Inside the Secret Failed U.S. Plan to Kidnap Venezuela's President! Geopolitical Trends

Hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends, where truth matters. I'm your host, Dr. Oualaalou. Very excited to be with you also because, uh, I, I promised you I will, uh, do a live stream for you regarding an op that was going on in Venezuela, and I wanted to make sure get the accurate information confirmation prior to talking about it. So now I confirmed whatever I needed to confirm, and I'm gonna be sharing with you, uh, uh, in this live stream, uh, sort of the failed— another attempt, uh, for, uh, sort of to remove Maduro, uh, and that involves a lot, a lot of key players and, and, and so forth. So this is what I'm gonna be addressing for you in this live stream. So, but first Let me say hi to our wonderful community, uh, and I usually— I'm sure you guys don't mind if I say hi to everybody here. Soccer 088, good to see you. Oh, you're asking, uh, uh, when is Mr. Bahandar is gonna be here? He's gonna be here this evening at 7 PM, so I'm gonna put the link for you guys for the, uh, live stream, uh, that's for, uh, 1900 hours. This evening here. So, uh, uh, Gina, good to see you. Uh, Zion, good to see you, and hello to you. Leanne, good to see you. Truth Seeker, AFG, Carleon, salaam to you from San Francisco. Good to see you as well. Willie Holman from Memphis, as always. Oh, Ramzi Abdurrahman, good to see you. I haven't seen you for a while. Good to see you, Ramzi. Francis Tango, as always. Good to see you, Francis. Uh, and, uh, hello community! That's from, uh, Faro do Pei. Good to see you here. Uh, uh, who is this? Uh, oh, I'm Mamad, uh, Mad Mad Zahar. Good to see you as well. Rample So On, good to see you as always. And American Citizen, here you are. Uh, good to see you here, Michelle. Good to see you joining us here. Truth Seeker, as always, good to see you here. So, hi guys, let me get in. Before I do this, I want to just do some housekeeping, and I'm getting, uh, directly into the analysis. I don't do headlines today, and I'm not doing any history or geography because I already did this one on Venezuela last time. So, uh, just, uh, some housekeeping items here as to what's coming up. Remember to join me this evening for my conversation with Jayant Bahndari about what's going on in India. Yes, India did something, the government, that is repulsive, yet it's called itself a democracy. So whatever way you define democracy. So, so look forward to this conversation with Jayant Bahndari. So also next week I will be having, uh, Dr. Yanlian. I have not confirmed the date yet, but it's going to be sometime next week. I will confirm it with you once I set it up with her. Now regarding this topic today, and as I told you, I did a survey for you, uh, regarding which topics. I know about 42% wants me to address Americans at risk of starvation. Uh, unfortunately, I've already collected the information on the other topic, and it was too late for me to reverse all this because I have to organize certain information. So My apologies to that, but suffice it to say, I want to say thank you for taking part in voting regarding these topics. We had over 1,000 people participated in this survey. So I'll do today, I'll do the, the Venezuela topic, and I think tomorrow I might do the American risk of starvation. Then I will do, uh, because this is the topic right here This is about— and by the way, uh, this picture here, this is showing hungry American residents receiving donated food, and this is in Miami, and it was as of November 4th, 2025. I have the link for you. I'm going to share it with you because you all know me, I like to provide, uh, where I get the sources of my information. That's something you learn in academia when you do research. You have to support it with its facts as far as the, uh, the, the references. So, so I will be addressing this one. The other topic has to do with what's going on in Nigeria. There is something you also need to know about, and I will be addressing with this topic for you soon. So for today, we're going to be focusing— this is General Bitner Vargas. Now what's going on with this particular aspect is that the United States was trying to bribe the pilot. He's a general, he's on the presidential team that usually flies Maduro around. And so the reason why I waited on this, because I needed to get a confirmation. So, uh, to my good luck, you know, you— when you work in Washington, sometimes you maintain certain contacts, and, and you wanted to make sure, uh, the people that you developed relationship with over the years, they still can confirm. I'm not saying they will disclose to me the classified information because it's against the law, but it just, uh, for me, I would know what to ask, the right questions. So, so the details now have sort of regarding the American plan to kidnap the Venezuelan President Maduro. And that's the revelations that came up as far as the COVID US plan, which, by the way, this didn't happen just last week or the week before. So this has been in the works for a few months, and I'm gonna detail for you. It's almost like a, like a novel, if you will. The only thing I couldn't find, and I will most likely not find it, is picture of an individual who was at the heart of all this. His name is Lopez, and we're going to get into this. So, so bribing the pilot to change the flight course for Maduro, and that's exactly what was the plan involved in. And this is a significant story when you consider the really the ramifications of it. I mean, we're talking about kidnapping a head of state. This goes beyond craziness. But on the other hand, you shouldn't be surprised given our history in Latin America, which I will share with you 3 things regarding Grenada, Panama, and of course Venezuela to a degree. And this is exactly what happened when a US federal agent, his name is Edwin Lopez, I couldn't find his picture. He was a former military, was working at the embassy. And, uh, so he is the one, uh, that's kind of, uh, uh, offered the Venezuelan presidential, uh, President Maduro's chief pilot. That's the one you see on the picture right here. This is General Bitner Vargas, or Vegas, uh, uh, that's the one that, uh, López, who he is