Archiv: 08-2025: US miltary build-up near Venezuela / airstrikes on civil vessels / fishermen killed / 03-01-2026 president of Venezuela kidnapped / US threats against Colombia Cuba Nicaragua / Caribbean War


30.05.2026 - 17:50 [ American Prospect ]

The Miller Doctrine

(May 27, 2026)

Yet proposals that skirt the edges of international law didn’t come out of nowhere. The U.S. under George W. Bush created legal mechanisms following the September 11th attacks to torture hundreds of people in CIA black sites and then at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration’s targeted drone strikes were assassinations by another name. The Biden administration further eroded international norms and subverted its own policies by financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in violation of the Leahy Law, which prohibits foreign military assistance to nations that violate human rights.

“Seems like Miller is sort of taking what he was already willing to do during the first term and then combining that with what Israel has been doing in the way it has just been completely ignoring any kind of international law, Geneva Conventions, any of it in its conduct in Gaza and Lebanon, to then influence U.S. foreign policy,” Annelle Sheline, a research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in an interview.

In other words, Miller and the Trump administration have been able to steamroll what was left of international law; they just had to figure out how to do it.

28.05.2026 - 14:39 [ CNN ]

Trump’s ‘blow ‘em up’ threat to Oman means he’s now attacked or threatened 1 out of every 13 countries

He’s launched strikes in seven countries so far this term — Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen — after also attacking some of those countries in his first term. That doesn’t even count the strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which have targeted nearly 60 vessels and killed more than 190 people.

He has also threatened or left open the possibility of strikes against seven others this term: Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Greenland (which is part of Denmark), Mexico, Panama and now Oman. He also threatened Mexico and North Korea in his first term.

22.05.2026 - 02:13 [ Miami Herald ]

U.S. sends aircraft carrier Nimitz to the Caribbean as pressure mounts on Cuba

In what appears to be a carefully calibrated show of force, the U.S deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying strike group into Caribbean waters this week, a move that coincided with the unsealing of murder charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on Wednesday and an intensifying pressure campaign by the Trump administration against Havana.

21.05.2026 - 08:21 [ Drop Site News ]

Cuba Girds for Invasion as Trump Launches Raúl Castro Indictment Amid Punishing Blockade

And reports indicate that the number of U.S. military surveillance flights taking place near the island have skyrocketed in recent weeks, raising fears of an impending operation.

(…)

Trump’s recent threats to “take” Cuba, however, coupled with the recent loss of energy supplies from Venezuela and the Castro indictment, may mark the most serious threat to the country’s independence since its 1959 revolution.

15.05.2026 - 01:26 [ Associated Press ]

Trump’s talk of 51st US state met with near-silence in Venezuela

(May 14, 2026)

Twice this week, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in turning Venezuela into his country’s 51st state. The latest came via a Truth Social post Tuesday with a map showing the South American country filled with the U.S. flag.

Previous statements doubting Venezuela’s sovereignty over the past 25 years have been met with immediate derision from senior government officials, including the president.

15.05.2026 - 01:18 [ CBS News ]

CIA director John Ratcliffe meets with Venezuela‘s interim president Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas

(January 16, 2026)

CIA director John Ratcliffe met with Venezuela‘s interim President Delcy Rodríguez for two hours Thursday in Venezuela‘s capital, Caracas, to „deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,“ a U.S. official told CBS News Friday.

The official described the trip as historic, noting that Ratcliffe was the first Cabinet-level official to visit Venezuela since the U.S. military operation to remove the country‘s autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro nearly two weeks ago.

15.05.2026 - 01:14 [ Reuters ]

CIA director meets with top officials in Havana, Cuban government says

A U.S. delegation led by CIA director John Ratcliffe met with his counterpart at Cuba‘s Interior Ministry in Havana on Thursday, the Cuban ​government said in a statement, as tensions worsen over a U.S. ​fuel blockade that has starved the island of fuel and ⁠power generation.

15.05.2026 - 00:56 [ New York Times ]

Tracking U.S. Military Killings in Boat Attacks

Strikes
57

Killed
192

15.05.2026 - 00:31 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Why are the state leaders of China and Russia complying with U.S. sanctions against Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Cuba?

(August 7, 2021)

Because they want to.

15.05.2026 - 00:24 [ Barrons.com ]

Cuba Calls On US To Lift Blockade Following Aid Offer

In a post on X, Diaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.

„The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced,“ he said.

