07/01/2026 FTS 12.30 *China reiterates demand for release of pres. Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores *Europe: Heavy snowfall and torrential rains hits the continent
00:00Venezuela's acting president, Delsi Rodriguez, prized the heroism of those who fell defending the homeland during the U.S. attack and announced a seven-day national mourning in their tribute.
00:21China reiterates its demand that the United States release Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first combatant Celia Flores who were kidnapped on January 3rd.
00:36And heavy snowfall and torrential rain are causing widespread chaos in some European countries with flooding and transport disruption being the main issues.
00:55Hello and welcome to From the South. I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Havana, Cuba. We begin with the news.
01:35During the visit, Rodriguez supervised not only the finished projects but those still underway such as the replacement of roofs and the creation of the new community gymnasium.
01:46With her visit, the Bolivarian government reaffirms that public management is carried out at grassroots level and that it is the people who govern the nation.
01:56In talking with the residents of the commune, the acting president reiterated that peace is a right of the Venezuelan people and urged Washington to set free president Nicolás Maduro and first combatant Celia Flores.
02:09The visit to the commune, the Bolivarian leader also prized the heroism of those who failed defending the homeland during the U.S. attack and announced a seven-day national mourning in their tribute.
02:28That is the most important thing, that the harassment against Venezuela ends, that the aggression against the valuable people of Bolivar ends and from here a message to our young martyrs who gave their lives in defense of our country.
02:45Young martyrs, I have decided to declare seven days of mourning in honor and glory to the young people, women and men who died, who gave their lives defending Venezuela, defending president Nicolás Maduro, for them are recognition.
03:06Precisely in this context, we invite now Giovanni Reyes, volunteer member of About Face Veterans Against the War.
03:16Hello, Giovanni. Welcome to From the South.
03:19Good morning, everyone. Thank you for having me.
03:23Giovanni, from your perspective, is today's U.S. strategy effectively a revival of the Monroe Doctrine or what Trump referred to as the Down Road Doctrine?
03:33And if it is the case, what does that mean for U.S. intentions across Latin America?
03:40So the intent has always been clear.
03:43Intention is to dominate Latin America and dominate its resources and to preserve American hegemony, not only in the region, but around the world.
03:52So the Monroe Doctrine was named after the President James Monroe back in the 1820s, right?
04:02So it was declared in 1820 right precisely when the South American countries were getting their independence from Spain.
04:11Bolivar liberated the North of South America. You have San Martin, you have O'Higgins and whatnot.
04:20So at that moment, you know, it was proclaimed that this liberal area will be the domain of the Americas, right?
04:31And pretty much was a message telling Europe to get away from, to butt out of American affairs.
04:39By the time the United States could not enforce this, right, it wasn't until the corollary of the Monroe Doctrine during the Theodore Roosevelt time where he did use gunboat diplomacy, where he did use bit-stick policies.
04:54And that's when you have this American interventionism into the affairs of Latin America and pretty much degrade Latin American independence and sovereignty into just becoming an appendage of American economic interests and political interests.
05:12So, yeah, so what was happening now is pretty much, as the United States, as the global empire is waning, it's losing its power, it's being outproduced, outmaneuvered, out, you know, economically, you know, out-scientifically developed, you know, from China, for example, right?
05:32In Europe, you know, Russia pretty much has defeated the war against Russia, you know, the NATO war against Russia has defeated, you know, has defeated and pretty much has come out stronger, whereas the American-European powers has come out weaker because of the war in Ukraine.
05:50So, you know, the United States pretty much see these two powers and the BRIC formation as a threat to its global primacy, right?
05:58The United States is no longer the dominant economic power of the world.
06:03China is outproducing out, you know, as far as industrial capacity in the United States.
06:11China is leading with scientific technology and development, and the United States, the only thing it has is its military power.
06:18And so it's exercising the military power around the world, and we also got to see this into the context of what's happening in West Asia as well, you know.
06:27The attacks against Iran, Iran has become stronger as well.
06:30Iran has become a prominent force in West Asia, and it's in a coalition course with the Zionist states of Israel.
06:41Israel is an appendage of the United States in West Asia, and Israel feel threatened by the rise of Iran.
06:50So there is a plan there for another second round of attacks against Iran.
06:54Iran just recalled the 12-day war against Iran.
06:57Iran was supposed—it was a decapitation attempt to decapitate the leadership of Iran and pretty much bring Iran into chaos.
07:06It didn't happen.
07:07Iran came out stronger because of it.
07:09So now they're planning a second war.
07:11So this is not only an American project.
07:13This is a Zionist American project.
07:15It is in the interest of both Israel and the United States, right, for the United States to capture more resources in Latin America, right, in the global south, in Africa, etc., right?
07:27So they can go pretty much not only confront China and Russia, but also confront Iran, and also pretty much dismantle the BRICS.
07:34And that includes Brazil, and that includes Iran, and India as well, which also formed parts of the BRICS.
07:41Also, the hours that followed the attack against Venezuela were marked by a massive response from social movements, from activists, political figures worldwide, especially from within the United States.
07:55How significant these widespread condemnation have been, mostly in New York, where at this moment President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores are illegally imprisoned?
08:06Well, yes, it's important that the pressure continues.
08:10It's important that, you know, people of conscience, and the good people, people of conscience, people that are of moral or morality to come out and demonstrate because this is just a fraggling, gaster act of the United States by, you know, by this thuggery of kidnapping a sitting president of a state, you know, and this should not go without, you know, any rapprochement by the population.
08:35Also, for a long time, we have, I'm here in the United States, and we've had the elements of the diaspora, of the Venezuelan diaspora, who pretty much are, you know, are resented by Chavismo, right?
08:49They're here, and they're close to power, and they have allies like Marco Rubio and Maria Salazar, and et cetera, right?
