![\"Representative](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/b699cc28-54cd-4cfa-a6ac-e82ab7eb4f8e.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSpain has joined five Latin American countries \u2014 Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay \u2014 in warning against any outside bid for \u201ccontrol\u201d of Venezuela after Trump suggested Washington would \u201crun\u201d the country and access its oil.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement the countries express their \u201crejection\u201d of the ousting of Maduro and \u201cconcern about any attempt at governmental control or administration or outside appropriation of natural or strategic resources\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump warns interim leader of fate worse than Maduro\u2019s<\/p>\n
Trump has told Venezuela\u2019s interim leader, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, that she will pay a \u201cvery big price\u201d if she does not cooperate with the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,\u201d Trump told The Atlantic in a telephone interview. \u201cYou know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can\u2019t get any worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also confirmed that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. \u201cWe do need Greenland, absolutely,\u201d he said, describing the island, which is part of Denmark, as \u201csurrounded by Russian and Chinese ships\u201d.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re betraying America First, ex-ally tells Trump<\/p>\n
Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/p>\n
J SCOTT APPLEWHITE\/AP<\/p>\n
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman who was one of Trump\u2019s most vocal allies until a recent falling-out over the Epstein files, has criticised Maduro\u2019s capture. <\/p>\n
Taylor Greene said the actions this weekend were not \u201cAmerica First\u201d and \u201cwe don\u2019t consider Venezuela our neighbourhood\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this was really about narco-terrorists and about protecting Americans from cartels and drugs being brought into America, the Trump administration would be attacking the Mexican cartels,\u201d she told NBC. <\/p>\n
She said she was happy to see Maduro gone, but added: \u201cAmericans celebrated the liberation of the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein. They celebrated the liberation of the Libyan people after Gaddafi. And this is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn\u2019t serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Army: Maduro is \u2018authentic\u2019 president but deputy leads country![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/5c0fb6c9-e2fb-4bd3-a0a4-97a5380db6ac.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
General Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez<\/p>\n
The Venezuelan military has recognised Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the vice-president, as the country\u2019s acting leader. <\/p>\n
General Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez, the defence minister, issued a televised statement endorsing a Supreme Court ruling that appointed Rodr\u00edguez as acting president for 90 days.<\/p>\n
Though he described the arrest of Maduro as an \u201cabduction\u201d, calling him the \u201cgenuine, authentic constitutional leader of all Venezuelans\u201d, he urged the people to \u201cresume their activities of all kinds, economic, work and education\u201d.<\/p>\n
Democrats mock Trump plan<\/p>\n
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the US House of Representatives, has mocked the prospect of Trump taking control of Venezuela. <\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump claims that he\u2019s going to run Venezuela,\u201d he told NBC on Sunday. \u201cHe\u2019s done a terrible job running the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeffries added that Congress would examine the president\u2019s decision to take military action without its approval. \u201cWe have to make sure when we return to Washington DC that legislative action is taken to ensure that no further military steps occur absent explicit congressional approval,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Roger Boyes: Why this could push Russia and China together![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/8a0e5b1b-3f12-4916-9e75-2186a42cf1d0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
President Maduro\u2019s abduction puts a question mark over his country\u2019s oil reserves, our columnist writes. It also suggests a return to US realpolitik that will make leaders from Iran to Denmark nervous<\/a><\/p>\n No need for immediate elections, Rubio suggests An armed civilian guards the entrance to a supermarket in Caracas<\/p>\n RONALD PENA\/EPA<\/p>\n Shoppers line up at another shop<\/p>\n ARIANA CUBILLOS\/AP<\/p>\n Rubio said that discussions about Venezuela holding elections were \u201cpremature\u201d, adding: \u201cWhat we are focused on right now is all of the problems we had when Maduro was there. We still have those problems in terms of them needing to be addressed. We are going to give people an opportunity to address those challenges and those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n The last presidential election was held in July 2024. International monitors described it as rigged and observers said Maduro had lost to the former diplomat Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n \u2018More than 20\u2019 Cubans killed <\/p>\n By Stephen Gibbs, Venezuela<\/p>\n Trump said \u201cmany Cubans\u201d died in the US attacks on Venezuela. \u201cThey were protecting Maduro. That was not a good move,\u201d he told the New York Post. Cuba has long been understood to have helped to provide Maduro\u2019s security.