U.S.-Venezuela September 2024 –

Trump wouldn’t actually invade Venezuela…would he?
Venezuela’s Maduro turns the screws as Trump ponders regime change
(GZERO media) Amid intensifying US attacks on alleged Venezuela-linked drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is cracking down on dissent at home. The largest US military buildup in the Caribbean in decades has raised concerns that US President Donald Trump may seek to knock Maduro out of power altogether. Maduro — who remains deeply unpopular after evidently rigging last year’s presidential election — has deployed loyalist vigilantes to police dissent and arrested dozens more critics.
… this is about more than appearing tough on drugs and immigration. It’s also about regime change. Ousting President Nicolas Maduro is unfinished business from Trump’s first term and a key priority for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
There’s also an element of psychological warfare here. You have a massive US military buildup just off the coast of Venezuela aimed at getting in Maduro’s head, and it just might work.
Geopolitics are also key here. Trump is keen to show China that the US is strong in its backyard, Latin America, as we saw with his moves related to the Panama Canal earlier this year. He’s also taking advantage of the fact that Maduro’s typical allies, Russia, Iran, China, are either weak or distracted and are unlikely to come to his rescue. All of this suggests that the US may be readying for moves against Venezuela.
Trump Weighs Options, and Risks, for Attacks on Venezuela
President Trump has yet to make a decision, but his advisers are pressing a range of objectives — from attacking drug cartels to seizing oil fields — to try to justify ousting Nicolás Maduro.
(NYT) The Trump administration has developed a range of options for military action in Venezuela, including direct attacks on military units that protect President Nicolás Maduro and moves to seize control of the country’s oil fields, according to multiple U.S. officials.
President Trump has yet to make a decision about how or even whether to proceed. Officials said he was reluctant to approve operations that may place American troops at risk or could turn into an embarrassing failure. But many of his senior advisers are pressing for one of the most aggressive options: ousting Mr. Maduro from power.

31 October – 1 November
Trump’s Caribbean military buildup: a war on drugs or a regime-change campaign?
By Emily Goodin and Claire Heddles
War ships are cruising the Caribbean. U.S. missiles are obliterating motorboats in two oceans. And bombers are buzzing Venezuela, where sources say the Trump administration has identified targets on land for future strikes.
To much of the world, it all looks like a push for regime change in Venezuela, where the United States has offered a $50 million reward for the capture of authoritarian ruler Nicolás Maduro.
But according to President Donald Trump, the purpose for the military escalation is closer to home: Each missile strike prevents deadly drugs from reaching U.S. shores and each drug-toting vessel struck saves 25,000 U.S. lives, he says.
Despite historical evidence that narcotics trafficked through Venezuela aren’t likely bound for the United States, Trump is casting the military campaign as a literal war on drugs, perhaps making the idea of intervention more palpable to the country, particularly the isolationist supporters who helped return him to the White House.
… The vast majority of all drugs headed to the U.S. — 80% — travel through the Eastern Pacific, not through Atlantic routes from Venezuela, former Southern Command General Laura Richardson told Congress in 2022. “If you’re looking at it from a narcotics policy point of view, more drugs come up on the Pacific side than the Atlantic side. So why not put the flotilla on the other side of Panama? I don’t quite get it,” Elliot Abrams, a Republican and special representative to Venezuela in the first Trump administration, told the Herald in September.
Cannot find any current corroborating stories – this may refer to General Richardson’s 2022 testimony
U.S. Admits Real Motive in Venezuela
We all Guessed Correctly. Gold and Oil (and other resources)
(Silver Academy) Democracy? Just a Costume Party
You can almost hear the Beltway PR consultants scrambling: “Clean it up, Laura! Smile more, mention liberty!” Too late. The game’s up. For years, everyone from self-righteous pundits to cardigan-clad Senators sold intervention as a freedom crusade. But look in the mirror—freedom never paid so well. In reality, the U.S. picks its targets with a single, greasy finger jammed onto the world’s resource map. That’s always been the play, from sweaty jungles to oil-splattered deserts. Control is non-negotiable.​