again a US federal agent, to be exact, he was working for the Homeland Security, not a CIA, it's a Homeland Security. And that's what he offered money, large sums of money to divert the plane so the US authorities can capture Maduro. And the plan was to either take him to two locations. One of them either some naval base, uh, especially in, in, in, in Gitmo, or Guantanamo, that is, and the other one some other off-base somewhere in Latin America. So they have not disclosed openly as to what happened. So as I said, the plan was been in the works for 16 months, but ultimately failed. And that is, again, it's because once you understand the steps that took place into all this. And this is what I'm going to be providing you, uh, uh, uh, my, my, uh, my, uh, assessments and analysis about. So, so the attaché individual, in this case Lopez, who was working at the US Embassy, not in Caracas but in Dominican Republic— this is where the plan was foiled, in Dominican Republic. And when Lopez made some sort of a bold move and bold offer to the pilot, promising him that he could become— and I put this in quotes because this is what Lopez said— you could become a hero of Venezuela and stand on the right side of history. End of quote. Well, if I were to go with this, are we doing the right thing on the side of history by kidnapping a head of state? So, and, uh, like I said, usually when you think about the story what happened, you think of it like really some spy novel, like, uh, look, the man coming from the cold. So, and this was disclosed by some former US officials and during some one interview that took place recently with a former US official. So, and I'm gonna disclose the name of that individual because I happen to know who he was. Is no longer in the intelligence community. So, so that's one advantage. Usually when you work in the intelligence community, you end up knowing who's who and so forth. So because this one, and include not only this interview but also the exchange of text messages, and it was a text, an encrypted text message that I came across, or confirmed at least, uh, that came from an individual in the National Security Council. So So the— here is the plan. The plan didn't happen as I said. The plan was, was in motion since April of 2024. That's how far back it go. And that's when the US Embassy, uh, uh, in Dominican Republic received the report about the two aircraft used by Maduro that they're gonna stop by in Dominican Republic for repair. I have the picture of the planes. This is called the, the Salt Falcon, this one here. So, and I have another one of the same picture, same planes, just from a different angle with the tailgate number there. So, so those two planes, the Salt Falcon was supposed to make a stop in the Dominican Republic for repair. So working inside the embassy compound That day was none other than Edwin López. Edwin López, you can Google him up if you find— usually information pertains to some key sensitive, you won't find much. Uh, even in my days when I was in Washington, somebody told me they were trying to find information about me on, uh, they couldn't. So anyway, uh, López was a former US Army soldier from Puerto Rico. That's where he was from. But he became part of the Homeland Security Department, and that's where things gets into motion regarding exactly what happened. So Lopez was particularly interested in the presence of the aircraft in the Dominican Republic. So, and specifically when it became clear to him through some cables that 5 Venezuelan pilots We're supposed to fly from Caracas to Dominican Republic to pick up the planes, the two planes, and return them to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. And this is when the client got the approval from his superior to go— meaning Lopez in this case— get the approval to go to, uh, La Isabela International Airport in Dominican Republic. To those who are familiar with Dominican Republic, you will know that airport. And try to connect with the pilots. So what happened? They were— the pilots were sitting in the waiting room next to the presidential suite at the airport, and that's where Lopez spoke to the 5 pilots. And his primary target wasn't all of them, it was one specific individual, and that specific individual is General, uh, uh, uh, What's his name? Sorry, Bitner Vargas. That was the primary target. Why? Because he's the one who flies Maduro, so, which is a member— he is a member of the Presidential Guard of Honor and of course Brigadier General in the Venezuelan Air Force. So a brief conversation took place during which now the colonel appears to be nervous. Why? Because the American revealed his true identity and made the pilot an offer. So Lopez was hoping that the pilot would not— or an offer that he assumed he could not refuse. Okay, so, and, and, and what? Well, in return for what is to bring Maduro to an American justice, per se, in exchange for becoming incredibly, incredibly, incredibly wealthy and beloved by millions, which is, you know, a lie, of course. So, so the pilot could choose his destination. That was the offer that was given to the pilot by, uh, uh, Lopez. He said, yeah, you can take him anywhere you want, we'll coordinate. So, and among the suggested locations, as a matter of fact, the second location was disclosed And the second location was Puerto Rico. That's one, because we do have a naval base there and we have presence and so forth. And the other one is Gitmo. Gitmo, because— or Guantanamo Bay, because we, we listed again for next 100 years from Cuba. Remember, Gitmo belonged to Cuba, not to the Americans. So, so, Villegas did not accept the— the pilot did not accept the offer. Yeah, he turned down the $50 million. So, and he did, however, what the pilot did— he gave his cell phone number to Lopez. And in following weeks, remember, this started back in April 2024. All this takes time for it because that's usually how the— in the intelligence business, and that's how the operations unfold. So, and the two men, meaning Lopez And Vargas, both of them exchanged a series of messages. So, and the American guy, Lopez, that is, made it clear that the offers still stand. Because remember, the first time Brigadier General Vargas turned it