Venezuela wrongfully detained Washington man under Biden — Trump admin bringing him home



A Washington state man held captive in Venezuela for months will soon be reunited with his family after Trump officials intervened in his case.

Joseph St. Clair — a veteran of the U.S. Air Force suffering from what his mother, Patti St. Clair, described as "severe PTSD" — went missing in November during the final weeks of the Biden administration after traveling to Colombia for treatment. Three months later, St. Clair's father, Scott St. Clair, received a call from the Colombian consulate claiming that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro's regime had taken Joseph hostage.

The federal government officially declared St. Clair wrongfully detained.

'We are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.'

"Can you imagine his fear? Can you imagine the isolation that he must be feeling battling his unseen scars in a foreign prison, unsure if help is even coming?" Patti St. Clair said at a "Bring Our Families Home" event in Washington, D.C., in April.

At some point after President Donald Trump retook office, Trump, presidential envoy for hostage affairs Sebastian Gorka, Adam Boehler, and U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell began negotiating with Venezuelan authorities to secure St. Clair's release.

RELATED: Trump gets Venezuela to repatriate violent illegal aliens

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The talks must ultimately have been successful, because St. Clair was released to Grenell on Tuesday, his family said in a statement.

"This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it — but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude," his parents said in a statement.

Other details regarding his detainment and release remain unclear.

St. Clair served four tours in Afghanistan. He is originally from Hansville, Washington, along the shores of Puget Sound.

St. Clair was one of at least seven Americans detained in Venezuela since Maduro declared victory in a highly controversial election last July. Even the Biden administration questioned the results of the vote, with then-Sec. of State Antony Blinken expressing "serious concerns."

RELATED: Biden-Harris official, other international leaders question results of Venezuelan election after Maduro declared winner

Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP) (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images

Six others were released back in February after Grenell met with Maduro.

Now that St. Clair has been released, at least 37 American hostages from countries including Afghanistan, Israel, Russia, and Kuwait have been released since Trump's inauguration in January.

"We remain in prayer and solidarity with the families of those who are still being held," the statement from the St. Clairs said. "We will never stop loving and supporting them as they continue their fight to be reunited with their loved ones."

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Venezuela's regime enables Tren de Aragua's border crime spree while corrupt officials likely profit: Intel memo



Venezuela's regime has been enabling Tren de Aragua's U.S. border invasion and criminal activity, according to a National Intelligence Council memo released Monday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The memo explained that when the Venezuelan government booted TDA from the Tocoran Prison in 2023, some of the gang's leaders were allowed to escape because they were "possibly assisted by low-level Venezuelan military and political leaders."

'FBI analysts ... assess some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members' migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies in ... the United States to advance what they see as the Maduro regime's goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety ...'

According to Department of Homeland Security findings, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro may have removed them from the prison "to undercut regional press" that alleged his ties to TDA.

However, the NIC's memo stopped short of confirming President Donald Trump's allegations that Maduro directs TDA's activities. Trump has argued that his regime intentionally allowed TDA to invade the U.S. in an effort to destabilize the country.

While the memo disputed such claims, it admitted that some regime officials "may cooperate with TDA for financial gain," stating that such instances are "ad hoc" and not an organized effort. Still, the findings supported claims that Maduro's leadership has enabled TDA and other criminal groups to operate.

According to the memo, Maduro's regime "generally does not impede" illegal groups, adding that Venezuela's "permissive environment enables TDA to operate."

"Some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials probably profit from TDA's illicit activities," the memo added. However, the Venezuelan government "probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States."

"Some regime officials are probably willing to capitalize on migration flows for personal financial or other benefits, even though the Maduro regime probably is not systematically directing Venezuelan outflows, such as to sow chaos in receiving countries," it said.

Maduro's "illegitimate and autocratic grip on power" has enabled "widespread corruption and for regime officials to benefit from a variety of illicit activities," the memo continued.

The intelligence community argued that Maduro is probably not directing TDA because it would require "extensive" coordination.

"While FBI analysts agree with the above assessment, they assess some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members' migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the United States to advance what they see as the Maduro regime's goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in these countries, based on DHS and FBI reporting as of February 2024," it read.