<\/p>\n Sources in Havana have indicated to The Times the number of Cubans that died on Saturday may be more than 20. The Cuban government has not confirmed that any of its citizens were killed. On Saturday Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, the president, said: \u201cThe aggression today was against Venezuela, but tomorrow it could be against Cuba, Nicaragua, or any country with resources.\u201d <\/p>\n General Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez, the Venezuelan defence minister, said in a televised statement that a large part of Maduro\u2019s security team were killed. He did not disclose the number of casualties. <\/p>\n American people \u2018will pay the price\u2019 of regime change<\/p>\n Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the US Senate, called Maduro \u201ca horrible, horrible person\u201d but questioned the legality of the American operation.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. And that\u2019s what\u2019s happened,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have learned through the years that, when America tries to regime change and nation-building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and results.\u201d<\/p>\n Do what we want or get out of the way, Trump tells leader Kristi Noem<\/p>\n RONDA CHURCHILL\/AP<\/p>\n Trump has given \u201cvery matter-of-fact and very clear\u201d instructions to Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the interim Venezuelan leader, his homeland security secretary has said. <\/p>\n Kristi Noem told Fox News that Trump had told Rodr\u00edguez: \u201cYou can lead or you can get out of the way, because we\u2019re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence and our need to have a free country like Venezuela to work with, rather than to have dictators in place who perpetuate crimes and drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the US wanted a leader in Venezuela who would be \u201ca partner that understands that we\u2019re going to protect America\u201d when it came to stopping drug trafficking and \u201cterrorists from coming into our country \u2026 We\u2019re looking for a leader that will stand up beside us and embrace those freedoms and liberties for the Venezuelan people but also ensure that they\u2019re not perpetuating crimes around the globe like they\u2019ve had in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia\u2019s security council, has said the US actions in Venezuela were unlawful but explicable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt must be acknowledged that, despite the obvious unlawfulness of Trump\u2019s behaviour, one cannot deny a certain consistency in his actions. He and his team defend their country\u2019s national interests quite harshly,\u201d he told the Tass news agency.<\/p>\n Medvedev, who was president of Russia in 2008-12 and prime minister in 2012-20, said Latin America was considered the \u201cback yard\u201d of the United States and Trump appeared to want control over the oil supplies of Venezuela. \u201cUncle Sam\u2019s main motivation has always been simple: other people\u2019s supplies,\u201d Medvedev said, adding that if such actions had been taken against a stronger country then they would be considered an act of war.<\/p>\n Opec countries confirm unchanged production<\/p>\n Opec+, the cartel of international oil producers, kept output unchanged on Sunday.<\/p>\n Eight members that together pump about half the world\u2019s oil \u2014 Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Oman \u2014 met on Sunday to confirm a pause on output rises agreed in November. <\/p>\n Oil prices fell more than 18 per cent in 2025. \u201cRight now, oil markets are being driven less by supply-demand fundamentals and more by political uncertainty,\u201d said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy and a former Opec official. \u201cAnd Opec+ is clearly prioritising stability over action.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezuelans \u2018fear repression, not further strikes\u2019 A soldier in an armoured vehicle rolling into Caracas on Sunday<\/p>\n MATIAS DELACROIX\/AP<\/p>\n Caracas is unusually quiet today, the Associated Press has reported. Few vehicles are on the roads of the Venezuelan capital and shops, petrol stations and other businesses are mostly closed. Big queues formed at such establishments yesterday as uncertain Venezuelans stocked up on goods.<\/p>\n Armed civilians as well as troops are keeping guard outside the Miraflores presidential palace. <\/p>\n Pro-government armed civilians in Caracas<\/p>\n ARIANA CUBILLOS\/AP<\/p>\n In a low-income neighbourhood in the east of the city, Daniel Medalla, a construction worker, sat outside a church to tell parishioners there would be no Mass. He speculated that the streets were empty not because people were worried about another strike but out of fear of government repression if they dared to celebrate Maduro\u2019s exit. \u201cWe were longing for it,\u201d Medalla, 66, said.