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Amid tension between Venezuela and the US, Lula criticizes “foreign interventions in Latin America”

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Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

President Luiz Inácio da Silva. Photo: X

Washington has launched a “counter-narcotics operation” with seven warships in international waters in the Caribbean.

President Luiz Inácio da Silva said on Monday, October 20, that foreign interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean could cause “greater damage than what is intended to be avoided” amid the escalation of tension between Venezuela and the United States. 

During his speech at the ceremony to hand over credentials to ambassadors at the Itamaraty Palace, Lula did not directly mention Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or US President Donald Trump, but said that maintaining peace in a region experiencing a period of instability is a priority for Brazil.

“In Latin America and the Caribbean, we are also experiencing a time of growing polarization and instability. Maintaining the region as a zone of peace is our priority. We are a continent free of weapons of mass destruction, without ethnic or religious conflicts. Foreign interventions can cause greater damage than intended,” the president stated.

Last Thursday, October 16, the president publicly defended the neighboring country. “Everyone says that we are going to turn Brazil into Venezuela, and Brazil will never be Venezuela, and Venezuela will never be Brazil, each one will be themselves. What we defend is that the Venezuelan people are the masters of their destiny, and it is not any president of another country who has to give advice on what Venezuela or Cuba will be like,” he said without naming Trump.

In August, Washington launched what they describe as a “counter-narcotics operation” with seven warships in international waters in the Caribbean, near the Venezuelan coast, after accusing Maduro of leading drug cartels. To date, at least six vessels have been attacked by the US, leaving more than 30 dead.

Read more: As Trump wages war on the Caribbean, its peoples rise to defend peace

In response, Maduro, who considers the action a “threat” to pressure “regime change,” ordered military exercises along the borders. The head of state also announced the activation of three new Comprehensive Defense Operational Zones (ZODI) in the states of Nueva Esparta, Sucre, and Delta Amacuro.

“This is how we are concluding all the necessary preparations, reaching the ideal state for the comprehensive defense of the Homeland,” Maduro said on his Telegram channel.

Venezuelan deputy Raúl Campos, who was in Brazil last Friday, October 17, to discuss the current situation, said that the population is organizing to defeat the “imperialist maneuver”.

“In Venezuela, we are experiencing an unprecedented aggression from US imperialism, which is desperate. It is desperate because all attempts to defeat the Bolivarian government have failed. Right now, the people enjoy complete tranquility and peace. They are dedicated to studying, working, and preparing for the Christmas holidays, but we are also preparing to defend the territory,” Campos declared. 

This article was first published by Brasil de Fato in Portuguese.

Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Continue ReadingAmid tension between Venezuela and the US, Lula criticizes “foreign interventions in Latin America”

Trump’s ICE Jacks Up Weapons Spending by 700%—Including ‘Guided Missile Warheads’

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Federal agents target protesters with “less lethal” weapons at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on October 18, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. 
(Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

“ICE was always going to be Trump’s private military to deploy domestically against Americans,” said one critic.

The $170 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement operations that the Republican Party included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this year led some to warn that the Trump administration was ramping up spending at anti-immigration agencies not just to fund its attacks on migrants, but to deploy federal forces against anyone it wanted to across US communities.

New reporting on Monday detailed just how much US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spent on weaponry since President Donald Trump took office—weapons that have been purchased as the administration has turned federal agents on US cities such as Chicago and Portland, illustrating how the president is treating increasingly armed ICE officers as his “private military,” as one progressive critic said.

As images spread online of immigration agents deploying pepper spray and tear gas at nonviolent protesters, Judd Legum at Popular Information recently delved into government contracting records from the Federal Procurement Data System and found that ICE has increased its spending on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” by 700% this year compared to 2024 numbers.

The agency spent $71,515,762 on small arms from January 20—the day Trump began his second term—through October 18.

The number dwarfs ICE’s spending during the first Trump term, during which the agency spent about $8.4 million annually on small arms, and during President Joe Biden’s administration.

The type of weaponry purchased by ICE also raised alarm Monday, with Legum reporting that while most of the agency’s spending was on guns and armor, “there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and ‘guided missile warheads and explosive components.’”

“If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and Spain—and just below Israel.”

The reporting comes as ICE and other immigration agencies continue to deploy armed, masked agents in major Democratic-leaning US cities, where officers have been filmed and photographed pointing a weapon at a protester; firing a pepper ball at a pastor, and pointing a firearm at bystanders who saw one agent arresting a man.

A CBS reporter in Chicago also accused an ICE officer of firing a pepper ball at her vehicle, causing the chemical to “engulf the inside of her truck.”

Sally Duval, a Texas state House candidate in last year’s election, said she was “curious to know why ICE needs ‘guided missile warheads.’”

The report came days after the Trump administration used the US military for what Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called “a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way,” when the Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a section of the busy Interstate 5 freeway to celebrate the military branch’s 250th anniversary.

