Cuba’s president defiant, says no negotiations scheduled as Trump moves to choke off oil lifeline
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared Monday that his administration is not negotiating with Washington, despite President Donald Trump’s threats to push Cuba into a deal now that Venezuelan oil will no longer be supplied.
“There are no conversations with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the migration field,” Díaz-Canel said in a post on X.
Díaz-Canel continued to denounce the U.S., accusing it of applying hostile pressure on the island, and insisted that negotiations would only take place if they are conducted in accordance with international law.
“As history demonstrates, relations between the U.S. and Cuba, in order to advance, must be based on International Law rather than on hostility, threats, and economic coercion,” he said.
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“We have always been willing to engage in a serious and responsible dialogue with the various governments of the United States, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, reciprocal benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence,” Canel added.
On Sunday, Trump declared that Cuba would no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela, a move that would sever Havana’s longtime energy and financial lifeline.
The announcement came after a stunning Jan. 3 operation in Venezuela, in which American forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and reportedly killed at least 32 Cuban personnel.
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“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he warned.
Cuba has long depended on imported oil to keep its aging power grid running. Before the U.S. attack on Venezuela, Havana was receiving 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela, roughly 7,500 from Russia and some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico, The Associated Press reported, citing Jorge Piñón of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.
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Even with Venezuelan oil imports, Cuba has suffered widespread blackouts in recent years due to persistent fuel shortages, an aging and crumbling electric grid and damage from hurricanes that have battered the island’s infrastructure.
Now, with U.S. sanctions tightening on both Russian and Venezuelan oil, blackouts could worsen as Havana’s leaders reject Trump’s call to strike a deal.
Reporter’s Notebook: GOP rebels defy Trump as congressional grip continues to weaken across multiple votes
President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican-controlled Congress is not quite what it was.
Republicans in Congress dealt the president two blows in recent days and came within shouting distance of two more.
That’s not to say that the president’s influence among the GOP is completely waning on Capitol Hill. Congressional Republicans are still a pro-MAGA group. But something is different.
2026 is an election year. Some Republicans are trained on their own re-election chances. You don’t even have to squint to see some fractures among Republicans when it comes to supporting the president on individual issues.
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The striking examples came within hours of each other last Thursday.
In the fall, the Senate narrowly rejected a motion to begin a debate about U.S. military action in the Caribbean. All 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats voted in favor of starting the debate. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined the Democrats, bringing the yeas to 49. So two votes were needed to agree to the motion and begin a debate. Remember, a 50-50 tie loses in the Senate. It was a close call.
But last week, three more GOP senators voted with Democrats to initiate debate on another war powers resolution after Trump ordered the strike on Venezuela. Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., aligned this time with Paul and Murkowski.
It was a brushback pitch for the president. Hawley opposed the war powers resolution regarding strikes in the Caribbean last fall. But the move against Venezuela moved Hawley to a yes on the revamped measure.
“We don’t know what might happen in Venezuela. We may want to commit troops,” said Hawley. “I just think that in that eventuality, Congress would need to then be on the hook for it.”
“The previous votes have been more hypothetical. This vote’s about a real incursion. It’s about a real invasion of a foreign country,” said Paul.
Sen. John Husted, R-Ohio, supported the administration’s position that it had constitutional prerogative to hit Venezuela without congressional authorization and voted no. But even Husted understood why some of his colleagues switched their votes.
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The reason? Saber-rattling.
“The rhetoric around Greenland has probably been the issue that’s driven this the most,” said Husted. “I think everybody’s really excited about how well things have gone in Venezuela, but they don’t like the idea that perhaps things could go differently as it relates to Greenland.”
Trump says the U.S. will do “something” on Greenland, “whether they like it or not.”
And that’s to say nothing about threats of possibly hitting Venezuela again. Moving against Cuba. Even Colombia. And after major protests, Iran could be in the mix, too.
“Bombing may rally people to the regime instead of weakening it. You can’t drop bombs in the middle of protests and protect civilians,” cautioned Paul on ABC.
Others are concerned about overextending the military. Especially without guidance from Capitol Hill.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“The president has said we’re going to take Venezuelan oil. It will take two years to rebuild the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. Is our fleet going to stay there for two years?” asked Warner on Fox.
The Senate is now poised to debate the issue and vote in the coming days. But it’s unclear whether voting to begin debate on such an issue is the same as actually voting to undercut the president.
Trump shot out a message saying Republicans should be “ashamed” of the five who voted alongside the Democrats. He added that the five renegades “should never be elected to office again.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., backed the president, describing the votes by the five as “a gift” to Venezuela.
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“They’re dead wrong,” said Graham. “They’re going to own screwing up the best chance we’ve ever had to liberate the people of Venezuela.”
