INTERNACIONAL
On Maduro’s ‘terror island,’ Hezbollah operatives move in as tourists drift out
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FIRST ON FOX: From a distance, Margarita Island looks like a Caribbean escape. Palm-lined beaches, duty-free shops, and resort towns sell the image of a tropical playground just off Venezuela’s northeastern coast. But U.S. officials say the Venezuelan outpost has become something else entirely: Hezbollah’s most important base of operations in the Western Hemisphere, strengthened by Iran’s growing footprint and the Maduro regime’s protection.
That threat, U.S. officials warn, reflects a broader security challenge emerging from the region. «The single most serious threat to the United States from the Western Hemisphere is from transnational terrorist criminal groups primarily focused on narcotrafficking,» Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at an end-of-year press conference at the State Department on Friday.
«Margarita Island might be of significance to the U.S. because of its location and the security dynamics around it,» Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital. «It is close to Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, in an oil-rich part of the Caribbean along key maritime routes, and it has long had a reputation for being a major drug-trafficking hub, possibly because it’s off the mainland and there’s not a lot of law enforcement there.»
The island’s isolation, she said, has made it attractive to «irregular armed groups, foreign intelligence actors and criminal networks that use it as a departure point for boats carrying illicit shipments out of Venezuela.»
CARTEL CONNECTION: HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN EXPLOIT MADURO’S VENEZUELA FOR COCAINE CASH
In this Sept. 13, 2016 photo, beach chairs sit stacked on empty Playa El Agua beach on Margarita Island, Venezuela. Flights into the island are down 50 percent. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
CARTEL CONNECTION: HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN EXPLOIT MADURO’S VENEZUELA FOR COCAINE CASH
Marshall Billingslea, the former assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the U.S. Treasury Department, said Margarita Island now serves as Hezbollah’s key foothold in the Western Hemisphere.
«From what I have seen and what I have been told, there is a wide range of activities that Hezbollah and to some extent Hamas are engaged in,» Billingslea told Fox News Digital. «Margarita Island is really the center of gravity for their activities.»
Hezbollah terrorists are taking part in cross-border raids, part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, bordering Israel, on May 21, 2023. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In written testimony submitted to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control for an Oct. 21 hearing, Billingslea traced the island’s transformation back more than two decades. Under Hugo Chávez, he wrote, Venezuela «opened its doors to Hezbollah, allowing the group to establish a major footprint, including a paramilitary training site, on Margarita Island.»
«When Nicolás Maduro seized power,» Billingslea added, «the breadth and depth of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela dramatically expanded, as did their ties to the narco-terrorist regime and the Cartel de los Soles.»
WHY THE US COULD SNATCH A VENEZUELAN TANKER — AND NOT UNDER ‘WARTIME’ AUTHORITY USED IN CARTEL STRIKES
People walk on main island at El Yaque Beach in Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
«The relationship is very close with the Cartel de los Soles, and it has been so for many, many years,» Billingslea said, referring to the network of senior Venezuelan officials accused by the United States of drug trafficking.
Billingslea said Hezbollah has embedded itself into Margarita Island’s economy, exploiting the island’s duty-free status and cross-border access to Colombia to generate revenue through smuggling and drug importation. He said the group operates a wide range of companies on the island and also maintains several training camps there.
His testimony also detailed how Venezuela’s state apparatus helped embed Hezbollah inside the country. He wrote that former senior official Tareck El Aissami, while overseeing Venezuela’s passport and naturalization agency, «was instrumental in furnishing passports and citizenship documents to Hezbollah operatives as well as a large number of people from Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.» Between 2010 and 2019, Venezuelan authorities issued more than 10,400 passports to individuals from those countries, according to the testimony.
TRUMP SAYS US SEIZES MASSIVE VENEZUELAN OIL TANKER AS SHOWDOWN WITH MADURO ERUPTS INTO NEW PHASE
Attendees take part in the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Porlamar, Venezuela’s Margarita Island, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. President Nicolas Maduro had touted the Non-Aligned Movement’s 17th summit as an opportunity to increase international solidarity for his government as the oil-dependent economy reels from widespread food shortages and triple digit inflation. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)
A May 27, 2020, Justice Department announcement alleged that Diosdado Cabello directed Venezuelan lawmaker Adel El Zabayar to travel to the Middle East to obtain weapons and recruit members of Hezbollah and Hamas for training at clandestine camps inside Venezuela. The filing also describes a subsequent weapons delivery at a hangar controlled by Maduro at the country’s main international airport.
