As the United States deploys more military forces and carries out airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean, Venezuelans in South Florida are divided over what President Donald Trump’s next moves should be.Most people in the diaspora here long for a new leader to replace President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, a country that hundreds of thousands have fled amid economic and political crisis in recent years.”If there’s one common sentiment among all Venezuelans, it’s the hatred we have toward Chavismo and Maduro,” said Andrea Gonzalez, 38, referring to the left-wing ideology named for Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.But differences arise over how to remove Maduro.Some say force is the only option, especially after Maduro proclaimed himself president again in 2024 in elections that were deemed fraudulent by the opposition and other countries alike.Others, fearful of the casualties of war, prefer to exhaust diplomatic avenues.While the Trump administration has said it is targeting “narcoterrorists,” many question the true motivation behind Washington’s sudden military interest in the South American country with the most oil reserves on Earth. Within the diaspora, Trump’s image has been tarnished by his own immigration policy, which has cracked down on Venezuelans despite their overwhelming support for his pressure on Caracas.In recent weeks, Washington has sent the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, along with a fleet of warships, and Trump declared Venezuelan airspace “completely closed” for a supposed operation against drug trafficking.Trump also said that operations “by land” to stop alleged drug traffickers were imminent.- ‘Double-edged sword’ -From Caracas, Maduro has long claimed Washington intends to overthrow him.And in Doral, near Miami, where more than 40 percent of the population is of Venezuelan origin, Diana Gonzalez hopes that is the case.The 47-year-old interior designer supports a “100 percent” intervention in her country to overthrow a government she accuses of being corrupt, stealing elections and repressing its opponents.After years of unsuccessful peaceful attempts, that’s the only viable option, she said.”We can’t go on alone because it’s an unfair fight between people with flags and people with weapons,” she said, adding that “no one in Venezuela will fight for the regime.”Regarding the future, she envisions a government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader who is living in hiding.But 66-year-old Carmen considers military intervention a “double-edged sword” for the country she left in 2020.”If Maduro falls, it would be wonderful,” she said, declining to give her last name. “But if that happens, there will be many deaths. A war between the two countries would be a catastrophe.”- Tensions -Adelys Ferro, a Venezuelan activist for migrant rights, doubts the Trump administration’s intentions for her country — and tries to balance the personal with the political.”In the midst of our desperation and desire for freedom, we have minimized what a war means,” she said. “I can’t put my desire to see my mother again above the lives of Venezuelans.”She believes if Washington wants change in Caracas, it should take advantage of the current pressures to force a peaceful transition. And she fears the consequences of a conflict for the country’s inhabitants, including her mother.In Doral, many prefer to avoid the topic and there is a reluctance to talking about Trump. The mass arrests of Latino migrants promoted by his government and the revocation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) granted to some 600,000 Venezuelans under previous president Joe Biden’s administration have hit the community hard.And that has created tensions.Andrea Gonzalez, who supports Trump’s initiatives in Venezuela but criticizes his immigration policies stateside, has experienced those tensions personally.”There are people in your family who” say she should be happy about the immigration raids and the end of immigration privileges “because you voted for that person,” Gonzalez said. “Resentment is building among Venezuelans.”She believes, however, that Trump can regain ground in her community if he successfully overthrows Maduro.”The same people who have been deported wouldn’t hate him so much if he achieved that,” she said.

Democrats in the US Congress released photos and videos Wednesday showing the luxury island home where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly forced underage girls into sex with powerful men.The images of Epstein’s former Caribbean hideaway shed little new light on the complex scandal.However, they could add pressure on the Trump administration to comply with a requirement to release all the investigative files compiled during years of probes into Epstein’s activities — with potentially embarrassing and politically explosive repercussions.The 14 short videos and still photographs depict Epstein’s estate on Little Saint James island in the US Virgin Islands. Images show a luxurious villa, landscaping down to the seashore and a large outdoor swimming pool.A chalkboard in one room is inscribed with words that include “deception,” “power,” “truth,” and “political.” Other words have been redacted by the Democrats who released the images.President Donald Trump fought for months to prevent release of the Epstein files held by the Department of Justice.However, on November 19 he caved to pressure from Congress, including from his Republican Party, and signed a law compelling release of the materials.It remains to be seen how many of the extensive files will see the light of day, with the authorities likely to cite the need to protect ongoing investigations.Epstein, a successful financier, cultivated rich and powerful friends, and frequently hosted them at his lavish Caribbean home.He was convicted in 2008 on two sex crime counts, including solicitation of prostitution with a minor.He served only about a year in detention with unusually lenient conditions. He then avoided more serious charges until 2019 when he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors.He died in pre-trial detention in New York the same year and the death was ruled to be a suicide.Trump and his allies spent years pushing theories about powerful Democrats being protected over involvement with Epstein, framing the case as a potent symbol of how rich men can hide behind lawyers, money and connections.But Trump himself was a longtime friend of Epstein, raising questions over what he knew about the notorious figure.After starting his second presidential term in January, Trump switched from having called for release of the investigative files on Epstein to calling the scandal a “hoax” and resisting any release.