<\/p>\n Rubio: We are not at war with Venezuela Marco Rubio spoke at the press conference yesterday<\/p>\n ALAMY<\/p>\n America is at war with drug cartels but not with Venezuela, Marco Rubio has said. The US secretary of state told NBC News on Sunday that his country was \u201cenforcing American laws with regards to oil sanctions \u2026 We have sanctioned entities. We go to court, we get a warrant, we seize those boats with oil and that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there were no American troops on the ground in Venezuela, and told CBS News that the US was ready to work with its remaining leaders if they made \u201cthe right decision\u201d. If they did not, he said, the US could use \u201cmultiple levers of leverage\u201d.<\/p>\n Where is Mar\u00eda Corina Machado? Machado accepted the Nobel peace prize last month<\/p>\n LEONHARD FOEGER\/REUTERS<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, the international figurehead of the Venezuelan opposition who collected the Nobel peace prize last month, has been reduced to a peripheral role.<\/p>\n Trump appeared to dismiss the prospect of involving Machado, 58, in the political transition, describing her as a \u201cvery nice woman\u201d but saying it would be \u201ctough\u201d for her to lead the nation because she did not have enough \u201crespect\u201d or \u201csupport\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n Her whereabouts are obscure. On December 10 she went secretly to Oslo to collect her prize in person, before leaving Norway for medical treatment at an undisclosed location.<\/p>\n \u200bS\u200bhe has released an open letter welcom\u200bing the \u201ctime of freedom\u201d and said the US government had \u200bfulfilled its \u201cpromise to enforce the law\u201d against Maduro. It \u200ba\u200bdds that Machado\u2019s ally Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez, a former diplomat who is widely believed to have defeated Maduro in an election in July 2024, should \u201cimmediately assume his constitutional mandate\u201d as president.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read more: The Sunday Times interviews Machado in October<\/a><\/p>\n Maduro prison\u2019s famous inmates Armed guards have been positioned outside the Metropolitan Detention Center<\/p>\n EDUARDO MUNOZ\/REUTERS<\/p>\n Maduro is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.<\/p>\n It has housed notorious inmates in recent years, including Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein accomplice; the singer R Kelly, who is serving more than 30 years for child sexual abuse and kidnapping; Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the health insurance chief executive Brian Thompson; and the rapper Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, convicted last year of transportation to engage in prostitution.<\/p>\n It is also where Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, the former president of Honduras, was initially held on drug trafficking charges. He was sentenced to 45 years in jail in 2024 but pardoned by Trump last year.<\/p>\n Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. His wife, Cilia Flores, is also charged with allegedly participating in the conspiracy. <\/p>\n Spanish PM condemns \u2018violation\u2019<\/p>\n The Spanish prime minister has condemned what he calls a violation of international law. <\/p>\n Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s comments in a letter to members of his Socialist Party go further than previous remarks in which he said he would not recognise the intervention. The letter describes the \u201cviolation of international law in Venezuela, an act that we strongly condemn\u201d.<\/p>\n Spain is home to about 700,000 Venezuelans, the largest such population outside Latin America and the US. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated at the US embassy in Madrid on Sunday.<\/p>\n Anti-American protesters at the Madrid embassy<\/p>\n VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n In pictures: the strikes\u2019 damage and aftermath Damage at the Fuerte Tiuna military base<\/p>\n A damaged apartment complex in Catia La Mar, about 20 miles northwest of central Caracas<\/p>\n MATIAS DELACROIX\/AP<\/p>\n An armoured vehicle heads to Caracas on Sunday<\/p>\n MATIAS DELCROIX\/AP<\/p>\n Echoes of Noriega abduction 36 years ago Manuel Antonio Noriega<\/p>\n REX FEATURES<\/p>\n The seizure of Maduro was 36 years to the day since the capture of the Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega.<\/p>\n Noriega surrendered to American forces on January 3, 1990, after he took sanctuary in the Vatican embassy. In echoes of this weekend, the US launched its intervention after attempts at negotiation failed to force Noriega out of power.<\/p>\n He was taken to the US and sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug smuggling and money laundering, among other offences. After extradition to France in 2010 he was taken back to Panama, where again he was imprisoned. He died in 2017, aged 83.<\/p>\n Mark Urban: Regime change won\u2019t look so smooth if this spirals into chaos<\/p>\n While Trump has used force without elaborately argued legal justification or congressional approval, there are plenty of precedents for US intervention in its Latin American \u201cback yard\u201d: Ronald Reagan invaded Grenada in 1983 and George Bush deposed the Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega in 1989.