A blow has been dealt to the far-right group Hazte Oír by the National Court. Judge Antonio Piña has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the organization against former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for money laundering, drug trafficking, and membership in a criminal organization due to his ties with Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan regime. After reviewing the document, he concluded that he cannot open a "prospective" investigation into the former Prime Minister's assets without evidence of criminal activity and without the original lawsuit providing "any facts" that could link Zapatero to the alleged crimes. In fact, Piña strongly criticized Hazte Oír: "Personal or popular belief cannot be confused with the existence of facts sufficient to warrant opening a criminal case." He added, "The public significance of lawsuits like this requires the presentation of evidence that goes beyond journalistic reports."

Outside El Helicoide, the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service in Caracas, dozens of relatives of prisoners gathered this Saturday to await the release of their loved ones. As the afternoon wore on, a prerecorded message was broadcast over the phone in which Venezuela's new president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced a bill granting total amnesty to the political prisoners amassed in Venezuelan jails. The legislation covers "the entire period of political violence," from 1999, when Chávez came to power, to "the present." At the opening ceremony of the judicial year this Friday evening at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of the South American country, Rodríguez tasked the Commission for Judicial Revolution and the Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace with approving the bill "in the coming hours." And there is little doubt that the bill will be approved shortly. Deputies loyal to the current regime hold a majority in the Venezuelan Parliament, whose head is the president's brother, Jorge Rodríguez. "I once again request the full cooperation of the Venezuelan legislative branch. May this be a law that serves to heal the wounds left by political confrontation, violence, and extremism. May it serve to restore justice in our country and peaceful coexistence among Venezuelans," he stated. At El Helicoide, described as a center of "torture" by NGOs and opposition members, everyone was crying. "Freedom! Freedom!" some shouted. "God is good. God has heard us," Johana Chirinos, the aunt of a prisoner, told the Associated Press.

The ashes of the destruction left in Venezuela by the US military attack had barely cooled when we began to hear talk of a possible transition to democracy. We have heard these words so many times they have become a litany, especially since 2013, the year Nicolás Maduro replaced Hugo Chávez as president of Venezuela. This shouldn't surprise us. The country's elites have been unable to resolve the political crisis that deepened after 2004, the year in which the constitutional reform, championed by Chávez as the cornerstone of his political project, failed at the polls. Very few realized that by leaving Chavismo in charge of the government and territorial control, President Donald Trump was nullifying or minimizing the role the opposition could play in a hypothetical transition. A process that seems uncertain, because the pieces for its realization are far from complete. Maryhen Jiménez, a PhD in political science from Oxford University, recalls that opposition groups in Venezuela tried unsuccessfully to remove Hugo Chávez from power through various means, both legal and illegal. Chavismo demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain its grip on power. It is likely that the Trump administration concluded that political change does not depend solely on military intervention or regime change. fast track not from the executive branch (the person in charge of the presidency), but from a more complex reconfiguration of internal balances that includes actors within the system.

Beyond the drug trafficking charges against Maduro, Trump, who has the advantage of clarity, has said he seeks to "take back our oil." For Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, the 1976 Venezuelan nationalization of the oil industry represented "the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property." After that first nationalization, foreign companies continued operating in Venezuela until 2007, when Chávez carried out a second recovery that reinforced majority state control of the oil industry. With the profits obtained, Chávez was able to sustain the Bolivarian Revolution: a massive redistribution project that drastically reduced poverty. The revolution enjoyed broad popular support for years, which allowed it to thwart the 2002 coup attempt, driven by an essentially anti-democratic opposition. To illustrate, the newly minted Nobel laureate María Corina Machado denounced each new election as fraudulent, regardless of Chavismo's repeated victories, even in the most recent election in 2024, since Maduro has failed to prove his triumph. The Venezuelan process was the first of the progressive Latin American governments that emerged in response to devastating neoliberal policies. In Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador, among others, the left was made possible by extractivism. Commodity prices allowed for redistribution, but also fueled its decline with the subsequent price collapse beginning in 2014. In Venezuela, Chavismo failed to utilize these resources to diversify the productive system, thus cementing its structural fragility. This was compounded by inefficiency, corruption, and military control of a significant portion of the economy. But also the unilateral US sanctions, which crippled the entire national economy, especially the oil industry, which barely affected the ruling elite and caused immense social suffering. The current crisis is interwoven with these factors and with the country's dependence on China, which explains the US coup: a fierce geopolitical competition on a chessboard where the US is revolting against its loss of global hegemony.

