Free Republic

The situation in Venezuela is deteriorating. Throughout the day, protests have erupted. Supporters and opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro are once facing off after months of economic destitution that has left the beacon of 21stCentury Socialism an absolute hellhole. You’ve all read the reports. Medicals supplies are absent, hunger is rampant, and inflation is through the roof. No one is safe from economic blight, except Maduro. Venezuelans from all social classes have suffered. There’s footage of people eating out of trashcans. Zoo animals are being killed for food. Venezuelan children are now being forced into prostitution in order to...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Tuesday that embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was preparing to leave the country for Cuba, but was talked out of it by Russia. "We've watched throughout the day, it's been a long time since anyone's seen Maduro," Pompeo said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay." "He was headed for Havana," Pompeo said.

Dozens of supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaido converged Tuesday on the now-shuttered Venezuelan embassy in Washington, clashing with pro-regime activists who have been camped out at the building for weeks in support of embattled Nicolas Maduro. .... In Washington, flag-waving and national-anthem singing demonstrators, many of whom were born in Venezuela, quickly outnumbered those from the anti-war group Code Pink gathered to support Maduro's regime. .... "This group – the Code Pink – has taken the embassy," Gandullia said. "We want to enter. We want to take over. And demonstrate that it belongs to us." Activists from Code Pink,...

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How long have I lived? Long enough to see a mainstream media outlet other than Fox News make a core Second Amendment argument. And guess who it is?All right, all right, MSNBC didn’t know they were making a core Second Amendment argument. They were just reporting on the captivity of Venezuelans by a socialist regime that made sure to ban gun ownership. Six of one, half-dozen of another, says the Free Beacon: MSNBC Report on Venezuela Makes Case for Second Amendment https://t.co/pOdsekefc8 pic.twitter.com/Uqh4Vs5pyE— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 30, 2019 MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders unwittingly made the American case for...

WATCH: Venezuela military armored truck rams into pro-Guaidó protesters in Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has taken to the streets with detained activist Leopoldo Lopez and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers in a military uprising. “This is the moment of all Venezuelans, those in uniform and those who aren’t,” said Lopez in his first public appearance since being detained in 2014 for leading anti-government protests. “Everyone should come to the streets, in peace.” Lopez said he has been freed by the military. Moments earlier, Guaidó appeared in an early morning video shot next to a Caracas air base surrounded by several heavily armed soldiers...

Does the tiny nation of Malta need some tourism or someone to buy its products, some extra defense help, or maybe a Hollywood movie celebrating it? Can we do something for them? I wish I could tell for sure, because right now, the only sentiment to describe the tiny state is one of awe and gratitude. National Security Advisor John Bolton had a great tweet about it: John Bolton ✔ @AmbJohnBolton The U.S. recognizes and appreciates Malta & countries across the world that are standing up to a ruthless dictator by prohibiting military flights and vessels from bringing military equipment...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is getting desperate. With the international community lining up against him, and his own people getting more hungry all the time, Maduro finds himself increasingly alone and isolated. His solution? Find a million more friendly faces that he can count on when it really hits the fan. Maduro is calling for a million more members of his personal bodyguard, a civilian militia tasked with keeping the population in line by any means necessary. Those means include roving gangs of street thugs who shoot anyone who looks like they oppose the government. Since there are already nearly...

Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has triggered the “worst humanitarian crisis in the history of the Americas” with the help of Cuba, Russia, China, and terrorist groups, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) told Breitbart News Friday. The deteriorating security, political, and humanitarian conditions in Venezuela are comparable to those in war-ravaged Syria, Juan Antonio Blanco, the director, wrote in a report he co-authored with other Cuban and Venezuelan experts. In the report issued Friday, FHRC declared: Citizen insecurity, added to political repression, has left more than 24,000 violent deaths [in Venezuela] in 2018,...

Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro has upped the ante. He ordered his Supreme Court to ask his Constituent Assembly to strip opposition leader Juan Guaido of his parliamentary immunity against arrest. On Tuesday the Constituent Assembly dutifully responded, voting unanimously to approve the court’s request, opening the door for Maduro to order the arrest of Guaido. Guaido is being accused of violating a court order to remain in the country while Maduro’s attorney general is considering various charges against him. Instead Guaido left the country for a 10-day goodwill tour of neighboring South American countries to drum up more support for...