down, refused. So, so the correspondence, correspondence rather, continued even after Lopez's retirement in this past July. So the initial meeting, meeting in the Dominican Republic was tense, and with the pilot leaving non-committal through providing Lopez with his cell phone number. That is what I said, uh, where the information was exchanged, just messages, that is. So Lopez continues exchanging these messages with the pilot for more than a year, even after retiring in July 2025, which means this year. So Lopez went ahead and disclosed that, hey, we are going to put out $50 million bounty for Maduro's capture to, in, to, to sort of encourage compliance. So the pilots, meaning Brigadier General Bitner Vargas response was firm and decisive, rejected the offer straightforward. And here is what he told López in the communication. He said, and I quote, this is the quote from the Brigadier General Viegas, he said, and I quote, we Venezuelans are cut from a different cloth. The last thing we are is traitors, end of quote. And this was disclosed not by the US, uh, sources, but rather by Pravda. If you know where Pravda is, Pravda is in Moscow. So I'm going to provide you the link to this particular article. You can read it for yourself. That tells me, as one who worked in the intelligence community, if Pravda gets a hold of the story, that means the FSB and and the, the, uh, the intelligence services in Russia were aware of what was going on. It's the only explanation to it. Somebody provided the info. So, so, and here's the thing, it was even a tactical move when Maduro posted a birthday message about the pilot. This is to let you know how much the pilot was committed to not betraying Maduro or Venezuelans in general. So during this birthday party, which was birthday of the pilot by the way, Maduro himself posted a birthday message about the pilot on social media, which sent shock waves across Venezuela, uh, platforms and seems to rattle the pilot's relationship with Maduro. Though the pilot later appeared publicly in a military uniform in a television program demonstrating his loyalty. So apparently, and the way you understand this is that Maduro was tipped off. Who tipped him off? This is where I see where the source of the information from Pravda in Moscow came in. So you put the two and two together and figure out. So the investigations that was conducted thereafter by the Associated Press, and of course the interviews regarding the, uh, uh, uh, uh, authentication of the text messages between Lopez and the pilot confirmed the detail. That is what I was waiting on personally before I will do the video for you. So, so sometimes just FYI to let you know, if If I hold on, on some story, I have my reasons for that, because I want you to have the accurate, uh, uh, uh, uh, unconfirmed, uh, information. So, so instead of reaching, uh, uh, uh, his intended, uh, uh, destination, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will find himself in an American base. This is in case the plot would have gone forward. So that means Washington can overthrow Maduro regime and put him on trial. I found this very, very goes in parallel with what we did back during Bush senior administration, and I am going to be detailing some declassified information. So, and of course, as I mentioned, uh, that was the whole reason for why they wanted to do this. Because the American administration wants to sell it to the American people as we bring in the Venezuelan president to the American justice. That's usually what they were trying to do. But apparently the operation or the abduction operation failed miserably. Liking this video so far? Don't just be a watcher. Go ahead and hit the like, share, and subscribe button, and don't forget to tap the bell so you will not miss any of my videos or livestreams. This way, you will be supporting a channel that stands for the truth and objective reporting. The choice is yours. Thanks for your support. Indeed, indeed, appreciate your continued support. Now, as I said, there was another thing that I needed to confirm for you, and this one has to do with this individual right here. This guy, his name, his name is Marshall Billingsley. He's a former US national security official. When you hear national security, that's, that depends. Again, you could be National Security Council or you could be National Security Agency. They never disclose which one. My assumption is that the National Security Council, not the NSA. So, and this where the reason why I'm bringing him up, because there were encrypted messages from him, and that tells me right there this operation reached the highest level in the US government. It goes beyond just the CIA and the Homeland Security. Some of you might ask, what about MI6? We'll get into that in a minute. So last month, what happened? This, uh, uh, uh, the American Lopez— remember him, Edwin Lopez— contacted the, the pilot again. Remember, they had the phone. So this time, what happened? The pilot, the, the Venezuelan pilot, the— what's his name again? Is, uh Bitner, Viagas. When he was contacted this past month, the pilot responded sharply by saying, and I quote, 'We Venezuelans are made of a different metal. Betrayal is simply not in our nature,' end of quote. He then blocked the American number from his phone. So what after that? Right after that call, the next day, that's when Marshall Billingsley, this guy here, went ahead, went ahead and sent a cryptid message to the pilot. He wished him a happy birthday, and he said, which was indeed the pilot's birthday, and he attached a photo of the, uh, Viagra. Here is what blackmailing is all about. You have to understand this. What this guy, meaning Marshall Billingsley, did when he sent this encrypted message, he sent an attached photo with it, and the photo was of the Brigadier General Vargas in the Dominican Republic taken during his first meeting with Edwin López. So this way they will say, if things go sour, said, well, we had the guy inside, when in reality the brigadier general had no intentions of betraying Maduro. But the Americans wants to blackmail him with that, because if they distribute this kind of picture He was sitting with an American agent. You all know what it means. And in Latin