08:56And for a long time, you know, their narrative had just been proliferated in American media unchallenged, right?
09:04You know, in the hours of the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro, right, you know, they were making the rounds.
09:13They were saying how happy they were and how, you know, how excited, you know, finally Venezuela is free from tyranny, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right?
09:23But these people, right, these people have no interest in the development of the country.
09:28They have no interest in advancement of the country.
09:29They have no interest in the sovereignty and independence of the country, and they're so willing to pretty much, you know, undermine their own sovereignty and independence, right, and submit it to American dictates, right?
09:38So these people for a long time have had, you know, ample access to American media, and American media has pretty much promoted their talking points.
09:48So because we don't have those spaces, like we don't have those, they won't invite us into like CNN and Fox News and stuff like that, right, or BBC and whatnot, right, to give another perspective, right?
09:59So what we have left is the streets.
10:02We've got to take the streets.
10:03We have to advance the real narrative, the truth, the truth, and pretty much dismantle what these people, these imperialists and this, you know, this colonial mentality of the Venezuelan diaspora, right?
10:21We have to challenge that.
10:22It has to be challenged, and it has to be shown that people are not, you know, we're not living in the 19th century anymore.
10:29We're not living in the 20th century.
10:31This is the 21st century, and these, you know, states have rights, you know, states have rights, and you can't take serious these people that are so willing to give up and sell out their country, you know, just so they can take power.
10:45So, yeah, so it is important that people come out on the street.
10:49It is important that people use a social media platform, right, because the tool is available to us and pretty much dismantle and dismiss, dismantle and correct.
10:57And all the narratives that are out there that are contrary to what is actually happening, what is actually Chavez, what is actually the struggle that the people of Venezuela are going through, and the resistance, their resistance, you know, because it's their state.
11:14Thank you very much, Giovanni, for joining us today, for helping us getting through all of the information that is coming from Venezuela in the midst of so much promotion in Venezuela and worldwide as well.
11:28We're speaking to Giovanni Reyes, a volunteer member of About Face Veterans Against War, and after this exclusive interview for Telesur, we have a short break coming up.
11:40But first, remember, you can join us on TikTok at Telesur English, where you'll find news in different formats, news updates, and much more.
11:48Stay with us.
11:49Welcome back to From the South.
12:09China reiterates its demand that the United States release Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and Feskinbat and Celia Flores, who were kidnapped on January 3rd.
12:18Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maoning described Washington's actions as a flagrant violation of international law and the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
12:30In this regard, the spokesperson emphasized that the kidnapping of the presidential couple is an unacceptable interference.
12:38Maoning also pointed out that the use of U.S. force against Venezuela, as well as demands on the U.S. of the use of its resources,
12:47constitute acts of intimidation that seek to undermine national sovereignty.
13:00China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law and are not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.
13:07China also poses an external force as interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs under any protects.
13:11The U.S. actions of forcibly detaining President Maduro and his wife clearly violates international law and the fundamental norms of international relations,
13:18as well as the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter.
13:20China once again calls on the United States to immediately release President Maduro and his wife and to resolve differences throughout dialogue and negotiation.
13:29The Chinese spokesperson also strongly condemned the illegal unilateral sanctions that the United States has imposed on Venezuela's oil industry for a prolonged period of time.
13:40The United States has long imposed illegal unilateral sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry and has recently resorted to the use of force against Venezuela.
13:52These actions have severely disrupted Venezuela's economic and social order and threatened the stability of global oil production.
13:58China has strongly condemned these actions.
14:00I wish to emphasize that cooperation between China and Venezuela is cooperation between sovereign states,
14:05protected by international law and the laws of both countries.
14:08The heavy snowfall and torrential rain are causing widespread chaos in some European countries with flooding and transport disruption being the main issues.
14:22Low temperatures are hitting countries such as Scotland, France, Italy, Spain and Germany among others.
14:30However, the Netherlands is one of the most critical points so far, forcing the authorities to declare a state of emergency.
14:38Amsterdam's ship called Airport remains completely closed.
14:42While in Germany, the authorities have declared a yellow alert in 12 provinces and canceled flights due to heavy snowfall.
14:49In Spain, 271 families were evacuated after rivers flooded in the south and center of the country while Italy and the United Kingdom weren't of extreme conditions.
15:00In Argentina, 16 provinces also are on high alert due to the risk of forest fires caused by the weather conditions affecting the South American country.
15:16The National Weather Service reported that the fire destroyed 11,782 hectares in New Kent, 10,218 in Rio Negro and 9,722 in Shubut.
15:30In this scenario, extreme danger warnings include Patagonia, Buenos Aires, the central region and part of the coast.
15:39Meteorological authorities affirm that the funds allocated to the National Fire Management Service have been insufficient
15:45and that since 2024 there has been an 80% reduction that has affected early warnings and the equipment of firefighting brigades.
15:54The Philippines registered a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on the southern coast of the country this Wednesday.
16:07Authorities reported that the earthquake occurred about 27 kilometers east of the city of Santiago on the island of Mindanao.
16:15They noted that no tsunami warning was issued and that no death or injuries were reported.
16:20Previously, during the past month of October, eastern Mindanao was shaken by two earthquakes of magnitude 7.4 and 6.7 respectively,
16:31causing the death of at least eight people.
16:40According to meteorological authorities, more than 30 earthquakes shook Japanese territory in 24 hours.
16:46Reports detail that the western region was shaken by a series of 6.2 magnitude earthquakes.
16:53Also, nearly 33 telluric movements were reported with a magnitude ranging from 2.8 to 6.2.
17:00The climatic phenomena caused at least five people to be injured and several buildings to suffer infrastructural damage.
17:08Like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
17:15Remember, you can find this and many other stories on our website at telesurenglish.net
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