Maduro Sweeps Venezuelan Regional Vote Marked by Low Turnout
Venezuela's ruling party swept regional and parliamentary elections in a landslide Sunday, tightening President Nicolás Maduro's grip on power after a low-turnout vote marred by widespread opposition abstention and international criticism.
State media declared victories for key Maduro allies, including his wife Cilia Flores and party chief Jorge Rodríguez. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won control of 23 out of 24 governorships, according to preliminary results from the National Electoral Council.
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Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
WATCH: US intel's take on TdA gang misses mark on ties to Maduro regime, ex-Venezuela army officer says
A former high-ranking officer in the Venezuelan military is contesting a recent report by the U.S. intelligence community about the massive Tren de Aragua gang present throughout the country. Jose Arocha, who is a former lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan military, told Fox News Digital that the recent intel community report denying Tren de Aragua is linked to the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is missing a key aspect: the socialist regime's animosity towards the United States and penchant for asymmetric warfare. Tren de Aragua, also known simply as TdA, is a violent Venezuelan gang that has been terrorizing U.S. cities over the last several years. The group is linked to high-profile murders such as the killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the seizure of an entire apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. As one of his first moves back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump directed the State Department to designate TdA a "foreign terrorist organization." Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Arocha, a national security expert at the Center for a Secure Free Society, said he agrees with the Trump administration's moves against Tren de Aragua, which he believes is an "asymmetrical warfare" tool of the Maduro regime to sow discord in the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. "The Maduro regime doesn't need to send troops to the USA. It sends criminals instead," he said. "TdA is a plug-and-play insurgency – assembled in prison, deployed abroad." Arocha's statements, however, contrast with a new public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month that denied any solid connection between the Maduro government in Caracas and the gang. "While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States," the report states. The report says that the intelligence community based its conclusion "on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat; an uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives [that] characterize the regime's ties to other armed groups; and the decentralized makeup of TDA that would make such a relationship logistically challenging." Arocha, meanwhile, said that "the missing point here is that the intelligence report is too narrow a lens about the TdA." "It's about crime and migration, but they're missing the warfare dimension," he said. "They are missing that for the Maduro regime, the United States is the enemy, has been the enemy for years." "The TdA is not a gang," he went on. "It's the enabler arm of the Venezuelan regime in the hybrid warfare strategy, the asymmetrical tour of war. That's the missing point. And that is the point that explains how a local gang is right now in more than 10 countries, including the United States. That's incredible, and that is not possible without a state sponsor behind them." While the report points to law enforcement actions the Maduro government has taken against TdA, Arocha explained that in reality Venezuelan prisons, including the "Tocorón" prison where the gang started, are more like resort hotels. "Tocorón, [which] they said is the epicenter of the crime in Venezuela, it wasn't a prison, it was a palace for organized crime. Full equipment, we have a zoo, nightclubs and even a pool for the prisoners there," he said. Arocha also posited that the 2023 raid the Venezuelan government conducted on Tocorón "appears choreographed" and that key TdA leadership was able to escape through pre-made tunnels. "While the regime gained optics of cracking down on crime, TdA's mobility remained intact," Arocha told Fox News Digital. The intel report admitted that the escaped TdA members were "possibly assisted by low-level Venezuelan military and political leaders." But to Arocha, the connection goes straight to the top. He pointed to the kidnapping and murder of Venezuelan political dissident Ronald Ojeda in Chile, which, according to Reuters, is being investigated by the Chilean government as a possible Tren de Aragua operation sponsored by the Maduro government. Reuters reported in March that Chilean Attorney General Angel Valencia said that Ojeda's murder "doesn't have the characteristics of a normal crime" and "all the evidence we have at this state of the investigation lets us conclude that a cell or group linked to the Tren de Aragua that was politically motivated that originated from an order of a political nature." The outlet also reported that the Venezuelan government denied the accusations as baseless. Arocha further pointed to former Maduro Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who has alleged ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, as evidence that the Venezuelan government is embedded with America's worst enemies. El Aissami was arrested on corruption charges and is currently in prison. "He has a strong influence with Iran and China and Russia, too. Right now, he's in prison, which means that he's living in the palace in prison," Arocha remarked, smiling. "The Venezuelan regime is a proxy of Russia, China and Iran, especially China right now," he went on. "They use Venezuela [to] create chaos in Latin America especially … not confronting directly the United States, but indirectly, using criminals, using disinformation, using every single tool they have." In response, Arocha urged the Trump administration to continue to take a whole-of-government approach in combating TdA. He urged the administration to "increase our scope" by reaching out to Latin American countries with experience with TdA, such as the Chilean government. "They have a knowledge right now about the TdA. We have to understand what they've learned about, and we have to put all the pieces together to have the big picture instead of the local one," he said. "And then I'm very sure that we are going to realize the missing and the main link is in Caracas."
