The follow-on continues to the Jan. 3 U.S. attack on Venezuela and abduction of its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from Caracas. The two were arraigned today on 12 counts before a Federal judge in New York City, each declaring their innocence; the next court action is March 17. Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in today as Acting President, and has made mild statements about “cooperation” in the context of terror in her nation and the Caribbean. The death count from the U.S.’s Jan. 3 airstrikes and action in Venezuela is reported as 80, with 32 of them being deceased Cuban nationals.
Drilling and conveyance of oil in the nation is now near standstill, because the tank farms, and tankers at anchor, have reached their limit to be able to store any more, given the U.S. blockade of shipping. Later this week, the White House intends to host U.S. oil executives in Miami, Florida, to take over in the name of “rebuilding” in Venezuela.
President Donald Trump indicated last night that Colombia and Mexico are in line for U.S. intervention if Washington so decides, along with the takedown of Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the same. This evening Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller likewise declared on CNN that, “The United States should have Greenland.”
Trump said that Colombia “is run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” He said of Mexico, that “in every single call I have offered troops” to President Claudia Sheinbaum.
This whole situation shows, as described on Jan. 5 by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute leader, that the world is in a new, “different phase” of breakdown. She also referred to the continued horror imposed on Gaza, the suppression of free speech in Europe, the operations against Iran, and more, as well as the U.S. being on a rampage in the Western Hemisphere.
On the particular looming danger of the United States placing nuclear-capable, long-range missiles in Germany this year, the International Peace Coalition, initiated by Zepp-LaRouche, released a statement on Jan. 5 for wide circulation and endorsement. Headlined, “International Peace Coalition Statement: Appeal to the American People, To President Trump, and To Congress!” the full text is below.
The Jan. 5 emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, lasting over three hours, was a platform for dozens of nations to express their condemnation of the United States’ unilateral invasion and takeover in Venezuela. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, an invited briefer, outlined wrongful regime-change actions by the United States over the past decades. Representatives of several nations spoke for larger associations. For example, Uganda spoke on behalf of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement. On Jan. 4, a strong statement was issued by the 18-nation “Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter,” founded alongside a UN meeting in 2021, condemning the U.S. action, pointing out that President Trump on Jan. 3, when he claimed “to occupy and govern” Venezuela, was confessing “a clear plan of annexation that foresees, among others, the complete obliteration of the inalienable rights of the Venezuelan State as a whole.” Among the members of this association are Russia, China, Belarus, Iran, Mali, and Venezuela.
At the same time that the UNSC was meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued his first personal comments on the Venezuela situation, in the course of a meeting with visiting Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. “The world today is undergoing changes and turbulence not seen in a century, with unilateral acts of hegemony that seriously undermine the international order,” Xi said. “All countries must respect the development paths independently chosen by the peoples of other nations, comply with international law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter; and the major powers, in particular, must set an example in this regard,” he stressed, RT reported.
As of the time of preparation of this bulletin, a classified briefing on U.S. actions in Venezuela is being given, for the first time, by the Trump Administration to the Eight-Plus Congressional leaders of their two chambers, in particular, Armed Services and Intelligence. Many lawmakers are highly critical of Trump’s intervention, but unfortunately, only because Congress wasn’t briefed in advance, nor had it given authorization to the U.S. military buildup, and not because the lawmakers oppose the takeover of Venezuela and other nations.
In dramatic distinction, Diane Sare, twice former U.S. Senate candidate from New York, is providing briefings this week, in the course of organizing for her Jan. 10 kick-off campaign event in New York City for running for President of the United States as a LaRouche Independent.
On the Garland Nixon podcast today, Sare said that the U.S. attack on Venezuela “is an affront to the judgment of the world,” and explained why, and what are the responsibilities of the world to roll back the danger. She said, “I can’t believe you have Congressmen, such as my former Congressman Mike Lawler, saying, ‘This was absolutely required, and of course the President should not have told the Congress.’ That is so far from our Constitution, I find that absolutely astounding.”
The International Peace Coalition will hold its 136th consecutive meeting this Friday, Jan. 9.