America, like some other parts of the world, like what happened to the 20 double agents in China, when they were ruled out, they were taken care of. I'm not going to use the term here on this platform, you know what it means. So the same thing. So the American agent had been removed from the photo. So which means that Marshall, when he sent the photo, he removed the American agent and left just Edward by himself. That was like a message, hey, we were aware of what we were doing. So, and that's when days later speculations spread in Venezuela that the pilot has been arrested. However, it was not the case because on September 24th of this year The Brigadier General reappeared in his military uniform on state TV, as I mentioned earlier, and the, and the interview was hosted by none other than the Interior Minister, the, uh, Dado Gabello. So, and that's where the Minister of Interior presented the pilot to the public, describing him as an unwavering a patriot. I'm sorry, an unwavering patriot, in quote. That's what he was said. So, and his case definitely proved that the Venezuelan military cannot be bought. All this brings us to talk about part of the historical trend that took place, because the unveiling of this plane— of this plan, rather, you know, at a time when the United States is assembling its largest fleet in the Caribbean Sea since the Cold War in a mission widely seen as an attempt to push Maduro out of power, which by the way, it's not going to work. And I will tell you at the end, I'm going to conclude with two aspects. One is on the military aspect and the other one on the intelligence, to put it in perspective for you. So the State Department, US State Department went ahead and now offering the $50 million reward for information leading to the president's arrest, meaning Maduro, okay? And accusing him— here is the keyword, and I put this in quote— being a narco terrorist. And in, in quote, why is this important? Because you have to go back to what happened to Manuel Antonio Noriega. And I will detail on this because it was the same expression we used back then that we are using today. Maduro, of course, denied any involvement in drug trafficking. There is also another reward for $25 million for information leading to the arrest of the Interior Secretary Cabello. And all this is important to understand. And as a matter of fact, some in the US intelligence community have disclosed that Maduro is not tied to drug trafficking. And by the way, those officials have been fired, and I'm going to prove to you, uh, how. So the next question we need to ask, and I brought it up in a conversation earlier, is whether the MI6 is involved. Let's not rush to, to conclusion here, guys. So based on my own— how do I put it— contacts, if I'm use the term, MI6 is not involved. This, in this particular operation, this one was hatched specifically by CIA and Homeland Security. So, so you— this is where Edward Lopez was the one orchestrating this. Because if Edward Lopez, who was under the jurisdiction of the Homeland Security, not the CIA— Edward Lopez wasn't a CIA guy, because usually there is a law here in the United States. If you happen to find out that someone works for the, let's say, CIA, for example, by law you are not authorized to disclose that. And if you do it's considered a federal felony. This is why it made more sense to push Edwin López to orchestrate the operation under the supervision of the agency, because deniability. López never worked for the CIA. López works for Homeland Security. So, and this is where you see, rather than formally authorized by the CIA, Now that it's uncovered, oh, it was the Homeland Security. So however, we all know, you and I know that the agency was involved into all this. So, and here is the thing, the Trump administration— remember when, when Trump was asked about whether he authorized CIA, he said, well, I can't disclose this, which means he did, because the Trump administration authorized the CIA covert operation in Venezuela. Which first was disclosed by a foreign news outlet, not the United States. So, so the CIA was involved as part of the broader policy direction of this. However, this specific plot has been led, or was led, by Homeland Security agent Edwin Lopez. This is what I need you to understand, and I had to wait to get confirmation of all this to to provide you the information. So it appears, which we can— I can say it unequivocally and prove that the MI6 was not involved in this, that the— it appears that in my judgment is that it has been the operation led by the Department of Homeland Security rather than purely, purely MI6 and CIA. MI6 is not in picture. So And this is why I didn't find any specific or couldn't corroborate any information pertaining to the, uh, uh, sort of the involvements of the MI6. So the operation appears to be entirely a US effort involving both DHS, Department of Homeland Security, and the three-letter agency coordination under Trump's authorization. Not even Congress is Trump. So the broader context of all this is that Trump did authorize, uh, this particular, uh, uh, operation. And this leads me back to talk about Russia. Remember when I mentioned earlier that it was Pravda, which is a, a news, a media outlet inside Moscow? And I believe, and I know, Pravda is tied to the Kremlin and so forth. So that means they have their hands— they have access to sensitive information from either FSB or some other entities inside, or GRU, uh, inside Russia. And this is where, uh, I, I need to bring up— and I remember last time I asked my guest, uh, about the presence of the, uh, the Russians, uh, in, in Venezuela, and I wanted to confirm one thing. Usually in something like this, the Russians might end up sending their special ops. This time they did not. So, because we ought to ask the question, did Russia send its special ops to protect Maduro? So, so Russia has not deployed the special ops, uh, to Venezuela specifically in response to this pilot, uh, bribing incident. However, Russia has significantly increased its military presence to Maduro more broadly in support of Maduro. So, so, because in May of this year, 2025, uh, the Russian president Vladimir Putin, remember, he signed a strategic partnership and