Venezuela Situation: US Declares War on 'Narco-Terrorism'

[sToRmR1dR]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1994821026769990049

Flights from Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas have not been canceled after Trump said that airspace over Venezuela is closed.

 

[Alma.Innovadora]

Venezuela's main airport continues to operate despite Trump's announcement

Principal aeropuerto de Venezuela sigue funcionando pese al anuncio de Trump

Una fuente extraoficial indicó que en ese aeropuerto se mantienen trabajando siete compañías aéreas y durante la semana recibieron vuelos chárter e internacionales.

correodelsur.com

The International Airport of Maiquetia Simon Bolivar, the main one in Venezuela, was maintaining its operations normally this Saturday, after the announcement of the US President. USA., Donald Trump, to consider the airspace of this South American country closed.

The airfield, which serves Caracas, received two flights from Barbados and Bogota during the morning and has scheduled the routes from Panama, Curacao and Havana, according to EFE on a tour.

At the moment, in the afternoon, two delayed flights to Panama and Bogota, all operated by the commercial airline Copa, were notified through the screens.

Airport sources told EFE that the delays are unrelated to the context of tension with the United States.

Likewise, a flight to Curacao and another to Havana departed from Maiquetía on this day.

Also at the La Chinita International Airport, located in Maracaibo, the capital of the state of Zulia (west, bordering Colombia), air operations continued smoothly, according to the itineraries disseminated by the airlines.

An unofficial source indicated that seven airlines are still working at that airport and during the week they received charter and international flights.

 

[Joe]

Venezuela's main airport continues to operate despite Trump's announcement

Kind of like when he said India had stopped buying Russian oil, and the Indians were like, "eh...no we haven't" Still, I don't see how he can back down from all this build up without doing something. Hopefully it'll be "symbolic" to save face and it'll blow over.

 

[Ben]

The problem is, how do you achieve a symbolic regime change? I suppose they might settle for 'we destroyed the narcoterrorist networks and set them back for years'. That Cartel de los Soles won't be bothering us for a while, blah blah.

 

[Aeneas]

The problem is, how do you achieve a symbolic regime change? I suppose they might settle for 'we destroyed the narcoterrorist networks and set them back for years'.

Yeah that is the hard thing. Trump will likely like to make a quick kinetic action strike, then take a victory lap and announce that he brokered his 9th og 10th peace deal + big business deals and that Maduro is really a great guy. Yet one thing is what Trump likes to do and another is what kind of response he will receive from the possible kinetic action. Fantasy does not always make reality. Distraction can work great to some extent but it doesn't mean it will work every time.

 

[Beau]

Then there's this angle to Trump's seeming obsession with Venezuela. Not sure I totally trust an "ex" CIA agent, but still find his take intriguing. We know Trump wants to end voting fraud. If he believes Venezuela is where a big part of that happens, that could be part of his motivation for regime change.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1995024280539500975

Why Trump Could Be Battling Maduro — Beyond Oil & Drugs

Whistle-blower Gary Berntsen, a former DOJ/FBI/DEA/HSI operative, stepped forward in 2024 with a bombshell: he asserted that the U.S. election system was being hijacked from abroad.

“Dominion Voting Systems manages elections in almost all the swing states in the U.S., which determines who wins the presidency. We have evidence and witnesses that can prove the source code operating the election machines of both Smartmatic and Dominion, and other election companies, are owned by the Venezuelan narco regime. We also have evidence and witnesses proving the machines are manufactured in the People’s Republic of China.”

Trump has positioned himself against Maduro’s regime for years. Why? Because maybe he’s not just fighting a socialist dictator; maybe he’s cutting off one node of a larger global system that threatens our sovereignty, including our vote.

 

[dennis]

There does seem to be an intersection between voting machines and Venezuela and a lot of cross pollination going on

8 December 2020 article-

Behind a significant portion of voting machines used in the United States lies a complex web of questionable foreign ties, a hidden ownership structure, and transparency concerns with the software itself, as well as a connection between three key voting systems companies: Smartmatic, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Dominion Voting Systems.

Information from lawsuits, public records, and witness interviews helps to untangle this web.