25 October
I met Chávez and Maduro. I know drugs are not the reason Trump wants war with Venezuela
By Greg Palast
I met with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez just days after he was kidnapped. I’ll tell you about that, and the current President Nicolás Maduro’s visit to my New York office. But first you must know three things about Venezuela, to understand why Donald Trump has ordered a covert operation to overthrow their government.
1.Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.
2.Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.
3.Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.
Look it up: According to OPEC’s own site, Venezuela’s 303 billion barrels in proven reserves are four times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.
For years, I was BBC Television’s correspondent covering Venezuela and US attempts to overthrow their elected government. Trump invented nothing. This is at least the fourth US-backed attempt at overthrow and assassination of a Venezuelan president.
Venezuela’s Maduro says the US is fabricating a war and seeks to revoke citizenship of opponent
(AP) — Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him as the world’s biggest warship approached the South American country, while moving to revoke the citizenship of an opponent he accuses of egging on an invasion.
Maduro said in a national broadcast on Friday night that the administration of President Donald Trump is “fabricating a new eternal war” as the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which can host up to 90 airplanes and attack helicopters, moves closer to Venezuela.
On Saturday, the Venezuelan president also referred to the pressure he has felt from the U.S. government as he started legal proceedings seeking to revoke the citizenship and cancel the passport of opposition politician Leopoldo López.
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid,” said Maduro in Friday night’s address. Trump has accused him, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organized crime gang Tren de Aragua.

21 October
The Real Target of Trump’s War on Drug Boats
The Administration has blown up seven vessels in the Caribbean in recent weeks, but the President has been pushing for more dramatic military action in Latin America since his first term.
By Jonathan Blitzer
(The New Yorker) In late September, the White House sent a notification to Congress declaring that the U.S. was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the government has designated as “terrorist organizations.” Those it killed in international waters were deemed “unlawful combatants.” In an escalation of hostilities against Venezuela, the Department of Defense has recently moved some ten thousand troops into the region, mostly to former military bases in Puerto Rico. Eight American warships and a submarine are now in the Caribbean, and, according to the Times, the Trump Administration has secretly authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert actions inside Venezuela. …
Venezuela’s Socialist government has, for years, propped up other leftist leaders across the region, chiefly in Cuba. There is a clear electoral constituency in South Florida, a vital Republican stronghold, that has opposed Maduro and demanded American action against his government.
UN experts say US strikes against Venezuela in international waters amount to ‘extrajudicial executions’
Venezuelan foreign minister says experts ‘corroborate what we have been denouncing’
Trump has authorized CIA operations in Venezuela
UN experts say covert or direct military action would be grave breach of UN Charter
(Reuters) – U.S. strikes against Venezuela in international waters are a dangerous escalation and amount to “extrajudicial executions,” a group of independent United Nations experts said on Tuesday.
In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered strikes on at least six suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, killing at least 27 people.
The strikes are part of Trump’s ongoing campaign against what he says is a “narcoterrorist” threat emanating from Venezuela and linked to its president, Nicolas Maduro.

20 October
Officials, locals undercut Trump claims about Venezuela drug boats
Trump says the U.S. is blowing up boats carrying deadly fentanyl to the United States. U.S. and other officials say the route under attack carries cocaine and marijuana to Europe and Africa.

15 October
Trump says US is ‘looking at land’ strikes in Venezuela after lethal strikes on boats
(Guardian Live) Asked in the Oval Office if the US is considering strikes on suspected drug cartels inside Venezuela, after lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers at sea, Donald Trump just said that the administration is “looking at land”.
The president also claimed, without citing evidence, that every strike on a suspected drug smuggling speedboat saves thousands of lives in the US. “Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 lives,” Trump said.
Trump repeats baseless claim that Venezuela ’emptied their prisons’ into the US
To defend lethal US military strikes on suspected drug smugglers, Donald Trump just repeated his familiar but baseless claim that Venezuela “emptied” its prisons and “insane asylums” by sending incarcerated people into the United States as undocumented immigrants during the Biden administration.
“Many countries have done it,” Trump claimed.
As the Marshall Project reported a year ago, before the 2024 election, Trump had already made this claim more than 500 times without a shred of evidence.
13 October
The new war on drugs
Bringing tactics from the war on terror to America’s backyard
(The Economist) In recent years America’s armed forces and intelligence agencies have prioritised fighting a war against China or Russia. Now they are being asked to focus on threats closer to home. An assessment published in March by America’s 18 intelligence agencies elevated the threat of cartels over that of jihadists. Reports suggest that the Pentagon’s forthcoming National Defence Strategy may prioritise “homeland defence” missions like counter-narcotics, above threats like China. “The government is finally using all the tools of national power to go after our greatest threat,” says Derek Maltz, who served as head of the DEA from January until May. “The handcuffs are off.”