Vice President JD Vance downplayed GOPers voting to harness the authority of the president.
“We talked to some of the senators who are going to vote the wrong way, in my view, on this resolution today. Much of their argument was based more on a legal technicality than any disagreement of policy,” said Vance. “Every president, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake unconstitutional law.”
But Vance might not have seen it that way when he served as a Republican senator from Ohio. In October 2023, Vance was among 11 bipartisan senators who voted in favor of debating presidential war authority in Niger. Vance was among 13 bipartisan colleagues two months later who voted to begin debate on a resolution to block military action by President Joe Biden in Syria.
We’ll know by the end of the week if pressure by the administration prompts Republicans who sided with the Democrats to reverse themselves and stick with the president, or if they vote to hinder him on war powers and potential future intervention in Venezuela.
It was the House’s turn to throw some legislative chin music at the president a few hours later last Thursday. The House voted 230-196 on a Democratic bill to renew now-expired Obamacare subsidies for three years. In December, four House Republicans teamed with Democrats to engineer a parliamentary gambit to go around House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and force a vote on the floor.
While there were only four House Republicans who signed on to the Democratic parliamentary gambit in December, that number grew to 13 GOPers on a procedural vote to bring up the bill last week. It then blossomed to 17 Republicans on final passage. Everyone expected members like Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., to vote yes. But there were lots of surprises from Republicans who never hinted interest in this particular bill before. That includes Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Mike Carey, R-Ohio.
“There’s a lot of people in the 3rd Congressional District that depend on these programs. And as a Navy SEAL, I always acted lawfully. But I did a lot of things that made me very uncomfortable doing. But it had to get done because otherwise the mission would fail. This mission is America, and it’s the people in my district,” said Van Orden.
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Carey even referenced the “Unaffordable ACA Subsidy Extension Vote” in a news release. But Carey pointed out that “close to 45,000 Ohioans in our district currently have these plans, and I want to make sure that they do not lose access to a plan that they have relied on as Congress continues addressing the high cost of healthcare.”
All of this came just after the president asked Republicans to have “flexibility” on abortion as they work on healthcare — something which is anathema to many pro-life conservatives. And the president threatened to veto that bill if it ever made it through the Senate, which is doubtful.
Speaking of vetoes, Trump unexpectedly vetoed two bills that moved unanimously through Congress last year. One bill would finish a pipeline to bring drinking water to southwestern Colorado. Another bill would give the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida control over 30 acres of land in the Everglades and allow them to protect it against tropical storm flooding events.
Trump said he vetoed the Colorado bill because Democrat Gov. Jared Polis was “bad.” The Miccosukee Tribe sued over the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades.
The House voted 248-177 with one member voting “present” on the Colorado bill. That’s a majority. But veto overrides require two-thirds. With 425 members casting ballots (the “present” vote doesn’t count against the total), the House needed 284 yeas to override.
The veto override on the Everglades bill was 236-188. Again, a majority. But with 425 members voting, a successful override needed 283 yeas.
Congress has only overridden a presidential veto 112 times in U.S. history, and it’s notable that a chunk of Republicans went against the president on both issues.
Now some Republicans are taking on the president over the administration’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Banking Committee. “I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy — until this legal matter is fully resolved.”
The composition of the Banking Committee is 13-11 in favor of Republicans. So a defection by Tillis would, at minimum, produce a tie. That could impede confirmation of Powell’s successor.
Frankly, these rebellions are no different from what many presidents endure from members of their own party from time to time, especially in an election year. Lawmakers sometimes need to put real estate between themselves and the president. Other lawmakers believe that the president’s political amperage is not what it once was.
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We are now moving into the second year of Trump’s term. But in many ways, this is “year six” of the Trump presidency — having served from 2017-2021. Some Republicans started to abandon President George H.W. Bush in the sixth year of his presidency over Iraq. President Ronald Reagan witnessed the same phenomenon during year six over Iran-Contra. And certainly President Richard Nixon experienced this during Watergate in 1974.
There’s no evidence of a mass exodus among congressional Republicans when it comes to Trump, but there are fissures. And that’s why the president may not have the same near-lockstep backing he enjoyed from congressional Republicans in 2026 that he enjoyed in 2025.
Trump declares himself Venezuela’s ‘acting president’ in online post after Maduro ouster
President Donald Trump branded himself as the “president” of Venezuela in a social media post Sunday night, after signaling that the U.S. would oversee Caracas, Venezuela, for years.
Trump shared a doctored image that looked like a Wikipedia page that identified him as “Acting President of Venezuela” since January 2026, after the U.S. conducted strikes in Venezuela and seized its dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump said Jan. 3 that the U.S. would run Venezuela until a safe transition could occur, and he told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that he anticipated that the U.S. would oversee Venezuela “much longer” than six months or a year. Even so, he did not share a more detailed estimated timeline.
