Our Wednesday Sociedad Media Now newsletter with new developments in the Maduro narco-terrorism trial in New York City and the restart of fighting between ELN rebels & FARC dissidents in the Catatumbo region of northern Colombia.
U.S. Prosecutors Prepare Maduro Trial For June 2027
NEW YORK CITY — Federal prosecutors and Nicolás Maduro’s own defense team have jointly proposed a June 2027 trial date in his narco-terrorism and drug trafficking case, with a new sovereign immunity motion due by September.
The case unfolds against a striking backdrop: even as Washington prosecutes Maduro, it’s simultaneously restoring diplomatic ties and loosening sanctions with the caretaker government that replaced him — while President Trump’s own recent claims about Venezuelan election interference were contradicted by intelligence the White House itself released.
A Flag in the Jungle: Catatumbo’s War Between the ELN & FARC Dissidents Reignites
CATATUMBO, NORTE DE SANTANDER — Renewed fighting between the ELN and FARC dissidents in Colombia’s Catatumbo region has once again confined residents, damaged water infrastructure, and forced the cancellation of independence-day events in Tibú — capped by armed men planting a dissident flag on a rural highway.
It’s the latest chapter in an 18-month war that has already displaced more than 138,000 people and claimed 166 lives, one that Colombia’s incoming de la Espriella government will inherit just weeks after taking office on August 7.