The National Court has opened a new legal front in the inner circle of Pedro Sánchez and will investigate for the first time the role of former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Venezuela. Four days after Hazte Oír filed a lawsuit against him for the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering, and drug trafficking, Judge Antonio Piña considers that the reported events have "characteristics that suggest the possible existence" of a criminal offense. However, according to the court order accessed by ARA, given that the "nature and circumstances" of the events are still "undetermined," he has decided to initiate the preliminary proceedings that are "essential" to see if the investigation has merit. Before proceeding, he is asking the Public Prosecutor's Office whether the National Court has jurisdiction to do so.

The lack of international support was one of the reasons the Process failed. Only one world leader defended the October 1st referendum: Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelan president, ousted by the US, defended the referendum. "Catalonia had the right to express itself democratically," he said on October 1st in his program. Sundays with MaduroInterspersing images of police repression, which he described as "terrible," he had already been photographed with the Catalan independence flag (estelada) at the documentary's presentation in April.Maduro, unwavering loyalty, Directed by Lluís Bartra, a member of the Ítaca collective, a left-wing pro-independence group, the photograph infuriated the PDECat party. "If anyone thinks they're making a difference by having Maduro pose with the Catalan independence flag, they haven't understood anything," warned coordinator Marta Pascal. Eight years later, the figure of Maduro, who repressed the Venezuelan opposition while in power, continues to divide the pro-independence movement. In this sense, Trump's attack on Venezuela has highlighted the division within the pro-independence movement regarding international relations.

We've all had to return to normal without warming up: on January 3rd, Trump bombed Caracas and President Maduro is being taken to New York to be tried..

The capture of Nicolás Maduro comes in a year laden with symbolism: it coincides with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, a turning point that completely redefined global (in)security. The coincidence is not merely chronological: it also serves to contrast two eras, two ways of understanding global threats, and two ways of justifying things that are more or less unjustifiable.

The dystopian and political satire film Don't look up (2021) portrayed a society incapable of confronting an imminent existential threat. Faced with the predicted destruction of the world, the protagonists preferred to look the other way, trapped in irrelevant matters. Today, in a context of profound political disaffection, collective impotence, and widespread superficiality, it seems we are living through our own. Don't look up particular.

The technical language that fill the 25 pages of the indictment The indictment against Nicolás Maduro, his wife, and other members of the Venezuelan government is the legal translation of Donald Trump's political narrative about his war on drugs. On Monday at noon, just over 48 hours later after being captured by Delta Force, The deposed president and his wife, Cilia Flores, listened in a Manhattan courtroom to the opening statement of a case the United States has been building for over a decade. Through simultaneous translation headphones, the couple heard the reading of the charges against them, which are framed as follows: "For more than 25 years, Venezuela's leaders have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted previously legitimate institutions to export tons of cocaine."

In future history books, Donald Trump's name will appear alongside those of other presidents who shaped U.S. policy toward the Americas. This list begins 200 years ago with the birth of the famous Monroe Doctrine..

In recent hours, there has been a surprising shift in tone from Venezuela's Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, regarding the United States. The current "interim president" has considerably softened her rhetoric against Washington, coinciding with reports that the US, after stating its intention to "lead" the country following Maduro's abduction, would welcome her taking over, at least for now, from Hugo Chávez's successor. Rodríguez has gone from asserting Maduro's status as the country's sole president and warning that Venezuela would not be a "colony" of the US to expressing a willingness to "work together on a cooperative agenda" with the White House. Although Venezuela made it clear from the outset that it is "prepared to maintain respectful relations" with Washington, the condemnation of Maduro's capture has taken a backseat in Rodríguez's public statements. We examine this change in tone and the context in which it has occurred.