The social media post also comes as the Trump administration has sought to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and has claimed it’s revived the Monroe Doctrine, rebranded as the “Don-roe Doctrine,” which originally sought to limit European influence in Latin America and to protect U.S. influence in the region.
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The Monroe Doctrine, first introduced in 1823 by President James Monroe, eventually was used to justify U.S. actions in the region as an “international police power” under President Theodore Roosevelt, according to the National Archives.
In response to questions from Fox News Digital regarding whether the post was shared jokingly, and what it suggests about how long the U.S. will be involved in running Venezuela, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital: “President Trump will be the greatest President for the American and Venezuelan people in history. Congratulations, world!”
Trump announced Jan. 3 that U.S. special forces conducted a “large-scale strike” against Caracas, Venezuela, and seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Both were taken to New York and appeared in a Manhattan federal court Jan. 5 on drug charges, where they each pleaded not guilty.
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The raid came after months of pressure on Venezuela and more than two dozen strikes in Latin American waters against alleged drug traffickers as part of Trump’s effort to crack down on the influx of drugs into the U.S.
The Trump administration routinely stated that it did not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and said he was the leader of a drug cartel. Likewise, Trump said in December 2025 he believed it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down.
The Trump administration has justified seizing Maduro as a “law enforcement” operation, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said congressional approval wasn’t necessary since the operation didn’t amount to an “invasion.”
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However, lawmakers primarily on the left have questioned the legality of the operation in Venezuela, which was conducted without Congress’ approval.
“This has been a profound constitutional failure,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Jan. 3. “Congress — not the President — has the sole power to authorize war. Pursuing regime change without the consent of the American people is a reckless overreach and an abuse of power.”
GOP eyes Venezuela’s untapped oil wealth as Democrats sound alarm over taxpayer risk
Lawmakers are keenly aware of the costs of running a country due to the nation’s skyrocketing debt, but now another expense may be added to Congress’ tab — Venezuela.
President Donald Trump hasn’t backed down from his position that the U.S. will run Venezuela after the surprise strikes and capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. That’s left some on Capitol Hill wondering what the price tag will be, considering Venezuela’s bleak economy.
Like most issues in Washington, D.C., there’s a strong partisan divide on how lawmakers expect running Venezuela will shake out. Senate Republicans believe that the vast petroleum, natural gas and mineral reserves will be enough to foot the bill and cause oil companies to come running to dump money into the region.
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And fiscal hawks in the Senate, who routinely sound the alarm over rampant government spending, believe that running the country will be a financial boon for the U.S.
“I would envision there’s so much money to be made that the oil companies will show up, and they’ll pay for everything,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.
That’s a shared calculus among several other Republicans, who contend that any cost incurred from stewarding the country during the transition period would be leveraged by the colossal reserves of crude oil creeping underground.
“That’s the whole point,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital.
There could already be a wrench in that plan following a meeting between Trump and several top oil executives at the White House last week. The roster of companies in attendance Friday touched nearly every choke point in Venezuela’s oil sector, including production, services, trading and refining. The sheer weight of that lineup underscored what is at stake for global energy policy, with the United States squarely at the center.
And ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told the administration that Venezuela was “uninvestable,” which prompted Trump to suggest that he’d be “inclined to keep Exxon out.”
And despite lawmakers’ optimistic outlook, the economic reality on the ground in Venezuela is stark.
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Venezuela once had the makings of an economic powerhouse, but years of mismanagement and international sanctions have hollowed out the economy, leaving behind a much smaller, debt-laden nation.
Precise figures are difficult to verify because Venezuela has not published comprehensive financial data in years. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates the economy will total about $82.8 billion in 2025, which is roughly the size of Maine’s economic output.
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What’s more, Venezuela’s debt is roughly 200% of its economy. In simple terms, the country owes about $2 for every dollar it produces.
Those pressures are compounded by runaway inflation. The IMF forecasts eye-watering inflation, with consumer prices expected to rise by more than 680% in 2026, underscoring the continued strain on Venezuela’s economy and households.
That collapse is inseparable from Venezuela’s oil industry, once the backbone of national wealth. Petroleum revenues long underwrote government spending and social programs, leaving the economy acutely vulnerable as production fell, infrastructure decayed and sanctions tightened.
Even in its diminished state, oil remains Venezuela’s most consequential asset. The country holds more than 300 billion barrels of proven crude — the largest in the world, eclipsing established energy titans like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait — underlining its potential if production and investment return.
The potential cost of reinvigorating Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, coupled with the prior military operation and any other costs accumulated from running the country, is emblematic of the growing rift between the Hill and the White House, where Trump has routinely run roughshod over lawmakers in his decision-making.
