When many people have lost all hope, they turn to Jesus, and it's a beautiful thing. When clownish dictators have lost all hope and turn to Jesus, it's kind of hilarious. Maybe not quite as hilarious as standing up in front of a crowd and singing John Lennon's "Imagine" in hopes that you'll rally the people of the United States to tell their president to leave you alone so you can terrorize Venezuela in peace, but hilarious all the same.
Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro breaks into singing John Lennon's 'Imagine' as he talks about US tensions. pic.twitter.com/R270tpM5AF
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 16, 2025
Since Communist karaoke night didn't work out, Nicolás Maduro has now turned to a higher source for help: God. On Tuesday, he held a "prayer meeting for peace" at Miraflores Palace in Caracas and declared Jesus Christ as the "lord and master of Venezuela." Several members of Maduro's illegitimate regime, along with his wife, son, and some evangelical pastors, attended the event, which was broadcast on state media.
"Know that this presidential palace is truly the people’s palace, and from today onward it is an altar to glorify God , for the people to glorify God, a great altar of prayer and strength," he said. He also reportedly said that as el presidente — which he is not — he has some sort of special relationship with Jesus. I have a feeling it's one-sided.
The fact of the matter is that Maduro is running out of allies and doesn't have a lot of places left to turn. As one of my favorite journalists, Arturo McFields, wrote earlier this month, the dictator has tried to reach out for help, but he's been met with mostly "meh" reactions. Qatar tried to mediate between Maduro and the United States with no luck. Iran responded to Maduro's request for military equipment with "an artillery of press releases in favor of Maduro. Just that." Russia has also offered vocal support, but it's too busy with Ukraine to give much else, and "China has also issued strong rhetoric on the Venezuelan situation, but the communist regime is not going to jeopardize its trade negotiations with the U.S. for a tropical dictator whose days are numbered." There's also the fact that the country owes China a ton of money already.
Related: Tracking China in the Americas: Indoctrinating an Entire Generation
Within the hemisphere, Maduro's only allies are a coked-up Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who is so unpopular that his own legislature went against him and voted to condemn Maduro and his Carte de los Soles, and Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, who, earlier this week, offered to mediate between Maduro and the U.S. However, she's got her own problems at the moment with both her constituents and Trump condemning her refusal to clean up her narco-state.
Oh, and he's also got Cuba, the OG Chavista ride-or-die, but that country's in such bad shape that it can't keep its power on, and it's facing a major medical crisis, which I hope to write more about soon. On Tuesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla offered up the same things Iran, Russia, and China have. Words. He posted the following on X:
We denounce the lies of the U.S. Department of State from #EEUU which, under the leadership of the corrupt and compulsive liar Secretary of State, attempt to justify with false pretexts the military aggression against #Venezuela. In plain sight of all and with the support of media outlets, an effort is being made to normalize and legitimize an aggression against a sovereign nation. As a dishonest ploy, they seek to involve the legitimate Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, with drug trafficking and terrorism, two serious international scourges that have only been promoted in this region by the U.S. Government, its intelligence and drug agencies, and by figures associated with all those politicians from Florida who call for attacking Venezuelan territory.
You can say Rodríguez is not now and has never been a fan Marco Rubio, the secretary of state in question. And Rubio had the perfect response for Rodríguez's statement:
https://t.co/XJel3YZ3VV pic.twitter.com/qUgIV590Yp
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 18, 2025
Without a doubt, Maduro's days are numbered. We still don't know how or when it's going to happen, but it is going to happen.
On Sunday, Rubio announced that the State Department is declaring Maduro's Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. That will go into effect on Monday, November 24. Because of that, a lot of people are speculating that it's a deadline of sorts, but the fact is that it there there's a seven-day waiting period once the designation is made for it to take effect, so do with that what you will. However, I do find it curious that the State Department has suddenly made this decision. To me, it signals that any fantasies of diplomacy are on life support more than anything else — a final warning shot if you will.
That said, on Sunday, Trump also said that Maduro would like to talk, but unless something has changed, Rubio has made it clear that negotiation days with the narco-terrorist are over. Some media outlets are reporting that Maduro said he'd leave power peacefully if Trump let him stick around for another two to three years, and Trump said no. But that's one of those "anonymous sources" things that I don't buy into until I hear an actual named person from the Trump administration confirm it.
In the meantime, on Tuesday opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado posted a "Freedom Manifesto" on social media, along with the caption, "These principles have united us in this long struggle and are the pillars of the new Venezuela. To the people of Venezuela and our President, Edmundo González Urrutia."
Freedom Manifesto
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) November 18, 2025
These principles have united us in this long struggle and are the pillars of the new Venezuela.
To the people of Venezuela and our President, Edmundo González Urrutia: pic.twitter.com/xWw5xZRzKv
The documents spell out the pillars she says are important to all Venezuelans, and what will be restored when Maduro is gone and Edmundo González, the man who was elected to become president last summer, finally takes his rightful place.
"We are at a turning point in the history of Venezuela...," she said during a recent Fox News interview. "These are the values that are shared by our Venezuelan people. We have been so hurt in our soul, in our families, in our values, in our land. And the country has come back together and is rising with pride."
This, to me, is a bigger sign that the change will come soon — it speaks volumes more than anything the MSM reports.
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