After months of boat bombings...
Andrea Pitzer:
"U.S. forces attacked Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, kidnapping Mauro and his wife, Cilia Flores, before flying them out of the country and into the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced existing indictments for the couple in the Southern District of New York. News reports out of Venezuela listed dozens of fatalities from the operation, including some civilians. ... The BBC has reported 32 Cuban officers and intelligence agents were killed, with Cuba having provided Maduro’s personal security detail. Some independent reports suggest two civilians were killed along with security officers. ... The Miami Herald has been reporting since October that backroom negotiations brokered by Qatar had been happening."
Also:
"it seems to be just the first in a potential series of violations of sovereignty the administration is eyeing, from Cuba to Mexico and Greenland. Deputy White House chief of staff and homeland security advisor Stephen Miller, who’s been the principal for some time now on the brutal operations kidnapping and detaining undocumented immigrants (and US citizens), is said to be taking a more “elevated role” overseeing U.S. interests in Venezuela."
Also:
"Trump explained this week that oil companies had been tipped off to the operation. While members of Congress were lied to about the operations planned for Venezuela, oil companies had weeks to plan (though whether they are even interested in dealing with the risks of backing Trump’s escapade remains an open question)."
Here's where we are in January 2026, as Marisa Kabas writes in the Handbasket:
"Trump, after weeks of bombing Venezuelan fishing boats, killing more than 100 people, off-handedly admitting a port strike, and openly talking about a lust to escalate the attacks, launched his first large-scale ground attack [early Saturday morning, Jan 3, 2026]. After falling asleep around 4am ET, I woke up hours later to find out the true purpose of the operation: To abduct the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife.
In some ways it feels like we’ve entered a theater where the play is already in progress. In the lead-up to past wars, the government made an effort to sell the premise to the American people so that by the time it began, they would understand the alleged purpose and the main players. This time around, though, there was little stage-setting. By the time the public entered the picture, bombs were already dropping on boats, and soon thereafter, on land. Maduro was kidnapped before the vast majority of Americans knew his name, and people were expected to have an understanding of US history with Venezuela and their oil supply (or know that Venezuela even had an oil supply.) And, oh yea, wasn’t there something about drugs?
Now the average American is being forced to work backwards to understand how we ended up bombing a sovereign nation, all while Republicans rubber-stamp the move and corporate-owned media outlets trip over themselves to celebrate the “tactically precise” nature of the illegal operation."
Trump to Fox & Friends on the raid that captured Maduro: "I mean, I watched it literally l like I was watching a television show. If you would've seen the speed, the violence -- it was an amazing thing."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 3, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Maduro kidnapped (Forbes)
Trump has contempt for international law and its value system that prohibits the use of force to change external borders. In its place Trump pursues “sheer coercive power” or mobster diplomacy with shakedowns, blackmail and deal-making as the agents of change.
www.theguardian.com/law/ng-inter...
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— AuntieU (@umaija.bsky.social) December 25, 2025 at 8:55 AM
"Trump announced the U.S. would 'run' Venezuela until there's a 'safe, proper and judicious transition' - which is Trump-speak for 'indefinitely.'" (Josh Powell, Jan 6, 2026)
Read also: Venezuela: what happens next?: Chaos looms after audacious decapitation of Maduro regime, Seb Kennedy, Energy Flux News, 04 Jan 2026
Read also (paywall): America launches its 250th birthday year by becoming a rogue state: Trump’s illegal war on Venezuela cemented his claim to dictatorship and marked the U.S. as a global pariah. Will Bunch, Jan 4, 2026
Crockett: "Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate. As we sit here on January 6, I do want to be clear: somebody else was trying to be a Maduro of the United States. Somebody else wanted to do the exact same thing. The difference is Maduro was successful."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 6, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Alan McPherson, Prof of History at Temple University and author of A Short History of US Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean: 'it is “very rare” for US interventions in the region to be followed by “peace, tranquillity, stability and democracy”.'
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
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— Nicole Guenther Discenza (@ndiscenza1.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 1:47 PM
One of the final House votes of 2025 was a vote on @repmcgovern.bsky.social war powers resolution to bar President Trump from military action against Venezuela without authorization by Congress.