Senate Democrats want to claw back some of that authority through the appropriations process, where they could try to limit the flow of taxpayer dollars toward Venezuela.
“Congress should be involved,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “And we must be involved because we have the power of the purse, we have appropriations authority, and we need better and more information to make these decisions about how the taxpayer funds are spent in support of these military or intelligence operations.”
Some of that action is already taking place.
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Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose war powers resolution to curtail future use of military force in Venezuela without congressional approval survived its first procedural test on Thursday, said lawmakers were having discussions tweaking the defense spending bill to “block appropriated defense funds from being used in certain actions that haven’t been authorized by Congress.”
Senate Republicans, despite cries from the other side of the aisle to regain some modicum of congressional oversight over the Venezuela situation, are firm in their belief that Venezuela’s oil, not American taxpayers’ money, will foot the bill.
“We’re going to use Venezuelan resources to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for what we’ve already spent there, and we’re going to use Venezuelan resources to help rebuild their own country,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said. “The taxpayer is not going to be on the hook for one cent of this.”
Marco Rubio emerges as key Trump power player after Venezuela operation
Early in the second Trump administration, analysts openly wondered how long Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s relationship with President Donald Trump would last.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has long embraced a Cold War–inflected, hawkish approach to foreign policy that initially appeared at odds with Trump’s worldview.
Trump had been deeply skeptical of U.S. involvement in Ukraine and surrounded himself with prominent anti-interventionist voices, including Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Shortly after Trump won the election in 2024, Pete Hegseth, then set to become secretary of war, described himself as a “recovering neocon.”
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But in 2026, Rubio sits at the apex of his career, emerging as one of the most influential figures in Washington.
He holds two additional titles: national security advisor and head of the National Archives. The last person to serve as the nation’s chief diplomat and national security advisor was Henry Kissinger, widely seen as the architect of foreign policy during the Nixon administration.
“He’s just really smart, really effective, and he’s succeeded at everything he’s done,” Matt Kroenig, a former Pentagon official and current vice president at the Atlantic Council think tank, told Fox News Digital. “He doesn’t see his job as containing Trump. He understands who the boss is and channels those instincts into constructive directions.”
The man of many hats has pursued the fall of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro for nearly a decade.
“I think that U.S. armed forces should only be used in cases of national security threats,” Rubio said in a 2018 interview with Univision. “I think there is a strong argument that can be made right now that Venezuela and Maduro’s regime have become a threat to the region and to the U.S.”
On Jan. 3, Rubio got his wish, when special operators descended on Caracas, Venezuela, to snatch the dictator of 12 years and his wife from their bed.
Maduro appeared to sense the danger early. In a message to Trump, he warned that Rubio “wants to stain your hands with blood — with South American, Caribbean, Venezuelan blood,” as the U.S. kicked off a campaign of airstrikes on drug traffickers in the Caribbean in September 2025.
Trump likely didn’t need much convincing.
“Trump was very focused on Venezuela in the first term,” Kroenig said. “I think he probably saw the outcome of the first term was not what he wanted.”
Though Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was recently sworn in, Trump has asserted that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela.
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Less than a year ago, media outlets portrayed Rubio as crowded out of diplomatic negotiations, with envoys like Steve Witkoff running point on Iran, Gaza and Ukraine. Vanity Fair reported that Rubio was “frustrated” by being “sidelined” on foreign policy decisions, while The Atlantic ran a profile of Witkoff calling him “the real secretary of state.”
Brian Hook, the architect of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran during the first term, at one point appeared poised for a senior role after leading the 2024 State Department transition team. Instead, Trump ultimately dropped Hook, as he did former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars… YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in January 2025.
That trajectory shifted months later when Trump launched airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Now, Rubio has become the most visible public face of the U.S. mission in Venezuela, appearing on television to clarify Trump’s remarks about the U.S. “running” the country. Rubio said Washington would rely on economic leverage and strategic tools — including sanctions enforcement and oil quarantines — to shape a transition.
He also laid out a phased plan for stabilization and recovery centered on controlled oil sales, underscoring his role as the administration’s principal explainer after the capture of Maduro.
Rubio’s visibility reflects the moment. Trump’s most consequential moves in recent months, from Venezuela to Iran, have unfolded abroad rather than around domestic initiatives like affordability and job creation.
“The members of President Trump’s national security team who have always executed Venezuela policy, including Vice President Vance, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, General Caine, Director Ratcliffe, and Deputy Chief of Staff Miller, will continue to execute Venezuela policy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
“Secretary Rubio has done a great job advancing President Trump’s foreign policy agenda as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, as exemplified by this latest action arresting narcoterrorist Nicolas Maduro,” she went on. “He is a team player and everyone loves working with him in the West Wing.”
