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By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 24, 2026 - 12:44
Welcome to Tropic Thunder, a five-part short series by Levant Time designed to help you understand the different reasons behind the current U.S. interventionism in the Caribbean. This series was completed 48 hours before the American attack on Venezuela.
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Politics
By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 10, 2026 - 12:31
Welcome to Tropic Thunder, a five-part short series by Levant Time designed to help you understand the different reasons behind the current U.S. interventionism in the Caribbean. This series was completed 48 hours before the American attack on Venezuela.
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Politics
By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 9, 2026 - 14:15
Bogota, Colombia, by Maxime Pluvinet In the Colombian capital, spontaneous gatherings have been organized in recent days, bringing together Venezuelans, most of whom are political refugees. Most of them supporters of the opposition, they are celebrating the fall of former Bolivarian leader Nicolás Maduro, captured on January 3 by the United States. Report. In Bogotá, Lourdes Square was for an hour covered with the three horizontal yellow, blue, and red stripes, adorned with eight stars, that characterize the Venezuelan flag. A few dozen members of the diaspora gathered on Sunday to celebrate the fall of former Chavista president Nicolás Maduro, captured by the United States during a lightning operation in central Caracas. “We are satisfied” Despite the victims of American airstrikes, including 32 Cuban soldiers, many of them support Donald Trump's intervention, calling it the best short-term option. For Jaylin, a Venezuelan in Colombia since 2018, “it’s an honor, a joy to be able to count on this new Trump Administration, which we like.” Smiling, she has high hopes for Washington's support, “even if some say they will steal the oil, if it benefits us in some way, we are satisfied.” The joy is shared by Gaby Arellano, a politician and member of the opposition in exile. For her, as María Corina Machado, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition and recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, declared in a statement, “the hour of freedom has struck.” Happy about the fall of Nicolás Maduro, she castigates the Chavista government by repeating the accusations made by the Donald Trump administration: “This system in power that we are confronting is a criminal system, mafias that have connections with Hezbollah, who not only harm Venezuelans, but are linked to global drug trafficking.” For Gaby, there is no doubt: 2026 will be the time to return to her native country. “If there is freedom for political prisoners and the guarantee of the Constitution, believe me that all political exiles from around the world will arrive, in the time it takes an airplane to reach Caracas.” “The people, that’s all of us” José Cova, however, does not have the same certainty. While he joyfully celebrates the fall of Maduro, he does not yet believe in the immediate return of opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whose portrait is displayed everywhere by demonstrators alongside that of María Corina Machado. “Our will is to see Urrutia and Machado return soon to exercise their mandate obtained through popular vote (in the August 2024 elections)… However, for now, there is a transition process, we do not know how long it will take… but it will happen, and must happen for peace and justice.” But José is well aware of one thing: Chavismo has its supporters in the country. The army in particular, that institution on which Maduro and his predecessor Chávez had staked everything for their security. “There is also a question: when we talk about the people, we are talking about everyone. And among the people are the armed forces. For now, control of the army still belongs to the representatives of the current government. People designated by Nicolás Maduro himself, people he surrounded himself with, thinking he would be protected, and that was not the case.” In the meantime, the Trump Administration does not seem to be betting in the short term on the opposition coming to power, having even stated that María Corina Machado did not enjoy popular support in Venezuela. Furthermore, Delcy Rodríguez, a central figure of Chavismo and vice-president of the Venezuelan regime since 2018, has been appointed interim president by the Chavista authorities. A nomination under tutelage, however: Donald Trump has publicly threatened her administration, stating that the United States now exerts direct pressure and control over the political situation in Venezuela. And without forgetting to remind Delcy Rodríguez that, if she does not follow Washington's directives, a fate similar to or worse than Maduro's awaits her.
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Politics
By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 8, 2026 - 16:58
Welcome to Tropic Thunder, a five-part short series by Levant Time designed to help you understand the different reasons behind the current U.S. interventionism in the Caribbean. This series was completed 48 hours before the American attack on Venezuela.
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Politics
By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 7, 2026 - 02:01
Welcome to Tropic Thunder, a five-part short series by Levant Time designed to help you understand the different reasons behind the current U.S. interventionism in the Caribbean. This series was completed 48 hours before the American attack on Venezuela.
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Politics
By Maxime Pluvinet - Published Jan 6, 2026 - 11:17
Welcome to Tropic Thunder, a five-part short series by Levant Time designed to help you understand the different reasons behind the current U.S. interventionism in the Caribbean. This series was completed 48 hours before the American attack on Venezuela. Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, Quito, Ecuador, September 5, 2025: “Nicolás Maduro is a drug trafficker charged in the United States and a fugitive from American justice.” This accusation, repeatedly hammered home by Washington for several years, is currently Donald Trump’s main justification for the operations carried out in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is also under U.S. sanctions, accused in particular of leading an organization recently designated as terrorist by the United States: the Cartel of the Suns. A name that may evoke, in the collective imagination, the same reality as other organizations such as the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s, or the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Mexico. However, the structured and hierarchical nature of the Cartel of the Suns has never been proven. It is above all a journalistic expression that emerged in the early 1990s to describe the system of endemic corruption and clientelism in Venezuela, which intensified under the Bolivarian Republic starting in 1999. It is worth recalling that Venezuela has been governed since 1999 by a government stemming from the Chavista movement founded by Hugo Chávez, which claims a socialist identity and nationalized certain key sectors, such as oil. Since Nicolás Maduro came to power in 2013, the regime has maintained this ideological line while facing a severe economic, political, and social crisis, worsened by international sanctions and internal tensions. But let us return to the accusations of drug trafficking against Venezuela, labeled a narco-state by the United States: Since September 2025, the United States has conducted a military campaign in the Caribbean and the Pacific targeting vessels described as “narco-boats,” with at least 30 boats attacked and more than 100 people killed, including at least one case of a double strike intended to kill survivors. Washington claims these vessels are linked to drug trafficking, but no public evidence has been provided to substantiate these accusations: neither geolocation coordinates nor lists of the names of those killed. International law experts and some U.S. officials have denounced these operations as potential extrajudicial killings, pointing to the lack of transparency and possible violations of international law, while some allied governments have expressed concern over the absence of concrete evidence. The designation of Venezuela as a narco-state is itself problematic: international data significantly qualify this narrative. According to the UN World Drug Report, Venezuela does not rank as a significant global producer of cocaine, unlike Colombia, which accounts for the majority of worldwide production and trafficking. The “narco-state” accusation rests mainly on claims that Venezuelan territory is used as a transit route, but this corridor would represent less than 5% of total cocaine flows to the United States, according to the same UN sources. Independent analysts emphasize that most shipments destined for the United States first pass through Colombia and then Mexico, and that the Pacific route is in fact far more heavily used—something international reports have confirmed for years.
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