cooperation treaty with Maduro in Moscow. I, I think I covered this particular, uh, visit by Maduro to Moscow, and I did a video on it. And this entered— here is the important thing— this treaty entered into force in October 2027 of this year. That was a week ago. So, so, and that is why I'm saying the Russian special ops are reported to have trained Venezuelan troops to counter an invasion or a coup, but And that's usually, uh, uh, uh, sort of— but as far as being sent specifically for this, no, there is nothing. And the— even Wagner Group has been involved in training, uh, uh, uh, or even being tasked to a degree with Maduro's security, to my knowledge. So, and of course, in 2024, the Wagner-affiliated fighters were spotted training Venezuelan security forces and embedding within local police as part of that. So now when we consider the Russian, uh, the Russian transport plane which arrived in Venezuela on October 22nd, so after flying through multiple countries, and that's in itself signaling Russia shifting focus towards the Caribbean and growing US-Venezuela tensions. That is the right— why, why the Russians send it. However, the Russian support will be limited given what Russia is going through regarding Ukraine, and there is a lot going on there. That's why Russians are very, very careful about how far to go. So while Russians provided training, equipment, and diplomatic support It has not deployed full special forces contingents specifically to protect Maduro from the kidnapping plot. I just want to put this to rest for you. This leads me to talk about two other parts. This one has to do with this individual here, Corina Machado, and the second one has to do with this individual right here, Juan Guaidó. So, and I'm going to start with this one here because there is more than meet the eye that you need to understand about this woman, uh, uh, uh, Corina Machado. So one thing about Machado, he is now considered to be the opposition, uh, uh, you know, there are those who saying, was she behind the current tensions in Venezuela? Was she the one pushed, uh, uh, uh, for this direction as to what's going on. Others saying no, she's not behind the tensions, but rather remains some sort of a prominent opposition leader responding to the tensions that stems from Maduro's control of the government. And that's, you know, on both sides of the argument. And I am here not to judge anybody. I am here to provide you both sides of the arguments And like we always do in this community, you reach your own conclusion. But you have to understand some background, and the background goes back 2024 when Machado was barred from running in 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections. And that's when she switched her support to opposition candidate Edmundo González Lloretia. So, and after the July 2024 disputes, remember we've been saying, uh, here in the US, Washington's been repeating, uh, Maduro didn't win elections and so forth. You know how that narrative goes. So, so what happened after that? Maduro's government declared him a winner, of course, back then. But Machado and Gonzalez claimed they had won the elections by landslide with over 85%, which you and I know was a lie. So, and that in itself paves the way to where things are headed. And where things are headed, so, and this is where Machado has been calling for a greater role for the US, uh, uh, uh, involvement, because now what she's describing going on in Venezuela as a war. Okay, she's using the term war, and she is support— she is in support of a war against Maduro. So why? And here is the key of what I mentioned earlier, because, uh, Machado, she's been given the talking point she is now characterizing Maduro as— and I put in quote— criminal narco-terrorism structure. Remember what was said earlier? Narco-terrorist or narco-trafficker, which was the, uh, Trump administration accusing Maduro. That's where the, the wording— you have to understand the historical trend of this. So now Machado, she recently stated, and I quote, Maduro started this war and Trump will end it, end of quote. This is exactly what Machado is saying. So you can just see where the trend is headed, okay? And she has supported now the Trump administration strategy considering Venezuela and cartels as transnational terrorist organizations. So this is where you need to understand. So basically, Machado, uh, she's blaming Maduro for destabilizing the region and turning Venezuela into a heaven for enemies of the United States, like Iran, China, Russia, Hezbollah, Hamas, and others, saying, and I quote, 'This is a war that was declared by Maduro, not us.' End of quote. You can see she's been provided the talking points, you know. I, I can always tell personally from experience when somebody's been providing talking points from within the US administration. So, so in essence, what I need you to understand, Machado is an opposition leader, you know, but is advocating for regime change against Maduro. That's basically what it is. So, and this leads us to the next question: is she financed by Or was she financed by the CIA? So of course nothing is going to be disclosed, and usually you won't find anything. I'm telling you here upfront, you won't find the direct, uh, transfer of money from a CIA bank to her bank. You will never find that. Here is what the documentation, substantial documentation that I had to confirm, found, or regarding US government funding of Machado opposition organizations. So, but again, it depends on the source of the US funding. So Machado's opposition organizations have been funded by the National Endowments for Democracy, known as NED. And guess what? It has been funded since 2003. And, and, and I'm not gonna sort of hide this from you. I'll disclose this one. It was my time during in DC where we're aware of certain funding going into Latin America. I was part of it. And here is what is interesting. Is that Machado herself was invited to the White House with President George W. Bush in 2005. And I have a link for you, you can look it up yourself, read the article, and you'll see. I, I posted for you guys in the chat box because the article started with Venezuelan opposition leader meeting with Bush stirs up controversy. A 