Vance and Gabbard have been far less visible on foreign policy.
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Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other senior Trump advisors sat alongside the president at Mar-a-Lago as he monitored Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Maduro. Vance participated remotely by video from Ohio due to increased security concerns, according to a Vance spokesperson.
Gabbard, who previously criticized U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, played no public role in the lead-up to the operation. Less than two days before it began, she posted a series of photos on X from Hawaii.
In 2019, Gabbard wrote that the United States “must stay out of Venezuela.”
After the operation, she praised its execution, writing: “President Trump promised the American people he would secure our borders, confront narcoterrorism, dangerous drug cartels, and drug traffickers. Kudos to our servicemen and women and intelligence operators for their flawless execution.”
“It is unfair to focus on DNI Gabbard’s past views, given other Trump administration officials have also previously voiced disagreement on policy or even slammed the President directly,” an administration official told Fox News Digital, adding that Gabbard provided the president intelligence for the Venezuela operation.
Vance, meanwhile, has focused much of his public messaging on domestic issues, including a fraud investigation involving Minnesota daycare centers and the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent — an incident the Department of Homeland Security has described as an act of self-defense.
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A Vance spokesperson insisted the vice president was “deeply integrated in the process and planning” for the Venezuela operation, as was White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
But, Kroenig said, Vance “is probably skeptical about how this is going, and I think he sees his base among Republicans who are skeptical.”
“While I think things are going well so far, there is still a possibility that they could fail — in which case, when he runs in 2028, he can say, ‘You know, I was never really supportive of this policy anyway.’”
Inside the lightning US strike that overwhelmed Venezuela’s defenses and seized Maduro
The U.S. military launched strikes against Venezuela and captured its dictator, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3 — emerging from the operation largely unscathed as it handicapped Venezuela’s defense systems and potentially conducted cyber operations against Caracas.
Altogether, more than 150 aircraft — including U.S. bombers and fighter jets — were involved in the operation, successfully completing a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela, according to President Donald Trump. Additionally, Caracas, Venezuela, suffered power outages early Jan. 3 — an indication of a potential cyber operation.
Trump signaled that the U.S. may have been behind the blackout in Venezuela but did not provide details regarding the nature of a possible cyber operation targeting Venezuela’s civilian infrastructure.
“The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have,” Trump said.
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Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ defense and security department, said that while it’s unclear what exactly U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and Space Command (SPACECOM) contributed to the operation, they may have penetrated some of Venezuela’s infrastructure.
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“We don’t really know what cyber did, some of the lights did go out, and Caine did talk about it,” Cancian told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “It’s possible that (they) got into some of their command and control systems.”
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that as U.S. helicopters with the extraction force and other law enforcement assets started to approach Venezuela’s shores, the U.S. “began layering different effects provided by SPACECOM, CYBERCOM, and other members of the inter-agency to create a pathway.”
According to Caine, U.S. aircraft involved in the operation included F-22, F-35, F/A-18 and EA-18 fighter jets, E-2 airborne early warning aircraft, B-1 bombers and “other support aircraft, as well as numerous remotely piloted drones.”
“As the force began to approach Caracas, the joint air component began dismantling and disabling the air defense systems in Venezuela, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area,” Caine told reporters.
These aircraft involved in the mission also likely employed weapons including the AGM-88 HARM, or high-speed anti-radiation missile, which neutralizes radar-equipped enemy air defense systems and other air-to-ground munitions to take out Venezuela’s air defense systems, according to Cancian.
A spokesperson for SPACECOM said that the command could not comment on the specific details of support SPACECOM provided to Operation Absolute Resolve, due to operational security concerns. But the spokesperson added that space-based capabilities including positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) that the military uses to support electronic warfare, in addition to other things, as well as satellite communications are “foundational to all modern military activities.”
“To protect the Joint Force from space-enabled attack and ensure their freedom of movement, U.S. Space Command possesses the means and willingness to employ combat-credible capabilities that deter and counter our opponents and project power in all warfighting domains,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital Friday.
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CYBERCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Other factors that contributed to the U.S. military’s success undermining Venezuela’s defenses were that CIA assets had been on the ground leading up to the raid, according to Cancian. Trump confirmed in October 2025 that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
“They gave detailed descriptions of Maduro’s headquarters, and I’m sure located all of the air defense batteries around Caracas,” Cancian said. “So we had an excellent sense about where everything was, combining that with overhead surveillance and also electromagnetic intelligence.”
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Although Venezuela “on paper” has powerful air defense systems, Cancian said that success pulling off the operation stemmed from solid efforts from the U.S. military to destroy and disrupt Venezuela’s air defense system, in conjunction with poor training for Venezuela’s military.