The migration of Venezuelan nationals was attributed to "a variety of push and pull factors including socioeconomic conditions, family ties to the United States, and migrants' perceptions of U.S. and regional enforcement."

The NIC findings noted that Maduro's inaction toward TDA's criminal activity has benefited his regime, allowing him to "retain power" while dissidents flee Venezuela.

An estimated 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled since 2024.

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Trump Doesn’t Need Maduro’s Cooperation To Deport Venezuelan Migrants

Most of the Venezuelans who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border were living in 20 other peaceful countries for years beforehand.

Biden did that? No, it’s Marco Rubio making gas prices skyrocket this time



Last month’s termination of Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela marks a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy. It also has grave implications for U.S. interests in South America.

The decision, which effectively forces Chevron — responsible for nearly 30% of Venezuela’s oil revenue — to cease operations within 30 days, moves U.S. policy back toward ill-fated interventionism.

Rubio’s adventurism arguably undercuts American dominance of the Western Hemisphere.

At first glance, this shift may appear to be a classic recalibration within the Trump administration. Insider reports suggest, however, that it was driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a leading neoconservative, who has seized a moment of political leverage to advance a hard-line stance on Venezuela.

A hard-line shift

With much of Washington’s focus on Ukraine, Rubio worked with Cuban-American lawmakers from Florida, including Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, and Maria Elvira Salazar, to pressure the administration into taking a more aggressive position against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio has long sought the removal of Maduro — whose leftist politics he detests — but his current approach poses a serious threat to U.S. national security.

This move is based on the assumption that by cutting off American engagement with Venezuela’s oil sector, Maduro will be weakened, potentially leading to his ouster.

But history suggests that this kind of economic pressure, typical of neoconservative thinking, has not — that is, never — yielded the desired results.

A similar “maximum pressure” strategy on Venezuela during Trump’s first term did not lead to regime change. Instead, it exacerbated instability in the region and contributed to the surge of migration at the southern U.S. border.

This was hardly an outcome that had conservatives jumping for joy.

Economic consequences

Beyond border security, Rubio’s decision could have severe economic consequences. U.S. oil refiners, particularly along the Gulf Coast, rely on Venezuela’s heavy crude to operate properly and keep pump prices as low as possible for working Americans.

Consequently, restricting access to this supply will likely increase fuel costs for American consumers — something that contradicts the president’s commitment to boosting U.S. energy production to supercharge our flagging economy.

The immediate market response has been telling, with oil prices rising more than 2% following last month's announcement. A neoconservative State Department, therefore, looks set to hit Americans where it hurts.

Strengthening our adversaries

Rubio’s adventurism also arguably undercuts American dominance of the Western Hemisphere.

Rather than halting Venezuelan oil production, hamstringing Chevron leaves Maduro’s government with little choice but to deepen ties with China and Russia. These antagonists are more than ready to fill the gap left by Western firms and American technology.

The U.S. had been making progress in reducing Venezuela’s reliance on Beijing, but this policy reversal could undo all that — strengthening adversaries at America’s expense.

This is not to say that engagement with Venezuela should come without conditions, but a more measured approach would have preserved American leverage rather than ceding ground to geopolitical competitors.

A pivot from MAGA

For example, President Trump last month outlined the framework of a U.S.-Venezuela détente: ramping up crude oil imports in exchange for Venezuela’s agreement to accept the return of its nationals who are in the United States illegally.

This would be a boon for the MAGA movement, strengthening energy and border security in one policy shot.

But Rubio has other ideas. His influence in shaping this turn away from Venezuela is evident. But the broader question remains: Will America return to the failed policies of the past, or will it stick to the optimistic realism of the Trump-Vance ticket?

The right answer, for me at least, is clear as day.

Trump gets Venezuela to repatriate violent illegal aliens



President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that Venezuela has agreed to repatriate its citizens living illegally in the United States.

Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social that Venezuela has reached an agreement with the White House to accept its citizens, including members of the violent gang Tren de Aragua.

'We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.'

Venezuela has historically refused to cooperate with U.S. repatriation flights. However, Trump’s tough stance on immigration appears to have pushed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro to reconsider.

