AFP USA

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel, the US president said in comments published Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland.Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, as European countries close ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish autonomous territory.German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by Trump to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island.They said Monday that Europe was preparing trade countermeasures — though US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asked by AFP about potential retaliatory tariffs, warned: “I think it would be very unwise”.The European Union said it was holding an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority is to “engage not escalate” it is ready to act if needed. Greenland, for its part, said the tariffs threat does not change its desire to assert its own sovereignty. “We will not be pressured,” Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.But Trump had earlier doubled down, announcing in a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that the world “is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”.The message — published Monday and whose authenticity was confirmed to AFP by Store’s office — also saw Trump brush aside peace as a primary goal.”I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” he said, citing his failure to win the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite openly coveting it.He said although peace would still be “predominant,” he could “now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.” Store said the statement had been received in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to Trump’s tariff threats.Store also underlined that the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded by the Norwegian government.”I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” he said in a written statement.Bessent, speaking in response to a question from AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, dismissed any link between the Prize and Trump’s plans for Greenland. “I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel Prize,” he said.- ‘Blackmail’ -Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for “national security”, despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with fellow NATO ally Denmark. “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” Trump said in his message to the Norwegian premier, doubling down on that sentiment in a post to Truth Social on Monday.”Why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also,” he said in his message to Store.Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Monday steps had already been taken along with NATO allies to increase its military presence in the region.This weekend, Trump said that from February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10-percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States — a duty which could go higher.Germany’s vice chancellor Lars Klingbeil slammed the move as blackmail, and said Monday that Europe was preparing countermeasures.French finance minister Roland Lescure, speaking at a press conference alongside Kingbeil, agreed.”Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” Lecurse said.Europe’s stock markets fell as the week’s trading began Monday, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning that a “trade war is in no one’s interest”.Greenland — whose tiny population of 57,000 has voiced disquiet at Trump’s threats — continued to make its preferences clear.Greenland’s dogsled federation said that the new US special envoy to the island had been disinvited to its annual race. Jeff Landry had been invited to attend the race by a private Greenlandic tour operator, an invite the KNQK federation has previously called “totally inappropriate”.burs-jll/st

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.What exactly will it do? And who has been invited?- To what end? -The Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, according to its founding charter.It is “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. It will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law”, it adds.- Who’s boss? -Trump will be chairman but also “separately serve as inaugural representative of the United States of America”.”The Chairman shall have exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfill the Board of Peace’s mission,” the document states.He will pick members of an Executive Board to be “leaders of global stature” to “serve two-year terms, subject to removal by the Chairman”.He may also, “acting on behalf of the Board of Peace”, “adopt resolutions or other directives”.The chairman can be replaced only in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity”.- Who can be a member? -Member states have to be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.Each member “shall serve a term of no more than three years”, the charter says.But “the three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force”, it adds.The board will “convene voting meetings at least annually”, and “each member State shall have one vote”.But while all decisions require “a majority of Member States present and voting”, they will also be “subject to the approval of the Chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as Chairman in the event of a tie”.- Who’s already in? -The White House has said its members will include:US President Donald Trump, chairUS Secretary of State Marco RubioSteve Witkoff, Trump’s special negotiatorJared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-lawTony Blair, former UK prime ministerMarc Rowan, billionaire US financierAjay Banga, World Bank president Robert Gabriel, loyal Trump aide on the National Security Council – Who’s been invited? -The list of countries and leaders who say they have been invited include, but are not limited to:Russia’s President Vladimir PutinCanada’s Prime Minister Mark CarneyEgypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-SisiArgentina’s President Javier MileiJordanBrazilParaguayIndiaPakistanGermanyFranceItalyHungaryRomaniaUzbekistanBelarus- When does it start? -The charter says it enters into force “upon expression of consent to be bound by three States”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said Europe wants to “avoid escalation” over US President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on countries that oppose his designs on Greenland.Trump shook Europe on Saturday when he vowed to slap EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden — and non-members Britain and Norway — with extra levies unless Greenland is ceded to the United States.Germany and other European countries agreed “that we want to avoid any escalation in this dispute if at all possible”, Merz said, adding that he would seek to meet Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.”We simply want to try to resolve this problem together, and the American government knows that we could also retaliate. I don’t want to, but if necessary, we will of course protect our European interests as well as our German national interests.”Leaders from the 27-nation bloc will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss their response to one of the gravest crises in years to hit transatlantic ties.Merz said the threatened tariffs would harm both the United States and Europe.”Customs duties are usually paid by those in the country where the imports are received –- in this case, American consumers,” Merz said. “But (the tariffs) would also, of course, damage our economy, the European economy and, in particular, the German economy.”German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil had earlier struck a harder tone, saying Europe “will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed”.”Europe will respond with a united, clear response, and we are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners,” Klingbeil said at a Berlin press conference alongside the French economy and finance minister, Roland Lescure.- ‘United, clear response’ -Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s finance minister, said Europe’s response could have three main strands. First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold. Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force.And third, the EU should consider its powerful so-called anti-coercion instrument against Washington, he said.Lescure agreed that Trump’s threat amounted to “blackmail”.”Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” said the French minister.”We Europeans must remain united and coordinated in our response and, above all, be prepared to make full use of the instruments” of the European Union, he said. “We are determined to defend our sovereignty.”Klingbeil stressed that the “limit has been reached” when it came to the US leader making threats. “We are constantly experiencing a new confrontation that President Trump is seeking,” he said.

