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Here’s How a Venezuelan Gang Was Able to Infiltrate the US and Wreak Havoc in Major Cities

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A notorious Venezuelan gang is extending its tentacles into the U.S. on the back of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, and experts say that immigration authorities have no way of identifying the criminal group’s members before they hit American soil.

The gang, known as Tren de Aragua, has made headlines in recent weeks with its criminal activities in multiple states, according to multiple reports. Yet, border authorities have virtually zero tools to detect Venezuelan migrants’ affiliations with the gang, as the U.S.’ diplomatic relationship with the beleaguered country is effectively on ice, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“We have next to no vetting for the Venezuelans who are entering the country, because we have no relationship with the government of Venezuela and that’s true of other migrant nationalities,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the DCNF. “We have no way of knowing whether they were in prison in Venezuela. We have no idea if they’ve been living in a third-world country for years before they tried to come to the United States. We’re essentially letting them in on their word.”

A hotel in El Paso, Texas, was shut down on Sept. 9 following an investigation into Tren de Aragua and other gangs’ use of the complex where alleged incidents of drug use and prostitution occurred, according to the El Paso Times. Additionally, the Dallas Police Department confirmed to the DCNF that there is an ongoing investigation into the gang’s activities in the area.

“We’re really not seeing Tren de Aragua operate in McAllen or Del Rio, or anything else like that,” Ammon Blair, former Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the DCNF. “But they are operating in El Paso, because it’s a major city … there’s a large diaspora of Venezuelans there.” (Read more from “Here’s How a Venezuelan Gang Was Able to Infiltrate the US and Wreak Havoc in Major Cities” HERE)

U.S. Authorities Seize Foreign President’s Plane: Report

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U.S. authorities seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane and flew the aircraft Monday to Florida, two American officials told CNN.

American authorities seized the plane while it was in the Dominican Republic after they determined that it violated sanctions, the outlet reported.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly “seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for the use of Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” according to a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The plane had been in the Dominican Republic for months prior to its seizure, CNN reported. American officials cooperated with local authorities to execute their operation, the outlet noted. The Dominican Republic reportedly alerted Venezuela of its seizure. The plane was described as Venezuela’s version of Air Force One, the outlet reported.

“This sends a message all the way up to the top,” a U.S. official told CNN. “Seizing the foreign head of state’s plane is unheard-of for criminal matters. We’re sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is above the reach of US sanctions.” (Read more from “U.S. Authorities Seize Foreign President’s Plane: Report” HERE)

Armed Crew Flaunts Guns Inside Colorado Apartment Building Overrun by Venezuelan Gang: Wild Video

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A shocking video shows a crew of gun-wielding men storm through a Colorado apartment building reportedly overrun by a dangerous Venezuelan prison gang.

The group of heavily armed men — including three armed with handguns and one with a rifle — enter the troubled apartment complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora and break into a unit, the clip obtained by KDVR shows.

The footage was captured earlier this month, shortly before a shootout at the complex, The Edge at Lowry, severely injured one person and damaged multiple cars, according to the local news station.

A separate clip taken at a different time shows two men violently bashing the lock of a unit with a tire iron inside the same housing complex, where migrants have moved in.

“It’s been a nightmare and I can’t wait to get out of here,” Cindy Romero told KDVR as she moved out of the building with her husband Edward. (Read more from “Armed Crew Flaunts Guns Inside Colorado Apartment Building Overrun by Venezuelan Gang: Wild Video” HERE)

‘Invade Abandoned Houses’: Migrant Promotes Taking Advantage of ‘Squatters Rights’ in Viral Video

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A Venezuelan social media influencer has gone viral with a video promoting “squatting” — trespassing on someone’s property in order to seize it — and instructing fellow immigrants on how to “invade” American homes.

Leonel Moreno, a Venezuelan migrant who uses the handle @leitooficial_25 on TikTok, has enraged social media users with a video telling followers that “if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.”

In a video with nearly 800,000 views, Moreno says in Spanish: “I found out that there is a law that says if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.”

Referring to highly controversial “squatter’s rights” laws that exist in varying forms around the U.S., the influencer said the rules allow for a “land invasion.”

“That will be my next business, invading abandoned houses,” he said.

(Read more from “‘Invade Abandoned Houses’: Migrant Promotes Taking Advantage of ‘Squatters Rights’ in Viral Video” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Major Eco-Activist Groups Have Nothing to Say About Biden’s Oil Deal With Socialist Dictator

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Numerous prominent environmentalist groups had nothing to say about the Biden administration’s decision to ease oil sanctions on the socialist Venezuelan regime.

The Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earthjustice, Climate Defiance, Greenpeace USA and Xtinction Rebellion’s Washington, D.C., arm (XR-DC) all declined to comment or did not respond to questions asking whether they approved of the sanctions reduction deal, which is expected to lead to a sharp increase in oil exports, according to Reuters. The Biden administration will ease U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil sales in return for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s promise to hold “freer” elections next year, according to The Washington Post.

Each of these environmentalist groups has opposed the continued expansion of fossil fuel use and infrastructure in the U.S., and they routinely facilitate legal challenges or protests to curtail domestic coal, oil and gas activity. The groups have vehemently opposed oil drilling in the U.S., including the Willow project, citing their fears that such activity will contribute to climate change.

(Read more from “Major Eco-Activist Groups Have Nothing to Say About Biden’s Oil Deal With Socialist Dictator” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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U.S. Sanctions Electoral Hardware Company Over Role in ‘Fraudulent’ Venezuelan Elections

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The U.S. Department of State and Treasury Department on Friday took action against a Venezuelan election systems company for supporting socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro’s allegedly fraudulent Dec. 6 legislative elections.