<\/p>\n By comparison, the Venezuelan operation \u2014 in terms of actual troops in country \u2014 could be categorised as \u201cregime change lite\u201d. But if there is large-scale lawlessness in Venezuela the US decision to go for the smallest possible footprint could leave them looking powerless.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: American history shows the dangers of venturing into its \u2018back yard\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Netanyahu supports act to \u2018restore freedom\u2019<\/p>\n Israel supports the \u201cstrong action\u201d in Venezuela, Binyamin Netanyahu has said.<\/p>\n \u201cRegarding Venezuela, I wish to express the support of the entire government for the resolute decision and strong action of the United States to restore freedom and justice to that region of the world,\u201d the prime minister told his cabinet at a meeting on Sunday.<\/p>\n Trump: We will fix oil infrastructure<\/p>\n Trump has claimed that US oil companies will move back into Venezuela and refurbish degraded infrastructure.<\/p>\n Experts suggest that Venezuela, a founding member of Opec, holds some 17 per cent of global oil reserves, the world\u2019s largest. Due to US sanctions it produces about a million barrels a day. Previously America was the biggest customer but now the main destination is China. <\/p>\n Its reserves are made up mostly of heavy oil, needed by America, which produces light crude. Experts have said that modernising the Venezuelan oil industry and its infrastructure could take decades.<\/p>\n Chevron is the only big US oil company currently operating in Venezuela.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: Why oil is at the heart of Trump\u2019s promises in Venezuela<\/a><\/p>\n The rise and fall of Maduro \u2014 how he lost control Maduro dancing on December 10, less than a month before his capture<\/p>\n JESUS VARGAS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n As American military forces assembled off his coast in December and the White House threatened to overthrow him, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro put on a remarkable show of insouciance.<\/p>\n The Venezuelan president was seen dancing on stage with supporters and attending Christmas tree lightings. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, be happy,\u201d the 63-year-old leftist sang at one event, wearing a sombrero and flashing a peace sign. \u201cThey\u2019ll never be able to remove us from the path to revolution,\u201d he yelled at another gathering. \u201cVictory forever!\u201d<\/p>\n His seizure on Saturday morning appears to have proved him wrong,<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: Has Trump written Maduro\u2019s political obituary?<\/a><\/p>\n UK minister refuses to justify raid<\/p>\n The White House will need to elaborate on its legal justifications beyond \u201ctop-line words\u201d from Trump, a British minister has said. <\/p>\n The UK government has declined to comment in detail on the legal status of the US intervention in Venezuela. Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, told Times Radio: \u201cI\u2019m not justifying anything one way or another and I\u2019m not also making a judgement of the application of international law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to wait to see the explanation of the legal basis for the intervention in the same way that everyone else does and I\u2019m assuming that will take place at the UN security council meeting later this week.\u201d<\/p>\n Strikes \u2018killed 40, including civilians\u2019 The US attacked in the early hours of Saturday<\/p>\n Venezuelan officials claimed that at least 40 people, including military personnel and civilians, were killed in the US incursion on Saturday, according to The New York Times. <\/p>\n This has not been confirmed publicly by the US or Venezuela. Trump said on Saturday that no US troops had been killed, although he suggested some were injured.<\/p>\n Pictures shared with US news outlets showed the aftermath of the US attack on Fuerte Tiuna, a military facility in Caracas. Aerial shots show how the complex looked before and after the strikes.<\/p>\n Senior US officials have said Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the Venezuelan vice-president appointed interim leader, is somebody they \u201ccan work with\u201d.<\/p>\n A report in the New York Times said Washington had decided on Rodr\u00edguez weeks ago and believe she could help with American energy investments in Venezuela, which is the world\u2019s 12th biggest oil producer. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not claiming that she\u2019s the permanent solution to the country\u2019s problems, but she\u2019s certainly someone we think we can work at a much more professional level than we were able to do with him,\u201d an official said, referring to Maduro.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read more: Strikes threaten Chinese oil stocks<\/a><\/p>\n Full report: Lights out, then US forces with blowtorches burst in Cilia Flores and Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/p>\n JESUS VARGAS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n The Venezuelan dictator was in a supposed safe house when the Delta Force commandos burst in just after 2am and snatched him and his wife, before his security team had time to secure the property\u2019s final defence of two heavy steel doors. Even if they had, the Americans were armed with blowtorches.