“We will be taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground” said US president Donald Trump from his own Floridean palace Mar-a-lago in a rambling speech announcing the abduction of the Venezuelan head of state Nicolas Maduro with his wife to New York to face charges in a US warship, which happened early that very morning.
President Donald Trump noted, with that nasty secret smile of his, that his forces had switched off the Caracas electricity grid using “a special expertise that we have” (“It was dark and it was deadly”), he added just in case anyone missed the point. “We are going to run the country until such time until we can do a safe proper and judicious transition. […] We’re there now […] to start making money for the country [in a] partnership of Venezuela with the United States”, he added. Yes Trump actually called regime change, a military invasion and abduction of a President, a partnership!
The rambling speech toughened up a little adding an old threat from the 1800’s which Trump decided to rename (like the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts): “American will never allow foreign powers to rob our people and drive us out of our own hemisphere […] not any more […] the Munroe doctrines was a big deal, we sort of forgot about it, we won’t again […] They’ll now call it the Don-roe document”, he added meaning to say “doctrine”.
On and on it went the government executives behind him shuffling nervously as he obviously, and somewhat painfully, wobbled off script: “Under the Trump Administration we are reasserting American power in a very powerful way […] it will never be questioned never again. Won’t happen!”. Then Trump who in fact he had started a new war, one of occupation in Venezuela, threatening two neighbours (Colombia and Cuba) also claimed that he has “stopped eight and one quarter wars”.
Nicolas Maduro (and his wife) were extradited to face drug charges in New York he added. Munroe was a very good guy said the president. “[W]hat I saw last night was precise and beautiful.” trump added. Then it was Hegseth’s turn! Cue the “War Department” :
“This is America first! This is peace through strength! And the United States War Department is proud to help deliver it. Welcome to 2026 and under President Trump, America is back!”
Then General ‘Raizin’ Caine took the podium. This man (they were all men on the podium at Mar-a-lago) is a military general and a venture capitalist who founded The Caine Group, an investment and military consulting firm. Caine added:
“Last night on the order of the President of the United States, and in support of a request from the Department of Justice, as the President said, the United States military conducted an apprehension mission in Caracas Venezuela to bring to justice two indicted persons: Nicolas and Cecilia Maduro. This operation know as Operation Absolute Resolve was discrete, precise and conducted during the darkest hours of January Second”.
The Mar-a-Lago conference finished with Trump selecting and answering questions but not before Cuban-American Marco Rubio got his few words in to threaten Cuba. The US incursion on the ground in Caracas attacked Cuban troops because Venezuelan troops were not called to action. The Cuban security contingent were outflanked and overcome by larger US “boots on the ground” while the Whitehouse team watched on TV. Mauro we were told tried to make it to a safe room but was unable to close the door for he and his wife on time. Why Venezuelan troops were not called to action by Vladimir Padrino López the Minister of Defence and a former School of the Americas at Fort Benning in Georgia. The graduate specialized in Psy-Ops. Rumours of a coup d’État in Venezuela seemed to be confirmed by announcements at the same conference by Donald Trump that the optional phase two (the bigger attack planned as phase two of Operation Absolute Resolve) will not be required! This has led to further suspicions on the Minister for Defence and the Vice President possibly with others.
The situation in Venezuela and in the Caribbean is ongoing.
“The calls by the US government for escalation reflect a reckless disregard for Venezuela’s sovereignty, international law, and human life. A war against Venezuela would be a war that Americans do not want, against a country that has not threatened or attacked the US, and on legal grounds that would fail a first-year law student. Bombing vessels, ports, refineries, or soldiers is not a show of strength. It is the epitome of gangsterism.” https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/3hgjxj2xng32pd89ksxl2g64d9dwg9