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....

Mexico's $250 million in Frozen Drug Cartel Assets is Chump Change. When a 1960s US Congressman died with $3.5 million under his bed, a that time it was a cause for outrage. But now, the US and Mexican political cultures have both come to accept that politics is a path to riches. "You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook", Kansas City mob-boss Tom Pendergast associate, President Harry S Truman allegedly remarked. A Google response to the question "how much is Obama worth", openly admits, $40 million.Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says Mexico will deal with Narcotraficantes...

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have reaffirmed their commitment to a trilateral renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Speaking during a state visit by Trudeau in Mexico City, the leaders dodged questions seeking their reaction to comments made a day earlier by President Donald Trump about the possibility of the U.S. seeking bilateral agreements if it walks away from NAFTA. …

Cojones! Trump tells reporters he 'absolutely' still wants Mexico to pay for his border wall – and Mexico's leader is right next to him listening President Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that he still wants Mexico to pay for a lengthy border wall separating America from its southern neighbor. And he did it with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto sitting just an arm's length away. Reporters had a few moments to pepper the two leaders with questions as their bilateral meeting on the margins of the G20 summit got underway. 'Mr. Trump do you still want Mexico to pay for...

President Enrique Peña Nieto told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday he wants a significant increase in trade with the European Union, vowing to complete a new trade deal by year’s end. Peña Nieto’s Mexican government has been actively seeking new trade opportunities since US President Donald Trump came to office with a threat to curb Mexico’s privileged access to American markets. Mexico is currently in negotiations with the European Union to modernize a free trade agreement they signed 20 years ago. Both Merkel and Peña Nieto vowed on Friday to conclude the expanded deal by the end of the...

The Mexican government on Wednesday vehemently denied reports that President Trump threatened to send American soldiers into Mexico during a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Such a threat “did not happen during that call,” said a government statement released on Twitter Wednesday night. "I know it with absolute certainty, there was no threat,” Peña Nieto spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said in a radio interview. “The things that have been said are nonsense and a downright lie." The Associated Press and a Mexican news website, Aristegui Noticias, reported earlier in the day that Trump had humiliated Peña Nieto during...

Art of the Deal? The Mexican Peso has had a brutal year. The closer Trump got to winning, and the more likely his victory seemed, the further it’s value fell. In fact, immediately after Trump’s victory, Mexico’s currency plummeted a staggering 11%. The country’s currency hit a new record low as votes were being tallied, suffering an 11% drop. By early Wednesday morning, the peso regained some ground but it was still down more than 9%.

President Donald Trump wants to impose at 20% tax on imports from Mexico to pay for the border wall, according to his White House press secretary. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Sean Spicer wouldn't give further details on the proposed tax. He described it as a beginning of a process that would be part of overall tax reform, but did describe it as a decision that Trump has already made. "This is something that we've been in close contact with both houses in moving forward and creating a plan," Spicer said. "It clearly provides the funding and does...

PHILADELPHIA — President Trump plans to make Mexico pay for his border wall by imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports into the United States from Mexico, raising billions of dollars that would cover the cost of the new barrier. The proposal, which Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the president discussed privately with congressional Republicans before giving remarks at a party retreat here, would be a major new economic proposal that could have far-reaching implications for consumers, manufacturers and relations between the two governments. Mr. Spicer said the 20 percent tax on annual Mexican imports would...

<p>MEXICO CITY--President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday called off a trip to Washington, after President Trump launched his plan to construct a border wall and insisted he would stick Mexico with the bill. The incident opened one of the most serious rifts in memory between the United States and its southern neighbor.</p>

On Wednesday, Trump signed two executive orders dealing with enforcing current immigration laws and the construction of a border wall. Trump specifically called out Mexican cartels in the executive order. In response to the anti-cartel measures, Peña Nieto took to social media, as Breitbart Texas reported. In addition to denouncing the measure, Peña Nieto announced that he would be ordering the 50 Mexican Consulates in the U.S. to step up their efforts to protect “migrants”. The Mexican president made no mention of the fact that the migrants are one of the largest funding mechanisms for the cartels who reportedly helped...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he plans talks soon with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement."We will be starting negotiations having to do with NAFTA," Trump said at a swearing-in ceremony for his top White House advisers. "We are going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration and on security at the border."

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement when he meets with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. A central promise of Trump's campaign was that he would revamp the 23-year-old trade pact. At a White House event Sunday, Trump said he had scheduled meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. "We're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA," Trump said. "Anybody ever hear of NAFTA?" he said. "I ran a campaign somewhat based on NAFTA. But we're going to start renegotiating on NAFTA,...

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Hours after the United States elected Donald Trump to be its next president, Mexico began carefully laying the groundwork for a relationship with a new leader who campaigned against its citizens and threatened to wreak havoc with its economy. President Enrique Pena Nieto sent a series of messages from his official Twitter account Wednesday morning, congratulating not Trump himself but the American electorate, and said he was ready to work with Trump to advance the countries' relationship. "Mexico and the United States are friends, partners and allies that must continue collaborating for the competitiveness and development...

WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani shut down discussion about payment for the border wall during Donald Trump’s meeting last week with the Mexican president because it wasn’t part of the “ground rules” for the Mexico City visit, the former New York mayor said Sunday. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto indeed brought up who would pay for a border wall — despite Trump’s initial claim it wasn’t discussed — but Giuliani told CNN’s “State of the Union” he snuffed out the subject quickly in favor of common ground. “I said that it was off the table,” Giuliani said. “We had ground rules...

Give that man a Nobel Peace Prize! Donald Trump — the modern day Paul Revere — rocked the political world when he jumped into the race last year warning about the invasion across America’s southern border that politicians in both parties had been desperately trying to cover up for years. Actually, Revere did not have it nearly so hard as Mr. Trump, who was branded a bigot and a racist and anti-American for simply arguing that America should enforce our duly-enacted immigration laws and secure our border. Mr. Trump stuck with the issue and rode it all the way to...

A prominent Mexican TV news anchor is blasting Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto for inviting Donald Trump to Mexico City. Jorge Ramos, anchor for Univision and Fusion, criticized Peña Nieto for not holding Trump accountable for some of his previous rhetoric on illegal immigration and Mexican-Americans. Instead, during a joint press conference in Mexico Wednesday, Peña affirmed that the two men would work together to end illegal immigration if Trump is elected president. "What a poor, lukewarm and fearful response by [Nieto] before Trump," Ramos tweeted in Spanish Wednesday. Where is the indignation to Trump's insults?" "Trump leaves Mexico without...

US Republican candidate Donald Trump has arrived in Mexico to meet President Enrique Pena Nieto. The trip is contentious as during his campaign Mr Trump has branded Mexican migrants "rapists" and "murderers", and vowed to build a wall along the border. He will face protests on his visit, with ex-President Vicente Fox among those saying he is not welcome. Mr Trump will later fly to Phoenix, Arizona, to deliver a key speech on measures to tackle illegal immigration.

LifeZette has confirmed that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with Mexican President Peña Nieto. Sources, that include Mexican officials involved in the planning of the visit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated the meeting would cover a broad variety of topics ranging from trade to security to immigration and the contentious issue of border enforcement.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to detour from the campaign trail on Wednesday to visit Mexico and meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto at his invitation, a surprise trip scheduled just hours before Trump delivers an immigration policy speech in Arizona. Nieto and Trump each confirmed late Tuesday that Trump accepted the invitation and the two would meet in private Wednesday. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told Fox News the two would discuss illegal immigration, trade and drugs. Trump running mate Mike Pence also said they would begin a conversation about a proposed border wall, along with other issues.