By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN President Donald Trump said last Tuesday that Venezuela would begin handing over oil worth up to $3 billion that Trump would dole out “to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.” On what legal basis this is being done and where exactly the money will go was not made clear by the president. But for the people of Venezuela, here is what is certain: If you didn’t know before, now you know. Trump came to liberate your oil, not your people. Sor

Nicolás Maduro, the ousted president of Venezuela, and his wife, Cilia Flores, are escorted off a helicopter en route to the federal courthouse in Manhattan on Monday morning, Jan. 5, 2026. (Vincent Alban/The New York Times) By BRET STEPHENS There are good reasons to celebrate the downfall of the tyrant Nicolás Maduro, as so many Venezuelan exiles did when they heard the news Saturday morning. Not among those reasons: an America that seizes Venezuela’s oil assets while keepin

Law enforcement personnel hold a line outside the Capitol in Washington, hours after it was stormed by a mob of pro-Trump rioters, Jan. 6, 2021. (Mark Peterson/The New York Times) By JAMELLE BOUIE Most Americans like to believe that this is a nation of laws, where justice is blind to power and status. But that is a bit of self-flattery. The truth is that as a country we have often found one reason or another to let the powerful escape the consequences of their actions. Consid

By M. GESSEN In the initial rush of news Saturday morning, many commentators speculated that the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela was also a blow to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, since Venezuela and Russia are allies. To the contrary, it is a victory for Putin, because it is a blow — quite likely fatal — to the new world order of law, justice and human rights that was heralded in the wake of World War II. That order was never as robust as its champions

President Donald Trump exits an appearance in the White House Rose Garden on April 2, 2025. (Damon Winter/The New York Times) By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Over the past few months, President Donald Trump has deployed an imposing military force in the Caribbean to threaten Venezuela. Until recently, the president used that force — an aircraft carrier, at least seven other warships, scores of aircraft and 15,000 U.S. troops — for illegal attacks on small boats that he claimed were fe

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. He is joined by, from left: Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “It is far too early to have clear answers as to what will happen next in Venezuela in the wake of the Trump administration’s removal of President Nicolás Maduro to stand trial in the United S

“Mobile photography keeps our creativity alive,” UPR-Carolina professor John Rivas writes. (Freepik) By John Rivas Special to The Star Peek-a-boo… what do we see? Ever since mobile photography carved out its space in the world of digital phones, our surroundings have become more vivid, more noticeable. Everyday life -- its events, its fleeting moments -- now finds its chroniclers in urban photojournalists armed not with bulky cameras, but with sleek smartphones. These modern

By The Editorial Board Joyce Arthur was born in rural Ghana, the eldest daughter in a family of five children. Her family slept in a single room, and their daily income, earned by catching and selling fish, wasn’t enough for everyone to eat three meals a day. Like many girls in her community, she knew that she would probably be married off early or get pregnant as a teenager or both. Education would not be an option. Arthur knew she wanted more from her life. “I saw a future

Adel Adeeb Sukkar’s grocery store feeds 500 families daily in Gaza City, May 21, 2025. The starvation of Gaza can be measured in the jutting ribs of a six-year-old girl, the twig-like thinness of her arms, and the five vegetables — two tomatoes, two green chili peppers and one cucumber — a child can buy to feed his family that day. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times) By NICHOLAS KRISTOF This is the season when I customarily argue that the year just ending has been the best in

Exhausted and covered in dust, a truck full of Sudanese refugees arrive on the outskirts of Oure Cassoni refugee camp in eastern Chad, Nov. 30, 2025. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times) By NICHOLAS KRISTOF This is the time of year when many of us hail “peace on earth” and earnestly repeat lines about “goodwill to all.” So maybe it’s also a moment to hold ourselves accountable for our collective failures — and, even more important, to try to do better. It’s not just that ill wi