🚨🇻🇪 We are not defeated — Venezuela’s minister of interior

💬 "Inside the country is in complete tranquility. They've tried this and they maybe thought that the people would come out defeated, and that's not what's happening," Venezuela’s Minister of Interior Diosdado Cabello said in a statement following US strikes against the nation.

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🚨🇷🇺Russia demands clarity on whereabouts of Venezuela’s president and first lady

👉The Russian Foreign Ministry says Moscow is deeply alarmed by reports that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken out of the country during US military actions, and is urging Washington to immediately clarify the situation.

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🇻🇪 A morning in Caracas: Plaza Venezuela is quiet and calm, but notably devoid of traffic, as reported by Sputnik correspondent

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🚨 Global reaction to US strikes on Venezuela

International responses are emerging following US military action against Venezuela.

🟠 Condemnation and calls for restraint:

👉 Russia, Cuba, Colombia, Belarus, Brazil, and Chile have condemned what they describe as US aggression against Venezuela

🔶 In Minsk, officials recalled President Alexander Lukashenko’s warning that the US could face a “second Vietnam” in Venezuela

🔶 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for adherence to international law and the UN Charter in response to the strikes

🟠 Mixed international positions:

🔶 Argentina and Poland reacted positively to reports of President Nicolás Maduro’s detention

🔶 The United Nations has not yet issued an official response

🔶 EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged restraint from Washington, while noting that the EU does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president

🟠 Criticism inside the US:

Several influential US lawmakers have sharply criticized the operation.

🔶 Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego, a US Marine Corps veteran, called the action “illegal,” describing it as “the second unjustified war of my lifetime”

🔶 Republican Senator Mike Lee questioned the constitutional basis for the strikes, citing the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force

🔶 According to CBS News, lawmakers from both parties had previously sought to block any US strikes on Venezuela without congressional approval, though those efforts were rejected

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 Double-barreled US agenda in Venezuela strikes: Regime change & resource grab - analyst

🗣 The ugly truth is that strikes on Venezuela fit the standard US playbook: if America cannot get its hands on a country’s resources, it’s perfectly willing to bomb it back a decade, Angelo Giuliano, a Hong Kong-based political and financial analyst, tells Sputnik.

🔶 He assesses as “shocking and credible” the US claim of having captured President Nicholas Maduro, adding that it proves America seeks to pull off a regime-change.

🔶 It’s really a two-for-one play, he elaborates, since alongside destroying the most critical military infrastructure, US strikes reportedly targeted Venezuela’s oil refineries, port infrastructure, and airports.

🔶 For US, the “best-case scenario would be regime change and complete appropriation of Venezuela's natural resources, and if it cannot pull that off, it will go for a complete destruction of the Venezuelan economy,” the pundit stresses.

🔶 The US operation was launched at night to achieve maximum “surprise effect,” possibly to engage a small crack army force, he speculates.

🔶 The entire operation was likely needed to validate the huge costs of the massive military buildup in the Caribbean. So now, its “mission accomplished.”

🔶 The operation could also be a sign that a “more aggressive fringe of the US administration is taking over more control,” even though aggressive plans regarding Venezuela had been blueprinted long ago.

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 US tries to establish its neocolonial protectorate over Venezuela

📍 The US attack on Venezuela could have been just the first stage of a multi-part military operation, Alexander Stepanov, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciencies’ Institute of Latin American Studies, tells Sputnik.

According to him:

🔶 The US used long-range precision strikes to knock out key elements of Venezuela’s military and logistical infrastructure

🔶 The targets included command and control facilities, radars and the air defense systems that were protecting these sites

🔶 Some strikes were apparently aimed at residences of high-ranking military and security officials and politicians

🔶 Only after the centralized system of air defense was dismantled, did the helicopters carrying US special forces teams moved

🔶 One of the strikes was specifically directed at the Hugo Chavez memorial, which suggests that the symbols of the Bolivarian revolution and the challenge it posed to the Monroe doctrine are still making the US nervous

🟠 At this time, Stepanov concludes, it appears that the US military controls the Venezuelan airspace. There are reasons to believe, he adds, that the US was able to establish “remote control” over the country.

🟠 While it remains to be seen whether there will be another phase to this military operation, it is possible that the US may move to establish control over the key oil fields in Venezuela, to pave the way for the US corporations.

🟠 What we are witnessing now, Stepanov says, is a gradual establishment of a US neocolonial protectorate, the first of its kind in the 21st Century history of Latin America.

💬 “This is the fate, it seems, that awaits all who disagree with Washington’s politics for the region,” he notes.

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🇺🇸🛢 US strikes on Venezuela: Oil grab & Latin America fear tactics - analyst

🔶 The strikes, coinciding with the 1990 US ouster of Panama’s Noriega, echo the old imperial playbook: “seize control of weaker nations' natural resources with no regard for international law,” Dr. Vinicius Vieira, associate professor of economics and international relations at the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation, tells Sputnik.

🔶 While the main objective is to get control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, “regime change may happen, but not necessarily with a transition towards a Western-style democratic liberal system,” notes Dr. Vieira, who is also a lecturer in international relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).

🔶 The US is also selling the message that any Latin American country could have a target on its back if America decides it wants to exploit its natural resources, he explains.