Newsom accused Trump of “using our military to intimidate people [he disagrees] with” and called the exercise “reckless.”

Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, said Legum’s reporting on Monday showed that “ICE was always going to be Trump’s private military to deploy domestically against Americans.”

Legum’s analysis—which likely understated total spending on weapons by Trump’s deportation forces, as it did not include spending by other anti-immigration agencies—followed a report on ICE’s recent funding increase by In These Times.

With the $170 billion included in the OBBBA, reported the outlet, “if the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and Spain—and just below Israel.”

The budget, Brandon Lee of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights told In These Times, “shows the misplaced priorities of this administration, where they are cutting healthcare and cutting vital programs for people across the country, and putting all of this money into a domestic terrible force.”

“And it shows the cruelty,” said Lee, “that the Trump administration intends to enact on all people in the United States.”

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.

Continue ReadingTrump’s ICE Jacks Up Weapons Spending by 700%—Including ‘Guided Missile Warheads’

Trump-Appointed Judges Give Him Green Light to Send Troops Into Portland

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A protester in a frog costume stands in front of a line of federal law enforcement officers outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, on October 6, 2025. (Photo by Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

In a dissent, Judge Susan Graber accused her 9th Circuit colleagues of eroding “core constitutional principles.”

Two federal judges are giving President Donald Trump the green light to send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon on Monday.

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to put a hold on US District Judge Karin Immergut’s earlier order blocking deployment of the National Guard to Oregon’s largest city.

The two judges who ruled in the DOJ’s favor were appointed by Trump, while the lone dissenter in the case, Judge Susan Graber, was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

The court’s majority ruled that the protests outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility were sufficiently disruptive to justify deploying the National Guard, despite the fact that demonstrations outside the facility in recent weeks had not disrupted operations.

Judge Ryan Nelson, one of the Trump appointees, went so far as to issue a concurring opinion stating that the president’s right to deploy the National Guard, even over the objections of state and local officials, cannot be reviewed by the judiciary.

In a scathing dissent, Graber noted that “the record contains no evidence whatsoever that, on September 27… ICE was unable either to protect its Portland facility or to execute the immigration laws it is charged with enforcing.” This is relevant, she said, because the law states that the president may only deploy the National Guard “to repel a foreign invasion, quell a rebellion, or overcome an inability to execute the laws.”

Graber then accused her colleagues of eroding “core constitutional principles, including sovereign states’ control over their states’ militias and the people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government’s policies and actions.”

Graber’s argument echoed a ruling made earlier this month by Immergut, who was also appointed to the bench by Trump and who said his declarations that violent protests at the Portland ICE facility prevented the enforcement of the law were “untethered to facts.”

Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement responding to the ruling that “we are very disappointed that the majority on this 9th Circuit panel were unable to see through President Trump’s political theater, divisive rhetoric, and extreme abuse of power and misuse of our military.”

“The fact remains that Portland is peaceful,” Chung added. “Portland protesters have shown a remarkable level of humor, creativity, and community care in the face of this administration’s persistent and violent abuses of power. Inflatable frog and unicorn costumes, bike rides, and musical events are hardly a threat or reason to take the extremely dangerous and anti-democratic action of sending American troops into our communities.”

In addition to Portland, Trump is also seeking to send National Guard troops to Chicago over the objections of both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The administration has appealed that case to the US Supreme Court.

This article has been updated with comment from the ACLU.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.

Continue ReadingTrump-Appointed Judges Give Him Green Light to Send Troops Into Portland

Trump’s Portland Lies Euphemized as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’

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Original article by Saurav Sarkar republished from FAIR under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

As more and more US cities face the prospect of federal police and military patrolling their streets, the New York Times (10/10/25) began a recent article on the fight over sending National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, with the following passage:

Democratic leaders in the city and state have pleaded with President Trump and the courts to trust law enforcement records, both local and federal, that describe the demonstrations as small and comparatively calm.

But in the bifurcated media world of 2025, one side’s comparative calm is the other’s “hellscape.”

By “both-sidesing” its description of the protests in Portland, the Times fails to inform its readers that one of these descriptions is true and the other is simply fabricated. Instead, it tells readers the situation reflects “dueling versions of reality.”

Compare this to Michael Tomasky’s reporting in the New Republic (10/13/25), which aptly notes in the kicker that “the disturbances in Portland are basically limited to a single block about two miles from the city center.”

Or the snarky factcheck website Is Portland Burning? which shows images of the serene city and video of a calm, small protest.

Elsewhere, the Times (10/11/25) has written about the funny animal costumes worn by protesters in Portland, reporting that could have been used to debunk MAGA claims that the city is a “hellscape.”

‘Both officials disagree’

WaPo: FACT FOCUS: Trump paints a grim portrait of Portland. The story on the ground is much less extreme

Taking a “closer look” at Trump’s claim that “in Portland, Oregon, antifa thugs have repeatedly attacked our offices and laid siege to federal property in an attempt to violently stop the execution of federal law,” AP (via Washington Post, 10/9/25) began its response, “There have been nightly protests outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland for months, peaking in June when police declared one demonstration a riot.”

