The Invasion of Venezuela

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Free]

TRT World - Death toll from US attacks in Venezuela rises to 80 — report

The report by The New York Times says the toll could rise further.

www.trtworld.com

The death toll from Saturday's US military operation in Venezuela has risen to 80, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Citing a senior Venezuelan official, the Times said on Sunday the number could rise further.

Earlier, Venezuela's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said a large part of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's security team had been killed during the US operation, without giving exact numbers.

Cuba is saying 32 of their officers were killed during the invasion.

 

[Free]

This was reported on Saturday. I'm sure word of it will spread wide and far and force the newspapers to explain their reasons for kowtowing to the current administration. ( )

News organizations held off on reporting Venezuela raid

The New York Times and Washington Post learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Friday night — but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops, two people familiar with the communications between the administration and the news organizations said.

The decisions in the New York and Washington newsrooms to maintain official secrecy is in keeping with longstanding American journalistic traditions — even at a moment of unprecedented mutual hostility between the American president and a legacy media that continues to dominate national security reporting. And it offers a rare glimpse at a thread of contact and even cooperation over some of the highest-stakes American national security issues.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

well yes.... The US military took Iraq quickly, but what came next was a long nightmare. I was saying earlier something like that could happen with Venezuela. But I also wanted to point out that so much of the trouble with Iraq had to do with ISIS coming in. I doubt Venezuela would have a direct analog to that, but plenty can still go wrong.

They could take some lessons from Cuba.

Venezuela's politicians already sent one message to the USA: they've been a colony once for 300 years to Spain, and will never allow that to happen again.

 

[Chalice Yao]

WB Chalice!

Thanks!

Also:

“We extend an invitation to the US government to work together on an agenda for cooperation that is aimed toward shared development,” Rodríguez said after holding her first cabinet meeting since Maduro’s ouster.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to Rodríguez, who told him “‘we’ll do whatever you need’”, Trump told reporters.
“She, I think, was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice.” The New York Times reported that Trump officials several weeks ago identified the technocrat as a potential successor and business partner partly on the basis of her relationship with Wall Street and oil companies.

The bullying worked. This also means that the oil companies do not need to rebuild any infrastructure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/us-running-venezuela-now-seems-less-likely-but-second-intervention-possible

Also, interesting tidbit:

Markets are reacting to the turmoil over Venezuela and the US actions, with investors seeking the safe haven of gold and buying up shares in defence companies. But with Donald Trump making Venezuela’s oil reserves central to his plans for the country, the price of crude is falling.

Imagine just how much money Trump's inner circle is making, knowing all the market moves due to tariffs, invasions etc. in advance.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thanks!

Also:



The bullying worked. This also means that the oil companies do not need to rebuild any infrastructure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/us-running-venezuela-now-seems-less-likely-but-second-intervention-possible

Also, interesting tidbit:



Imagine just how much money Trump's inner circle is making, knowing all the market moves due to tariffs, invasions etc. in advance.

Certainly, but I wonder if US oil companies and their investors, who would have to bear the costs of extracting it, share Trump's enthusiasm for Venezuelan oil. Because of years of mismanagement and underinvestment, partly because of US sanctions and partly because of mismanagement following nationalisation, they'd need to commit billions of dollars of investment over a decade or so before they would start to see much of a return, and I'd imagine they'd be a bit nervous about that until the political situation is a lot clearer.

Trump wants Venezuela's oil. Will his plan work?

Donald Trump has said that American oil firms will invest billions to produce oil in Venezuela.

www.bbc.co.uk

Trump Wants Venezuela’s Oil. Getting It Might Not Be So Simple

The administration has made it clear that Nicolás Maduro's capture was tied to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Much less certain is how US companies will actually access them—or if they even want to.

www.wired.com

Venezuela's new Godfather

It needs democratic renewal. Instead, the mob continues - under Trump's supervision

frasernelson.substack.com

And from The Economist (Evernote link because £wall) Donald Trump’s great Venezuelan oil gamble

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

...and I'd imagine they'd be a bit nervous about that until the political situation is a lot clearer.

Yeah, this is a key point. I'm certain it would be possible to extract their oil and other minerals for a huge profit; but they'd have a legitimate fear that it will just be nationalized again after they repair the infrastructure.

If I owned an oil or mineral company and was offered the chance to extract something from Venezuela, I'd probably only agree to it if I was given a big grant or loan from the government to finance the repair. And if it was a loan, I'd want the contract to specify that I don't have to pay it back if they nationalize the resources again.

...and even then, I'd only take the job if I had no sense of ethics and trusted the Trump administration far more than I do.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

You've got to view it from a different angle: if America doesn't want to develop the oil fields of Venezuela, then PRC gladly will do so!

So it serves 2 purposes: getting a hold of it and pushing China out for the moment.

It could be that draining the oil flow to China at the moment is already enough for Trump. China is the most important trade partner to Venezuela and investor as well.

 

[Khamon]

*stumbles out of the grave*

 

[Free]

Nicolás Maduro Charged With Felony Oil Possession

theonion.com

 

[Free]

They cannot help themselves.

That Video of Happy Crying Venezuelans After Maduro's Kidnapping? It's AI Slop

An AI-generated video with over 5 million views on social media purports to show Venezuelans celebrating Nicolas Maduro's kidnapping.

futurism.com

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I read that somewhere that rare materials (earths, metals??) and not the oil, were the US target, would appreciate confirmation or otherwise.

Another commentator I can't find again suggested the US problem isn't capturing their targets but what comes next. They don't have the ability, understanding or really the will to properly administer nations the US interferes with one way or another, leaving behind a ruined country, and a people who now hate the US.

