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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| ‘Precise Operation' ‐ Marco Rubio Announces Daring Rescue of Venezuela Regime Hostages |
| 2025-05-08 |
| [Breitbart] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that the five Venezuelan dissidents trapped in the shut down Argentine embassy in Caracas for 14 months were rescued in a "precise operation" and are now on U.S. soil. "The U.S. welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas," Rubio said. "Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S. soil. Maduro’s illegitimate regime has undermined Venezuela’s institutions, violated human rights, and endangered our regional security." "We extend our gratitude to all personnel involved in this operation and to our partners who assisted in securing the safe liberation of these Venezuelan heroes," the secretary of state added. Although Sec. Rubio did not disclose details of the rescue operation, "unobjectionable sources" confirmed to the Argentine outlet Infobae that "it was a military operation commanded from the United States." Neither socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — who was just arriving in Russia at the time of Rubio’s announcement — nor any regime member or Venezuelan propaganda outlet has publicly commented on the matter at press time. The five Venezuelan dissidents — Pedro Urruchurtu, Magallí Meda, Claudia Macero, Humberto Villalobos, and Ómar González — are close associates of María Corina Machado, who leads Venezuela’s only mainstream center-right party, Vente Venezuela. The now-rescued five dissidents sought shelter in the Argentine embassy in March 2024 after Venezuelan authorities issued arrest warrants and remained there up until the unspecified rescue operation. A sixth dissident, 70-year-old Fernando Martínez Mottola, was also part of the group sheltered in the embassy, but voluntarily turned himself in to Venezuelan authorities in December. Martínez Mottola died from a stroke in February. The group was among those targeted by the "Bolivarian Fury," a violent dissident crackdown campaign Maduro launched in 2024. Maduro justified the crackdown by claiming that those targeted were involved in dubious and unproven assassination plots against him and other members of his authoritarian regime. Maduro launched the crackdown campaign shortly after receiving a generous oil and gas sanctions relief package from former U.S. President Joe Biden in exchange for vague promises that he would take actions leading to the holding of a "free and fair election." No such free election took place in Venezuela. Instead, Maduro held a fraudulent "election" on July 28, 2024, proclaimed himself the "winner" while refusing to show any kind of documentation corroborating the claimed results, and launched an even more brutal dissident crackdown campaign. The opposition candidate in the sham election, 75-year-old diplomat Edmundo González, fled to Spain in September while Machado, who was banned from running, remains in hiding facing threats of arrest. The Maduro regime repeatedly refused to grant safe passage to the dissidents, forcing them to remain inside the embassy for 14 months. The regime kept the embassy itself in a constant state of siege, cutting its access to running water and power, stealing the building’s fuse box, and constantly harassing the dissidents, among other actions. After Maduro cut ties with Argentina and several other countries that refused to acknowledge his "victory" in the sham July 2024 election, Brazil agreed to take custody of the Argentine embassy and the sheltered dissidents in August. A month later, the Maduro regime revoked Brazil’s custody permission. Brazil responded to Venezuela at the time that it would nevertheless continue to protect the Argentine embassy and the Venezuelan dissidents until the government of President Javier Milei designated another country "acceptable" to the Venezuelan regime. President Milei welcomed the unspecified rescue operation and the dissidents’ transfer to the United States in a statement on Tuesday expressing gratitude to those involved — especially thanking Rubio for his "personal commitment" to the operation, "which has made it possible for these true heroes to finally regain their freedom." |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #10 Ha- we pulled an Operation Oak. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2025-05-08 18:14 |
| #9 Oh, come ON. The deep state has long wanted regime change in Venezuela and they already have their handpicked stooge Guaido in waiting. These are Guaido's stooges, just like Biden's buddies in the FBI, Secret Service and DoJ who let the two assassination attempts on Trump go through. Why else do another country's political dissidents matter to us? Let them all go to hell. Who's next, we going to raid Israel to free the dissidents being held hostage there? Raid the UK to free Tommy Robinson? No, because the deep state isn't planning on regime change in those countries. |
| Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 2025-05-08 15:29 |
| #8 What war? They saw a problem, fixed it, and left. The Jacksonian approach: mostly stay out of things, but if you go in, go in ready to win quickly and decisively. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-05-08 13:42 |
| #7 I think I see something; I'll comment later whether or not I do. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2025-05-08 13:09 |
| #6 /\ Amen & Amen. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2025-05-08 12:44 |
| #5 Oh, Jesus, ANOTHER new war? Guaido, the deep state's stooge, is just another Zelensky. Maybe America should stop fucking around in other nations? Let's fix our own. |
| Posted by: Jairong+Scourge+of+the+Gepids2435 2025-05-08 11:36 |
| #4 Good. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2025-05-08 10:38 |
| #3 More winning? Damn this is getting monotonous..... but keep it up. |
| Posted by: alanc 2025-05-08 10:28 |
| #2 Ended up better than some. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2025-05-08 09:41 |
| #1 ....I freaking LOVE it. Mike |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2025-05-08 06:41 |