But, if Washington showed „true willingness“ to provide aid, he added, „it will encounter no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba.“

02.05.2026 - 23:48 [ Newsweek ]

Donald Trump Says US Will Take Over Cuba ‘Almost Immediately’

President Donald Trump said Friday during remarks in Florida that the United States would take over Cuba “almost immediately,” suggesting an aircraft carrier could be positioned offshore after the conflict in Iran.

The comments came the same day Trump signed an executive order significantly expanding U.S. sanctions on the Cuban government and its affiliates.

23.04.2026 - 04:21 [ NPR.org ]

Cuba confirms meeting with US officials on island, wants energy blockade lifted

(April 21, 2026)

The exchange was conducted „respectfully and professionally,“ he said, adding that the U.S. delegation did not issue any threats or deadlines as has been reported in some U.S. media.

„The elimination of the energy embargo against the country was a top priority for our delegation,“ García del Toro said. „This act of economic coercion is an unjustified punishment of the entire Cuban population.“

23.04.2026 - 04:18 [ Los Angeles Times ]

Cuba’s collapse: From Obama’s historic opening to Trump’s crippling embargo

(April 20, 2026)

When President Trump took office in 2017, he reinstated the travel ban, upped sanctions and closed the U.S. Embassy in Havana that Obama had opened.

President Biden left most of Trump’s restrictions in place. When Trump returned to office last year, he began what the White House has described as a “maximum pressure campaign” to force political and economic change in Cuba, including a near-total blockade on oil shipments that has sparked fuel shortages, price increases and prolonged blackouts on the island.

23.04.2026 - 04:02 [ Truthout.org ]

US Carries Out Fifth Boat Strike in Under a Week, Bringing Death Toll to 177

(April 16, 2026)

As with the 50 previous attacks on boats in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, the military did not publicize any evidence that the boat was carrying drugs or that its passengers were “narco-terrorists.”

23.04.2026 - 03:59 [ NBC News ]

Another U.S. strike on suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific kills 4

(April 11, 2026)

The latest strike brings the death toll to 175 since the operations began in early September. The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for one survivor from an attack Saturday.

U.S. Southern Command posted aerial video on social media Tuesday showing a vessel bobbing in the water before being struck by a projectile and exploding. The military earlier said it struck two boats on Saturday and a third on Monday.

14.04.2026 - 20:17 [ NBC News ]

Pramila Jayapal calls U.S. oil blockade on Cuba ‘outrageous’: Full interview

In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press after her visit to Cuba, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) says the Cuban people are being collectively punished by the U.S. oil blockade, and says she would like to see formal negotiations between the two countries.

29.03.2026 - 11:46 [ Al Jazeera ]

How many countries has the US bombed since 2001, and how much has it cost?

(March 3, 2026)

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, President George W Bush launched what he called a “war on terror”, a global military campaign that reshaped US foreign policy and triggered wars, invasions and air strikes across numerous countries.

According to an analysis by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs, US-led wars since 2001 have directly caused the deaths of about 940,000 people across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other conflict zones

17.03.2026 - 17:38 [ Taylor and Francis Online ]

Stephen Miller and the cultural politics of fascist subjectivity

(March 11, 2026)

Miller’s very being evokes the cold mechanization of a machine, a body turned against itself, moving without rhythm, empathy, or grace. His presence feels engineered: cold, scarred, and hollowed out, the body made into an instrument of command. It is as if a war within himself has long since been lost, a war against vulnerability, imagination, and the capacity to feel. What remains is a man armored against life itself.

17.03.2026 - 17:20 [ theAtlantic.com ]

The Wrath of Stephen Miller

(January 7, 2026)

Trump has described Miller as sitting “at the top of the totem pole” inside the White House.

“He oversees every policy the administration touches,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told us. “I can’t tell you the number of times a policy matter is discussed in the Oval and Trump will say, ‘Where’s Stephen? Tell him to get that done.’”

To critics, Miller is the smirking embodiment of everything they view as dangerous and authoritarian about the Trump administration. He has been called a Nazi, a neo-Nazi, a white supremacist, a kapo, and Lord Voldemort. Posters of Miller—pursed lips, furrowed brow—have been plastered around the nation’s capital, stamped with CREEP and FASCISM AIN’T PRETTY. His own uncle has denounced him, writing at one point that if Miller’s immigration policies had been implemented a century ago, their family—which fled anti-Jewish pogroms in Europe—“would have been wiped out.”