Venezuela is equipped with Russian S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems, as well as Buk-M2E and Pechora-2M medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, according to the Modern War Institute at West Point.
Of the more than 150 U.S. aircraft involved in the operation, only one was hit, and zero were shot down. An administration official told Fox News Digital that seven U.S. service members were injured during the operation, but were “well on their way to recovery.”
TRUMP’S VENEZUELA STRIKE SPARKS CONSTITUTIONAL CLASH AS MADURO IS HAULED INTO US
“Seems those Russian air defenses didn’t quite work so well, did they?” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters in Newport News, Virginia.
Trump announced that U.S. special forces conducted a strike against Caracas, Venezuela, and seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The two were taken to New York and appeared in a Manhattan federal court Jan. 5 on drug charges. Both pleaded not guilty.
The raid came after months of pressure on Venezuela amid a series of strikes in Latin American waters targeting alleged drug traffickers in alignment with Trump’s effort to crack down on the influx of drugs into the U.S.
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The Trump administration repeatedly stated that it did not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and insisted he was the leader of a drug cartel. Trump also said in December he thought it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down.
The Trump administration has since claimed that its actions seizing Maduro were justified as a “law enforcement” operation, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said congressional approval wasn’t necessary since the operation didn’t amount to an “invasion.”
Even so, lawmakers primarily on the left have questioned the legality of the operation in Venezuela, which was conducted without Congress’ approval.
“This has been a profound constitutional failure,” the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement Jan. 3. “Congress — not the President — has the sole power to authorize war. Pursuing regime change without the consent of the American people is a reckless overreach and an abuse of power.”
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“The question now is not whether Maduro deserved removal. It is what precedent the United States has just set and what comes next.”
US raid in Venezuela signals deterrence to adversaries on three fronts, experts say
The U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has ignited sharp debate in Washington and abroad over whether the move undermines international norms — or delivers a deliberate deterrent message to rivals like China and Russia.
Critics argue that seizing the leader of a sovereign nation risks setting a dangerous precedent — one that adversaries could cite to justify their own military actions beyond their borders.
“My main concern now is that Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said in a statement.
“What will we say now if Putin tries to capture Zelenskyy?” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., asked.
Others counter that such norms have never constrained Moscow or Beijing, and that deterrence is shaped less by legal arguments than by demonstrations of power, speed and capability.
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“I don’t think Putin or Xi ever doubted that power overrides sovereignty,” said Pedro Garmendia, a Washington-based geopolitical risk analyst. “What we’ve seen consistently from China and Russia is that they use rhetoric around international law when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t.”
Lethality
For U.S. adversaries, the most jarring signal may not be diplomatic fallout but the stark demonstration of American lethality.
The operation resulted in the deaths of dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel, according to Venezuelan and Cuban authorities, as U.S. forces pushed through layers of armed resistance protecting Maduro. Cuban officials acknowledged the loss of multiple military and intelligence personnel deployed in Venezuela, while Venezuelan authorities confirmed heavy casualties among elite security units. Independent estimates place the total death toll — security forces and civilians combined — at several dozen.
President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged the nature of the mission, describing it afterward as a violent operation by necessity, given the threat environment and the presence of armed foreign forces embedded within Maduro’s security apparatus. Trump argued the level of force reflected the reality of penetrating a defended capital and preventing Maduro from escaping or rallying loyalist units.
Analysts say that willingness to use decisive force — and to own it publicly — carries its own deterrent value.
Garmendia noted that Venezuela was no marginal partner for U.S. adversaries.
“Both countries have invested tens of billions of dollars in the Chávez and then Maduro regime,” he said. “Having the leader of that regime captured and taken into U.S. custody so suddenly — especially when a Chinese special envoy had just met with Maduro hours before — is frankly embarrassing to both countries.”
Execution
Beyond casualties, the operation sent a second signal through its execution: speed, precision and deep preparation.
U.S. special operations forces spent months rehearsing the raid, including training on a full-scale replica of Maduro’s compound. CIA officers built a detailed picture of Maduro’s daily routines — tracking when he slept, where he traveled, how his security rotated and which locations offered the narrowest escape routes.
That intelligence allowed planners to identify a precise window when Maduro was most vulnerable. Airspace suppression, rapid insertion and coordinated ground movement unfolded in minutes, denying Venezuelan and allied forces time to respond effectively.
Trump later pointed to that preparation as evidence the operation was deliberate rather than impulsive, arguing that speed and overwhelming force were essential to prevent Maduro from slipping away or turning the operation into a prolonged firefight.
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Former FBI counterintelligence operative Eric O’Neill said those details are likely to matter more to Beijing and Moscow than legal debates at the United Nations.