Merida, April 3, 2019 – Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has lifted the parliamentary immunity of the self-declared “Interim President” Juan Guaido, opening the door for criminal charges to be brought against him. Tuesday’s unanimous decision came following a request from the Supreme Court, and included the “authorisation” of the continuation of investigations into the also deputy and president of the National Assembly. “The investigation [against Guaido] is formally authorised to continue in accordance with our Constitution and laws” said ANC President Diosdado Cabello during the session. Cabello added that justice was “necessary” and what would safeguard peace in Venezuela....

President Donald Trump's special envoy to Venezuela warned that the administration could impose financial sanctions against Russia if it continues to meddle in Venezuela. Elliott Abrams said he has already delivered a list of options to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, including diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions, that can be employed against Russia if it continues to send military personnel to Caracas. The Trump administration ratcheted up its warnings Friday against Russia and other countries who may be considering sending military personnel to Venezuela by calling the action a direct threat to peace and security in the region. Pompeo earlier...

President Trump told Russia on Wednesday it needs to stop meddling in Venezuela, as top members of his administration met with Fabiana Rosales, the woman that U.S. officials recognize as first lady. “We are with you 100 percent,” Mr. Trump told her. “Russia needs to get out.” Mr. Trump was referring to reports that Russia brought material and personnel to Venezuela, as other nations try to oust President Nicolas Maduro. The South American strongman considers Russia an ally. The U.S. and 50 other nations recognize Juan Guaido, who invoked constitutional powers to declare himself the interim president, as Venezuela’s rightful...

WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - The United States on Monday accused Russia of “reckless escalation” of the situation in Venezuela by deploying military planes and personnel to the crisis-stricken South American nation that Washington has hit with crippling sanctions. The Russian planes and military personnel arrived outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday, according to local media reports, two months after the Trump administration disavowed President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president and demands that Maduro leave power, which Russia has described as a U.S.-backed coup against the socialist government.

military exercises on Venezuelan soil that President Nicolas Maduro called a sign of strengthening relations. Two Russian air force planes landed in Venezuela's main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, according to a local journalist, amid strengthening ties between Caracas and Moscow. A flight-tracking website showed that two planes left from a Russian military airport bound for Caracas on Friday, and another flight-tracking site showed that one plane left Caracas on Sunday. Reporter Javier Mayorca wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the first plane carried Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of the ground forces,...

Forces loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may have just committed one of their most brazen acts — one that threatens to plunge the country into even greater chaos. On Thursday, Venezuela’s intelligence forces detained the chief of staff for Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who claims to be the country’s legitimate president and who is backed by the United States. In an overnight raid, they seized Roberto Marrero from his home shortly after also nabbing dozens of journalists and two state utility workers. This is potentially a massive escalation by Maduro and could signal a new phase in his...

VALENCIA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader and National Assembly head Juan Guaido said on Saturday he was launching a "new phase" in his push to oust President Nicolas Maduro, pledging to travel across the country before "reclaiming" the presidential palace. Guaido, who invoked the constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, saying Maduro's re-election was illegitimate, called on thousands of supporters to stay committed to what he dubbed "Operation Freedom." "Very soon, when we have visited and organized every inch ... we will go to Miraflores and reclaim what belongs to the Venezuelan people," Guaido said, referring to...

CARACAS (Reuters) - As Venezuela’s five-day power blackout left homes without water, Lilibeth Tejedor found herself looking for it on Monday in the last place she would have imagined - a drain pipe feeding into a river carrying sewage through the capital, Caracas. Tejedor, 28, joined dozens of people who had flocked to the Guaire river, which snakes along the bottom of a sharp ravine alongside Caracas’ main highway, to fill up a four-gallon (15 litre) plastic container. Unlike the fetid liquid flowing through the Guaire river, the water emerging from the pipe was at least clear. Those who gathered...

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued to heap praise on fellow freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar early Sunday night — calling her “one of the most effective voices right now.” “Rep. Omar, a survivor of war, is one of the most effective voices right now at cutting through the authoritarian foreign policy tendencies of this administration,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez. She linked back to a post that the Minnesota lawmaker put up earlier in the evening, criticizing President Trump’s handling of the crisis in Venezuela. “Trump and Elliott Abrams cannot be trusted to tell the truth about what’s happening in Venezuela,” Omar tweeted, along with...