Explosions in Venezuela

[SVPete]

Maduro has gotten multiple "warnings" - and Cuba, indirectly - since the end of January 2025 and saw what happened to Iran. How Maduro imagined his machismo and puffing would go other than badly, I cannot understand. Ditto Cuba, who actually had plenty of time to pull people out or back from risky positions. Did Maduro really think his handful of S-300 and Buk SAM systems would even slightly hinder action after seeing 5 or 10 or 15 drug smuggler boats taken out, including cargo and smuggler-crew? Who did Maduro and Cuba think was President? LIEden or Kammie?

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Maduro: Come get me!

https://x.com/nicksortor/status/2007546721598079414

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Delcy Rodriguez issued the statement within one day of assuming the top spot in the Venezuelan regime in Maduro’s absence — which she did almost immediately after U.S. forces swept in and arrested both Maduro and his wife, extraditing them to New York.

“We extend an invitation to the U.S. government to work together on a cooperation agenda, aimed at shared development, within the framework of international law, and to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodriguez said.

“President Donald Trump: Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. That has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s position, and it is the position of all of Venezuela at this moment,” Rodríguez she added. “That is the Venezuela I believe in and have dedicated my life to. My dream is for Venezuela to be a great power where all good Venezuelans can come together.”

Rodriguez’s statement comes just one day after she demanded Maduro’s return from U.S. custody, calling him “the only president of Venezuela.”

Several in President Donald Trump’s administration appear skeptical that Rodriguez will fully cooperate with the United States, but they have also voiced their willingness to give her a chance to do so.

Trump himself warned, “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/maduros-no-2-drops-tough-talk-offers-cooperation-with-united-states

[SVPete]

 

[SVPete]

Rubio to Democrats who wanted Congress to approve Maduro capture: 'Couldn't afford leaks'

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/rubio-not-seeking-approval-congress-maduro-capture-couldnt-afford-leaks

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on criticism from Democrats about the military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, specifically the argument that the administration should have sought approval from Congress.

"You can't risk it being disclosed," Rubio said Sunday on "Meet the Press."

He described it as a "trigger-based" operation.

"It couldn't require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This was not an extended military operation. This was a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action. It was a very delicate operation too. It was one that required all these conditions to be in place at the right time and the right place. You couldn't afford leaks," Rubio said.

"We couldn't afford anything out there that would have endangered the mission and gotten people killed or killed off the mission and the optionality. We didn't even know if the mission was going to happen and how can you notify something you're not even sure if it can happen? Because in order for it to happen, you needed to have weather conditions in place. He needed to be at the right place at the right time. We needed to have forces prepared to go. There were a lot of factors in place. It was a trigger-based operation," he added.

I read somewhere that the original planned date was 12/31 but weather forced a postponement.

[SVPete]

JD Vance Takes on Lefty Claims About Venezuelan Drug Trafficking

https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/01/04/jd-vance-takes-on-lefty-claims-about-venezuelan-drug-trafficking-n4947890

American leftists, who never met an anti-American dictator they didn’t like, are protesting the U.S. capture of Venezuelan dictator and narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro. Part of their noisy hysteria includes highly deceptive claims about the drug war Venezuelan cartels wage on America.

Vice President JD Vance wrote on X Sunday, “You see a lot [of] claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this.” He not only explained the reality of Venezuelan drug trafficking that was backed by Maduro, he also took on false claims about the Venezuelan oil industry and its new American takeover.

One misconception is about how many kinds of deadly drugs are trafficked. “First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was),” Vance wrote. “Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!” It’s sad lefties have to be told that.

[Airwolf]

My thing after all this news is that I don't like the timing. I get it that the President always acts on his own schedule but the thing I don't like is the why of it taking so long to go in and finish the nightmare that was Maduros Venezuela. If they had done this back when Trump was first in office, it would have saved us a lot of heartache but that is also the nature of Diplomacy. Also Trump had to deal with all of those impeachments at the time.  Another thing is It has become a sad state of affairs that we cannot trust our own Goverment to keep a secret when an operation like this takes place. I remember during Desert Storm when a news crew was filing some SF guys coming ashore as it was actually happening putting those guys in danger.

[SVPete]

Trump 1.0:

* 2 1/2 years of the Trump-Russia Collusion shamvestigation;

* The Quid Pro Quo shamvestigation and shampeachment 1.0;

* The Covid epidemic and Operation Warp Speed (which entailed far more than The Vaccine) while under partisan "fire";

* Intelligence agencies that withheld information and undermined Trump;

* The FBI conspiring to frame Trump;

* The tail end of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trump 1.0 certainly was busy, much of it in battling partisan lies. With the intelligence agencies withholding information and the FBI busy conspiring against him, I doubt that Trump had the information to publicly justify apprehending Maduro nor the information to carry off that operation.