Recent developments in the Middle East have only increased Margarita Island’s importance, Billingslea said. Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon has damaged the group’s military leadership and financial infrastructure, forcing it to rely more heavily on overseas networks.
«Israeli successes against Hezbollah in Lebanon in particular, including their strikes on the financial infrastructure Al-Qard al-Hassan that operates in Lebanon, are going to have two effects,» he said. «The first is that it is making the fundraising and the revenue generation that comes out of Latin America even more important to the terrorist group. Secondly, we have seen indications that Hezbollah actually has been relocating fighters from Lebanon, several hundred from Lebanon to Venezuela in particular.»
US DEPLOYS FIGHTER JETS TO GULF OF VENEZUELA IN CLOSEST KNOWN APPROACH YET, AMID RISING TENSION
Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of their fallen comrades Ismail Baz and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicles, in Shehabiya in south Lebanon on April 17, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Asked whether that shift moves the threat closer to the United States, Billingslea said Hezbollah is now operating «close to the U.S. and further away from the Israelis.»
He said Iran’s role in Venezuela has deepened alongside Hezbollah’s. «There is a substantial Iranian footprint in Venezuela related to the trade of weapons and drones, in particular, for gold,» he said. After suffering losses in the Middle East, he added, «the Iranians find themselves even more dependent on that supply of gold in exchange for drones and weapons.»
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A multilingual road sign is pictured in Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela, on Nov. 26, 2024. Margarita, Venezuela’s main island, is a Caribbean paradise in decline after years of devaluations, inflation, a pandemic, and the collapse of public services. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
He said Washington faces a strategic choice. «I think the United States has positioned sufficient forces in the Caribbean at this time to take care of the Hezbollah threat,» he said. «But obviously, when you have a terrorist group that has merged into the local population, highly precise intelligence is needed. I believe the Venezuelan opposition possesses a great deal of that intelligence, though it is not clear to me that the United States government is making the best use of that access.»
For Billingslea, the conclusion is cleaner — eliminating Venezuela’s narco-terrorist regime would significantly strengthen U.S. national security.
terrorism,venezuelan political crisis,donald trump,national security
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Protesters attacked a Communist Party headquarters in Cuba overnight, ransacking the building and attempting to set it on fire, while video from the scene appeared to capture gunfire and a man on the ground outside, according to footage obtained by Fox News Digital.
Cuban state media later denied that anyone had been struck by police gunfire and announced five arrests.
Dramatic footage shows a large crowd gathered outside the building in the city of Morón as a fire burns in the street and protesters throw burning objects at the structure.
Protesters can be heard chanting «Libertad, libertad!» — Spanish for «Freedom, freedom!» — moments before gunfire rings out in the video.
RUSSIAN ‘DARK FLEET’ TANKER BELIEVED TO BE DELIVERING OIL TO CUBA, DETECTED OFF US COAST AMID TRUMP BAN
Protesters carrying flaming objects approach a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital shows demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
A young man appears to collapse as others nearby scream in Spanish: «They shot him! They’re shooting! They said they wouldn’t shoot, but they shot him.»
The video then shows people carrying the injured man away from the scene.
In another video obtained by Fox News Digital, large crowds can be seen marching through Morón’s unlit streets before unrest spread to the Communist Party headquarters.
Morón is located on Cuba’s northern coast about 250 miles east of the capital Havana near the tourist resort of Cayo Coco.
«The image circulating shows the scene of the protest, but it’s important for the public to know the truth: no one was injured by gunfire,» state media outlet Vanguardia de Cuba said on X.
«Media manipulation seeks to sow fear and confusion among our people. Let’s not fall for provocations,» it added.
TRUMP DECLARES NATIONAL EMERGENCY OVER CUBA, THREATENS TARIFFS ON NATIONS THAT SUPPLY OIL TO COMMUNIST REGIME
Protesters gather outside a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, as a fire burns in the street during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital appeared to show demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Reuters)
State media said police had detained five people and that a «drunken» participant fell and was being treated for injuries in hospital.
