Why did the US attack Venezuela? Allright everyone, let's do this....

The New York Times reports that this is what finally pushed Trump to send Delta Force to storm Caracas and abduct Maduro:

.@POTUS warns Maduro to take back the “monsters” that he says were forced into the U.S. by Venezuelan “leadership.”

President Trump says if the country doesn’t comply—The price will be “incalculable.”

Maduro is maduro for the taking [out] 🤣.

Trump says China is smuggling fentanyl through Venezuela.

Maduro = ‘ripe’ in spanish

You see a lot claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this:

First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was).

Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!

Third, yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.

Fourth, I see a lot of criticism about oil. About 20 years ago, Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narcoterrorist activities. I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don't act like that.

The United States, thanks to President Trump's leadership, is a great power again. Everyone should take note.

Trump on Venezuela: "They took all of our oil & we want it back. They illegally took it."

This is exactly what the U.S. did to Venezuela. The U.S. stole their oil tanker and is waging an illegal war to steal their oil.

This is Hitleresque gaslighting.

Ladies and gentlemen, the self-appointed savior of democracy and godfather of capitalism.

Rubio: "We don't need Venezuela's oil, just can't let China or Russia have it."

So democratic they kidnap a legitimate president.

So capitalist they dictate who Venezuela can sell oil to.

#Venezuela

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State:
"The reason the U.S. is preparing to attack Venezuela is the influence of Iran and Russia in that country. The Iranians are exploring the possibility of building drone manufacturing plants in Venezuela."

Former US Southern Command chief General Laura Richardson admits the US’ attempts are nothing to do with democracy:

‘Why this region matters? 60% of the world’s lithium is in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. You have Venezuela’s resources as well with oil, copper, and gold. We have a lot to do…we need to step up our game.’

‘Stepping up our game’ means the Operation CONDOR style fascism and coups of the 20th Century. The US wants to subjugate Latin America with dictatorship and tyranny to secure cheap resource extraction for US corporations. If Latin America resists, then it will face the US’ war machine.

United, Latin America can resist this barbaric plot to steal its wealth, divided, Latin America will fall one by one.

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States. They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.

.@SecRubio: "It's very simple... Under the Trump Admin, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere in the sphere of control and the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran, and for every other malign influence in the world. That's just not going to exist."

As Trump seeks talks, regime change hype is falling flat

Maduro is giving uranium to Hamas, and Venezuelan girls will ask invading US troops to marry them, assures @RepMariaSalazar

Yeah, but Americans are wary of unintended consequences of regime change, @DavidAsmanFox replies

Cartel de los Soles, btw, was created by the CIA and used to traffic cocaine into the US ostensibly to trace the traffickers. It no longer exists. You are being lied to the same way the Bushies lied about WMD.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) went on MS NOW to defend the U.S. kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, citing fentanyl trafficking and claiming Maduro had ordered the assassination of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Neither allegation appears anywhere in the indictment released by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

@AymanM | @RepLuna

Just sent a letter to Sec. Mnuchin to ask what steps @USTreasury is taking to ensure that the corrupt Maduro regime in Venezuela, which is responsible for numerous human rights violations, cannot undermine sanctions through the use of cryptocurrencies.

The Trump Administration is also blocking four associated oil tankers, part of a shadow fleet that funds Nicolás Maduro’s illegitimate, corrupt regime and allows Maduro and his cronies to evade sanctions.

state.gov/releases/offic…

.@SecRubio: "Maduro is not just an indicted drug trafficker, he was an illegitimate president. He was not the head of state. I continue to see these media reports referring to him as 'President Maduro' and the 'head of state.' He was not the head of state."

@alexandrosM theguardian.com/us-news/2025/n…

Avistamiento OVNI, en Venezuela (13 de Julio de 2024)

one of the many oddities of the Maduro indictment is that many of the key charges pertain to connections of Venezuela to the Colombian rebel faction Fuerzas Revolucionaries de Colombia (FARC) with which the Colombian (and presumably US government) made peace in 2016, with FARC transitioning into a legal political party. If US settled with FARC, it seems odd that charges for supplying FARC are being pursued so aggressively.

Compare to Syria where Trump has welcomed former ISIS and AlQaeda leader al-Joulani in Syria, who, until recently, had a $10 million bounty on his head. Can we expect US to arrest those persons in UAE and Saudi Arabia and elsewhere who funded and supplied arms to al-Joulani?

“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.”

He’s always on 😂

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “How does the United States intend to secure the oil fields? Won’t that take U.S. troops?”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Ultimately, this is not about securing the oil fields. This is about ensuring that no sanctioned oil can come in and out until they make changes to the governance of that entire industry.”

“Because right now that industry is non-existent in the traditional way. These oil fields basically are pirate operations. People literally steal the oil from the ground, a handful of — that’s how they hold this regime together. A handful of cronies benefit from this oil — specific oil wells. They’re producing at like 18% capacity because the equipment is all decrepit and they basically pocket the money to their benefit. They sell the oil at a discount on global markets, you know 40 cents on the dollar, 50 cents on the dollar.”

“But all that money goes to them. Those oil fields have not benefited the people of Venezuela in over a decade. But they have made multi-millionaires, billionaires out of just a handful of people. And that’s what’s held this regime together. That’s what needs to be addressed.”

.@SecRubio's message to those criticizing President Trump for Maduro's arrest:

🇺🇸🇩🇰Denmark PM Mette Frederiksen:

The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom" and demands that Trump "stop the threats."

.@SecRubio: "Those oil fields have not benefitted the people of Venezuela in over a decade ... But they have made multi-millionaires, billionaires out of just a handful of people. And that's what's held this regime together. That's what needs to be addressed."

Yesterday my family would have been celebrating my brother Andrew’s 37th birthday. Instead, he’s gone, overtaken by a drug overdose

Drug overdoses are a national catastrophe and now the #1 killer of Americans ages 18–45

It’s surreal that on Andrew’s birthday, President Trump successfully captured Nicolás Maduro, an illegitimate narco-terrorist dictator with an active U.S. arrest warrant since the Biden administration. His drug networks have helped poison an entire generation of Americans

Anyone who defends Maduro is turning their back on tens of millions of American families afflicted by this drug overdose crisis every single day

Not long after World War II the West dissolved its empires and colonies and began sending colossal sums of taxpayer-funded aid to these former territories (despite have already made them far wealthier and more successful). The West opened its borders, a kind of reverse colonization, providing welfare and thus remittances, while extending to these newcomers and their families not only the full franchise but preferential legal and financial treatment over the native citizenry. The neoliberal experiment, at its core, has been a long self-punishment of the places and peoples that built the modern world.

This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.

Occasionally they spell it out.

Here's the US at the UN security council this afternoon

For the record, PRESIDENT TRUMP stands with the Venezuelan people and for democracy.