10 October
Announcement, Nobel Peace Prize 2025
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 to Maria Corina Machado.
She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.

Ms Machado has been a key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided – an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government. This is precisely what lies at the heart of democracy: our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree. At a time when democracy is under threat, it is more important than ever to defend this common ground.
Venezuela has evolved from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to a brutal, authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis. Most Venezuelans live in deep poverty, even as the few at the top enrich themselves. The violent machinery of the state is directed against the country’s own citizens. Nearly 8 million people have left the country. The opposition has been systematically suppressed by means of election rigging, legal prosecution and imprisonment.
Venezuela’s authoritarian regime makes political work extremely difficult. As a founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development, Ms Machado stood up for free and fair elections more than 20 years ago. As she said: “It was a choice of ballots over bullets.” In political office and in her service to organisations since then, Ms Machado has spoken out for judicial independence, human rights and popular representation. She has spent years working for the freedom of the Venezuelan people.

2 October
Regime change in America’s backyard?
(GZERO media) The Trump administration is moving closer to a direct confrontation with Venezuela, raising the possibility of what the president once vowed to avoid: another US-backed regime change.
Washington has already deployed warships, surveillance planes, and submarines to the Caribbean, and indicated the possibility of a strike inside Venezuela. US forces recently sank Venezuelan boats claiming drug smugglers were aboard, killing 17 people. At the same time, officials have branded Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a cartel boss, “fugitive of American justice,” and threatened to categorize his government as a “state sponsor of terror.”
Behind the scenes, senior officials are actively debating whether to escalate further. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House policy chief Stephen Miller, and CIA Director John Ratcliff are leading the charge for Maduro’s ouster. Their strategy appears to hinge on applying enough military pressure to trigger an internal rupture — splitting the regime and forcing the Venezuelan military to abandon its leader.
…a more probable outcome would be an initial transition from within the regime itself — perhaps a senior military figure replacing Maduro. But as Grais-Targow cautioned, “Even if Maduro is removed, the transition will be long, messy, and potentially violent. Deep mistrust between the opposition and the military makes a clean break unlikely.”

24 September
No President Should Have This Kind of Power
(NYT Editorial Board) Somewhere mingled in the foam and debris of the Caribbean Sea are the remains of at least 17 people who were killed this month by U.S. military forces on the orders of President Trump. They were aboard three speedboats that the Trump administration said were carrying drugs and smugglers from Venezuela.
Perhaps they were. Yet the administration has produced no evidence for its claims. And even if the allegations are correct, blowing up the boats is a lawless exercise in the use of deadly force.
With these attacks, Mr. Trump has ordered the summary execution of people who are not at war with the United States in any traditional sense of the term and who may not even have been committing the crime of which he accused them. It is a violation of legal due process that should alarm all Americans. It is even more extreme than his policy of sending migrants to a brutal prison in El Salvador, based on questionable claims that they belonged to Tren de Aragua and without any chance to contest the government’s claims. The United States, created in opposition to monarchy, should never become a country where the president can order the indefinite imprisonment or the unilateral killing of people merely because he has deemed them to be criminals.

15-20 September
U.S. Military Buildup in Caribbean Signals Broader Campaign Against Venezuela
Trump officials say the mission aims to disrupt the drug trade. But military officials and analysts say the real goal might be driving Venezuela’s president from power.
(NYT) As tensions in the Caribbean Sea have risen, the Pentagon has dispatched 10 F-35 stealth fighters to Puerto Rico to deter Venezuelan flyovers near U.S. ships and to be positioned should President Trump order airstrikes against targets in Venezuela.
The U.S. military strikes this month on three boats that Trump administration officials have asserted were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea have cast a spotlight on the sizable naval armada and aerial fleet of spy aircraft the Pentagon has dispatched to the region in what it says is a counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism mission.
Military officials, diplomats and analysts say a main purpose of the force is to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, as top figures in the Trump administration call him an illegitimate leader and accuse him of directing the actions of criminal gangs and drug cartels.