Over the past week, several small groups of residents across Havana have banged pots in protest against extended blackouts.
Cuba has faced rolling blackouts, food shortages and renewed protests tied to the island’s worsening energy and economic crisis.
A recent nationwide blackout was triggered by a failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the island’s largest power station, cutting electricity across much of the country, according to Reuters.
The crisis has been compounded by fuel shortages after the Trump administration moved to curtail oil shipments to the island, particularly from Venezuela — one of Cuba’s main suppliers.
Cuban officials say U.S. sanctions have worsened the country’s economic difficulties, while repeated power plant failures and an aging electrical grid have left millions facing prolonged blackouts that have fueled growing public frustration and protests.
A Cuban woman wearing a T-shirt with the United States flag sells coconut cookies, Saturday, on a Havana street. (Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images)
«What initially began peacefully, and after an exchange with local authorities, turned into acts of vandalism against the headquarters of the Municipal Party Committee,» the state-run Invasor newspaper reported, according to Reuters.
«A smaller group of people stoned the entrance of the building and started a fire in the street with furniture from the reception area,» it added.
Vandals also targeted several other state-run establishments in the area, including a pharmacy and a government market, the report said.
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On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that he was holding talks with the U.S. government, marking the first time the Caribbean country has confirmed widespread speculation about discussions with the Trump administration.
Díaz-Canel said that no petroleum shipments have arrived in Cuba in the past three months and blamed a U.S. energy blockade for that. He said that the island is running on a mixture of natural gas, solar power and thermoelectric plants.
Fox News’ Efrat Lachter, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
cuba,world,world protests,donald trump,geopolitics,socialism
INTERNACIONAL
Furia por los apagones en Cuba: pedradas, destrozos y fuego en una sede del Partido Comunista
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Republicans face high hurdles as they defend their razor-thin control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, but the Senate GOP campaign chair says he remains «incredibly optimistic» his party can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority.
Republicans are battling stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms, and a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and President Donald Trump‘s underwater approval ratings.
«There’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day, it seems like at times,» National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. Tim Scott said in a recent Fox News Digital interview.
But he added, «The good news is we have a president who made promises, he’s been keeping those promises, and we have been able to recruit the highest quality candidates anyone could want in every single battleground state.»
WHAT THE SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHIEF TOLD FOX NEWS
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott says he remains «incredibly optimistic» the GOP can not only hold but expand its majority. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
The NRSC chair told Fox News Digital in December 2025 that in the battle for the majority, «54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.»
Asked again a week ago, Scott said, «I think we have a possibility of more than 53 seats.»
STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING
Scott’s rival, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital in January that «President Trump is creating a toxic agenda that’s harming people.»
And Gillibrand emphasized she’s «optimistic that we have a shot to take back the majority.»
Here’s a look at the top 10 Senate seats that could flip in the midterms.
MAINE
Longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in her 2024 presidential election loss to Trump.
And Collins has seen a deterioration of her poll numbers among Mainers from her last re-election six years ago.
But Collins, who has long been a top target of the rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has proven impossible to beat, to date.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Complicating the Democrats’ push to flip the seat is a competitive primary between two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who has the tacit backing of longtime Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the DSCC, and veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who is running to the left of the governor and who is backed by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
NORTH CAROLINA
Republicans are defending an open seat in the southeastern battleground state, with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis retiring at the end of 2026.
Democrats landed their top recruit when former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper launched a Senate campaign in summer 2025. Cooper enjoys tons of name ID in North Carolina and is 6–0 when running statewide races.
Republicans are rallying around former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, who has the president’s backing.
RNC Chair Michael Whatley announces his run for Senator for North Carolina on July 31st, 2025 in Gastonia, N.C. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
The race is expected to be one of the most expensive and competitive Senate showdowns this year.
OHIO
Democrats scored another major recruiting victory when former longtime Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
A former lieutenant governor, Husted was appointed to the Senate a year ago after then-Sen. JD Vance stepped down to serve as vice president.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who was appointed to fill now-Vice President JD Vance’s seat, is running in the midterms to serve the final two years of Vance’s term. (Getty Images)
Ohio, once a premiere general election battleground, has turned red over the past decade, and Democrats view Brown as their only competitive candidate in the race to serve the final two years of Vance’s term.