The Epoch Times spoke with an intelligence source knowledgeable on Venezuela and its criminal activities, a former CIA official who is an expert in Latin American politics and counterterrorism, and a former director of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council who was fired for exposing election fraud in the country. Two of the sources requested anonymity so they could speak freely on the matter.

Voting machine systems have foreign ties

Voting machine systems have foreign ties. Behind a significant portion of voting machines used in the United States lies a complex web of questionable for

cubanamericanvoice.com

8 October 2024

Smartmatic, the electronic-voting company, decried Venezuela’s socialist regime for cheating in a 2017 election and a few months later announced it would stop running elections in the South American country after 13 years. But documents from Venezuela’s National Electoral Council obtained by the Miami Herald show that Smartmatic licensed its software for use in three other elections after that, at least two of them secretly: the municipal elections of December 2017 and the disputed presidential election of May 2018.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/na...venezuela/article291916525.html#storylink=cpy

16 October 2025

Oct 16 (Reuters) - Voting technology company Smartmatic was charged in U.S. federal court in Florida on Thursday with money laundering and other crimes, in an alleged foreign bribery conspiracy involving three of its former executives to secure business in the Philippines.

US prosecutors charge voting tech company Smartmatic in alleged bribery scheme

Voting technology company Smartmatic was charged in U.S. federal court in Florida on Thursday with money laundering and other crimes, in an alleged foreign bribery conspiracy involving three of its former executives to secure business in the Philippines.

www.reuters.com

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article291916525.html

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Then there's this angle to Trump's seeming obsession with Venezuela. Not sure I totally trust an "ex" CIA agent, but still find his take intriguing. We know Trump wants to end voting fraud. If he believes Venezuela is where a big part of that happens, that could be part of his motivation for regime change.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1995024280539500975

There does seem to be an intersection between voting machines and Venezuela and a lot of cross pollination going on

8 December 2020 article-

8 October 2024

16 October 2025

Bernsten is one of the "three musketeers" that Emerald Robinson has been writing about. Another is Patrick Byrne, who many should recognize from his work on the 2020 election fraud. Robinson has been tweeting about the "inside story" of the 2024 election, and how it was won, for the past several days on her X account. I haven't read the book in question, or watched all the podcast appearances of these guys yet, but from the snippet summaries, the basic descriptions of how election machines are used rings true with what various people discovered and argued about 2020. Trump recently reposted an interview with Bernsten and Pezzullo (author of the book):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993496305357013096

Here's a Grok summary of her tweets:

Overview of Emerald Robinson's Tweets on the 2024 Election

Emerald Robinson (@EmeraldRobinson), a conservative commentator and former Newsmax/OAN host, has been vocal about alleged widespread election fraud in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Her tweets, spanning from early 2024 through late 2025, portray the election as a battle against a global rigging scheme involving foreign actors (primarily Venezuela's Maduro regime, with ties to China and Russia), U.S. intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI, DHS), voting machine companies (Smartmatic/Dominion), and complicit domestic institutions. She claims the fraud was narrowly averted, crediting a small group of patriots she dubs the "Three Musketeers". Pre-election, her posts warn of inevitable cheating and criticize GOP figures, media, and Trump's advisors for complacency. Post-election, she details a triumphant thread on how the fraud was stopped, leading to Trump's victory and subsequent moves against Venezuela.

Her tone is urgent, conspiratorial, and triumphant, often threading long narratives with numbered points. She positions herself as an early whistleblower, mocking "midwit GOP pundits" who dismissed fraud claims in 2020 but pivoted by 2024. Key themes include ballot harvesting, mail-in vulnerabilities, machine manipulations, and foreign IP intrusions.

Pre-Election Warnings (Jan–Oct 2024)

Robinson repeatedly predicted 2024 would mirror 2020's alleged steal, emphasizing unchanged vulnerabilities like Dominion/Smartmatic machines (linked to Hugo Chávez's regime) and "red mirage" tactics where early Republican leads vanish overnight. She accuses Big Tech, NGOs, Hollywood, and federal agencies of enabling Democrats, framing it as "2024 Election Math": Trump has the people, but Biden controls the deep state apparatus (CIA, FBI, NSA, DHS, Pentagon).