A doctor who supplied “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the months before he fatally overdosed, musing to a fellow physician over “how much this moron will pay” for the drug, was jailed in California on Wednesday.Salvador Plasencia, 44, is the first of five people to face justice over Perry’s 2023 death in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.Plasencia was ordered to serve 30 months in prison for supplying the drug to the actor — who had well documented struggles with addiction — at grossly inflated prices.In a victim impact statement filed with the court, Perry’s mother Suzanne Perry and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, said Plasencia — who did not supply the fatal dose of the drug — had neglected his duty as a doctor.”Matthew’s recovery counted on you saying NO,” they wrote. “Your motives? I can’t imagine. A doctor whose life is devoted to helping people?”Plasencia’s attorneys, Karen Goldstein and Debra White, who had argued for a probationary sentence, said their client, who has surrendered his medical license, was filled with regret.”He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his treatment decisions involving the off-label use of ketamine — a drug commonly used for depression that does not have uniform standards,” they said after the sentencing.”The mistakes he made over the 13 days during which he treated Mr. Perry will stay with him forever.”Another doctor, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry.Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.”I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors.The four other people who have also admitted their part in supplying drugs to the actor will be sentenced over the coming months.They include Jasveen Sangha, the alleged “Ketamine Queen” who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, who could be jailed for up to 65 years.Perry’s live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.- Addiction struggles -The actor’s lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of “Friends” fans.A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine — an anesthetic — in his system.In a plea deal with prosecutors, Plasencia said he went to Perry’s home to administer ketamine by injection and distributed 20 vials of the drug over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023.Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.First airing between 1994 and 2004, the televised comedy “Friends” followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.Perry’s role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.In his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry described going through detox dozens of times.”I have mostly been sober since 2001,” he wrote, “save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.”

An explosive docuseries about Sean “Diddy” Combs — produced by his longtime rival 50 Cent — has been released on Netflix, despite the disgraced music mogul’s attempts to block its airing.The four-part “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” chronicles the career and dramatic fall of the 56-year-old rapper and record executive, who was sentenced in October to 50 months in prison for prostitution-related crimes.During his trial, a New York court heard how he coerced his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura into performing so-called “freak offs” — sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.The Netflix series features interviews with other associates who detail his allegedly predatory behavior, as well as with two people who claim that the hip-hop star sexually assaulted them.Combs’s lawyers had sought to halt the show’s Tuesday release, sending a cease and desist letter to Netflix a day earlier claiming an apparent copyright violation.They point to footage in the show of Combs speaking with his legal team days before his September 2024 arrest, in which he urges them to “find somebody that will work with us, that has dealt in the dirtiest of dirty business of media and propaganda.”Juda Engelmayer, Combs’s spokesperson, told AFP that the artist had been capturing the video to “tell his own story, in his own way.””It is fundamentally unfair, and illegal, for Netflix to misappropriate that work.”Netflix, in a statement cited by the Washington Post, said the footage of Combs was legally obtained.Engelmayer also complained that rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was allowed to executive produce the documentary series, calling him a “longtime adversary with a personal vendetta who has spent too much time slandering Mr Combs.”The pair have a feud that dates back to the mid-2000s, when 50 Cent released a diss track accusing Combs of knowing who murdered famed rapper The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997.Combs was convicted in July of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution. But a jury acquitted him of the most serious charges: sex trafficking and racketeering.He is currently being held in a low-security federal prison some 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of New York. He is due to be released in May 2028.