Venezuela Isn’t a Set of Talking Points — It’s a Country With a History

Most people in the United States encounter Venezuela not as a country with a history, but as a set of talking points. Those talking points — about mass migration, economic collapse, sanctions, authoritarianism — circulate without much attention to how they were produced, what they leave out, or whose interests they serve. That lack of grounding has mattered in recent weeks. When news broke that…
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US Issues New Sanctions on ICC Judges Amid Israeli War Crime Probe

The International Criminal Court and human rights groups on Thursday condemned new US sanctions on two more of the tribunal’s judges, which brought the total number of sanctioned ICC jurists to 11 amid the Trump administration’s escalating campaign of retaliation against people and institutions seeking to hold Israel and the United States accountable for their alleged crimes. “Today…
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Historian: US Escalation Against Venezuela Isn’t About Drugs — It’s About Maduro

President Trump has ordered what he called a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as the United States escalates pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The move comes amid a major U.S. military buildup in the region and days after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil. Since September, the U.S.
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US Relied on Illegal Sanctions to Seize Venezuelan Oil Tanker

“We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela — a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually,” Donald Trump told reporters on December 10, describing the escalation of his apparently impending illegal war and regime change in Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi ceremoniously released a video clip of the U.S. Marines and National Guard rappelling down from two…
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Venezuela Says US Oil Tanker Seizure Is “Piracy” as Trump Says US Will Keep Oil

The Venezuelan government has condemned the U.S.’s seizure of an oil tanker off its coast as “piracy,” as President Donald Trump says that the U.S. is keeping the oil. In a statement, the Venezuelan government said the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.” It added that the move shows that the U.S.’s recent aggression “has always been about our natural…
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UN Condemns US Embargo on Cuba for 33rd Year as Hurricane Batters Island

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage. We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernández…
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