Trump discloses U.S. targeted a third alleged drug boat from Venezuela
The president acknowledged the incident while delivering a warning to Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
US military again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, Trump says
(AP) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded.
The strike was carried out nearly two weeks after another military strike on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump said he had been shown footage of the latest strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Maduro Calls U.S. Attack on Boat ‘A Heinous Crime.’ Then Trump Announces Another.
The Venezuela leader, Nicolás Maduro, said that the Trump administration was trying to start a war in the Caribbean.

5 September
Trump sends 10 stealth fighter planes to Puerto Rico amid war on Caribbean drug cartels
Move comes after US accuses Venezuela of buzzing warship and a deadly US missile strike in Caribbean Sea
(The Guardian) Trump sends 10 stealth fighter planes to Puerto Rico amid war on Caribbean drug cartels
Move comes after US accuses Venezuela of buzzing warship and a deadly US missile strike in Caribbean Sea
Donald Trump is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to bolster US military operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean region, it was reported on Friday.
It follows a deadly US missile strike on Tuesday on a boat in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration insisted was carrying 11 Venezuelan drug traffickers, and comments by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Wednesday that such attacks “will happen again”.
In another development on Thursday, the US accused Venezuela of the “highly provocative move” of buzzing one of its warships in international waters.
The deployment of strike aircraft to Puerto Rico, first reported by Reuters, citing two sources briefed on the matter, is a sharp escalation of the US president’s crackdown on what he sees as a Venezuelan-led drug-trafficking menace in the region.

2-3 September
Ian Bremmer: Is the US about to invade Venezuela?
… The strike seems intended to make a point.
Analysts said the deployment was more a show of force than an antidrug strategy. Mr. Ramsey said that Mr. Trump, who campaigned on ending wars, was unlikely to attack Venezuela.
“This is less of a counternarcotics operation, more of a show of strength,” Mr. Ramsey said. “This is ultimately an attempt to saber-rattle and see what comes out of it.”
A run of legal and political escalations points to a bigger play. Over the last few weeks, the Trump administration designated Venezuelan cartels as terrorist organizations and Nicolás Maduro as their leader. It doubled the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million. It authorized the Defense Department to use force against cartels in Venezuela and Mexico. And it made a point of reiterating that the US does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state protected by US law – a crucial step in creating legal cover to target him directly, if Trump so ordered. These moves happened before the flotilla started steaming south.
Add it all up and this reads like the opening act of a pressure campaign to unseat Maduro.
President Trump is usually…skeptical of regime change, but Secretary of State and national security adviser (and acting USAID Administrator, and acting Archivist) Marco Rubio has been pushing for a more active US intervention in Venezuela since his Senate days. For Rubio, whose worldview was shaped by Miami Cuban exile politics, hitting Caracas is about more than drugs, crime, and illegal migrants – it’s about taking down what he sees as Cuba’s oil-subsidized proxy and the first step in cleaning house across Latin America.

Is Venezuela Flooding the U.S. With Drugs? Here’s What to Know.
The Trump administration says Venezuela is sending vast amounts of cocaine to the United States. Venezuela’s role in the drug trade is overstated, experts say.
The United States has deployed several Navy ships and thousands of troops near Venezuelan waters. The Trump administration says the military buildup is intended to target Venezuelan drug shipments to the United States.
U.S. officials have said that Venezuelan cocaine shipments are contributing to overdose deaths in the United States and that cocaine is often laced with fentanyl. They accuse the country’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, of overseeing a narcotics cartel.
President Trump signed a still-secret directive in July instructing the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels that his administration has labeled “terrorist” organizations
Trump Says U.S. Attacked Boat Carrying Venezuelan Gang Members, Killing 11
The vessel was transporting illegal narcotics through international waters to the United States, the president said.
“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narco terrorists,” Mr. Trump wrote. He said the strike “occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.”