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1.0 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter, seen Monday by AFP. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state — would be allowed to join for three years — or longer if they paid more than $1.0 billion within the first year, the charter says.”Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” the board’s draft charter says.”The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.The White House said there would be a main board, a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern devastated Gaza, and a second “executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.”The Board of Peace is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” the charter says.- ‘Failed institutions’ -It appears to take a swipe at international institutions such as the United Nations, saying that the board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”Trump has regularly criticized the United Nations and announced this month that his country will withdraw from 66 global organizations and treaties — roughly half affiliated with the UN.Membership of the board would be “limited to States invited to participate by the Chairman,” according to the draft charter.Trump would have the power to remove member states from the board, subject to a veto by two-third of members, and choose his replacement should he leave his role as chairman.The “Board of Peace” began to take shape on Saturday when the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada were asked to join.Trump also named as members Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, senior negotiator Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.Israel has objected to the line-up of a “Gaza executive board” to operate under the body, which includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel, the US president said in comments published Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland.Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory.German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by Trump to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island, and said Monday that Europe was preparing trade countermeasures.The European Union said it was holding an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority is to “engage not escalate” it is ready to act if needed. Greenland, for its part, said the tariffs threat does not change its desire to assert its own sovereignty. “We will not be pressured,” Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.But Trump had earlier doubled down, announcing in a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that the world “is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”.The message — published Monday and whose authenticity was confirmed to AFP by Store’s office — also saw Trump brush aside peace as a primary goal.”I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” he said, citing his failure to win the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite openly coveting it.He said although peace would still be “predominant,” he could “now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.” Store said the statement had been received in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to Trump’s tariff threats.Store also underlined that the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded by the Norwegian government.”I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” he said in a written statement.- Russia, China threat? -Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for “national security”, despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with fellow NATO ally Denmark. “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” Trump said in his message to the Norwegian premier, doubling down on that sentiment in a post to Truth Social on Monday.Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Monday steps had already been taken along with NATO allies to “increase military presence and training activity in the Arctic and the North Atlantic”.Lund Poulsen added that he and Greenlandic foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt would be meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte later on Monday.- ‘Blackmail’ -This weekend, Trump said that from February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10-percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States — a duty which could go higher.Germany’s vice chancellor Lars Klingbeil slammed the move as blackmail, and said Monday that Europe was preparing countermeasures.French finance minister Roland Lescure, speaking at a press conference alongside Kingbeil, agreed.”Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” Lecurse said.Klingbeil said Europe’s response could have three main strands. First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold, he said. Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force.And thirdly the EU should consider using its toolbox of instruments against “economic blackmail”, he added.Europe’s stock markets fell as the week’s trading began Monday, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning that a “trade war is in no one’s interest”.Greenland — whose tiny population of 57,000 has voiced disquiet at Trump’s threats — continued to make its preferences clear Monday.Greenland’s dogsled federation said that the new US special envoy to the Arctic island had been disinvited to its annual race. Jeff Landry had been invited to attend the race by a private Greenlandic tour operator, an invite the KNQK federation has previously called “totally inappropriate”.burs-jll/st

