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Colombian President Gustavo Petro and U.S President Donald Trump inside the White House. Photo: The White House

U.S. prosecutors probe Colombia’s Petro over alleged narco links, NYT reports

By The City Paper Staff - March 20, 2026

U.S. federal prosecutors have opened preliminary criminal investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro over alleged links to drug traffickers and possible illicit financing of his 2022 campaign, according to a report by The New York Times. The previously undisclosed probes are being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn and involve specialists in international […]

U.S President Donald Trump and his AI image of Canada, Venezuela and Greenland with the U.S flag. Photo: Truth Social

Trump shows AI map with Canada, Greenland and Venezuela under U.S flag.

By The City Paper Staff - January 20, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was “no going back” on his goal to bring Greenland under U.S. control, refusing to rule out the use of force and escalating tensions with European allies already bracing for a renewed transatlantic trade dispute. Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts featuring AI-generated images, […]

Senior cabinet members have been barred from U.S. after Petro’s defiant rally near Times Square, New York. Photo: X/MinCultura.

Vocal on Gaza, Petro’s Silence on Iran Is Hypocrisy Incarnate

By Opinion Desk - January 15, 2026

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has made Gaza the moral centerpiece of his foreign policy. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, he has devoted extraordinary political capital to denouncing Israel, questioning its right to self-defense, and framing the Gaza war as a singular global emergency. He summoned “Free Palestine” marches, spent public funds hosting […]

Trump: U.S. partnership to make Venezuelans “rich, independent and safe”

By Richard Emblin - January 3, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States would “run” Venezuela until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” of power is completed, following a U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in […]

Trump praises “brilliant” military operation against Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro

By Richard Emblin - January 3, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed as “brilliant” the U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, as explosions were reported in Caracas early Saturday. Governments across the Americas and Europe are reacting to the arrest of the Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. In a brief telephone interview with […]

BREAKING: Venezuela’s Maduro captured after U.S strikes Caracas

By The City Paper Staff - January 3, 2026

The United States has captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife Cilia Flores, after a series of targeted military strikes on Caracas at 1:30 am on Saturday, January 3, 2026. In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform, U.S President Donald J. Trump said U.S. forces, working with U.S. law enforcement, conducted […]

USS Gerald R. Ford is in the Caribbean, placing U.S. naval airpower within rapid range of Venezuela. Photo: Handout/SOUTHCOM

The New Monroe Doctrine: U.S. Recasts Latin America as Security Priority

By Luis Guillermo Plata - December 18, 2025

Why such a massive U.S. military deployment off the coast of Venezuela, supposedly to combat the “Cartel of the Suns” and stop drug trafficking from Venezuela to the United States? After more than four months, the results amount to little more than a handful of small vessels destroyed – an extremely modest impact given the […]

Stain on Hay: Should María Corina Machado Refuse the Literary Festival?

By Richard Emblin - December 17, 2025

For a literary festival, silence can be more revealing than speech. The decision by three writers to withdraw from the 2026 Hay Festival in Cartagena over the presence of María Corina Machado, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the most prominent figure in Venezuela’s democratic opposition, has exposed a paradox at the heart of […]

María Corina Machado Issues Post-Maduro “Freedom Manifesto”

By Richard Emblin - November 19, 2025

As the USS Gerald R. Ford navigates uncomfortably close to the Venezuelan coastline and some 15,000 U.S. Marines remain stationed across Caribbean waters, Venezuela’s political crisis has entered a volatile new phase. In Caracas, Nicolás Maduro is publicly calling for peace and dialogue — even quoting John Lennon’s “Imagine” and delivering rally slogans in English […]

Did Venezuela’s ex-spymaster Hugo Carvajal Spark OFAC Sanctions Against Petro?

By The City Paper Staff - October 27, 2025

The U.S. Treasury’s unprecedented decision to sanction Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his inner circle has sparked speculation that recent testimony by Venezuela’s former spy chief, Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, may have cemented the move. Carvajal, once a powerful general in Hugo Chávez’s intelligence services, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism […]

U.S. Deploys USS Gerald Ford to Lead Military Build-Up Near Venezuela

By The City Paper Staff - October 25, 2025

The United States is deploying its largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean as part of the regional military buildup aimed at disrupting narcotics trafficking networks linked to the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro. The move marks a sharp escalation of U.S. counter-narcotics operations in Latin America and comes […]

Colombian Politicians React to Trump’s Tariff Threat and Aid Suspension

By Richard Emblin - October 20, 2025

U.S President Donald Trump triggered a political firestorm in Colombia after announcing on his social media platform – Truth Social – the immediate suspension of all financial aid and imposition of punitive tariffs on Colombian exports. The decision came after he branded President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader.” Trump’s extraordinary statements mark one of […]

Trump Calls Colombia’s Petro an “Illegal Drug Leader,” Halts U.S. Aid

By The City Paper Staff - October 19, 2025

In an extraordinary escalation that threatens to end decades of strategic partnership, U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Sunday labeled Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader” and announced the immediate suspension of U.S. financial aid to Colombia. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump accused […]

Colombia Targets TdeA as U.S. Launches More Caribbean Strikes

By Richard Emblin - October 15, 2025

Colombia’s National Police captured a top Venezuelan of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, hours after a second fugitive jumped to his death from his luxury apartment in Medellín. The recent offensive against TdeA comes as the leftist government of President Gustavo Petro also ruled out any possibility of peace talks with the transnational gang. […]

Bogotá braces for pro-Palestine marches October 7, U.S Embassy closes

By Richard Emblin - October 7, 2025

The 21st century has witnessed many days of infamy, but among the most horrific was October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a coordinated assault on southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed, including 38 children, and 251 civilians were kidnapped – among them young men and women attending the Nova music festival. Families were […]

Petro Implodes U.S-Colombia Relations With Final UN Speech

By Richard Emblin - September 24, 2025

Colombian President Gustavo Petro detonated relations with Washington in a blistering UN speech, accusing Donald Trump of genocide, calling for his prosecution, and likening the U.S. to Nazi Germany. The U.S. delegation exited the chamber as Petro urged the world to form an armed coalition to liberate Gaza.