Overview

• President Donald Trump instructed special envoy Richard Grenell to end all outreach to Caracas immediately, according to The New York Times.
• Venezuela says it warned Washington through three channels about an alleged extremist plan to place explosives at the U.S. embassy in Caracas and is pursuing suspects named in the alert.
• Nicolás Maduro and Jorge Rodríguez describe the purported scheme as a possible false-flag operation and say security around the embassy has been reinforced.
• Maduro says he has asked the Vatican for help to preserve peace, sending a letter to Pope Leo XIV seeking diplomatic support.
• The United States keeps at least eight warships, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, and over 4,500 troops in the southern Caribbean for counternarcotics operations, with at least five interdicted vessels destroyed since August and more than 20 reported dead.