Welcome to "The New Monroe Doctrine," where I give you an update on what's going on in the Western Hemisphere, south of our border, especially as it relates to the United States.
Maduro and Petro: The Innocent Victims In All of This
The biggest news out of our hemisphere this week was that the United States made its first anti-narco trafficking strike on Venezuelan land. CNN claims that it was a CIA drone strike on a port facility used by Tren de Aragua, but the only thing the president and his administration have confirmed is that "...there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It's the implementation area. That's where they implement. And that is no longer around."
The point? We don't know the details, though there is a lot of speculation and "anonymous sources" floating around.
Nicolás Maduro himself hasn't mentioned it — he's too busy carrying on about how "poor" he is while wearing a Rolex and thousand-dollar shoes — but he was asked about it during a recent interview that aired on state TV (I'm not sure why they're in a vehicle. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) just called it "Venezuela's version of Cash Cab" on X, which would be funny if anyone in Venezuela outside of the Maduro regime had any cash.)
Maduro's response was that he might talk about it in a few days on his podcast — everyone truly does have a podcast these days, don't they? — but he said, "What I can tell you is that the national defense system... has guaranteed and continues to guarantee territorial integrity, the peace of the country, and the use and enjoyment of all our territories. And our people are safe and at peace."
Sure, Jan. This is the man who also claimed this week that the reason the yanqui imperialists, aka us, haven't invaded the country is because his strong defense has kept our military at bay for the last few months.
El narcoterrorista Nicolás Maduro finalmente alude a los ataques en territorio venezolano por parte de EEUU, pero se niega a brindar detalles y dice que lo hablará en los próximos días en su "porcarst". pic.twitter.com/0bvZnqkJ6K
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) January 2, 2026
However, everyone's favorite clown, Colombian president Gustavo Petro did choose to stop minding his own business and speak out, trading in his role as writer of erotic poetry for Narcos narrator meets Scooby Doo gang sleuth, to tell us all the "facts" as he knows them.
"We know that Trump bombed a factory in Maracaibo. We fear that they mix coca paste there to make cocaine and take advantage of its location on the Maracaibo Sea," he posted on X before saying that those producing the cocaine were part of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group. "It’s simply the ELN. With its rattling and mental dogma, the ELN is allowing Venezuela to be invaded."
He's talking about the Primazol chemical company that many of us speculated about last week after an explosion happened there around the time Trump said we struck the port facility. Again, these are Petro's "facts" and only Petro's "facts." Nothing is confirmed. Either he knows something most of the rest of us don't, or he's giving us info based on the same social media posts we all saw. My money is on the latter giving how much time he spends on social media.
All of that said, the former M-19 guerrilla himself assures us that not only is he innocent in the whole drug trafficking war, but that the Cartel de los Soles leader Maduro has nothing to do with any of it either. As a matter of fact, he claims that the last phone conversation he had with Maduro was to figure out how they can come together and combat these guerrillas along the border their two countries share. They just want to get rid of all the drugs, too. Except for Petro's own personal use stash, of course.
Petro went on to mock U.S. intelligence, claiming he always thought it was better than this, and claimed we're just interested in Venezuela for oil. But he did remind us that, "I'm [not] Maduro's front man... I'm no one's front man, nor am I interested in greed."
This is the man whose pinned X post is "One of my main flaws is being naive and believing too much in others, but believing in the people is not a mistake, it is always a success."
I imagine when he's posting these things, he's walking around his office, gesturing like some sort Shakespearian actor. Maybe he can take up theater when he's not Colombia or the hemisphere's problem anymore next year.
Meanwhile, during his "Cash Cab" ride, Maduro also pulled out the victim card. "All of the cocaine that is moved in this region is produced in Colombia. All of it. All of the cocaine. We are the victims of Colombian drug trafficking," he said.
Wait, did these two just throw each other the bus or are they rehearsing for some kind of commie whodunnit?
Calm Down, MSM.