17.03.2026 - 17:10 [ BBC ]

‚Trump‘s psyche‘: The aide driving president‘s most controversial policies

(February 9, 2026)

„By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?“ Miller asked. „Nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.“

He went on to assert that there are „iron laws of the world“.

„We live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,“ he said.

It was heady stuff coming on the heels of America‘s surgically precise use of military force in Venezuela. And, for a president who a few days later would tell the New York Times that the only limit on his global powers are „my own morality“ and „my own mind“, it may have been warmly received.

14.03.2026 - 13:56 [ Blake Burdge / Cuba Monitor / Substack ]

Regime Change and Real Estate

(March 11, 2026)

When Cuban-American billionaire Jorge Mas Santos (henceforth, Mas) visited the White House last week, the meeting was less focused on Inter Miami’s MLS Cup victory and more on the evergreen influence of Miami’s business elite over Washington’s Cuba policy.

Mas, the chairman of a powerful family business empire and longtime political player in South Florida, has spent decades advocating for tightening U.S. sanctions on Cuba until the island’s political system changes. He inherited the position from his father, Jorge Mas Canosa, who formed the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) with the help of the Reagan administration as part of Washington’s effort to counter leftist governments in Latin America and the Caribbean.

14.03.2026 - 13:40 [ PBS.org ]

Democratic senators file war powers resolution to check Trump on Cuba

The resolution filed Thursday by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine, Ruben Gallego and Adam Schiff would require the president to remove the military from any hostilities with Cuba and could potentially receive a vote by the end of the month.

„Only Congress has the power to declare war under the Constitution, but he operates with the belief that the U.S. military is a palace guard, ordering military action in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Iran without Congress‘ authorization or any explanation for his actions to the American people,“ Kaine said in a statement.

13.03.2026 - 17:07 [ NDTV.com ]

How Delcy Rodriguez Is Running Venezuela Under Trump‘s Watch

(January 13, 2026)

Who she is: Venezuela‘s interim president

Portfolio: Maduro‘s former vice president, she‘s running the country under the oversight of the United States.

Why she matters: A seasoned lawyer and longtime party official, she‘s known as the „tsarina“ for the economic power she accrued as vice president, oil minister and finance minister. She‘s technically under sanction for serving in the Maduro government, but she has won the trust of the US government (for now) and is seen by US oil company executives as most able to work with them to rebuild the country‘s degraded energy infrastructure.

13.03.2026 - 16:50 [ New York Times ]

Cuban President Acknowledges Talks With Trump Administration

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, whose country is rapidly running out of fuel, said the talks were based on “respect for the political systems of both countries.”

07.03.2026 - 12:38 [ Radio Habana Cuba ]

Roberto Morales Ojeda: “Dignity Never Collapses”

Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, emphasized on his social media profiles that “dignity never collapses,” recalling critical moments in national history.

The leader noted that neither in the disaster at La Fernandina for National Hero José Martí, nor at Alegría de Pío for the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, nor in the October Crisis, was the option of surrender considered. “The enemy’s dream of seeing the white flag waving above the palm fronds is their true, unfulfilled desire,” he declared.

Morales Ojeda emphasized that this is not about isolated gestures from those who abandon collective resistance, but rather a major surrender that would bring an end to the history of the Cuban people’s struggles.

He pointed out that the country is going through difficult times under the impact of the imposed blockade, while the enemy boasts of causing shortages and is betting on the fall of the Revolution to gain political advantages. “However, no people has withstood the onslaught of the giant for so long,” he affirmed.

The Secretary of Organization stressed that independence is at stake and that “Only our sense of patriotism and unity have kept us safe.” “We will remain here, even if they never see the white flag waving above our palms,” he concluded.

06.03.2026 - 16:16 [ Politico.com ]

Trump says he’ll help pick Iran’s leader, predicts regime change in Cuba

Asked whether the United States was playing a role in the Cuban government’s demise, Trump responded: “Well, what do you think? For 50 years, that’s icing on the cake. Venezuela is doing fantastically. [Delcy Rodríguez] is doing a fantastic job. The relationship with them is great.”

Trump also confirmed the United States is in touch with Cuba’s communist leadership as instability on the island intensifies following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

“They need help. We are talking to Cuba,” Trump said.

04.03.2026 - 09:59 [ Politico.com ]

US launches military operations in Ecuador

After the operation to capture Maduro, Trump did not rule out using military force against targets in other countries in the name of combatting drug trafficking. The expectation, however, had been that Trump would conduct strikes in Mexico and Colombia, both of which have a more significant role in the drug trade.