• Criticism of GOP and Allies: She blasts Republicans for ignoring 2020 evidence, pushing "vote early" strategies that play into fraud, and blocking Trump on issues like the border wall. Specific targets include Fox News (for denying fraud and promoting vaccines), Newsmax (for settling Smartmatic lawsuits to suppress coverage), and Trump's advisors Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita (for spending "ZERO" on election integrity).
  
  
• Ballot Harvesting Focus: Robinson argues polls are irrelevant in a mail-in/drop-box dominated election, where Democrats lead in organization while Republicans lag.
  
  
• Broader Chaos Prediction: She warns of post-election turmoil, including Trump's potential jailing, and ties fraud to global threats like AI censorship by tech giants.

The "Three Musketeers" (Her Anti-Fraud Heroes)

A central figure in her 2025 posts, the "Three Musketeers" are a trio of patriots credited with single-handedly thwarting the 2024 rig: an anonymous briefer (who connected with Elon Musk), former CIA operative Gary Berntsen (@GenFlynn's associate), and entrepreneur Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne).

She claims they:

• Tracked foreign IP addresses hacking U.S. systems from Venezuela (72 countries rigged over 20 years).
• Recruited Venezuelan Smartmatic whistleblowers hiding in Switzerland (briefed by Gen. Michael Flynn) and the Bahamas.
• Provided post-2020 intel to Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Judge Jeanine Pirro on Smartmatic-Dominion ties. Robinson contrasts them with "Team Trump," whom she accuses of dismissing them as a "clown car" and delaying briefings (e.g., Susie Wiles met the lead Musketeer only weeks before Election Day at Mar-a-Lago, arranged by Sens. Mullin and Perdue). Post-win, Trump reportedly consulted them directly (bypassing CIA/DNI) before deciding to topple Maduro.

She ties their work to historical affidavits (e.g., from Chávez aide Leamsy Salazar in 2020) and recent CIA whistleblowers, framing it as a Venezuela-led assault on U.S. sovereignty.

Post-Election Narrative (Nov 2024–Nov 2025)

After Trump's victory, Robinson unspools a 70+ tweet mega-thread (started Nov 24, 2025) on the "story of how the 2024 election fraud was stopped."


Key beats:

• Election Night Drama: Trump monitored results remotely; the Musketeers watched from Qatar/Switzerland, evading cartel hunters if fraud succeeded.
  
  
• Venezuela Connection: Fraud traces to Maduro's machines (proven in 2020 Puerto Rico primary failures); Trump's win enables regime change.
  
  
• Ongoing Fight: Whistleblowers testify; CIA allegedly sparks a Venezuelan "color revolution" to protect the scheme. She validates her reporting via Berntsen/Byrne interviews and Trump's rhetoric.
  
  
• Betrayals Exposed: She promises to name GOP senators, MAGA influencers, and Trump advisors who ignored fraud briefings pre-2024. Cases like Tina Peters' 9-year sentence for preserving records highlight "security breaches" used to silence skeptics.

Robinson's arc evolves from doomsaying to vindication, urging followers to distrust institutions and celebrate the Musketeers as unsung saviors. Her posts garnered high engagement (e.g., 10K+ likes on key threads), amplifying election integrity debates into 2025.

According to Byrne, one of their Venezuelan whistleblower's is Chavez's ex intelligence chief, who was arrested in Spain a few years ago and extradited to the States on drug-trafficking charges. He says he "named names" and links this with the recent developments against Venezuela by the Trump admin.

Some odds and ends: part of the story of how 2024 was won involved taking out Smartmatic/Dominion's Serbian servers a few days before the elections.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993826465067225302

How deeply is the CIA involved in stealing America’s elections? Per my sources: former CIA director John Brennan is PART OWNER of a data center used by Dominion Voting Systems in Serbia! And Ratcliffe has done NOTHING about it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993415092319535541

What’s going on exactly? Our intel agencies are so compromised that NONE of them really want to investigate election fraud. Because they’re involved in rigging the elections too. And Trump didn’t bother to fire all these people.