Trump’s envoy, Richard Grenell, visited Maduro in Venezuela on Friday. Grenell returned with six American citizens who were being detained by Maduro’s regime following the country’s July presidential election.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that Grenell’s visit does not indicate that the Trump administration recognized Maduro as the legitimate leader. U.S. officials have maintained that Maduro lost the election, recognizing challenger Edmundo González as Venezuela’s president-elect.

Grenell told the Wall Street Journal, “The only award for Maduro was my physical presence, the first senior U.S. official to visit the country in years.”

“It was a big gift to him to have a visit by an envoy of President Trump,” Grenell added.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, the State Department’s special envoy for Latin America, told the Washington Post that the agreement between the U.S. and Venezuela to take back its citizens was “not a negotiation.”

“The Venezuelan criminals of Tren de Aragua and other groups have to be deported and Venezuela has to accept them. It is their responsibility ... it is not negotiable. ... And if they don’t comply with these requirements, obviously, as President Trump himself has said, there will be major consequences,” Claver-Carone stated.

Trump wrote on Saturday, “It is so good to have the Venezuela Hostages back home and, very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua.”

“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back,” Trump continued. “We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back. Furthermore, record numbers of criminals are being removed from our Country, and the Border numbers are the strongest they have been since the First Term of the Trump Administration!”

The Biden administration previously extended Temporary Protected Status to roughly 600,000 Venezuelan nationals residing in the U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last week that the Trump administration had terminated an extension that would have shielded Venezuelan nationals from deportation until October 2026. The existing protections are slated to expire in April and September.

Leavitt noted on Friday that there are currently 400 Tren de Aragua gang members in custody waiting to be deported to Venezuela.

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Venezuelan dictator Maduro threatens invasion of US territory — governor calls for Trump's swift action



Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro on Saturday proposed invading Puerto Rico, prompting the U.S. territory's Republican governor, Jenniffer González-Colón, to call for swift action from President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration.

During Venezuela's International Anti-Fascist Festival in Caracas over the weekend, Maduro said, "Just as in the north they have a colonization agenda, we have a liberation agenda."

'Will not bow down to the threats of petty, murderous dictators.'

He stated that the country's agenda was created by Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan who led the South American independence movement.

"The freedom of Puerto Rico is pending, and we will achieve it with Brazilian troops," Maduro declared.

González-Colón addressed Maduro's remarks in a Monday letter to Trump, urging the incoming administration to respond to the dictator's threat to invade Puerto Rico.

"This is an open threat to the United States, our national security, and stability in the region," the governor wrote. "I trust your incoming administration will swiftly respond and make clear to the Maduro regime that, under your leadership, the United States will protect American lives and sovereignty and will not bow down to the threats of petty, murderous dictators."

"As Governor of Puerto Rico, I am ready to work with you and your administration to counter this and other threats posed by the illegitimate Maduro dictatorship and support the people of Venezuela in their quest for freedom," she continued. "I also look forward to engaging in meaningful discussions on how to best enhance Puerto Rico's national security role and take a strong stance against the growing presence of our adversaries in the region."

Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) commended González-Colón for "condemning the absurd and pathetic threats."

"With Biden in the White House, adversaries such as those within the Maduro narco-dictatorship have been emboldened by his weak policy of appeasement," Diaz-Balart wrote in a post on X. "But in less than a week, a new foreign policy will begin where freedom and U.S. national security interests are paramount. Friends will be treated as friends, and adversaries as adversaries."

Diaz-Balart warned Maduro that if he does not flee Venezuela, he could meet the same fate as former dictators Benito Mussolini of Italy and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who were executed after being overthrown.

"Maduro's days are numbered. If the dictator in Venezuela does not want to end up like other dictators Mussolini and Gaddafi, he should leave Venezuela without delay," he wrote.

Representative Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) stated that Maduro “must face DIRE consequences for his actions.”

“The people of #PuertoRico are proud American citizens & we will NEVER tolerate these pathetic aggressions from a murderous thug!” he added.

Trump's transition team did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.

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Rubio and the Return of the Monroe Doctrine

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Florida senator Marco Rubio (R.) to lead the State Department. Rubio is, among other things, a full-spectrum opponent of China's nefarious activities, and the news of his nomination dismayed the soft-on-China crowd. He is also tough on Iran and should focus America's diplomats on promoting the nation's interests rather than exporting the culture wars. But Rubio's most distinctive foreign policy contribution is likely to be in Latin America, where he can bring the Monroe Doctrine back to the center of U.S. foreign policy.

