government this week is set to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The US has not signalled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro's government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighbouring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia. In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defence of Venezuela, Maduro said of the deployment, which he characterised as an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat. The US Navy now has two Aegis guided-missile ...

Trump doubles reward to $50 mn for arrest of Venezuela's President Maduro

The Trump administration is doubling to USD 50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuela's President Nicols Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world's largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine. Under President Trump's leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday in a video announcing the reward. Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the US offered a USD 15 million reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to USD 25 million the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks. Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the US, the European Union and .

US judge rules Trump admin violated rights of deported Venezuelans

The judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, which applauded the decision

Judge blocks move to revoke protected status for some Venezuelans

An estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the US despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections while their lawsuit against the Trump administration is pending. US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court's order and are not eligible for deportation. The Supreme Court last month gave the go-ahead for the Republican administration to strip TPS from an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans that would have expired in April. In doing so, the court put on hold Chen's order blocking the administration from revoking protections granted under President Joe Biden. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals. But they singled out applicants who had received work authorisation and other paperwork with new expiration dates of October 2, 2026. Chen said at a hearing Friday that the

Venezuela bans flights from Colombia following arrests in anti-govt plot

Venezuela on Monday banned the arrival of flights from neighboring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people who were allegedly plotting activities to destabilize the country ahead of Sunday's election. The arrests were announced just as an independent panel of experts backed by the Organization of American States released a report documenting serious human rights abuses in Venezuela as the government tightened its grip on dissent after the July 28 presidential election. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on state television said the flight ban was immediate and would last beyond Sunday, when voters across the country are expected to elect governors and National Assembly members. But Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said Venezuela's government had notified it that flights would resume the day after the election. Cabello said the anti-government plans involved placing explosives at embassies and other facilities in Venezuela. He said authorities had

Venezuela denies opposition fled country under international rescue effort

Venezuela's government has acknowledged for the first time that members of the country's opposition left the Argentine diplomatic compound where they had sheltered for over a year, but it denied that their arrival to the United States occurred under an international rescue operation as characterized by the political faction and the US State Department. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Wednesday that the group's movements were negotiated with the government and further alleged that one of the six people who entered the Argentine ambassador's residence in March left the compound in August, contradicting earlier statements from the opposition. Cabello's statements came more than 24 hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on social media that the opposition members were on US soil after a "successful rescue". The government of Argentine President Javier Milei allowed the six people into the ambassador's residence when authorities loyal to Venezuela's

Trump govt asks SC to strip legal protections from 350K Venezuelan migrants

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to strip temporary legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to being deported. The Justice Department asked the high court to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month. A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administration's request. President Donald Trump's administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country, including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. TPS is granted in 18-month increments to people already in the US whose countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife.

Venezuelan detainees ask US Supreme Court to halt El Salvador deportations

Lawyers for the men filed their requests less than two weeks after the Supreme Court let Trump resume trying to deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798

US intel refutes Trump claim linking gang to Venezuela to aid deportations

A new US intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to US officials. The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times, according to two US officials familiar with the assessment. They were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. It repeatedly stated that Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela, is not coordinated with or supported by the country's president, Nicols Maduro, or senior officials in the Venezuelan government. While .

Trump officials likely in contempt over Venezuela deportations, says judge

US District Judge James Boasberg issued an order saying that officials acted in "willful disregard" of his verbal order on March 15 to turn around planes carrying Venezuelans

US Supreme Court allows Trump admin to deport Venezuelans under wartime law

The 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court states that Venezuelan migrants must be given an opportunity to challenge their deportation before being removed from the US

US judge halts Trump admin plans to end legal protection for Venezuelans

A federal judge on Monday paused plans by the Trump administration to end temporary legal protection for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a week before they were scheduled to expire. The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco is a relief for 350,000 Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was scheduled to expire April 7. The lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the National TPS Alliance and TPS holders across the country. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also announced the end of TPS for an estimated 250,000 additional Venezuelans in September. Chen said in his ruling that the action by Noem threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States. He said the government had failed to identify any real countervailing harm in ...

Trump asks SC for permission to resume deporting Venezuelan migrants

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law, while a court fight continues. The emergency appeal to the high court follows a rejection of the Republican administration's plea to the federal appeals court in Washington. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of appellate judges left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act The Justice Department argued in court papers that federal courts shouldn't interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained. The order temporarily blocking the deportations was issued by US District Judge James E Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington. President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to justi