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Chevron Corporation (CVX) Terminates Venezuela Contracts But Will Retain Staff, Says Report
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) has terminated the contracts it had to operate in Venezuela and has delegated its joint-venture governance to its partner, PDVSA, reported Reuters on Wednesday. However, the company plans on retaining its staff in the country, said sources. A tanker truck making its way through a refinery facility. This follows the revocation of a key license for Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) to operate in Venezuela in March, and this week's expiration of two months granted to the energy company to wind down transactions. However, on Tuesday, the Trump Administration granted Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) a narrow authorization, allowing the oil-maker to retain staff and keep assets in Venezuela, including its joint-venture stakes. These guidelines are similar to the terms it operated between 2020 and 2022, before the Biden government allowed the company to expand in Venezuela and resume crude exports to the U.S. Under the new authorization, the company cannot operate oilfields in the South American country, expand its activities, or export oil to avoid potential earnings for the Maduro government. According to sources, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) executives met with contractors and Venezuelan government officials this week and communicated about the next steps. While we acknowledge the potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVX and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: ChatGPT Stock Advice: Top 12 Stock Recommendations and 10 Cheap Rising Stocks to Buy Right Now. Disclosure: None. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Fox News
16 hours ago
- Fox News
Local charges dropped as feds target Venezuelan accused of posing as teen at Ohio high school
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was allegedly caught posing as a high school student in Ohio will no longer face local charges and is now being prosecuted in a federal court. Anthony Labrador-Sierra, 24, was arrested May 21, after he allegedly enrolled in a public high school using fraudulent documents. On Thursday, the Perrysburg Municipal Court confirmed to Fox News Digital all local charges had been dropped against Labrador-Sierra and that his case had been handed over to federal authorities. Labrador-Sierra faced a judge in the case and waived his right to a preliminary hearing, according to WTVG. He will now appear before a grand jury that will oversee his case. According to a criminal complaint, Perrysburg Schools reported to the Perrysburg Police Department that they had received information that Labrador-Sierra, a student attending Perrysburg High School, was actually a 24-year-old man who fraudulently enrolled. Detectives worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and discovered Labrador-Sierra is a 24-year-old from Venezuela. Investigators also learned Labrador-Sierra allegedly used fraudulent documents to enroll in Perrysburg schools and was posing as a 16-year-old student. Tom Hosler, superintendent of Perrysburg Schools, emphasized the district took swift action once learning Labrador-Sierra's real identity. "I want to emphasize this: Immediately upon learning that this student may have concealed his identity and misled us, we acted. We met with the student, and he was then not permitted on any school property while we investigated. Very shortly after, we contacted law enforcement," Hosler wrote in a statement on the school district's website. "Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our students. When we learn of a concerning situation, we act." Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, called the discovery and allegations "shocking." The senator shared a letter he sent to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel on X, writing, "Unreal. Thanks to Joe Biden's abuse of TPS, a 24-year-old illegal alien was caught on a fake asylum claim pretending to be a teenager at a high school in Ohio." Moreno called on Noem and Patel to launch investigations immediately, asking them to take any and all lawful measures to enforce federal immigration and criminal laws against Labrador-Sierra. Hosler added that Labrador-Sierra weaved "a complex tapestry of lies." The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Ohio also noted that Labrador-Sierra is alleged to have submitted false information to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about his date of birth in applications for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and Employment Authorization Documents in 2024 and 2025. DHS told Fox News it has located Labrador-Sierra's information under a different spelling of his name, adding he is a visa overstay who first came to the U.S. in 2019. Perrysburg Police Chief Pat Jones told FOX 8 News Wednesday that what investigators have learned about the case so far appears to be "just the tip of the iceberg." The school district released a statement explaining that it shares "the anger and frustration expressed by many in our community." "This individual is accused of misrepresenting his identity, forging documents, and exploiting systems designed to protect vulnerable youth. While emotions are high, it's important that we remain grounded in facts as this complex situation continues to unfold," the district wrote in an updated statement. The complaint further alleges that Labrador-Sierra does not have lawful status to purchase, own or possess a gun in the United States. The agency noted he submitted false information on an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) form to buy a gun. He is being held in the Lucas County Jail. If convicted, Labrador-Sierra would face up to 15 years in prison for possession of a gun by an alien, 10 years in prison for making a false statement during the purchase of a gun and up to five years in prison for using false documents, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "We recognize that more information may still come to light, and we remain committed to learning everything we can as this situation continues to unfold. We will share additional information as we are able," the school district wrote. The agency added that the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the FBI at 1-800-225-5324. Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to