The firm, Ex-Cle Soluciones Biometricas C.A. (Ex-Cle C.A.), is accused of materially supporting Maduro’s regime by “providing goods and services that the Maduro regime used to carry out the fraudulent December 6, 2020 parliamentary elections,” said the Department of the Treasury in a news release, while also announcing sanctions against the company and two of its executives.

Ex-Cle C.A. is a biometric technology company that operates in Venezuela as the subsidiary of Argentine-registered Ex-Cle S.A. According to the company’s website, it designs systems that use biometrics to identify and verify citizens when they vote, while the Treasury Department said the firm “has been doing business as the electoral hardware and software vendor with Maduro regime-aligned government agencies and officials.”

The Department of State, meanwhile, asserted that Ex-Cle C.A. “was aware of and involved in the regime’s efforts to rig the fraudulent December 6 elections, thereby undermining democracy and suppressing the voices of the Venezuelan people.” The company aided the regime in buying “thousands of voting machines from China, routing payments thru the Russian financial system,” the State Department added.

“They shipped the voting machines through Iran using rogue airlines Mahan Air and Conviasa, both previously targeted by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control,” according to a press release. (Read more from “U.S. Sanctions Electoral Hardware Company Over Role in ‘Fraudulent’ Venezuelan Elections” HERE)

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Judge Jails 6 Americans Who Were Lured to Venezuela

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A Venezuela judge convicted and immediately sentenced six U.S. oil executives who had been charged with corruption and have been detained for more than three years.

The judge sentenced each of the six executives to eight years imprisonment on Thursday evening, The Associated Press reported. The executives, who work for Houston-based and Venezuela state-owned oil company Citgo, had been lured to the South American country in November 2017 for a business meeting, but were jailed instead.

“During the trial, the truth has proven undeniable,” one of the executives, Tomeu Vadell wrote prior to the verdict in a letter provided to The AP. “It proves that I am innocent.”

However, Venezuela’s chief prosecutor told The AP before Thursday’s verdict that investigators had discovered “serious evidence” of wrongdoing.

“The Citgo case has developed normally during all the stages established by the Venezuelan criminal process,” the chief prosecutor said in a statement, according to The AP.

(Read more from “Judge Jails 6 Americans Who Were Lured to Venezuela” HERE)

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WATCH: Venezuelan Woman Warns America Where Destroying Statues Leads

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Just in the past few weeks, demonstrators — mobs, really — have destroyed or defaced … statues across the United States. Or, unelected bodies have decided to remove them with no input from the public. . .

Cities are allowing mobs to pull down, vandalize, and destroy statues depicting all manner of historic figures. Yes, cities are allowing this. They could stop it if they choose to. No one in the mainstream media is asking any of them a simple question: Why?

. . .This young Venezuelan woman says she has seen all of this before and is warning Americans where it leads.

(Read more from “WATCH: Venezuelan Woman Warns America Where Destroying Statues Leads” HERE)

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Venezuelan Assemblyman: I Suggest Bernie Sanders ‘Go to Venezuela Without Bodyguards’ for a Week (VIDEO)

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Jose Guerra, a member of the National Assembly legislature in Venezuela, told PJM that Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) should live in Venezuela for an extended period of time without bodyguards to see how bad the humanitarian crisis is in the country under Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship.

Guerra was asked for his opinion of politicians such as Sanders not referring to Maduro as a dictator.

“Maybe they misunderstand what is going on in Venezuela. It’s a dictatorship. There’s no power separation and more than 400 political prisoners that have been prosecuted like me. It’s a new dictatorship,” Guerra said during a recent video interview. “Those people should go to Venezuela and live in Venezuela for a couple of weeks in order to have a very good picture of what is going on in Venezuela. I suggest that they go to Venezuela.”

To date, more than 50 countries support recognizing Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, as the country’s president. According to a report in July, Guerra, a member of the assembly’s finance commission, “left Venezuela in June when the Supreme Court stripped him of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution. The commission is now missing five of its 12 members.” The report also said “intelligence agents” in Venezuela “arrested Guaido’s assembly deputy, Edgar Zambrano, in May and he remains jailed.” . . .

“I don’t know that Jesse Jackson and Bernie Sanders know in a very good way what is going on in Venezuela,” Guerra said. “I suggest Bernie Sanders take a week and go to Venezuela without bodyguards and go to the street and speak with a cell phone and see what is going on with Bernie Sanders, OK?” (Read more from “Venezuelan Assemblyman: I Suggest Bernie Sanders ‘Go to Venezuela Without Bodyguards’ for a Week” HERE)

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President Trump Hits Venezuelan Dictator Maduro with Total Economic Embargo

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President Donald Trump announced an executive order to slap the government of Venezuela with brutal new sanctions that are reserved for only the worst regimes.

The order will freeze all assets of the socialist government in Venezuela and bars all transactions. . .

“I have determined that it is necessary to block the property of the Government of Venezuela in light of the continued usurpation of power by the illegitimate Nicolas Maduro regime,” [President Trump] said in the letter.

The letter listed the actions of the Venezuelan government that led to the sanctions, including, “the regime’s human rights abuses, arbitrary arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, curtailment of free press, and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaido of Venezuela and the democratically-elected Venezuelan National Assembly.”

The U.S. and its allies hoped that Maduro would have stepped down after they threw their support behind Guaido, the opposition leader, but the dictator stubbornly held on to power with help from the Cuban government. (Read more from “President Trump Hits Venezuelan Dictator Maduro with Total Economic Embargo” HERE)

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