All Republicans except Reps. Massie, Bacon, and Marjorie Taylor Greene voted to defeat the measure:
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— Congressman Don Beyer (@beyer.house.gov) January 4, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Professor Alexander Aviña says the U.S. has historically used Latin America as an “imperial laboratory.”
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— Democracy Now! (@democracynow.org) January 6, 2026 at 9:28 AM
MILLER: The US is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere. We're a superpower. It's absurd we'd allow a nation in our backyard to become a supplier of resources to our adversaries
TAPPER: Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do what they want?
M: *yells*
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 5, 2026 at 6:32 PM
“So force is on the table?” is…… NOT the logical or nominally probing question that should have followed from Miller’s utterly unhinged statement.
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— Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 9:16 PM
"I don't want to say it, bc it'll be controversial... but we're in charge."
No, #Trump, 'controversial' is when I say we need to guillotine you for our own national good. But it won't STAY that way if you keep committing #warcrimes. I might not even have to do it, myself 😆
youtu.be/WxX_F6vOVhI?...
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— K. Cook & Cats, Co. (@iamkaymichelle.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 6:59 PM
This is what oligarchy looks like.
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— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM
BBC journalists have been banned from describing the kidnapped Venezuelan leader as having been kidnapped.
The BBC News Editor has sent this to BBC journalists.
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— Owen Jones (@owenjones.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 8:19 AM
If the BBC were here on bsky, one could share with them the definition of the word “kidnap”.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/k...
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— Nick Harkaway (@nickharkaway.com) January 6, 2026 at 2:30 AM
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids?
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
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— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 11:12 AM
WZZM13 story
The Justice Manual states that DOJ personnel should refrain from expressing “Any opinion as to the defendant's guilt, or the possibility of a plea of guilty to the offense charged, or the possibility of a plea to a lesser offense.”
bsky.app/profile/anna...
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— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 2:35 PM
amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders
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— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Cuba is next?
www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
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— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 3:53 PM
So basically you can break into your neighbor's house, perform a citizen's arrest for their unpaid parking ticket, chain them to the radiator, and set about looting their big screen TV, and when someone asks what you're doing you can say "this is an arrest operation" and that's perfectly legal.
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— Mary Pezzulo (@marypezzulo.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Chris Murphy: "Clearly this is wildly illegal. This is a president who has been operating illegally since he was sworn in -- stealing from the American people, seizing spending power, now dragging America into a war overseas ... Donald Trump's entire foreign policy is corrupt."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 4, 2026 at 9:47 AM
How excited oil companies will be at this unexpected development!
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— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) January 3, 2026 at 9:47 AM
"Big Oil just cashed in big. By taking over Venezuela, Trump effectively gave America’s biggest oil companies the world’s largest proven oil reserves — estimated at around 303 billion barrels, roughly one-fifth of total global oil reserves.
It’s part of the deal he struck with Big Oil in the 2024 campaign, when it agreed to back him in return for his rolling back environmental regulations.
Big Oil has continued the gusher — contributing to his ballroom, his PAC, and his investments. Ditto Big Tech and AI, Big Crypto, the biggest banks, biggest defense contractors, and so on."
— Robert Reich, Jan 4
WELKER: If the purpose of the operation was to capture Maduro and bring him to justice, why does the US need to take over the Venezuela oil industry?
RUBIO: Well, we don't *need* to. We have plenty of oil in the US. We want to see the oil proceeds of the country benefit the people of Venezuela.
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 4, 2026 at 10:21 AM
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America…”
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— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) January 6, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Trump: "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled ... It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the USA all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 16, 2025 at 6:53 PM
As a justification for war, Trump claims Venezuela "stole" US oil and infrastructure. That is, of course, a lie.
wapo.st/4smUTLL
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— Jeff Goodell (@jeffgoodell.bsky.social) January 3, 2026 at 1:12 PM
WELKER: Is the US at war with Venezuela?
MARCO RUBIO: There's not a war. I mean, we're at war against drug trafficking organizations. It's not a war against Venezuela.
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 4, 2026 at 10:09 AM
BRENNAN: The president's last envoy to Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, says US oil executives seem to be coming to Mar-a-Lago and whispering about how easy life would be if we just made a deal with the regime once Maduro is gone. Is that what happened here?
MARCO RUBIO: No.
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 4, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Rob Newman’s genius performance piece ‘A Brief History of Oil’ (on YT, iirc) refers.