Greenland’s dogsled federation said Monday that the new US special envoy to the Arctic island had been disinvited to its annual race, as Washington repeatedly threatens to take over the autonomous Danish territory.Jeff Landry had been invited to attend the race by a private Greenlandic tour operator, an invite the KNQK federation has previously called “totally inappropriate”.”KNQK has been informed that the tourism company that invited Governor Jeff Landry from the United States has unilaterally withdrawn its invitation,” it wrote on Facebook overnight Sunday to Monday. “This is reassuring,” it added. A year ago, US Vice President JD Vance’s wife Usha Vance had planned to attend the dogsled race during an uninvited visit to Greenland.Her plans were cancelled amid strong opposition in Denmark, and replaced by a visit with her husband JD Vance and a delegation to the US Pitiffuk military base in the northwest of the island.

Europe is preparing countermeasures against US President Donald Trump’s “blackmail” after he threatened tariffs against several countries over their opposition to his designs on Greenland, Germany’s vice chancellor said Monday. “We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” said Lars Klingbeil, at a Berlin press conference alongside the French economy and finance minister, Roland Lescure.”Europe will respond with a united, clear response, and we are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners.”Trump vowed on Saturday to hit European countries — including Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory — with tariffs of up to 25 percent unless Greenland is ceded to the United States. Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden already hit back at the threat in a joint statement at the weekend.Klingbeil said Europe’s response could have three main strands. First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold, he said. Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force, said Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s finance minister.And thirdly the EU should consider using its toolbox of instruments that can be deployed to respond to “economic blackmail” against Washington, he added.Lescure agreed with Klingbeil that Trump’s threat amounted to “blackmail”.”Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” said the French minister.”We Europeans must remain united and coordinated in our response and, above all, be prepared to make full use of the instruments” of the European Union, he said. “We are determined to defend our sovereignty.”Lescure said a meeting of G7 finance ministers would be convened in the coming days to discuss pressing issues, including Greenland. France is the current chair of the grouping, and the United States is a member.Klingbeil stressed that the “limit has been reached” when it came to the US leader making threats. “We are constantly experiencing a new confrontation that President Trump is seeking,” he said.

Thousands in the United States staged large demonstrations Sunday denouncing the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Islamic Republic.Several thousand people marched in Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, while several hundred others gathered in New York, AFP journalists in both cities reported. US protesters could be seen carrying signs condemning a “New Holocaust,” a “genocide in the making,” and the “terror” of the Iranian government.”My heart is heavy and my soul is crushed, I’m at loss for words to describe how angry I am,” said Perry Faraz at the demonstration in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the US.The 62-year-old payroll manager, who fled Iran in 2006, learned this week that one of her young cousins had been killed during the overseas rallies held in her native country.”He wasn’t even 10 years old, that’s horrible,” she said.Demonstrations sparked by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests late December in what has been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in recent years.The rallies subsided after a government crackdown in Iran that rights groups have called a “massacre” carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8.Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within the Islamic Republic’s health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.The NGO warned that the true toll is likely to be far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll.- Calls for US intervention -“This mass murdering of the population is terribly upsetting,” Ali Parvaneh, a 65-year-old lawyer protesting in LA said. Like many protesters, Parvaneh carried a “Make Iran Great Again” sign and said he wanted US President Donald Trump to intervene by targeting the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).Some in the crowd in LA went as far as to call for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has been in power for more than 25 years. After having attacked Iranian nuclear sites in June, Trump sent mixed signals on possible US intervention this week. The Republican first threatened to intervene if Iranian protesters were killed, but then said he was satisfied by Iranian assurances that demonstrators would not be executed.”I really hope that Trump will go one step beyond just voicing support,” Parvaneh said.Many protesting in the Californian city chanted slogans in support of the US president and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who was deposed by the popular uprising in 1979.- ‘Don’t need a puppet’ – Parvaneh echoed Pahlavi’s popularity among some segments of Iran’s exiled and expatriate population.”Had the monarchy stayed in place, it would be much different and Iran would be in a much better situation,” he said.Pahlavi’s support base is concentrated abroad while his political sway within Iran is limited.The former Shah’s son, who lives in exile near Washington, said this week he would be ready to return to Iran — but it is unclear if most Iranians want this.The Iranian opposition remains divided, and memories of the Shah’s brutal repression of his left-wing opponents remain vivid. Last week, a man caused minor injuries when he drove a truck into a demonstration held by Iranians in Los Angeles, carrying a sign that read: “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.” The sign was referring to the 1953 coup that saw Iran’s government overthrown in a US- and UK-backed operation that had seen Pahlavi installed as the country’s leader.In Los Angeles’s Westwood neighborhood, nicknamed “Tehrangeles,” Roozbeh Farahanipour believes the diaspora must support Iranians without infringing on their “right to decide their own future.””They don’t need a puppet implanted by the West,” said the 54-year-old restaurant owner.Others in California also share that view.”Trump is playing the Iranian people,” said poet Karim Farsis, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area. Farsis, an academic, stresses that it is US sanctions — including those imposed by Trump — and the Republican’s ripping up of a nuclear deal that have contributed in large part to the suffering of the Iranian people.She also criticized the almost complete ban on Iranians entering the US since June.”We’re living in a really twisted moment,” she said. “Trump is saying to Iranians: ‘Keep protesting, take over your institutions.'”But if they find themselves in danger, they can’t even find refuge in the United States.”

