Passengers on the first direct flight from Miami to Caracas since 2019 were excited to return but anxious about what they would find. For others, passport issues are still a hurdle. Source link
new video loaded: Direct Flights Between U.S. and Venezuela Resume After 7 Years transcript Back transcript Direct Flights Between U.S. and Venezuela Resume After 7 Years American Airlines 3599, the first nonstop flight between the United States and Venezuela since 2019, departed Miami for Caracas on Thursday. President Trump had banned direct commercial and cargo flights between the two countries during his first term. “Where are you going?” “To Caracas, my friend, where else?” “We have restored this vital connection between Miami and Caracas. With each flight, we’re strengthening economic ties. We’re also facilitating commerce. And we’re bringing our people closer together.” “Today, we are not merely witnessing the resumption of an air route, we’re witnessing one of the most concrete, tangible and verifiable expressions of mutual recognition in this new phase of bilateral relations between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America.” American Airlines 3599, the first nonstop flight between the United States and Venezuela since 2019, departed Miami for Caracas on Thursday. President Trump had banned direct commercial and …
April 29 (Reuters) – U.S. National Energy Dominance Council Director Jarrod Agen will travel to Venezuela on Thursday to meet with energy and mining executives and government officials, the White House said on Wednesday. “The United States and Venezuela are restoring our partnership, rebuilding economic ties, and facilitating unprecedented investments that will benefit both the American and Venezuela people,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an emailed statement. Politico reported earlier on Wednesday that White House officials would travel to Venezuela on Thursday to announce agreements that could pave the way for several oil and mining companies to operate in the South American nation. (Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese) Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters. Source link
Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times, The United States will ease sanctions on Venezuela to allow its regime to pay legal fees for former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. drug trafficking case, according to a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The April 24 filing states that the U.S. Treasury Department authorized an exception to existing sanctions, permitting funds to be used for Maduro’s legal defense. Maduro is awaiting trial on federal charges, including those related to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Attorney Barry Pollack, on behalf of Maduro, said in court documents filed in February that Venezuela, under its laws, had an obligation to pay Maduro’s legal expenses. Pollack said Maduro lacked his own funds to pay for legal counsel and “is being deprived of his constitutional right to counsel of his choice.” “Mr. Maduro, as Venezuela’s head of state, has both a right and an expectation to have legal fees associated with these charges funded by the government of Venezuela,” the February …
The funds must have been made available after Mar 5, 2026, and cannot come from Venezuela’s US-regulated oil sales. Since removing Maduro in early January, the United States has effectively controlled the export of Venezuelan oil, with the funds going into special accounts overseen by Washington. According to the Friday filing, the defense acknowledges the sanctions waiver and is lifting its motion to dismiss the charges, for now. Maduro has declared himself a “prisoner of war” and pleaded not guilty to the four counts he faces: conspiracy for “narco-terrorism,” conspiracy for cocaine importation, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Source link
Federal prosecutors say the U.S. Treasury Department will allow defense attorneys for Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to be paid by the Venezuelan government. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The move clears a major hurdle in the case, eliminating the risk of lengthy delays over funding disputes and the possibility of U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for their defense. This development comes a month after a hearing where prosecutors in the Southern District of New York argued Maduro had “plundered Venezuela’s wealth and should not be able to use its money for legal fees.” Maduro’s attorney Barry Pollock countered that the U.S. government was improperly blocking his client’s ability to fund his legal defense. “He is entitled to use those resources to defend himself,” Pollack said. Judge Alvin Hellerstein appeared amenable to the defense argument, suggesting he could dismiss the case if Maduro were unable to secure funds for his legal representation. In a joint letter filed late Friday, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton …
The Polymarket prediction market website is displayed on a computer screen, Jan. 11, 2026, in New York. Wyatte Grantham-Philips | AP The Army Special Forces soldier criminally charged in connection with making hugely profitable bets on Polymarket related to the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was released Friday on an unsecured $250,000 bond after appearing in federal court in Raleigh, North Carolina. Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was ordered to appear Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where he has been indicted on wire fraud and other charges related to allegedly using classified information about the planned operation to win nearly $410,000 from the bets and then trying to cover up the scheme. Van Dyke, who has served in the Army since 2008, was arrested Thursday in North Carolina, where he is based at Fort Bragg. Kalshi, Polymarket’s leading competitor in the prediction markets sector, confirmed on Friday that it had blocked Van Dyke from opening a Kalshi account. Reuters first reported that Kalshi had blocked Van Dyke’s attempt …
The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an enlisted member of the US Army’s special forces, for allegedly using “classified, nonpublic” information about the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to notch more than $400,000 in profits on Polymarket trades. A grand jury indicted him on five counts, including multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. Van Dyke is the first person to be charged with insider trading on a prediction market in the United States. Lawmakers have been voicing concerns for months about the high likelihood that politicians and public servants could use nonpublic information to profit from trades on leading industry platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which have exploded in popularity over the past year. The arrest comes just weeks after Department of Justice prosecutors met with Polymarket about potential insider tradition violations. In February, Israeli authorities arrested two citizens, an Army reservist and a civilian, for allegedly leaking classified information by making wagers on Polymarket related to military operations. Kalshi, Polymarket’s primary rival in the United …
WASHINGTON, April 20(Reuters) – Venezuela, a country subject to Western sanctions and saddled with billions in debt, was the biggest cause for optimism at last week’s otherwise sombre IMF-World Bank meetings, investors and officials said. Expectations for an economic revival for the formerly Socialist republic, whose ousted President Nicolas Maduro was placed in a New York prison in January, dominated conversations on the sidelines of the meetings, attendees told Reuters. “The permafrost is melting. And that is why investors are optimistic,” said Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, a professor at Queen Mary University, who advises governments on debt and attended the Spring Meetings. Although Venezuela was not mentioned on any formal agenda in advance of the meetings, at least six banks and organisations held crowded investor briefings in Washington, including Bank of America, Barclays, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, according to three sources who attended them and agendas seen by Reuters. Late on Thursday, the IMF and the World Bank said they had resumed dealings with Caracas for the first time since 2019 – a major step towards re-engagement with …
“AS MANY GREEN LIGHTS AS POSSIBLE” Rodriguez was the country’s vice president until early January, when US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a shock overnight operation. Rodriguez was subsequently made interim president. Since then, Washington has exerted heavy pressure on the country to open its economy to foreign investment – especially its energy sector. “Trump frequently and publicly talks about how much he likes Delcy and how closely they’re working together,” Henry Ziemer at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington told AFP. “But the institutional recognition is, I think, an important next step – going beyond the personal to the institutional.” “It’s important for Delcy’s appearance of legitimacy,” he said. Beyond the funds that could now flow from the IMF and the World Bank, the institutional recognition could reassure foreign private investors who were anxious about taking bets on the country. “I think as many green lights as possible is good, I should say necessary for foreign direct investment to start flowing into Venezuela,” Ziemer said, while noting that the …