The US attack on Venezuela is NOT about oil - as I had reckoned - *it’s about the petro-dollar*
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— Talis Kimberley🇪🇺 (@taliskimberley.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Trump is all about optics and seems to be willing to pay for the oil to extracted and shipped to the US, regardless of market realities. Even if big oil sees through it, he’ll be likely to find people willing to do his bidding amongst independents or wildcatters
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— Magnus Petersen-Paaske (@magnuspaaske.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Does not inspire confidence!
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— Jonathan Cohn (@jonathancohn.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Nothing says "strong" like complaining off the record to a Beltway reporter
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— Subscribe to Radio Free America (link in bio) (@kleinman.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 10:26 AM
WH sources say Venezuela's opposition leader committed the "ultimate sin": She accepted the Nobel Peace prize.
“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one said.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
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— Eric Umansky (@ericumansky.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 10:02 PM
congratulations again to the Oslo-based Nobel Peace Prize committee
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— Ketan Joshi (@ketanjoshi.co) January 6, 2026 at 1:14 AM
again: chuck schumer is not being naive here. he's complicit.
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— รℓσαɳε ℓყรɓεƭɦ 🏳️🌈 (@sloanelysbeth.bsky.social) January 3, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Less than 24 hours to pull the mask off
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— David William (@nrvscrcts.bsky.social) January 3, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Colombia braces with alarm after Maduro’s removal in Venezuela by US https://aje.io/oz00ov
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— Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) January 3, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Colombia mobilizes its armed forces amid concern about a potential "massive influx" of refugees fleeing Venezuela after the US attacks. President Gustavo Petro is calling for an emergency session of the UN security council to discuss this"aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela."
— Steve Herman (@newsguy.bsky.social) January 3, 2026 at 7:54 AM
Trump: "You almost couldn't hold them back. It was like, they wanted to go so badly. And most people would've said, 'I'll take a pass.' I know Charlie would've wanted to go because Charlie is a very brave person."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 3, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Bondi is now parroting Trump's confused talking points: "Don't forget that Maduro emptied his prisons, he emptied insane asylums and let those people come into our country during the last administration, and President Trump stopped it."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 6, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Greenland is happening. Not a joke, not trolling, not a distraction. He has already made up his mind and nobody who matters in the inner circle will try to talk him out of it. Some of them want it precisely because it will destroy NATO. There are no adults in the room. They really mean to do it.
— Andy Craig (@andycraig.bsky.social) January 6, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reuters:
"Caracas and Washington have reached a deal to export up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday [January 6], a flagship negotiation that would divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.
The agreement is a strong sign that the Venezuelan government is responding to Trump’s demand that they open up to U.S. oil companies or risk more military intervention. Trump has said he wants interim President Delcy Rodriguez to give the U.S. and private companies “total access” to Venezuela’s oil industry. Venezuela has millions of barrels of oil loaded on tankers and in storage tanks that it has been unable to ship due to a blockade on exports imposed by Trump since mid-December."
Lol how can you tell this administration is lying to you? Because oil hasn't been shipped in actual barrels in over a century
www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/b...
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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 10:47 AM
I mean, the other day Stephen Miller (who may be the same senior official but admittedly there are other possible candidates) said Venezuela was an island.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NiB...
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— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Also: Turns out the Trump administration accidentally misunderstood a Venezuelan slang term ("cartel de los Soles," slang for drug corruption in the military) to be an *actual* cartel, and then declared that this fake cartel was a terrorist organization led by Maduro
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...
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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Read: CNN's Kaitlan Collins Pulls Out The Receipts On Trump's Venezuela Claims
Collins' footage includes recent clips of Trump making threats against several other nations. Curtis M. Wong, HuffPost, Jan 6, 2026
Despite the fact that the world is clearly oversupplied for oil in the coming years, it hasn't put a single dent in enthusiasm for accelerated expansion of new oil projects
The idea that this industry operates on a rational or logical basis is itself irrational...
productiongap.org/2025report/#...
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— Ketan Joshi (@ketanjoshi.co) January 7, 2026 at 5:48 AM
Read: U.S. Seizes 2 Sanctioned Oil Tankers Linked To Venezuela In North Atlantic And Caribbean: U.S. European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 for “violations of U.S. sanctions” in a social medial post. Konstantin Toropin and Jill Lawless, AP, Jan 7, 2026
