Nicolas Maduro in court; Delcy Rodriguez Venezuela: NPR

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President Trump told reporters on Air Force One yesterday that the United States is in control of Venezuela. It comes two days after US troops captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Caracas, the country’s capital. Federal authorities are expected to bring Maduro to court in the United States today. The United States has so far left the Venezuelan government in place, expecting it to obey. Here are seven takeaways from Trump’s incursion into Venezuela.

• 🎧 It is unclear how the United States plans to rule Venezuela.tells NPR’s Greg Myre First. There have been no more US troops in the country since the military operation to capture Maduro early Saturday morning. There is also no U.S. diplomatic presence in the country, as the U.S. embassy closed in 2019. If Trump’s plan is to run the place remotely, his administration might have limited influence over what happens inside the country, Myre says. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States’ goal was to shape the country’s policies, citing issues such as stopping drug trafficking.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court has confirmed that it has sworn in Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, as interim president. Yesterday, Rodríguez made a statement to Trump, saying that the people of Venezuela and the region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. She is now offering to cooperate with the United States, a change in tone from Saturday, when she called American actions “barbaric” and said she still considered Maduro the country’s leader.

• 🎧 Rodríguez is a Venezuela insider with a long, radical CVsays NPR’s Carrie Kahn. Its two main functions are to supervise the oil industry and the regime’s intelligence services, and it maintains good relations with the military. But Kahn says that if Rodriguez appears to align too closely with the U.S. government, it’s unclear how those relationships will endure.

Maduro is expected to appear in US federal court for the first time today. for charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy. Prosecutors charged Maduro with federal crimes in 2020, during Trump’s first term. Maduro then denied these accusations. Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, also faces federal criminal charges, including conspiring to import cocaine.

• 🎧 The Trump administration appears to be relying on a controversial 1989 Justice Department memo. written by Bill Barr while he was in the Office of General Counsel to justify its operation, NPR’s Carrie Johnson said. The memo paved the way for U.S. law enforcement to arrest suspects in foreign countries, even when those actions violate international law. Today, in court, it is possible that Maduro will challenge his capture. However, legal scholars note that Supreme Court precedent allows the government to pursue defendants regardless of how they reached U.S. soil.

Special series

Trump tried to bury the truth about what happened on January 6, 2021. NPR built a visual archive of the attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of those present. In “Chapter 1: The Preparatory Period,” we examine how the overlapping crises of 2020 paved the way for violence.

Before the 2020 election, the country was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests following the police killing of George Floyd. During a debate with Joe Biden, Trump refused to condemn far-right violence, sparking a wave of support for the Proud Boys. Trump has also frequently claimed that the only way he could lose the election was to cheat. These videos shed light on what paved the way for the violence on January 6, 2021.

For more, explore NPR’s database of federal criminal cases from January 6. You can also see more NPR reporting on the topic, including a short documentary in which two police officers relive the riot through body camera footage.

Life advice

Death is often an uncomfortable subject. But JS Park, an interfaith hospital chaplain, says talking about it can help prepare us for the reality that it could happen to any of us at any time. Park, author of As long as necessary: ​​permission to grievetalk to Life kit about what death looks like and what Hollywood gets wrong about a patient’s final moments.

• 💛 When you visit a loved one in hospital, you may notice physical deterioration, even if they have only been there a short time. They may not be able to maintain their normal hygiene or exercise routine.
• 💛 Park says it’s rare for a person to know they’re having a last conversation with someone. He advises families to tell them, when someone is dying, everything you ever wanted them to know.
• 💛 Try not to overwhelm someone who is suffering with something we think they are going to need or by asking so many questions. For example, offer to bring him dinner rather than telling him to let you know if he needs anything.

For more tips on how to talk about death and dying, listen to this episode of NPR Life kit. Subscribe to THE Life kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

3 things to know before you leave

The French government confirmed this week that it had granted citizenship to George and Amal Clooney – pictured on a red carpet in London in October – and their 7-year-old twins.

Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images

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Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images

1. George Clooney, his wife and their 7-year-old twins obtained French nationality. The French government confirmed the decision, citing the couple’s contributions to the country’s international influence and cultural influence.
2. The global phenomenon Dry January, which encourages people to abstain from alcohol for the first month of the new year, began in the UK as a single person’s personal experiment.
3. Pea-sized clumps of human cells, called brain organoids, model human brain development in the laboratory. Their link to our self-esteem worries many people, prompting experts to debate how to use them responsibly in research into diseases such as autism and brain cancer.

This newsletter was published by Suzanne Nuyen.