15-minute, a 15-minute meeting between President Bush and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was widely interpreted as a sign of thinly veiled US support for Venezuela's opposition. US Congressman José Serrano and Foreign Minister Rodríguez condemned the meeting while Bush spoke persons defended it. So, and this is why you have to understand what, for example, the Trump administration is doing, headed by none other than Marco Rubio, because Marco Rubio was adamant about taking down Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela. And of course, you all know what's going on, uh, uh, uh, uh, we, uh what's going on with Cuba. So don't ever ignore that role of what, what, uh, what, uh, what's his name, uh, Marco Rubio is doing behind the scenes. As a matter of fact, Marco Rubio flew to Dominican Republic to see the planes himself last year. So, and this is what I need you to understand, the big picture. So, so it is important to note also that, uh, uh, sources differ regarding the interpretation of this funding. You know, some sources described it as NED, and NED is CIA, while mainstream sources presented it as legitimate US agency supporting democracy. What do you guys think? Just, uh, let me know in the chat box. Share your opinion with the community. I will greatly appreciated. And this saying US agency supporting democracy promotion around the world. So, so there are those who saying what the characterization of Machado as a CIA asset appears primarily in sources critical to the US intervention in Venezuela. Well, that will be the same argument we've made about Nicaragua. Yeah, when Manuel Ortega was an asset of the CIA. Till they turn on him. So, so what is factual is that what is documented also is that the US government agencies have funded opposition organizations associated with Machado for over two decades, and this relationship continued through multiple US administrations. Whether this constitute, constitute direct control or simply support for opposition political activists remains some sort of contested for debate. Somebody just texting, sorry. And this is why sort of if I am to think about what Machado represents, you know, and especially now, especially now, given that she's been given the Nobel Peace Prize which is Nobel Peace Prize, has no credibility whatsoever. Don't think that is an honor to have a Nobel Peace Prize if you only know how corrupted that entity is. So when you have somebody like Machado getting the Nobel Peace Prize is a degradation, a decline of this, uh, Nobel Peace Prize credibility, you know. How about if we would have given the Nobel Peace Prize to doctors in Gaza, to journalists in Gaza, to those who've been fighting behind the scenes instead of giving it to Machado, who got a deal with both the US and Israel. So, and by the way, just to let you know, it was Machado that sort of pushed behind the scenes and inspired the Trump administration to use the term a narcotic terrorist organization, you know. And this didn't happen yesterday. This one happened in June 2025— that's in, in January, I'm sorry, at the beginning of the year, January 2025, where the conversation started. As a matter of fact, some intelligence reports have been twisted, and we were aware, you know. It didn't happen during my time when I was at least during the last years when I was in Washington, I started to see certain manipulations in the intelligence reports, and I was like, what are we getting into here? That's exactly what happened. So as a matter of fact, as I mentioned earlier, there is documented intelligence officers have been fired in the US for arguing that Maduro has nothing to do with drugs or connection to Venezuelan gangs. So, and if, if, if this is not enough for you, you need to understand that Machado went ahead and signed an agreement with Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud party. This is why, if you— to those who are familiar with her recent statement that if I become a president, the first order of business is to remove the Venezuelan embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That, in my opinion, it tells me where the power is. Power is not in Washington, it's in Tel Aviv. So that should, that should, uh, that should raise a flag for you guys. And this is what brings me back to the history of what we did back then. So I'm gonna take you back to Grenada, to those who are familiar with what took place with that phony war, because it was a phony war. So, and that's when the US staged, uh, uh, some sort of, uh, uh, an operation against so-called socialist government, which gave at that time— because who was president at that time? Does anybody know who the president of the United States was during the invasion of Grenada? Let me just see in the chat box if you happen to know. Let me see here. Oh, oh, Mary, you got it. Mary, you got it. It was Reagan. Zion, you got it. It was, it was, it was, it was Ronald Reagan. Lee Argent. You got it, it was, it was Ronald Reagan. So, and that gave a victory to Ronald Reagan fighting communism in Latin America, remember? And if that's not enough for you, remember also what happened in Panama. You remember the Panama Deception? So, and here is what unfolded in Panama, and I'm going to share the picture of Manuel Antonio right there. There's Manuel. Antonio Noriega. So what happened? Panama Deception. This is when the US labeled former CIA agent Manuel Antonio Noriega. So of course Noriega— it's not of course, but sort of he had to be— he didn't have a strategy in place to move forward, and that's where the mistake was on his part. And the mistake was he opposed the US intervention in Latin America. You know, it's not a mistake, of course. I'm saying mistake in a strategy. You could have gone about it differently, but apparently he openly— you could do that quietly. In any event, he did that, opposed, because the US was at that time full force in Nicaragua. You all remember when the money that was sent to— was when the money that was gotten from Iran for giving them the, the weapons in their war against Iraq. Remember, we're the one providing weapons to Iran and Iraq. So the money we got went directly to fund the— to fight the Sandinistas in Latin America. Communism, that