<\/p>\n Within minutes Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and Cilia Flores were being flown by helicopter across a moonlit Caribbean Sea to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship. They are expected to be sent to a New York federal detention centre before facing trial on drug trafficking charges.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: Were the Maduros betrayed?<\/a><\/p>\n Father of interim leader kidnapped US businessman Delcy Rodr\u00edguez in 2023<\/p>\n MATIAS DELACROIX\/AP<\/p>\n Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the vice-president since 2018, has been appointed interim leader of Venezuela in Maduro\u2019s absence. <\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez, 56, is from a storied political family linked to the troubled relationship between the South American state and its all-powerful regional neighbour, the US.<\/p>\n Her father, Jorge Antonio Rodr\u00edguez, founded the Socialist League party and was involved in the 1976 kidnapping of the American businessman William Niehous, who was head of operations for a glass bottle company. Niehous was held for three years before he was found in a jungle, chained to a pole in a cattle rancher\u2019s hut, and rescued. <\/p>\n Jorge Antonio Rodr\u00edguez and, below, William Niehous<\/p>\n Mr Rodr\u00edguez was arrested for his role in the kidnapping and died under torture. His daughter\u2019s brother, Jorge Jesus Rodr\u00edguez Gomez, is president of the Venezuelan parliament.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: Who leads Venezuela now? Trump has picked his grudging puppet<\/a><\/p>\n Kim Jong-un bolsters weapons supply after strikes Kim visiting a missile site on December 25<\/p>\n REUTERS<\/p>\n Kim Jong-un has ordered an expansion of North Korea\u2019s production of guided missiles after the US strikes on Venezuela, state news reported.<\/p>\n The official Korean Central News Agency said the supreme leader visited a weapons factory yesterday to review multipurpose precision guided weapons produced there. The country\u2019s foreign ministry condemned the US operation as \u201cthe most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty\u201d, saying it again showed \u201cthe rogue and brutal nature of the US\u201d.<\/p>\n Priti Patel: Trump is \u2018going alone\u2019 <\/p>\n Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, has said Trump is \u201cgoing alone\u201d in an exchange about the US intervention in Venezuela.<\/p>\n She told Adam Boulton on Times Radio that \u201cthese are dangerous times\u201d with many conflicts around the world. Asked whether Trump was contributing to this danger, she said: \u201cHe\u2019s going alone on many of these.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if she supported the US actions, she said Trump was \u201cmaking his own case for domestic reasons around drugs and American deaths \u2026 There are a lot of actors out there with lots of different agendas and also we\u2019ve got to look at even the things that are affecting us closer to home right now: Iran, Ukraine, Russia. <\/p>\n \u201cThese are the issues that obviously consume us all and rightly so. We\u2019ve got to ask the [British] government many of these questions in the days ahead. See what dialogues and discussions they\u2019re having. What answers they get from the US administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Pope calls on US to respect sovereignty The Pope said he was following developments with a \u201csoul full of concern\u201d and called for human rights and Venezuelan sovereignty to be respected. <\/p>\n \u201cThe welfare of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over all other considerations and lead to overcoming violence and embarking on paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country,\u201d Leo, the first American pope, said today. <\/p>\n Almost half of the 29 million-strong Venezuelan population is Catholic, according to the CIA World Factbook. <\/p>\n Watch: \u2018I heard a whistle … then everything was in ruins\u2019<\/p>\n Wounded soldiers describe the US strikes<\/p>\n Map of key targetsFlights resume in closed airspace<\/p>\n Restrictions imposed by the US on airspace over Venezuela and the Caribbean expired earlier today, suggesting that immediate further military action was unlikely.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original restrictions around the Caribbean airspace are expiring at 12am ET [7am GMT] and flights can resume\u201d, Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, posted on X. \u201cAirlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly. Please continue to work with your airline if your flight was affected by the restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n White House mocks captive <\/p>\n Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n Enable cookiesAllow cookies once<\/p>\n The White House has celebrated Maduro\u2019s capture by using a recent video of the Venezuelan leader taunting \u201ccoward\u201d US officials to \u201ccome get me\u201d.<\/p>\n A post on the White House\u2019s official X account shows Maduro referring to his official residence, saying: \u201cI\u2019ll wait here in Miraflores, don\u2019t take too long.\u201d The video cuts Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, at the press conference about the capture yesterday. \u201cAnd now if you don\u2019t know, now you know,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n It shows the image of Maduro blindfolded after he was seized by US forces, followed by Trump smiling as he walks down a hallway. The clip ends by playing the Notorious BIG\u2019s song Hypnotize.