🔶 Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reportedly pushed for a harder line on Maduro, may have been a key driver of the attack—shaped by his Florida roots, where any left-wing government is seen as a threat per se, Dr. Vieira emphasizes.

🔶 While Rubio may reap certain political benefits, US interests in the region may suffer, turning away leaders like Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro and Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, speculates the analyst.

💬 “Will the US reign it its imperialist ambitions targeting Brazil, Colombia, for instance?” Dr. Vieira queries, and adds that the US appears determined to “fulfill its goals at any cost, even with deaths and the clear violation of international law.”

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🇻🇪Maduro and his wife were seized from their bedroom in a nighttime raid by US special forces - CNN citing sources

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🚨🇷🇺 Russia backs Venezuela’s sovereignty, urges de-escalation — Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone call with Venezuela’s executive vice president, the Foreign Ministry said, reaffirming Moscow’s position amid the current situation around Venezuela.

Key points from the conversation:

🔶Lavrov expressed Russia’s solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of armed aggression by the United States

🔶Russia confirmed it will continue supporting Caracas’ course aimed at defending national interests and sovereignty

🔶Both sides stressed the importance of preventing further escalation and seeking a way forward through dialogue

🔶Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to strengthening the partnership between the two countries

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🇻🇪 Maduro supporters take to the streets of Caracas after US strikes and reports of the president’s capture

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🚨🇺🇸🇻🇪Trump outlines next steps after US strikes on Venezuela and Maduro’s capture

Speaking to Fox News after US strikes on Venezuela and the reported capture of President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump laid out Washington’s position on the operation, its aftermath, and what may come next.

Key statements from Trump:

👉Trump said he does not rule out a second wave of strikes on Venezuela, adding that the US is prepared for further action if needed.

👉He claimed Maduro was ready to negotiate shortly before being captured, but said Washington rejected talks.

👉Trump said Maduro and his wife are being transported to New York and are currently aboard a ship under US military control.

👉He described the raid on Maduro’s residence, saying it had steel doors and a reinforced safe area, and that US forces were prepared to breach it but did not need to.

👉Trump claimed no US troops were killed during the Venezuela operation.

👉Asked what comes next for Venezuela, Trump said the US is deciding now, arguing it cannot allow “somebody else to take over where he left off.”

👉In a separate remark, Trump said Mexico’s president is “a good woman” but claimed cartels are running Mexico, drawing a comparison to governance issues in the region.

Trump repeated that decisions on Venezuela’s future leadership and governance are still being made in Washington.

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🚨🇷🇺Russia urges US to release Venezuela’s president and first lady

❗️Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on the United States to release Venezuela’s lawfully elected president and his wife.

👉Moscow also stressed the need to create conditions for resolving any US–Venezuela disputes through dialogue rather than force.

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 US operation in Venezuela will change global influence map — expert

📍 The strikes against targets in Venezuela are not merely a local event but rather a part of the US strategy to secure geographically close energy sources, security expert Abd Allah Al Sha`ya tells Sputnik.

Here are the key points:

🔶 The current situation reflects Washington’s drive to secure energy sources within its immediate sphere of influence, away from contested international sea routes

🔶 Gaining uninterrupted supplies from energy-rich Venezuela would also shield the US from crises similar to the energy crisis of the 1970s

💬 “The strategic objective is to install a loyal government that guarantees uninterrupted supplies, giving the United States greater room to maneuver in other international conflicts without fearing disruptions to supply chains,” Al Sha`ya says.

🔶 Securing stable and easily accessible energy sources would give Washington greater freedom to intervene in hotspots across Europe and Asia and pursue more biased policies in the Middle East — including expanded military and political support for Israel — without jeopardizing US energy security

👉 The current events require Arab and Islamic countries to “the reformulation of comprehensive political and security strategies” so as to protect sovereign interests, Al Sha`ya concludes.

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 US unveils sweeping indictments against Venezuela’s leadership

📍 US Attorney General Pam Bondi has detailed a wide-ranging federal indictment accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and senior figures from his inner circle of decades-long involvement in drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, and corruption, according to court documents.

Major charges outlined in the indictment include:

🔶 Narco-terrorism conspiracy: Allegations that Maduro and top officials partnered with armed groups and cartels to traffic cocaine into the US

🔶 Large-scale cocaine trafficking: Accusations of importing, distributing, and facilitating multi-ton shipments of cocaine over more than two decades

🔶 Collaboration with designated terrorist organizations: Claims of cooperation with groups such as the FARC, ELN, Sinaloa Cartel, Zetas, and Tren de Aragua

🔶 Weapons and firearms offenses: Charges related to the possession and use of machine guns and destructive devices in connection with drug trafficking

🔶 Corruption and abuse of state power: Allegations that state institutions, diplomatic channels, and military assets were used to protect and enable criminal activity

🔶 Forfeiture demands: The US seeks to seize assets allegedly derived from or used in these crimes

🔶 The indictment names Maduro, his wife, close relatives, and senior political and security officials, framing the case as one of the most extensive criminal prosecutions ever brought by the US against a foreign government’s leadership.

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🚨🇻🇪Current US administration must be held accountable for the operation in Venezuela, which constitutes a war crime — Venezuelan Foreign Ministry

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