Nicolás Maduro testified Monday before a Manhattan court, accused of narcoterrorism. To defend himself, the Venezuelan president has chosen two well-known lawyers: David Wilkstrom and Barry Pollack. Pollack is a name that became familiar in the courts, as he represented Julian Assange and negotiated the WikiLeaks founder's release with US authorities. With more than three decades of experience, he also served as president of the National Association of Criminal Lawyers. Wilkstrom, a public defender and veteran criminal lawyer, also has experience in high-profile cases. As he explains... New York TimesHe was in charge of defending the brother of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted on charges similar to those against Maduro. In that case, Trump decided to pardon him. Wilkstrom He is also known for being the father of Derek Wilkstrom, who was one of the prosecutors in the case against Eric Adams, former mayor of New York.

He is a flamboyant leader, tailor-made for turbulent times. He is chaos itself, and chaos feeds him. Trump has used Delta Force to turn reality into a movie, and after capturing the Venezuelan dictator, he paraded him across television screens worldwide, first by plane and then in an armored vehicle through the streets of a New York that politically resists him. The situation is becoming clearer. It will take time for details and the full picture to emerge, but the pieces are falling into place. The army, the same one that failed to prevent the assault and didn't even appear in the initial hours, supports Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. The Vice President's brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the National Assembly, and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello maintain Chavismo's civilian and military control over the country. Washington's message is clear: if they cooperate by granting US access to oil, they will save their own skins. Meanwhile, the legal machinery is being set in motion to prosecute Maduro. This process could foreshadow further actions in Washington's sphere of influence. When international law no longer prevails, why not take action against Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, or Panama?

The military operation carried out by the US government raises many questions and clarifies some things. Let's begin by stating that the true interest of Donald Trump's administration has always been to seize control of Venezuela's oil wealth. He also made it clear in his press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, that the United States would "run" the country from that moment on. At the same time, the "extraction" of Nicolás Maduro as a defendant in a drug trafficking case is a strictly legal matter, with no political validity or consideration given to his status as head of state. de facto From Venezuela.

During the hours after the United States operation to capture Nicolás Maduro And his wife, Cilia Flores, one of the questions was how it had been possible, given the enormous security detail surrounding the Venezuelan president. This Sunday, information began to emerge suggesting that the elite agents who participated in the military incursion caused a massacre. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López reported that "a large part" of Maduro's security team was killed "in cold blood," although he did not give an exact number of casualties.

Once again, the European Union has been unable to forge a unified and coherent position in the face of a US military operation in Venezuela that violates all rules of international law. So far, the majority response has been to somehow endorse Maduro's capture and then ask the White House to democratize the country as quickly as possible, as if Donald Trump had acted in the name of universal democratic principles and not out of his own geopolitical and economic interests. In fact, many of those who rushed to celebrate Maduro's downfall on Saturday are now watching with perplexity as Washington may have reached some kind of agreement with his second-in-command, Delcy Rodríguez, to allow her to remain in power. Indeed, this is the situation on the ground in Venezuela.

Tomorrow marks five years since Trump sent a mob to storm the US Capitol to prevent the official proclamation of his defeat in the 2020 election. The anniversary is far overshadowed by Maduro's capture, but it serves as a reminder that this use of force was the beginning of Trump's return to the White House, against all reasonable predictions. Trump is the president in whom fear, the use of force, and the largest military in history converge.

What has happened in Venezuela is difficult to comprehend. The United States has launched a military operation on Caracas to capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. It is an intervention comparable only to the capture of Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989.

On the night of December 24, Maduro ate the last hallacas Homemade, a traditional Venezuelan Christmas dish. Nicolás Maduro, according to White House sources and Donald Trump himself, will not set foot in Miraflores Palace again and will sit in the dock—in a US court—to answer the accusations leveled against him for drug trafficking. This week, the now-deposed president, speaking from the presidential complex in an interview with Venezuelan state television, described his last conversation with his Washington counterpart: "I think the conversation was pleasant, but the events following the conversation have not been pleasant." A path of almost 14 years that, with Trump's arrival, has accelerated the Venezuelan leader's downfall. to fall into the hands of an alleged Pentagon surgical operation