In an Associated Press factchecking piece (reprinted in the Washington Post, 10/9/25), promising to take “a closer look at the facts” about Portland, only one of Trump’s claims (that in Portland, “you don’t even have sewers anymore”) is met with a forthright “this is false.” Other times, the AP struggles to find a kernel of truth in the Trump administration’s bizarre claims:

TRUMP: “The amazing thing is, you look at Portland and you see fires all over the place. You see fights, and I mean just violence. It’s just so crazy. And then you talk to the governor and she acts like everything is totally normal, there’s nothing wrong.”

THE FACTS: Fires outside the building have been seen on a handful of occasions.

Or, like the Times, it resorts to both-sidesing it:

KRISTI NOEM, Homeland Security Secretary: “I was in Portland yesterday and had the chance to visit with the governor of Oregon, and also the mayor there in town, and they are absolutely covering up the terrorism that is hitting their streets.”

THE FACTS: Noem did visit Portland on Tuesday and met with Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson. Both officials disagree with Noem’s narrative.

These failings by the media leave the reader or viewer at the mercy of what are posed as competing narratives, rather than with an understanding of what’s real and what’s fake. This is particularly important now, given that right-wing influencers and media are ginning up false claims for the administration to consume and rebroadcast, and even instigating real incidents (Oregon Public Broadcasting, 10/11/25).

When corporate media refuse to call a lie a lie, and to stand unequivocally on the side of reality, they enable the Trump administration’s growing authoritarianism. If Trump can claim that a major US city is “burning to the ground,” what’s to stop him from asserting that the Constitution allows him to run for a third term—or that, once again, he’s won an election that he actually lost?

Featured Image: Detail from New York Times photo (10/11/25) of Portland protests (photo: Jordan Gale).

Original article by Saurav Sarkar republished from FAIR under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Continue ReadingTrump’s Portland Lies Euphemized as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’

China condemns US airstrikes in Caribbean, backs Venezuelan sovereignty

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Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

On September 13, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Maduro held historic talks in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China via Twitter)

This week, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally expressed its opposition to US military operations in the Caribbean, following an attack on October 15 that left six people dead on Venezuelan vessels. Spokesperson Lin Jian stated that Beijing “opposes the use or threat of force in international relations” and rejects external interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

In response to questions from reporters, Lin Jian criticized Washington’s unilateral actions, which mobilized warships and a nuclear submarine in the region under the pretext of combating drug cartels. The October 15 attack brings the total number of deaths in five recent US military actions against Venezuelan vessels to 27.

China also expressed support for the declaration by 33 Latin American countries on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone on the continent.

China supports strengthening international cooperation to combat transnational crimes and opposes unilateral law enforcement actions by the United States against vessels from other countries that exceed reasonable and necessary limits,” said the Chinese spokesman.

Venezuelan diplomatic mobilization

This week, the Venezuelan Embassy in Beijing also summoned diplomatic representatives from various countries and international media outlets to denounce what it classifies as a risk of military invasion. Ambassador Remigio Ceballos Ichaso told Brasil de Fato that Washington is conducting “a disinformation campaign aimed at justifying an intervention.”

“Accusing Venezuela of being a drug cartel is completely false, a fiction that they have been trying to impose on the international community for decades,” said Ceballos Ichaso.

The Venezuelan government has received expressions of solidarity from Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico. Humberto Collado, commercial attaché at the Nicaraguan embassy in China, said that “what the US is doing is threatening a democratic country, its president, and its entire people, undermining the socio-political stability of the region.”

Russian and UN position

Russia criticized US military actions through statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, stating that such operations “represent an escalation in the region, violate international law and Venezuelan sovereignty.”

The World Drug Report 2025 from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recognizes Venezuela’s efforts to combat drug trafficking and points out that the country is not among the main international drug corridors. The UN has emphasized that any military or coercive intervention that violates the sovereignty of a member state is contrary to the United Nations Charter.

US sanctions against Venezuela began in 2006, during Hugo Chávez’s administration, intensifying after 2013 with Nicolás Maduro, totaling about a thousand restrictive measures by 2019. These measures resulted in food and medicine shortages, restrictions on access to essential resources, and impacts on the Venezuelan economy.

Internal mobilization

President Nicolás Maduro ordered national defense military exercises with the participation of Bolivarian militias and volunteers, including fishermen and rural residents. The government characterized the mobilization as defensive and voluntary, aimed at ensuring national sovereignty.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Maduro reiterated Venezuela’s commitment to peace and international law. Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada stated that “the real threat to regional peace is the presence of US military and nuclear weapons in the Caribbean.”

This article was translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.

Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue ReadingChina condemns US airstrikes in Caribbean, backs Venezuelan sovereignty