Venezuelan News

The Daily Signal reports on Venezuela with conservative analysis of the Maduro regime, economic devastation from socialist policies, humanitarian crisis, refugee flows, U.S. sanctions policy, and the warnings Venezuela provides about centralized economic control.
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  • opinion

    Trump Verdict Makes NYC ‘Venezuela on the Hudson’
    It’s hard to adequately describe what happened to Donald Trump in Venezuela-on-the-Hudson. Outrageous? A travesty of justice? A devasting blow to the sanctity of our justice system and its reputation for fairness and nonpartisanship? An American repetition of the Soviet show trials of the 1930s? It’s all of those things. And you don’t have to…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • news

    Agents Arrest 10 Members of Infamous Venezuelan Prison Gang at Southern Border
    The Border Patrol announced the arrests of 10 foreign nationals affiliated with an international prison gang over the Memorial Day weekend, highlighting the threat emanating from the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced the arrest of the 10 individuals affiliated with Tren de Aragua, an international criminal organization originating in Venezuela whose members…
    Jason Hopkins
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  • opinion

    Venezuela Is Exporting Its Violent Crime Problem to US, Thanks to Biden
    Violent crime is going down in Venezuela just as the United States has been hit with a rash of high-profile violent crimes by illegal immigrants.  It’s not hard to figure out why. The killing of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Athens, Georgia, has become the latest and most prominent case of an American…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • news

    Georgia Bill Targets Lax Immigration Enforcement After Laken Riley Slaying, Allegedly at Hands of Venezuelan Immigrant
    EDITOR’S NOTE Nov. 20, 2024: The original version of this story was published in February. Since then, Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Georgia, signed an amended version of HB1105 in May. A judge convicted Jose Ibarra of Laken Riley’s murder on Wednesday. The Georgia House of Representatives is considering a bill that would force sheriffs to report…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    The BorderLine: Will Biden Going Soft on Venezuelan Dictator Lead to Increase in Immigrants to US?
    The BorderLine is a weekly Daily Signal feature examining everything from the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis at the border to immigration’s impact on cities and states throughout the land. We will also shed light on other critical border-related issues like human trafficking, drug smuggling, terrorism, and more. ——————————————————— The Biden administration announced a deal to ease economic sanctions…
    Simon Hankinson
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  • opinion

    Why Did Biden Choose Venezuela Over Canada for Oil?
    The United States needs more heavy oil for a whole series of reasons. President Joe Biden could have chosen to have that oil come from a close friend and ally, environmentally conscious Canada, or from one of the world’s nastiest regimes, Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela, which doesn’t give a toss about the environment. Which did he…
    Brian Lee Crowley
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  • opinion

    Venezuela Is Bizarre Piece of Biden’s Incoherent Energy Policy Puzzle
    Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Biden administration announced an easing of sanctions on Venezuela. With the midterm elections safely behind President Joe Biden, the administration likely hoped that Americans would be too busy finishing their turkey dinners to notice the administration’s latest turkey—a giveaway to Venezuela.   The Treasury Department issued limited sanctions relief…
    Katie Tubb | Mateo Haydar
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  • opinion

    A Venezuelan Man of Mystery Helps Tell Story of America’s Open Border
    EAGLE PASS, Texas—Meet Luis Antunez, your new neighbor from (probably) Venezuela. He’s a 40-year-old trader from Tucupita. Or a policeman from Puerto Carreno, or a criminal from Caracas. We may never know for sure. I found Antunez’s ID card the week before last on the banks of the Rio Grande here in Eagle Pass while…
    Simon Hankinson
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  • opinion

    Miss Venezuela 1984, Now a US Conservative, Reflects on Her Country’s Decline
    “I was born in paradise,” Carmen Maria Montiel says of her home country of Venezuela. But “bureaucracy and corruption” turned her homeland into a nation she hardly recognized.  Montiel, a journalist, writer, political activist, and Miss Venezuela 1984, says her home country was destroyed by crippling economic policies and poor immigration regulations. “It’s exactly what…
    Virginia Allen
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  • opinion