It seems that Venezuela has several rare or rarish materials among its natural resources

Natural Resources of Venezuela: Overview of oil, natural gas, rare earth minerals

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is located alongside the South America's Caribbean coast. Its neighbouring countries are Brazil and Columbia. Having a total area of 912,050 km2 and a land area of 882,050 km2, Venezuela is enriched...

www.geo.tv

However, it's by no means clear how readily or economically exploitable they all are at current world prices. Other than oil and natural gas, their most economically significant mineral resources currently seem to include gold, iron, nickel, and bauxite.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

And as night follows day...

Venezuela launches wave of repression after US seizure of Nicolás Maduro (Evernote link because FT £wall).

I was talking to a Venezuelan friend yesterday in a zoom call. He's delighted Maduro has been removed, and seemed pretty fatalistic about what happens next -- people outside Venezuela, he says, just don't understand the repression, criminality, cartels, disappearances and economic hardship people there have undergone over the last 20 years, and how they are pretty much prepared for anything so long as the current regime is removed. But removing Maduro while leaving untouched the rest of the regime, and its whole apparatus of militias and bureaucrats, changes nothing.

He's very impatient with people who complain about the legality of the US' actions -- the world, he says, deplored Maduro's stealing the elections, but nothing came of it. I'm not sure I agree with him, but I couldn't argue with him, since he has to live there and I don't.

 

[Beebo Brink]

He's very impatient with people who complain about the legality of the US' actions -- the world, he says, deplored Maduro's stealing the elections, but nothing came of it. I'm not sure I agree with him, but I couldn't argue with him, since he has to live there and I don't.

This isn't the kind of situation that anyone -- including Venezuelans -- can judge right now. It's where they'll be a year from now, and five years from now, that really matters. I can understand the impulse to grab at hope and think the removal of Maduro will improve their situation, but I'm more inclined toward a continuation of business-as-usual from the existing regime or collapse that leads to total chaos that makes things worse.

We're wrestling with this same wishful scenario here in the U.S. People think that Trump's removal from office (by death or otherwise) will somehow make things better. I'm far less optimistic. Trump is a convenient figurehead for a small cadre of decision-makers who know how to (more or less) manipulate his ego-driven impulses. Trump just wants to look powerful, and Hegseth wants to cosplay being a warrior. They're like a loaded gun that can't wait to explode, but Rubio and Miller are the ones who point the barrel in a specific direction.

I'm not convinced that Trump's absence would make things better. People are still clinging to a vision of the U.S. that I think is gone and won't come back, Trump or no Trump.

 

[Free]

Jesús Cristo...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This isn't the kind of situation that anyone -- including Venezuelans -- can judge right now. It's where they'll be a year from now, and five years from now, that really matters. I can understand the impulse to grab at hope and think the removal of Maduro will improve their situation, but I'm more inclined toward a continuation of business-as-usual from the existing regime or collapse that leads to total chaos that makes things worse.

We're wrestling with this same wishful scenario here in the U.S. People think that Trump's removal from office (by death or otherwise) will somehow make things better. I'm far less optimistic. Trump is a convenient figurehead for a small cadre of decision-makers who know how to (more or less) manipulate his ego-driven impulses. Trump just wants to look powerful, and Hegseth wants to cosplay being a warrior. They're like a loaded gun that can't wait to explode, but Rubio and Miller are the ones who point the barrel in a specific direction.

I'm not convinced that Trump's absence would make things better. People are still clinging to a vision of the U.S. that I think is gone and won't come back, Trump or no Trump.

All I could say to him is that I just hope this doesn't make a bad situation even worse. He agreed that's his big worry, too.

Unfortunately, while the US has proved itself very good at organising regime changes in Central and South America over the last 70-odd years, the consequences aren't usually particularly encouraging for anyone.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

And this is the most half-assed regime change ever. We took one person and left everything else in place. Even in North Korea it isn't that simple. The next predictable development will be infighting among members of the government, much like the US would experience of Trump suddenly disappeared.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Interesting take on Trump and Venezuela as Trump's reality TV extravaganza from Michael Wolff

Does Trump Really Want Venezuela?

…Or something much, much bigger?

substack.com

Evernote Link

Anyway, season one of the reboot—the first year of his second term—is ending with an intrusion of actual reality and a dip in ratings and, it even appears, with questions about the strength of his character (rumors about his health and his inability to put Epstein to rest, foremost among those concerns). So, therefore, what’s needed, is a redirect of the narrative’s conflict and spectacle.

Voila, Venezuela! He wins; Maduro, the Venezuela strongman, loses.

A new season, a new plot line, new characters. Again, do not, please, see this as metaphor. What unfolds in Trump’s mind is a clear outline of pacing and drama. What does not occur to him is anything to do with strategic outcome or implementation. To ascribe that kind of interest and motivation to him is entirely to lose the point. Rather, he’s created a drama in which he is the main character, in which the action of the story will depend on his emotional engagement with his audience, and in which he can be expected to produce an unexpected outcome—everyday a cliff-hanger.

 

[Casey Pelous]

And this is the most half-assed regime change ever. We took one person and left everything else in place. Even in North Korea it isn't that simple. The next predictable development will be infighting among members of the government, much like the US would experience of Trump suddenly disappeared.

Kind of a testament to the galactic scale hubris of Grampa Napsalot. He thinks he wiped out the Venezuelan government because he removed the Venezuelan Melon Felon equivalent, since, obviously, removing Melon Felon would wipe out the US government.