“At least while Trump is in office, it’s going to look a lot like deterrence to China and Russia,” O’Neill said. “They didn’t even get a chance to blink before Maduro was gone.”
O’Neill added that the execution underscored a broader message.
“That sends a strong signal that the United States can find its adversaries anywhere in the world,” he said, arguing rivals already inclined to violate international norms are unlikely to be emboldened by an action they lack the capability to replicate.
Experience
The final deterrent signal lies in experience: the institutional ability to plan and execute complex, intelligence-driven operations built on decades of counterterrorism and special operations campaigns.
U.S. officials point to the seamless integration of intelligence collection, rehearsal, logistics and kinetic force as evidence of a mature operational system that can be activated with little warning — an advantage adversaries must assume exists even when they cannot see it.
Concern has nevertheless been echoed by international institutions.
Ravina Shamdasani, chief spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, warned the operation could weaken global norms.
“It sends a signal that the powerful can do whatever they like,” Shamdasani said, arguing the intervention “damages the architecture of international security and makes every country less safe.”
China said it was “deeply shocked,” condemning what it called the U.S.’s “blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president,” and claiming it “seriously violates international law” and threatens stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The criticism comes as Beijing has intensified military pressure on Taiwan, including near-daily air incursions and large-scale exercises meant to signal its own willingness to use force.
Russia likewise denounced the U.S. operation at the United Nations as a violation of sovereignty and international law, even as it continues its war in Ukraine while rejecting international legal judgments and condemnation.
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For U.S. strategists, that contrast reinforces the intended message: adversaries may invoke international law rhetorically, but what shapes their calculations is demonstrated capability — especially when paired with the experience to plan, rehearse and execute without warning.
As Trump urges deal, Cuban president warns that the country will defend itself ‘to the last drop of blood’
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez declared Sunday that the island nation would defend itself “to the last drop of blood,” responding to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to strike a deal with Washington.
President Trump had spoken about Cuba in a Truth Social post earlier in the day, urging that “they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
“Those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should hold their tongues out of shame. Because they know it and acknowledge it: they are the fruit of the draconian measures of extreme strangulation that the U.S. has been applying to us for six decades and now threatens to surpass,” the Cuban wrote on X, according to a translation of the Spanish-language post.
“#Cuba is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do. Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood,” he wrote in another post, according to the translation.
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U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who was born in Cuba, responded to the foreign figure’s post.
“You dictators, henchmen, and executioners of the Cuban nation think you own the island. You don’t have much time left,” he declared, according to the translation of his post, also written in Spanish.
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Trump declared in a Truth Social post on Sunday, “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.
“Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he warned.
TRUMP ULTIMATUM TO CUBA: ‘MAKE A DEAL, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE’ OR FACE CONSEQUENCES
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Rep. Gimenez thanked the president.
“I was born in Cuba & forced from home shortly after the Communist takeover. Today, I represent my community in Congress. Thank you, President Trump, first Venezuela & next is Cuba. We will be forever grateful. Our hemisphere must be the hemisphere of liberty,” the lawmaker wrote in a post on X.
DEA zeroes in on Cartel of the Suns bosses as Maduro is hauled into US narco case
The early-morning arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro sent shockwaves around the world, marking the most consequential move by the United States in its war against the dictator’s notorious “Cartel of the Suns.”
Maduro was indicted alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, son and three alleged co-conspirators with federal gun and narcotics trafficking charges. The case, which mirrors original charges filed in the Southern District of New York in 2020, adds charges against Flores and was filed under seal last month.
Maduro is facing four charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Federal prosecutors allege that for years, the Cartel of the Suns – or “Cartel de los Soles” – has worked in tandem with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) under Maduro’s leadership to execute a complex and large-scale cocaine trafficking network to funnel narcotics into the U.S.
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“The Venezuelan regime, once led by Nicolás Maduro Moros, remains plagued by criminality and corruption,” then-Attorney General William Barr said in a 2020 news release. “For more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities.”
U.S. officials’ war against Venezuela’s trafficking empire dates back to 1996, after the country was deemed one of the largest drug transit hubs within the Western Hemisphere, according to a 2009 report published by the United States Government Accountability Office.
Venezuela’s shared border with Colombia – along with ongoing corruption within the country’s government – has long provided criminals with consistent resources to transport narcotics throughout the region.
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Since 2005, Venezuela’s cooperation with the U.S. regarding counternarcotic operations has significantly dwindled, denying visas to U.S. officials in 2007. One year later, then-President Hugo Chávez expelled the U.S. ambassador and recalled his ambassador from Washington, D.C., marking a significant blow to the two countries’ collaboration efforts.
