The Daily Populous Sunday January 4th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by latintimes.com and submitted by Aggravating_Money992

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) slammed the U.S. operation that captured Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, saying it is not aimed at countering drug-trafficking.

"It's not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn't have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It's about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn't. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs," she claimed in a social media publication.

Several governments that have been critical of Trump have criticized the operation. One of them was Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who claimed the government has deployed "public forces" at the border with Venezuela following the operation.

In a social media publication, Petro also said that Colombia deployed "assistance forces" in case of a "massive refugee influx."

"The Colombian government rejects this aggression to Venezuela's and Latin America's sovereignty. Internal conflicts among peoples are solved by those people in peace. This is the principle of self-determination of the peoples that is the base of the UN system," Petro said in another passage of the post.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, on her end, posted a statement saying the country is making an "urgent call to respect international law, as well as principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and to cease any act of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people."

The document goes on to say that "Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace, built on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful controversies resolution and the proscription of the threat and use of force, so any military action puts regional stability at great risk."

The attack has been also condemned by Russia and Iran, two allies of Maduro. Moscow called the development an "act of armed aggression against Venezuela."

"This is deeply concerning and condemnable," Moscow added in a statement on Saturday. "The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded."

MCPtz on January 3rd, 2026 at 18:00 UTC »

I didn't know about the pardon, or who that was, so I looked it up.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez pardoned from a 45 year sentence, after serving about 1.5 years.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/trump-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon-honduras-drugs/87564181007/

> Trump pardons cocaine kingpin who ruled Honduras

> Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A White House official and Hernandez's attorney, Renato Stabile, confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon has been issued. Stabile said Hernandez was released early Dec. 2 from a federal prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence "for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses," according to the Justice Department.

> Hernandez was convicted in March of 2024 after a three-week jury trial in New York City. He was "at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world," helping to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., the Justice Department said in a news release last year after his conviction.

Actual pardon:

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12621

TJ_learns_stuff on January 3rd, 2026 at 17:21 UTC »

Watching the press conference right now:

“We’re sending in our biggest oil companies” or words to that effect, straight from Trump’s mouth. To the world.

Demonking3343 on January 3rd, 2026 at 17:04 UTC »

Got to give her credit for calling it like it is.