13 January
Marco Rubio’s first headache
(Politico) Among the first crises he’ll face — the political mess in Venezuela, a hemispheric problem spot that he’s already well-acquainted with.

8-10 January
Venezuela’s Maduro takes new oath amid protests and international rebuke
(AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a new term on Friday, extending his increasingly repressive rule in the face of renewed protests and rebukes from the United States and others who believe he stole last year’s vote.
Venezuela’s legislative palace, where he was sworn in and delivered a fiery speech, was heavily guarded by security forces who have become Maduro’s main hold on power since last summer’s disputed election. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjacent streets and a nearby plaza.
Venezuela’s opposition leader defies Maduro to lead protests that end in confusing arrest claims
(AP) — Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado’s aides said she was detained Thursday, followed moments later by official denials of her arrest, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests seeking to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.
It remained unclear what exactly happened after Machado bid farewell to hundreds of supporters, hopped on a motorcycle and raced with her security convoy down a main Caracas avenue.
At 3:21 p.m. local time, Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides later told The Associated Press that she had been detained, and international condemnation poured in from leaders in Latin America and beyond, demanding her release.
Venezuela’s political newcomer Edmundo González says it’s his turn to rule
(AP) — Edmundo González has become a beacon of hope for millions of Venezuelans. They want to call him president. He believes he won that office at the ballot box last year. The government of President Nicolás Maduro says he did not.
A virtually unknown grandfather less than a year ago, he now has heard tens of thousands of people chant his name as loudly as they screamed “Freedom! Freedom!” at rallies across the South American country.
But González has paid the price for challenging the 25-year rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Under pressure, he has gone into exile. And on Tuesday, he said son-in-law Rafael Tudares had been kidnapped in the capital, Caracas.

2024

19 November
US recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuelan ‘president-elect’
Antony Blinken makes statement months after President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won July contest
(The Guardian) Joe Biden’s administration had previously said González earned the most votes in the disputed 28 July election, but fell short of acknowledging him as president-elect.
“The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made [González] the president-elect,” wrote Blinken.
González fled to exile in Spain earlier this month, later telling reporters that he had been coerced into signing a letter recognizing Maduro as the winner of the disputed election as a condition for letting him leave Venezuela.
Venezuela’s national electoral council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, had declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.
But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online. González and opposition leader María Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
How Venezuela’s opposition proved its election win: ‘A brilliant political move’

6-9 September
Anti-Maduro campaign ‘stronger than ever’ after Venezuelan election, says Machado
Opposition leader María Corina Machado said exile of key figure Edmundo González ‘changes absolutely nothing’

Venezuela opposition candidate leaves for Spain
Venezuela’s vice president says that former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left the country
Venezuela claims embassy used to plan assassination attempts
Brazil insists on defending Argentine interests until new state is chosen
Brazil and Argentina urge Venezuela to respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry asks ICC to issue arrest warrant against Maduro
(Reuters) – Venezuela’s former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left for Spain in the wake of the South American country’s contested election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said on Saturday night after a day of rising diplomatic tensions.
Venezuela revokes Brazil’s custody of Argentine embassy housing Maduro opponents
Opponents holed up for months in the Argentine ambassador’s residence say the building has been surrounded by security forces
… In March, six people sought asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas after a prosecutor ordered their arrest on charges including conspiracy. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has denied the allegations against her collaborators.
Saturday’s move from Venezuela is the latest burst of friction between the countries. Argentina’s president has been among those leading the charge against Maduro over alleged attempts to steal July’s presidential election.
Venezuela’s opposition leader calls for global movement to ‘rescue’ country
María Corina Machado wants struggle against Maduro’s ‘criminal tyranny’ to mirror anti-apartheid movement

