Yep. Best way to get punched in the gut.
On that note, the trial of ousted (by Trumps decree) Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, is scheduled to begin on 1 June 2027, a New York judge ordered on Wednesday. That would be 500+ days in an American prison before they can face an American Judge for an American trial.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has effectively claimed control over aspects of Venezuela's oil production and revenue, asserting that the US is recovering assets "stolen" by Venezuela through actions like the detention of Nicolás Maduro? Legal experts note there is no formal basis under international law for this claim, though the administration has directed significant shipments and collected billions in sales proceeds.
The US administration has gathered over $13 billion in proceeds from Venezuelan crude oil sales following “leadership changes” and policy shifts, with Trump appointing former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as acting Venezuelan president after U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power, because democracy, and freedom.
Millions of barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude (such as Merey, Boscan, and Hamaca) have been routed, sold, and refined under US oversight. American President Trump publicly stated that the revenue generated from these oil shipments has vastly multiplied and covered the financial costs of the military operation that detained Maduro half a year ago. Independent legal and energy experts note that sovereign ownership of Venezuela’s physical reserves legally belongs to Venezuela, and broad international recognition of a U.S. territorial or property claim does not exist.
Ultimately, while the Trump administration frames the takeover as a liberating move that will secure future wealth for the country, critics argue it strips Venezuelans of self-determination and transfers control of their primary national asset directly into foreign hands. US forces seized the Venezuelan president Maduro and Flores from their compound in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in a dramatic, night-time raid on 3 January 2026, and brought them to New York to face allegations of weapon and drug offences, which they deny and in about another year they’ll have their day in court, more or less.
Maduro and his wife, who were seized and bought to the US earlier this year, deny the weapons and drug charges against them.
apple.news
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Gulf of
Mexico America, on the largest Caribbean island, the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in enforcing a strict fuel and economic blockade is to force the collapse or comprehensive submission of the current Cuban government. The administration is operating on a strategy of "
maximum pressure", calculating that severe energy starvation and food deprivation will dismantle the Cuban state-run socialist system from within, or force unprecedented concessions, because art of the deal.
State department’s 100-page report is latest push in Trump administration campaign to bring down government
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Meanwhile, Trump’s latest volley of tariffs against its northern neighbour and one of its largest trade partners take effect next month leaving Canada’s average effective tariff rate – a measure of duties collected as a share of total imports – just a notch behind that of France and Vietnam because not wanting to willingly become the 51st state? Canada is a massive market for American-made goods, buying over $300 billion annually and ranking as a top export destination.
But the priority is a comprehensive trade deal that leaves no sector out in the cold, Prime Minister says
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Meanwhile, the Panama Canal, in Panama, the Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and other Panamanian officials maintain that the Panama canal belongs entirely to Panama, is run autonomously by the Panama Canal Authority, and is not for sale or subject to transfer…but Denmark has stated something similar with respect to Greenland.
It’s been less than four decades since the last regime change in Panama that America was responsible for, with the new president being sworn in at Fort Clayton, a U.S. military base in Panama City…he took the oath of office during the U.S. military operation that removed Panamanian military ruler Manuel Noriega from power, but that’s a different story.
Probably just a coincidence.