is. But all this is important. What is more important is what the administration, the US administration at that time named Noriega. What did they name him? Narco Lord, in quote. So, and of course, to those who are familiar with the history, he was captured, and at the same time the country was bombed. Yeah, Panama was bombed and setting up some sort of, uh, uh, regime that will serve our interest. And by the way, the government that was installed in Panama had only to my knowledge, about 2% approval. So, and we all know what became of Panama— money laundering center. So, and this to me, the concern as to is this what we are planning in Venezuela? Because if this is the model that we created in Panama, what's— what, what makes you think we're going to do something different in Venezuela? We don't build infrastructure for countries. So, uh, one thing I wanted to— I forgot to mention to you earlier, guys, about Nobel Peace Prize, this Machado nonsense stuff. So did you guys know, and I'm going to show you a picture of the French literature individual by the name Jean-Paul Sartre— to those who are familiar with French literature, you will know this guy was a heavy hitter in the French literature, well known to those who studied French history. He is the only gentleman who had the dignity and the courage to turn down Nobel Peace Prize. Because if you know anything about Jean-Paul Sartre, he was an anti-imperialist philosopher. So, so of course the literature— not the literature, rather the information disclosed by the Nobel Peace Prize committee is saying, oh, oh, Jean-Paul Sartre, he never refused Nobel Peace Prize. No, he did, he did. So 1964, that's when he turned it down, the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. He declined it because he refused all the official honors, believing that an author— and I admire him for that— an author should not be institutionalized, because that's what become with this Nobel Peace Prize. The guys don't get surprised if somebody win Nobel Prize. As a matter of fact, the smart people won't even take it. So, and that's what he was thinking about. He was nervous about his reputation to be now institutionalized and should act only with the written word because that's where his contribution to knowledge came in, not in formality of awards and all that. Yeah, sometimes it's nice, but through words. So he felt, this is what he felt, that accepting the Nobel Peace Prize will turn him into an institution and could be used to misinterpret his work. And I'm going to share with you a link for his disclosure and a video clip that you can watch it yourself later on. So I put it in chat box for you. And this leads me to talk about my last, uh, part about the, uh, the other knucklehead. It's Juan Guido. You all remember what happened in 2019 to those who are familiar with the history. So Juan Guaidó, with the support of the US, was preparing a military coup. And what happened to that? The trucks across the border between Colombia and Venezuela. And what was the purpose of that? You know, it's not that the purpose was to humiliate the Maduro government by saying, look at the hunger that's going on in, in, uh, in, in Venezuela that is associated with socialism. So, so, and by the way, if you know anything about this guy right now, if you know where he is, you will be shocked. He teaches at a university with no academic background whatsoever or credentials. He has no academic credentials. So I will say shame on Florida International University for offering the position to somebody who's not qualified, you know. Whether there was an intervention by the US government, it's beside the argument. But that's where he is now. He teaches, uh, sort of in the traditional sense. He's visiting professor and a senior leadership fellow at Florida International University, uh, uh, Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom. So he joined the program, he joined the, the institution in 2023, the fall of 2023. We the one who support him for conducting the coup, and when he failed miserably, we flew him out of and gave him a position. It happened also with some well-established institution in the US like Harvard, don't be surprised. Harvard had some of its professors who are not qualified, just because they've been some high ranking in the government. All of a sudden they teaching in the— at Harvard. Well, because if you know Harvard, Harvard is the back door of the US government. And of course they have some reputable professors, I'm not denying this. But the ones who do not have the academic background to teach, like they say, white clothing doesn't make a priest. L'habit ne fait pas le moine, as it says in French. So that's where Juan Guaidó is right now in Florida. And I can only guess who might have been behind this. Is because Marco Rubio has been pushing for that. Remember, Marco Rubio used to sit on the Foreign Relations Committee. So, all right, let me do my conclusion here for you. As I said, I'm going to talk two points here, one from military, one from the intelligence aspect. From the military perspective, and again, this is my opinion, the way I see it, take it or leave it, it's your decision, you know, the way I see it, this so-called imminent war between Venezuela and the US is nothing but hype. Because when you think about the existing sort of the balance of power that exists— so you remember when the US went into, uh, I remember when the United States went into, uh, Venezuela— I'm sorry, not Venezuela, it's, uh, when it went to Panama. Yeah, yeah, it was in Panama if I recall. 