The post Rubio and the Return of the Monroe Doctrine appeared first on .

Court-Packing Is Just One More Way Democrats Would Turn America Into Venezuela

Democrats' court-packing plans would destroy SCOTUS’s independence and the rule of law.

How Venezuela's communist government is using tech surveillance to cling to power



Protests and upheaval have roiled Venezuela following a contested election on July 28. Incumbent leader Nicolas Maduro claims victory by a margin of 51% to 44%, while his opponent leader, Edmundo Gonzalez, says his coalition garnered 66% of the vote. It’s worth noting that Gonzalez was 25 points up in polls through most of July.

The United States has officially recognized Gonzalez as the victor, joining a chorus of international criticism of the election’s lack of transparency.

Reports detail at least 15 protesters killed so far by Venezuelan authorities, including a teenager who stopped to watch the protests on the way back from a party. There have been at least 39 injuries reported, and over 1,000 protesters have been arrested.

The internet has led to significant democratization in many ways simultaneously, as it has allowed the rise of technocracy and autocratic governments to clamp down even farther on popular discontent they dislike.

Prior to the election, Maduro emphasized there would be a “bloodbath” if he didn’t win this time around. He has the wherewithal to make good on his threat, given that he’s in charge of the nation’s army, cops, courts, and most of its lethal paramilitary gangs. Even leftist-led Brazil and Colombia have expressed concerns over the situation and the transparency of Venezuela's July 28 election, urging Maduro to reveal the vote tallies that prove his claims publicly.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the U.S. Department of State is still offering up to $15 million for information or help in arresting Maduro for allegedly drug trafficking and engaging in narco-terrorism. He’s also under investigation at the ICC for violently cracking down on protests in 2014 and 2017.

In the past ten years, almost 8 million Venezuelans have left the country due to the economic and political crisis, which has been worsened by devastating sanctions from the U.S. and its allies. Maduro doesn’t have many options and certainly doesn’t appear to believe he’d receive much leniency if he negotiates with the West, steps down, or redoes an election to placate his critics. So he’s all in.

One key to Maduro’s power is control and leverage over information that reaches citizens, as well as their ability to spread viral messages and activism in a timely fashion. An analysis by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reportedly “uncovered a flood of GenAI dupes, disinformation campaigns, and blocks on more than 100 websites” before the election.

Despotic regimes from North Korea and Iran to Cuba and Syria are well known for limiting and censoring internet access to quell unrest, mitigate the citizenry’s ability to access information and mobilize resistance. This year, countries including Kenya and Comoros have also resorted to shutting down and limiting large areas of the internet to quell unrest.

Various independent outlets have been suspended in Venezuela since the election, including El Estímulo and Analítica, and that number has now climbed to 11, with Maduro authorities shutting down numerous outlets that were focused on exposing government-fueled disinformation and “fake news.”

“They wish to dismantle the sources of news that still spark communities in this country,” says Tinedo Guía, leader of Venezuela's National Journalists' Association.

A blueprint for totalitarian control

Venezuela's government adopts a four-pronged approach to achieve its aims of quashing widespread anti-government unity or mobilization.

  1. Seizing power over what is shown and broadcast to Venezuelans by closing down independent media chains.

“For example, in April 2019, multiple media outlets were shut down after opposition leader Juan Guaidó used Twitter to announce an opposition plan to encourage the military to leave Maduro,” note Moises Rendon and Arianna Kohan.

“The internet was restored 20 minutes before a live-streamed speech given by Maduro in which he denounced the opposition.”

  1. Limiting the ability and ease of citizens to use data, VPNs, and alternate browsers like TOR (the Onion Router).
  2. Using the state-held internet and phone provider CANTV to spy on and track what citizens communicate about. Government agency Conatel also operates under the guise of technical compliance to yank licenses from those who displease Maduro.

Meanwhile, Chinese telecom company ZTE helps track citizens’ trends, habits, and behavior through a “fatherland card” that is required to access any state-subsidized services and social programs including emergency food assistance.

