On Havana's Fifth Avenue, where the trees and lawns remain elegantly groomed even as the rest of Cuba wilts, a billboard outside the Venezuelan embassy reads: Hasta Siempre Comandante (Until For Ever, Commander) next to a vast picture of a smiling Hugo Chavez. It is a staunch declaration that the two nations are bound together for ever. But this week, after the US operation to grab Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, those ties are in danger of unravelling.
Hours later, during a congratulatory press conference, Trump said that during a period of transition in Venezuela, "we're going to run the country right." But he gave only limited details of how the process would proceed, aside from saying, "We're not afraid of boots on the ground." Trump dwelt more on talk of prosecuting Maduro and his wife in a New York City courtroom.
Sir Keir Starmer has backed the transition of power in Venezuela saying the UK shed no tears about the end of Nicolas Maduro's regime. His comments, which will be seen as effective support for Donald Trump, came after the US President stunned the world by announcing it had captured President Maduro and was taking over the running of the South American country.
They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out. The Republican was talking about the U.S. operation against drug trafficking in the Caribbean, focused on Venezuela. And if he said what he seemed to mean, he was confirming an attack the first strike on the ground after months of threatening to do so, escalating the offensive against Nicolas Maduro's government.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Using U.S. forces to seize an oil tanker is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration's latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.