700,000— or I'm sorry, 27,000 troops, they were deployed to the Pan— uh, in Panama at that time. Yeah, US. So do we have 27,000 troops right now in Venezuela or, or on, uh, on the borders of Venezuela? No. We don't. And this is why I, I do not see the military side. Like I mentioned last time during my guest interview with Fernando, I said I don't see the war moving forward because what this is nothing but posturing. What the US is doing is posturing, you know. For the American military deployments in the Caribbean, it does not amount to a larger scale military operations. It just doesn't. It doesn't. It's because when you think about what the US is doing, this is nothing except to posture, that's one, and sort of cement that Monroe Doctrine of 1823. So this is our, you know, backyard, which is not supposed to be backyard anyway. Sort of that's American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. That's all it is, because here is the hard fact. The hard fact is that the deployment of this US naval whatever doesn't represent more than 10% of the US American naval force. Are you going to go to a war with 10% capabilities? It just doesn't make any sense. So the deployment is aimed, in my opinion, putting pressure on Maduro. So because they want to create— the US wants to create some sort of a climate of constant threat in the hope of having the likes of Machado push for destabilizing the regime, or even more, destabilizing the relationship between the government in Caracas and the military. Which will push— this is the thinking in Washington— will push Maduro into the negotiating table. I don't see that happening. This is from the military. From the intelligence side, as I said, you know, you kind of remember who's who and so forth. What you're looking at is Fulton Armstrong, a former intelligence officer guy in D.C., so I'm very familiar with him. So what's happened is, when you think about what's going on in Venezuela, automatically you have to think about Cuba and Panama experiences. So, and this Cuba and Panama experiences will deter Donald Trump from moving forward with the Venezuela case. So, so, I mean, uh, uh, this is what the former US intelligence, the Armstrong, is arguing, and I couldn't agree more with his assessment. So, so it's basically just what the US is doing is to demonstrate its power, uh, by punishing or overthrowing Maduro, and of course to bring down Cuba in order to gain more support from Americans in general. This is what Donald Trump is aiming at. So, so, but also, and I couldn't agree more with his assessment, is that what Trump is doing all this is to divert attention from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal still out there. So the rising inflation, which I will talk to you about in the next video about Americans going hungry, you know, the, the what's going on in, in Gaza, which still going on despite the agreement. So, and of course the war in Ukraine. So all this, what Donald Trump is trying to do is to put pressure, on, on Caracas to curb sort of the flow of the illegal drugs. Well, wait a minute, we the one who have the market for it. So, and as a matter of fact, just to share this with you, now that he's retired, usually when you retire or former, you can disclose, uh, uh, Armstrong was a CIA officer and he was stationed in Latin America, spent a lot of years So this is what you need to understand. So, so, uh, to me, the policies that Trump is embarking on, be they on this front or even the trade war, whatever, those are stupid and ill-conceived policies. You know, that has nothing to do with the reality, you know, except that becomes, okay, well, what is Washington's goal? So yeah, he just wanted to demonstrate that, well, we can punish you. For what? What? You know, because they already saying that word, well, Maduro is, is, is drug lord, whatever, narcotic terrorist, whatever. You know, it's just this kind of same argument we made before, and this is because Removing him from, uh, will bring down Secretary of State Marco Rubio's lifetime nemesis. Marco Rubio is also behind the scenes pushing this immensely. So, and like I mentioned, if you are to think about the war on drugs, if you only know how much we spend, $16 billion in Colombia alone to stop drug production. So yeah, so which, by the way, you know, as I said, we've conducted operations to stop drug production and trafficking from South America to the point that we spent $16 billion in Colombia alone, which today, by the way, produces more coca paste and cocaine than ever before. So, and the important thing, and I couldn't agree more with Armstrong because he was there on the ground. When you have a CIA, uh, uh, uh, officer on the ground, you are at the depth of it. So here is what he argues. He argues that the transit strategies are particularly appealing to Washington. Even the US military, which has avoided acting as policeman, is now vying for significant role in the peace— in the peaceful hemisphere. Trump is trying to revive an old strategy, something that seems incredibly difficult. End of quote. And that is exactly where I see this is going. So, uh, what we're gonna try now to do is just to use intermediaries. So, and when you start using intermediaries the world of the intelligence, you start to have unreliability. And when you start to have unreliability, failure will be the outcome. So that's the way I see it. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed, uh, this. I want to take this opportunity because I need to say thank you to Wei, uh, who became a member on on Buy Me a Coffee. I truly appreciate your kind support for my work, and, and also I am very, very grateful to have supporters like you. So he became a member. I will greatly appreciate it, uh, if you guys decide to support the channel. You all know the type of information I bring you, so choice is yours, like I always say. So So let me say thank you to— I saw a Super Sticker here from, uh, let me remove this one here and I put it back. Uh, oh, Piano Man, thank you so much for your Super Sticker. Truly appreciate your support. I also want to say thank you to Marvin Vargas. Appreciate you. Thank you, doctor. I appreciate your knowledge. Stream. You're most welcome. And, and, and I really— I just want you guys to know, uh, and I mean it when I say this, supporters like yourselves is truly what keeps me going. And I'm not shy, you know, I kind of, you know, I don't sugarcoat things here. So, you know, if you want to support the channel, you know what you need to do. That's all I can say. Uh, remember to join me tonight for My, uh, let me see here. Uh, remember to join me tonight for my conversation with the giant Bahndari at 1900 hours. I look forward to that conversation. And, uh, in the meantime, I will be preparing for live stream for you tomorrow. As always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, guys. Bye-bye.