  1. Weaponizing the court system and governmental bodies to prosecute and harass those whose activism, journalism, or online activity irks the regime. This includes the 2013 creation of the Center for Strategic Security and Protection (Centro Estratégico de Seguridad y Protección) to track and stop those who may be spreading information or communicating in ways that allegedly harm political stability.

Then there’s just plain intimidation and chasing down those who cause a headache for the regime. NGO Public Space (Espacio Público) reports 1,317 incidents of attacks on journalists, including arrests and murders, since 2002 in Venezuela. Many are embroiled in court cases and under charges that remain unresolved. In the past two decades under Maduro and former leader Hugo Chavez, Public Space lists 400 media companies that have bitten the dust, from TV channels and websites to radio stations and newspapers.

Most ordinary Venezuelans are focused on having enough to eat for the day and getting the fuel necessary for their daily work and needs. Twitter and other social networks help spread information and the locations of medicine and other services.

But for those who can’t afford internet access or aren’t in an area where they can use VPNs, text messaging on basic flip phones is used to stay in touch about what’s happening. However, the Maduro regime easily taps this, and smartphone ownership has been declining by around 7% per year due to costs. Mesh networks that let people talk offline are also used, although they are illegal and still trackable by the regime. In addition to state-run internet service providers, the Maduro regime has increasingly leaned on private ISPs to report user activity, including Spain’s Movistar, the nation’s only international ISP.

“What I can’t understand is how a company with corporate governance and an ethics code that operates under the European Union principles of free expression is doing what it’s doing in Venezuela,” says César Batiz, editor of the Venezuelan independent news website El Pitazo.

Surveillance politics

Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

Even apart from government control, censorship, and tracking and prosecution of user activity, Venezuela’s physical internet infrastructure has been on a dramatic downward slide for over a decade now, with lagging bandwidth, inefficient DNS servers, and sluggish performance due to lack of submarine cables connecting them to the rest of the world. The country’s millions of poor and various criminal gangs also routinely steal cables and antennae that are needed to keep the internet running smoothly. Only about 40% of those polled in Venezuela’s seven biggest cities report having any internet access.

At the same time as it throttles the internet for citizens, Venezuela’s government has become more skilled at utilizing the internet that does exist to its advantage. This information control has echoes with the past.

The internet and social media played a crucial role in the 2010 Arab Spring, rousing protesters against their governments, and numerous other democratic movements, uprisings, coups, and color revolutions from Nigeria to Ukraine. However, the groundswell of momentum and viral effect facilitated by social media and the internet was also quickly turned into a tool of increased state control. As Marwa Fatafta notes: “Dictators and despots — old and new — quickly learned how to weaponize the same online spaces and tools against their own citizens in order to quash any form of political dissent or mobilization, both online and offline.”

While the internet can be democratizing, it can also be a sand trap, full of mirror sites, tracking, and disinformation. As Venezuela has adapted to a patchy internet infrastructure, it’s also adapted to the reality of ground-level organizing and learning not to rely on digital messaging as the primary conduit of resistance.

The end result is a country in crisis but without much digital unification on the ground for anti-government citizens. The energy is in the streets more than the tweets. Political momentum is hard-won rather than easily disseminated widely or via top-down messaging. In addition to difficulty rallying a broad-based anti-government movement, digital weakness extends to trouble interesting foreigners in the country’s crisis. Tales of breakups and heartbreak ahead of the election are one approach used to try to rouse more engagement around the world in seeing the human side of the crisis.

The internet is both a malleable record-keeping environment and a receptacle of the collective instincts of the citizenry. It can be shaped and guided in many ways, from the bottom up and the top down. It has led to significant democratization in many ways simultaneously, as it has allowed the rise of technocracy and autocratic governments to clamp down even farther on popular discontent they dislike. Venezuela’s difficulty in shaking off Maduro and communications breakdown may seem distant and far more dramatic than anything going on in America, but if anything, it serves as a warning for how slippery the slope becomes when only one version of the political truth is permitted to be broadcasted and believed.

Venezuela Is A Disaster Because Of Socialism, Not ‘Brutal Capitalism’

The New York Times blames 'brutal capitalism' as the root cause of the socialist regime’s economic woes and political chaos.