4 September
Ian Bremmer: Maduro won’t go
Earlier this week, the US Justice Department seized the airplane used by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, his equivalent of Air Force One. It’s the latest signal that the Biden administration remains furious at Maduro for stealing another of his country’s elections — and that it needs some way of expressing that anger. Will this latest US move undermine Maduro’s hold on power? Don’t hold your breath.
Background: US presidents have tried for years to force Maduro, in power since 2013, to hold free and fair national elections in Venezuela. Maduro has refused because he knows he would lose any contest that isn’t rigged in his favor. In 2018’s presidential election, he manipulated the vote to a degree that made international headlines, and the US and more than 50 other countries recognized the president of the National Assembly, opposition leader Juan Guaidó, as the country’s rightful leader. It made no difference; Maduro pressed on and remained in power.
Under President Donald Trump in March 2020, the US Justice Department charged Maduro and 14 of his political allies with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption in hopes of loosening his grip. No dice.
… To show just how much power he still commands, Maduro decreed this week that this year’s celebration of Christmas will begin on Oct. 1. Seriously.
The US and Venezuela’s neighbors, particularly Colombia, have a clear interest in restoring credibility to Venezuela’s politics, in part because both countries and the region have absorbed millions of refugees fleeing political repression or simply looking for brighter economic prospects than Venezuela’s basket-case, sanction-plagued economy can provide. …
Maduro will continue to resist any deal that pushes him from power. The US has reportedly offered him amnesty if he agrees to step down. Some in Congress want a return to the Trump administration’s tougher approach. A group of bipartisan lawmakers led by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) appear ready to present the so-called “VALOR Act,” a bill co-sponsored by Democrats including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). The bill would significantly ratchet up US sanctions against Venezuela.
Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have also tried to pressure Maduro by calling for the release of detailed voter tallies and an election audit conducted by some institution other than Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which remains fully under Maduro’s thumb.
But the Venezuelan leader still has firm backing from the country’s military and security forces, which profit from his rule. …

Human rights group implicates Venezuelan security forces in killings during post-election protests
(AP) — A global human rights watchdog on Wednesday implicated Venezuelan security forces and pro-government armed groups in killings that occurred during the protests that followed the country’s disputed July presidential election.
Human Rights Watch, in a report detailing repressive measures the government unleashed after the vote, asserted that credible evidence gathered and analyzed by researchers, forensic pathologists and arms experts ties Venezuela’s national guard and national police to some of the 24 killings that took place as people protested the outcome of the election. The organization also concluded that violent gangs aligned with the ruling party also “appear to be responsible” in some of the deaths.

Exclusive: US seizes Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane in the Dominican Republic
(CNN) The United States has seized Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane after determining that its acquisition was in violation of US sanctions, among other criminal issues. The US flew the aircraft to Florida on Monday, according to two US officials.
It’s the latest development in what has long been a frosty relationship between the US and Venezuela, and its seizure in the Dominican Republic marks an escalation as the US continues to investigate what it regards as corrupt practices by Venezuela’s government.
“This sends a message all the way up to the top,” one of the US officials told CNN. “Seizing the foreign head of state’s plane is unheard-of for criminal matters. We’re sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is above the reach of US sanctions.”

2-3 September
Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has not sought asylum despite an arrest warrant over his claim of winning the July presidential election, his lawyer said. The prosecutor’s office accused him of “serious crimes.” Gonzalez Urrutia, in hiding since July 28, has ignored three summonses from prosecutors.
Maduro Orders Arrest of Rival to Quell Venezuela Dissent
Regime wants González arrested for snubbing probe into vote
Ex-diplomat has been in hiding amid post-election crackdown
Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition leader Gonzalez, AG says
Opposition claims election fraud, demands publication of full tallies
U.S. drafts sanctions list for Venezuelan officials post-election
Gonzalez accused of usurpation of functions, falsification of public documents, and conspiracy among other charges
Warrant against Gonzalez amounts to major escalation in crackdown of opposition
US seizes Maduro’s plane in Dominican Republic
(Reuters) – Venezuela’s attorney general’s office said on Monday a court has issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes amid a dispute over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro won a July election.
Attorney general Tarek Saab shared a photo of the warrant with Reuters via a message on the application Telegram.
The issue of an arrest warrant against Gonzalez would amount to a major escalation in Maduro’s government’s crackdown against the opposition following the disputed election.
Venezuela’s Maduro condemns ‘piracy’ after US seizes his ‘smuggled’ plane
“The Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.