Brown lost re-election in 2024 by roughly four points while Trump carried Ohio by 11 points.
Similar to North Carolina, the showdown is expected to be very expensive and competitive.
ALASKA
Democrats were given a big boost in the red-leaning state when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced in February that she would challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is running for re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Allison Robbert/AFP via Getty Images)
Peltola lost re-election 15 months ago in the at-large district that covers the entire state by three points, while Trump carried Alaska by 11 points.
IOWA
Republicans are defending an open seat in Iowa, a onetime swing state that’s shifted to the right over the past decade.
But the GOP has rallied around Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is backed by Trump, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.
Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa, who is running in the 2026 race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, sits for a Fox News Digital interview on Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
Hinson, a former local TV news anchor who flipped a Democratic-held seat in 2020, is seen as a rising star in the party.
Democrats have a contested primary that includes state Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian, state Sen. Zach Wahls and military veteran Nathan Sage.
TEXAS
Longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is in the middle of a competitive and combustible GOP nomination runoff battle against state Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton.
Trump, to date, has stayed neutral in the runoff, which will be held in late May.
Cornyn enjoys the backing of Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the NRSC, which worries that the seat would be vulnerable if Paxton, who has plenty of political baggage, wins the primary.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, right, and his bitter rival, Sen. John Cornyn, are facing off in a May runoff, further extending their bloody primary battle for the GOP Senate nomination. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Democrats, who are eyeing the seat in the right-leaning state, nominated state Rep. James Talarico, a rising star in the party.
MICHIGAN
Republicans are optimistic they can flip a seat in the Great Lakes battleground, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.
The GOP, led by Trump, has coalesced around former Rep. Mike Rogers, who lost an extremely close Senate race in 2024 even as Trump won Michigan by one point.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost the 2024 Senate election in Michigan, is making a second straight run in the Great Lakes battleground state. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
The Democratic primary is a three-way race between center-left Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a self-described «pragmatist,» and progressive physician Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by Sanders.
The primary already has exposed divisions on the future of the state’s manufacturing sector and support for Israel, and the nominee won’t be decided until August.
GEORGIA
Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democratic senator seeking re-election in the midterms.
The aim was to paint Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for re-election in a state Trump won in 2024, as a far-left progressive.
But ousting Ossoff won’t be easy, in part because the senator’s robust fundraising has built a massive war chest.
Senator Jon Ossoff is the only Democratic senator seeking re-election in 2026 in a state President Donald Trump carried in 2024. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
And Republicans are in the middle of an ugly three-way among Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who has the backing of term-limited popular, conservative Gov. Brian Kemp.
Trump has remained neutral, to date, ahead of the May primary.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Republicans are hoping to flip the long-held Democratic Senate seat in New England’s only swing state, thanks to the retirement of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman in the nation’s history to be elected governor and senator.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the first woman in the nation’s history elected governor and senator, is retiring at the end of the year. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
While most Democrats are rallying around four-term Rep. Chris Pappas, there’s a spirited primary on the Republican side between two former senators seeking a return to Capitol Hill. Former Sen. John E. Sununu, an older brother to former Gov. Chris Sununu, has the backing of the president. But Trump’s first-term ambassador to New Zealand, former Sen. Scott Brown, remains in the race.
Republicans are trying to break their 16-year losing streak in U.S. Senate elections in the Granite State.
MINNESOTA
The retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is giving the GOP hopes they can flip the seat in the blue-leaning state.
And the NRSC landed what they say is a top-tier recruit in former NBC sports reporter turned conservative pundit and activist Michele Tafoya.
Michele Tafoya is interviewed by Fox News Digital as she launches a Republican Senate campaign in Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Tafoya is part of a crowded GOP field that also includes 2024 Senate nominee Royce White, a former NBA basketball player; retired U.S. Navy officer Tom Weiler, a 2022 GOP congressional nominee; former state Senator David Hann and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze.
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Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flannagan, a progressive, is facing off against more moderate Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who appears to have the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in the race for their party’s nomination.
donald trump,midterm elections,senate elections,republicans elections,democrats elections,kirsten gillibrand
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