Something else Maduro said during his leisurely drive was that he and Trump have only spoken once — the MSM has led us to believe they've spoken multiple times recently. It's bad when you're not sure whether to believe the ruthless foreign dictator or your own country's media.
"He called me on Friday, November 21, from the White House, and I was at Miraflores Palace," Maduro said. "We talked for ten minutes, and it was a conversation, as I said, respectful, very respectful, cordial.
"The first thing he said to me was: Mr. President Maduro," he continued. "And I said to him: Mr. President Donald Trump. And I think that conversation was even pleasant, but the subsequent developments haven't been pleasant. Let's wait and see."
Maduro, who has suddenly become religious — funny how that happens when your life is on the line — went on to talk about how God is protecting the people of Venezuela, and he made another plea to the people of the United States, promising that his government is our friend and brother.
He also said he's open to talking to Trump again and making any sort of deal he wants on issues like oil, mass migration, and drug trafficking. The MSM has run with this like it's some huge breakthrough. One outlet even claimed Maduro was extending an "olive branch" and finally making nice with the president.
Either these people have short memories, or they don't actually pay attention. Or they have an agenda. Maybe all three. Maduro has been offering up all of this stuff for a long time — Trump even confirmed that himself a while back — but the headlines have painted it as if poor little ol' Maduro folding under the big mean Trump machine.
Please. Trump is not looking to make a deal with this guy that doesn't involve him stepping down from his illegitimate presidency. As Marco Rubio said during an interview with Sean Hannity last month, "[Trump’s] willing to meet with anybody. But at the end of the day there has to be somebody that you can actually make a deal with... but Maduro has never kept a deal."
He's referring to the fact that Maduro convinced Joe Biden to release his narco-nephews, release his bag man, and ease sanctions on him, promising he'd hold free and fair elections in 2024 in return. Guess who never held free and fair elections?
You can read more about Biden's Venezuelan Disaster here because you sure won't hear about it from the MSM. I'd also like to point out that the MSM slept on the "land strike" story for days. Not to brag, but I was one of the first people in all the English-speaking media to report on it on Sunday. This is why I've stopped believing most of anything anyone reports anymore.
A few other things
I'm not going to add too much here, but there are two more things I wanted to give a quick mention.
First, on Saturday, I wrote about a woman who fled Cuba with her young family and went to Costa Rica. She was shocked at the amount of food available to buy. In my 14 or so months here at PJ Media, I don't think any other story I've ever written has made me so emotional while doing so, and I've written about a lot of deep topics.
Many of you have emailed me about it, and I promise I'm working on catching up on emails, but I just wanted to share it one more time because it meant so much to me: She’d Never Seen That Much Food Before: A Hard Reality From a Farmers Market.
Second, while Petro and Maduro are making the most noise, the news from the hemisphere isn't all bad. A lot of you have asked me to write more about Javier Milei, and I hope to in the future, but here's a little something from him recently.
He's got an upcoming interview with CNN en Español, and in a preview clip, the interviewer, Andrés Oppenheimer, asked him about the growing list of "right-wing" countries in Latin America.
"Well, it seems that the region has awakened from the nightmare of 21st-century socialism," Milei said. "People are discovering that it's all a farce, that the whole feel-good veneer is nothing more than a sentimental, deceitful, and misleading narrative designed to allow a group of outlaws to seize power and impoverish the population. It's a failure everywhere it's been implemented."
Meili added that he's actively working toward creating a formal bloc that represents these values, to embrace freedom and stand up to the "cancer of socialism" and that he's working with about 10 countries.
I can assure you that neither Petro nor Maduro will be invited, but I can't wait to see what comes of this, and I'll try to cover it as much as I can as we learn more.
As I say, Rubio isn't handing me exclusives... yet. But to be fair, he seems to be enjoying himself at Mar-a-Lago this week, so I'll wait until the holiday break is over.
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) January 2, 2026
Sure, it's a little cringe, but at least it's not Maduro dancing this time.
That's it for me today. I hope you're all having a lovely 2026 so far.
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