    How Socialist Policies Destroyed His Home Country of Venezuela
    Two decades ago, Venezuela was a thriving country. Today, Venezuela is ranked 176th on The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, just above North Korea.  How did Venezuela fall from prosperity so quickly? How did socialist policies affect the nation’s economy? Is there any hope for its future?   Jorge Galicia, a refugee from Venezuela and…
    Virginia Allen
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  • opinion

    Maduro Carries on Chavez’s Legacy As Venezuela Circles Drain in Downward Spiral
    For much of the 20th century, Venezuela was the poster child for the successful South American republic—that is, democratic when its neighbors were despotic, and prosperous when its neighbors were poor. It was the wealthiest Latin American country, and it’s now the poorest, after its adoption of communism and one-man rule. How could a country…
    J. William Middendorf
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  • opinion

    Socialism Destroyed His Homeland. Here’s a Venezuelan’s Warning for America.
    Venezuela used to be a thriving and prosperous Latin American nation. Its citizens enjoyed a high quality of life, and immigrants flocked there to better their situation. All of that changed abruptly when socialism took over the Venezuelan government. The once flourishing country quickly became an example for other nations as to what happens when…
    Douglas Blair
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  • news

    2 Students Who Grew Up in Venezuela Warn About Danger of Socialism
    Venezuela once had a vibrant middle class, despite flaws in governance. However, as two students who grew up in Venezuela explained in a Heritage Foundation webinar, embracing the socialist regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro eventually led to utter ruin for all but that country’s elite. Not only was Venezuela impoverished as a whole,…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • news

    He Lived Under Socialism in Venezuela. That’s Why He’ll Never Support It.
    Andres Guilarte is a university student who lived in Venezuela under a democratically elected socialist regime. Guilarte says food shortages were a daily occurrence. Venezuelans also endure massive blackouts, political persecution, and a lack of access to health care due to the socialist government. Guilarte joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share his experiences of…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • opinion

    Venezuela’s Dictator Hugo Chavez Packed the Courts
    Almost from the moment Republicans said they intended to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Democrats began to vow they would pack the court if Republicans went through with their plan. “If [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell] holds a vote [on a Supreme Court nominee] in 2020,…
    Carlos Ron
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  • opinion

    Can Oil-Rich Guyana Avoid the Venezuela Curse?
    The battle for the future of economic freedom in Guyana is being waged right now.  Its gross domestic product growth has improved in anticipation of an oil boom that is now coming on stream. The oil revenues could transform the country, as a petrostate, into the fastest-growing economy in the region. Alternatively, the country could…
    James M. Roberts
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  • opinion

    Prospects for Freedom in Venezuela Are High Under Trump
    According to media reports, President Donald Trump recently stated he would consider meeting with the illegitimate leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Specifically, the president stated: “I always say, you lose very little with meetings. But at this moment, I’ve turned [the Maduro regime’s request to meet] down.” In the same interview, he also expressed concerns…
    Ana Quintana
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  • news

    Trump Sanctions Russian Oil Giant in Push for Freedom in Venezuela
    The Trump administration announced Tuesday it has imposed sanctions on a Russian state-controlled oil company that does business with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, the socialist strongman clinging to power as an illegitimate president in the South American nation more than a year after the country’s legislature voted to remove him from office.  The…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Native Venezuelan, Now Proud American, Warns of ‘Fruits of Socialism’
    In the 1980s, Patricia Rucker’s family left Venezuela, planning that her father would work for a time in the U.S. “Venezuela to me was the most perfect country you could have on this earth,” Rucker recalls. “Not only beautiful weather—beautiful people, very moral, very safe, very free, never had an income tax. The Constitution of…
    Daniel Davis
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  • opinion

    Venezuela Is Still Carrying Out Chavez’s Strategy to Poison America. But Trump Can Stop It.
    Venezuela continues to go down the drain. As the world wonders how thuggish Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro manages to cling to power, we received a fresh reminder that the problems plaguing Venezuelans started long before him. It was Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, who set Venezuela on the road to ruin almost two decades ago. We have…
    James Carafano
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