<\/p>\n Comparison with Putin \u2018chalk and cheese\u2019 Trump with John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, watching the raid<\/p>\n REUTERS<\/p>\n The deputy leader of Reform UK has rejected comparisons between America\u2019s strikes in Venezuela and Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, claiming the two are \u201care chalk and cheese\u201d.<\/p>\n Richard Tice was asked on Sky News\u2019s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips why it was different for Trump to say \u201cwe need to remove this bad guy from Venezuela\u201d because \u201chis narco-terrorists threaten us in the United States\u201d, versus the Russian president\u2019s statements that \u201cthere are fascists and Nazis in Ukraine that threaten our borders and we\u2019re going to remove them\u201d.<\/p>\n Tice responded that they \u201care chalk and cheese, there is no comparison whatsoever\u201d and \u201cPutin has never said he was going to give Ukraine back to the Ukrainians\u201d.<\/p>\n He told the programme the comparison is \u201capples and pears, nonsense \u2026 He wanted to invade the whole of Ukraine and to keep it\u201d.<\/p>\n Katy Balls: Whatever happened to America First? When the White House published its National Security Strategy last month, there was much focus on its claim that Europe faced \u201ccivilisational erasure\u201d in the next two decades as a result of migration and censorship. But the most significant section of the 33-page document was a little higher up: the Western Hemisphere. <\/p>\n The paper outlined a new approach to \u201cassert and enforce a \u2018Trump corollary\u2019 to the Monroe doctrine\u201d, the foreign policy statement warning European powers against further colonisation or interference in America\u2019s backyard. It read like major change was afoot. On Saturday, it became clear exactly what.<\/p>\n \u2022 Read in full: What happened to America First, asks US, as Trump strikes Venezuela<\/a><\/p>\n Danish ambassador replies to Maga podcaster\u2019s Greenland post<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/d52e3859-2c14-4839-aba1-fb88d0786312.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Anti-American](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/2f0001d9-a026-4534-a264-1a3517039450.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/a86275df-8e65-41ab-bea1-d7389b2759f7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/dc01ca1a-b362-440a-aee1-e2738ef89b3a.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/d08e62e2-4c86-4c4d-a52c-d043aa42d2dd.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/1093b9ac-4f8a-45b9-9377-8690cb0e64b1.jpg\")
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/6853b5ac-d6a9-4202-ad27-1d9cb0d2d9cf.jpg\")
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/905a5b5b-92a4-4bf1-a423-1a3855c1abfb.jpg\")
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/d017eb7e-3c65-43f8-a5ab-04cbc01cd1f8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Manuel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/6317612a-bca7-4ea6-b437-15a7ba79da72.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Venezuelan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/1827395d-bf62-4c5d-90b5-c6741c3da525.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Multiple](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/f4585d8b-1ab1-481f-9c66-04b14ef3f3e3.gif\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/dcfb0fb8-3ec0-47a5-9d2d-475c8301dc3a.jpg\")
Interim leader \u2018someone US can work with\u2019<\/p>\n![\"Venezuelan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/a0d35608-6e3a-449c-ab74-e91a95284452.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Venezuela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/fc59a7bf-5fdf-41dc-b942-d9361c1092e1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jorge](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/553f413e-18c7-4015-9851-49d6cf0e1d87.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/37e8a413-c962-438b-b85e-db9d181b0a84.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"North](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/24f19b73-0ff1-4ff5-97c5-c3c2708b9f04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/f46384b7-2167-42a1-beb1-d55b0dfa0360.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/72370626-ee87-4222-b6f7-f614e34aba70.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Katy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/5d791e2e-44fd-4957-a624-459dd5450740.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Venezuela's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/f0719107-155e-47d1-8b11-f9d72716a9e1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/eeb59099-dd3b-4e74-bb44-4ef4d7234979.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Maduro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/095e46df-6837-4427-80ea-49ed6ffdb367.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Venezuelans](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/11900f64-73f7-463c-960b-a17c201758ad.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Delcy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/82311359-0b57-4ca7-ad09-bce591e9316e.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/ea291997-1ef3-4b4f-a0d4-2ffc9015ec76.gif\")
<\/p>\n