INTERNACIONAL
Latin America fractures over Trump’s Maduro capture as regional allies shift right
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UNITED NATIONS: A deepening political realignment across Latin America came into focus over the weekend at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and sharpened further Monday at the United Nations Security Council, where governments publicly split over the U.S. role in the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
At CELAC, several leftist governments attempted to push through a joint statement condemning Maduro’s detention. The effort failed after a bloc of countries consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago blocked consensus, preventing the regional body from issuing a unified defense of the Venezuelan leader, Merco Press agency reported.
The breakdown exposed growing fractures within what has long been a left-leaning regional forum and underscored the erosion of automatic solidarity with Caracas.
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President Donald Trump greets Argentinian President Javier Milei, at the White House in Washington D.C., Oct. 14, 2025. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, said the fractures reflect a broader regional reckoning with the consequences of socialist and narco-authoritarian rule.
«We are witnessing a regional awakening across Latin America,» Maldonado told Fox News Digital. «The failure of socialism, communism and narco-authoritarian rule has become impossible to ignore.»
The shift is increasingly visible at the ballot box, where voters in several countries — last month alone in Chile and Honduras — have moved away from entrenched left-wing governments and toward right-of-center leaders campaigning on themes of security, sovereignty, border control and law and order — messages that echo aspects of President Donald Trump’s political approach in the United States.
Colombian U.N. Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres attends a U.N. Security Council meeting on U.S. strikes and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., Jan. 5, 2026. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
«The developments at CELAC this weekend reflect that reality,» Maldonado said. «The fact that several governments blocked a collective defense of Nicolás Maduro shows how divided the authoritarian left has become. Venezuela has become a cautionary tale.»
That division carried over into the Security Council on Monday, when Latin American and Caribbean states took sharply different positions, with some openly backing Washington and others denouncing the U.S. action as a violation of international law.
Argentina emerged as the most forceful regional supporter of the United States, praising President Donald Trump and framing Maduro’s capture as a decisive blow against organized crime.
«The Government of the Argentine Republic values the decision and determination demonstrated by the President of the United States of America and his government, and the recent actions taken in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro, leader of the Cartel of the Suns,» Argentina’s representative Francisco Fabián Tropepi told the council, adding the Maduro regime «has not only constituted a direct threat to the citizens systematic violation of human rights in the state appropriation of the country’s resources and destruction of democratic institutions, but also to the entire region by leading and exploiting its networks of drug trafficking and organized crime.»
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UN Security Council meeting. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Paraguay echoed that framing, claiming Maduro’s continued presence «was a threat to the region,» adding that «the removal of the leader of a terrorist organization should immediately lead to the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela, making it possible for the will of the people, expressed at the ballot box, to become the foundation for the country’s reconstruction,» its representative Marcelo Eliseo Scappini Ricciardi said.
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Nicolás Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2026 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
Other CELAC members took the opposite view, condemning the U.S. action and warning that it set a dangerous precedent.
Brazil «categorically and firmly» rejected what it called armed intervention on Venezuelan territory, describing the capture of Maduro as «a very serious affront to the sovereignty of Venezuela and an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.»
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Venezuelans living in Argentina celebrate at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires on Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (Tomas Cuesta/AFP via Getty Images)
Mexico denounced the operation as a violation of the U.N. Charter, arguing that external efforts to impose political change historically worsen conflicts and destabilize societies. Chile also condemned what it called unilateral military action and warned against foreign interference, while Cuba and Nicaragua delivered blistering denunciations of Washington, accusing the United States of imperial aggression and calling for Maduro’s immediate release.
The split at the U.N. mirrored the breakdown at CELAC, where governments increasingly appear unwilling to speak with one voice on Venezuela, even as they stop short of endorsing U.S. military force.
According to Maldonado, «Governments are increasingly forced to choose between defending failed autocracies, corruption and repression or responding to their own citizens,» she said. «More governments are unwilling to carry that burden.»
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Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech during a troop recognition ceremony at the Jose Maria Cordova Military Cadet School in Bogota on March 11, 2025. At the United Nations, countries split sharply after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, with some backing U.S.-led action while others warned it set «an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.» (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
Maldonado described Maduro’s capture as a break with decades of U.S. restraint in the region, «It shows that the United States is deadly serious about defending itself and the hemisphere, about stopping the flow of drugs, dismantling cartel-state alliances and about fighting back against the influence of China, Russia and Iran in our neighborhood.»
She argued that the regional reaction, split though it is, reflects a broader ideological shift.
«There is a clear rightward shift underway in the region, and it is a healthy one,» Maldonado said. «It reflects a growing alignment around the core principles of freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, national sovereignty and prosperity.»
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Security personnel guard the Unasur building during the IV Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
While critics at the U.N. warned that U.S. action risks undermining international law, supporters argue the status quo had already collapsed under the weight of Venezuela’s humanitarian and security crisis.
«Venezuela’s collapse has taught the region what happens when the state becomes your everything,» Maldonado said. «When the state controls your job, your housing, your healthcare, your education, your courts and your information, freedom becomes conditional.»
latin america,venezuelan political crisis,donald trump,national security,united nations,security council
INTERNACIONAL
Dura amenaza de Donald Trump: “Todo Irán podría ser eliminado en una noche y podría ser la de mañana”
INTERNACIONAL
CENTCOM commander directed strike against an IRGC headquarters in underground facility: sources
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High-level sources have informed Fox News that during rescue efforts in Iran after a U.S. fighter jet was shot down, the commander of U.S. Central Command directed an attack against an underground Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters.