While Venezuela and the U.S. agreed to reinstate their ambassadors in 2009, Venezuelan officials insisted the country did not need to work alongside the U.S. in counternarcotic efforts due to the country’s own programs.
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In an effort to crack down on Venezuela’s trafficking networks, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has worked both within the country and domestically to capture the cartel’s key players.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Padrino Lopez, a general in the Venezuelan armed forces, to its Specially Designated Nationals List.
In 2020, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Maduro and 14 co-conspirators, with charges stemming from investigations conducted in collaboration with the DEA.
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Five years later, Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, a top general known as “El Pollo,” pleaded guilty to the same charges brought against Maduro. His conviction marked a notable victory for U.S. officials, with co-conspirator Cliver Antonio Alcala Cordones also pleading guilty to providing material support, including firearms, to the FARC.
In 2025, OFAC sanctioned the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist due to its history of providing material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. Despite the accusations, a U.S. intelligence assessment comprised of 18 agencies later found no direct evidence of a connection between the cartels, according to The Associated Press.
However, the indictment filed against Maduro alleges he, along with his family, facilitated “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members.”
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Federal prosecutors allege Maduro “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support,” such as facilitating transport – such as boats and airplanes – to cartels moving drugs throughout the region.
“This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,” the indictment adds.
The DEA did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Expert warns of ‘extreme violence’ in Venezuelan mining as Trump admin eyes mineral reserves
The Trump administration’s renewed interest in tapping Venezuela’s mineral reserves could carry with it “serious risk,” an expert on illicit economies has warned in the wake of the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
A day after the U.S. military seized Maduro in Caracas, Trump administration officials highlighted their interest in the country’s critical mineral potential.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Jan. 4, “You have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals. They have a great mining history that’s gone rusty,” he said aboard Air Force One alongside President Donald Trump.
Lutnick also said that Trump “is going to fix it and bring it back – for the Venezuelans.”
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“Venezuela’s gold, critical mineral and rare earth potential is substantial, which makes mining resources very much on the menu for Trump,” Bram Ebus told Fox News Digital.
“But this illicit economy involves extreme violence,” he said, before describing abuses that include forced labor, criminal control of mining zones and punishments such as “hands being cut off for theft.”
Ebus, a consultant for International Crisis Group, cautioned that without strict safeguards, transparency and security, Trump’s efforts to tap Venezuela’s mineral wealth could entangle the U.S. in criminal networks.
“The sector is already dominated by transnational crime syndicates, deeply implicated in human rights abuses, and intertwined with Chinese corporate interests,” Ebus, the founder of Amazon Underworld, a research collective covering organized crime, said. “If corporations or foreign private security firms were to become directly involved in mining in Venezuela’s Amazon region, the situation could deteriorate rapidly and violently.”
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Despite the renewed focus on oil and mineral wealth, “when it comes to mining, the situation is more complex than oil,” Ebus added. “The illicit extraction of gold, tungsten, tantalum, and rare earth elements is largely controlled by Colombian guerrilla organizations, often working in collaboration with corrupt Venezuelan state security forces. Much of this output currently ends up in China.”
Ebus also described dire conditions inside mining zones. “Mining districts are effectively run by criminal governance,” he explained. “Armed groups decide who can enter or leave an area, tax legal and illegal economic activity, and enforce their own form of justice.” He also described how “punishments for breaking rules can include expulsion, beatings, torture or death.”
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“We have documented summary executions, decapitations, and severe physical mutilation, such as hands being cut off for theft,” he added. “Sexual exploitation, forced labor, and torture are widespread with crimes not limited to non-state actors.”
He also noted that “Venezuelan state forces, including the army, National Guard, and intelligence services are deeply involved and work in direct collaboration with organized crime groups.”
Ebus described how Colombia’s largest guerrilla organizations, including the ELN and factions such as the Segunda Marquetalia, along with Venezuelan organized crime groups operating locally – or “sistemas” – dominate illegal mining operations, noting that “there are at least five major ‘sindicatos’ operating across Bolívar state alone.”
“Together, all these actors make up the core criminal panorama of Venezuela’s mining sector,” Ebus added.
In 2016, Maduro established the Orinoco Mining Arc, a 111,843-square-kilometer zone rich in gold, diamonds, coltan and other minerals.
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The area has since become synonymous with illicit mining and corrupt officials.
In 2019, the U.S. sanctioned Venezuelan gold exports with at least 86% of the country’s gold reportedly being produced illegally and often controlled by criminal gangs.
However, from a U.S. perspective, Ebus said, the objective behind critical minerals could be limiting China’s access.
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“With gold prices expected to peak around 2026, access to gold represents a major benefit for national economies and government investment stability,” he said. “Beyond gold, controlling critical mineral supply chains offers enormous geopolitical leverage for the U.S., especially if it allows it to deny access to China.”