While the airman rescue was going on, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper directed a strike on an IRGC headquarters in an underground facility near Tehran — it was done with B2 bombers, using Massive Ordnance Penetrators, the same weapon used last year in Operation Midnight Hammer, according to the sources. Fox News is told the headquarters was obliterated.
U.S. military B1 bombers (BONES) dropped a hundred 2,000-pound bombs during the rescue operations to keep Iranians away from the rescue area during the operation, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
A senior military source told Fox News, «we delivered the heat» on the IRGC.
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Adm. Brad» Cooper, commander of Central Command, speaks during a joint press conference with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, on March 5, 2026. (Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images)
CENTCOM noted in a press release that U.S. forces had rescued two service members after their F-15E was downed.
Fox News was told that the operation took place between the two rescues: Cooper ordered the B2s to fly round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base in the U.S. because they received time-sensitive intelligence about the location of a large number of IRGC commanders inside this underground bunker in Tehran, and the Massive Ordnance Penetrators, bunker buster bombs, were dropped by the B2 warplanes.
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Wreckage is seen from what Iranian authorities say is a U.S. military helicopter that crashed during a mission to rescue the missing American pilot of an F-15E that was downed, in a handout image provided on April 5, 2026, in an unspecified location in Iran. (Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance/Handout via Getty Images)
Following the rescues, President Donald Trump declared in a Truth Social post, «We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran. The Iranian Military was looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close. He is a highly respected Colonel. This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to ‘man and equipment.’ It just doesn’t happen!»
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«The second raid came after the first one, where we rescued the pilot in broad daylight, also unusual, spending seven hours over Iran. An AMAZING show of bravery and talent by all!» he said.
war with iran, iran, donald trump, military, world
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President Donald Trump touted the «historic» rescue of the downed F-15E airmen behind enemy lines and issued a warning to Iran to make a deal before Tuesday night’s 8 p.m. ET deadline or face being «taken out.»
«This is a rescue that’s very historic,» Trump told the White House press corps in a Monday news conference. «It’ll go down to the books.»
«Late Thursday night, an American F-15 fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we’re doing unbelievably well. Well, at a level that nobody’s ever seen before.»
Trump quickly paused his hailing of the rescue to add a warning for Iran to come to peace.
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President Donald Trump describes the ‘historic’ mission to rescue two stranded airmen behind enemy lines. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
«The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,» Trump said.
Trump continued to press Iran to come to a peace deal, hours after saying the offers thus far are «not enough,» and War Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the heaviest bombing of Iran to date.
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«By the way, per the president’s direction, [Monday] will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation,» Hegseth vowed, taking the mic just before Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan «Raizin’» Caine.
«Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice,» Hegseth added. «Choose wisely, because this president does not play around. You can ask Soleimani, you can ask Maduro. You can ask Khamenei.»
Trump, responding to a question from Fox News, noted there were military leaders warning against the dangerous exfiltration of the two airmen, citing the risks to a multitude of troops.
«There were military people, very professional, that preferred not doing it: These two were totally on board, which was very important,» Trump said, noting Hegseth and Gen. Caine.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran to ‘choose wisely’ as President Donald Trump has ordered the two heaviest days of bombings on the regime. (Kent Nishimura / AFP)
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«But, no, there were military people that said, ‘You just don’t do this; you don’t go into the heart of a very powerful military.»
Trump noted that «half the people are wearing uniforms» in Iran, exacerbating the challenges of extracting the American airmen.
«I was surprised somebody said it’s the only time it’s ever been done,» Trump continued. «I said, that’s not possible, but it is possible because you’re going into hundreds of thousands of soldiers along the path. I mean, look at some of the helicopters, how they got hit.»
Trump, in a moment that went from serious to lighter, asked Caine «how many» people conducted the rescue.
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«I’d love to keep that a secret,» Caine shot back.
«I’ll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds and hundreds of these people,» Trump said.
«Hundreds of people went into this journey. Hundreds of people could have been killed. Forget about the equipment. A lot of equipment. Nobody cares of it. Hundreds of people could have been killed,» Trump added.
«So we had people that were within the military that said, ‘This is not a wise move,’» Trump said.
«And I understood that, but I decided to do it.»
Gen. Dan Caine (right) said he wanted to keep some details of the historic rescue secret to preserve future missions as President Donald Trump (left) and War Secretary Pete Hegseth (center) vowed the two heaviest days of bombing to come in Iran. (Andrew Harnik)
US ‘OBLITERATED’ IRGC HEADQUARTERS WITH BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS DURING RESCUE
For now, Tuesday night’s 8 p.m. ET deadline looms for Iran to make a deal to Trump’s satisfaction.
«I can’t talk about ceasefire, but I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side,» Trump said, acknowledging Iran has been «excellent negotiators» because they have been able to delay peace for decades. «They would like to be able to make a deal. I can’t say any more than that.»
«I can tell you they’re negotiating, we think, in good faith,» Trump said. «We’re going to find out. We’re getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended, because it affects them.
HEGSETH REVEALS COVERT VISIT TO TROOPS FIGHTING IN OPERATION EPIC FURY
The «plan,» short of an imminent peace deal, Trump expounded, would be devastating for a country that would require a century to rebuild.
«We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again,» Trump vowed. «I mean, complete demolition by 12, and it’ll happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to. «We don’t want that to happen.»
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«So do I want to do that? No. Do I want to destroy their infrastructure? No,» Trump concluded. «It will take them 100 years to rebuild. Right now, if we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country. And it would never be as good as it was. And the only way they’re going to be able to rebuild their country is to utilize the genius of the United States of America.»
heroism, donald trump, us air force, war with iran, iran
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