Prince Harry is to return to London this week for the trial into his claims that a UK newspaper group unlawfully gathered information, in the royal’s last case in his long-running crusade against the media.The trial, expected to last up to nine weeks, is scheduled to start at London’s High Court on Monday.It is the third and final case brought by the prince, who is said to see holding the media to account as a personal mission.Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.King Charles III’s younger son is bringing the case along with six other high-profile complainants including pop icon Elton John and John’s husband David Furnish.The seven accuse Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars.They also allegedly impersonated individuals to obtain medical information — a practice known as blagging — and accessed private phone conversations.The media group has firmly denied the allegations, calling them “lurid” and “preposterous”.- Rare UK trip -Harry is expected to attend for some of the first three days of opening statements.He is then due to take the stand for a full day of testimony on Thursday, according to a draft trial schedule shared with reporters by lawyers.Actor Elizabeth Hurley is set to give evidence the following week, followed by John and Furnish in early February. Actor Sadie Frost is also among the complainants.In 2023, Harry made history by becoming the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for more than a century, when he testified as part of his claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).It will be a rare trip back to Britain for the prince, also known as the Duke of Sussex, who stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and relocated eventually to California with wife Meghan, where they live with their two children.During his last UK visit in September, Harry met with the king, seeking to start to repair a bitter rift with his immediate family.But UK media have said there are no plans for Harry to see Charles during next week’s visit.- ‘Blagging’ claim -The new trial follows earlier cases brought against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) and Mirror Group.Last year Prince Harry settled out of court in his action against Murdoch’s UK tabloid publisher.NGN — publisher of tabloids The Sun and the now defunct News of the World — agreed to pay him “substantial damages” in January 2025 after admitting intruding into his private life, including by hacking his phone.In a statement, NGN offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to the prince for “serious intrusion” into the private lives of Harry and his mother Princess Diana by The Sun and also “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World”.In his other case against Mirror Group, a High Court ruling in December 2023 said Harry had been a victim of phone hacking by journalists working for the group and awarded him £140,600 ($179,600) in damages.Media lawyer Mark Stephens told AFP much had changed in the British media in recent years, but that this final case would primarily be about “press freedom”.”Press freedom is essential but so is freedom from being illegally spied on,” he said.”I think we’re not going to be looking so much at yesterday’s gossip. I think this case is going to be more about tomorrow’s accountability for the media more generally,” he added.

As the first explosions rocked his military base in Caracas, 18-year-old Saul Pereira Martinez sent his mother a simple message: “I love you. It has begun.”It was the night of January 3, and US forces were invading Venezuela to seize the country’s then-president, Nicolas Maduro, on the orders of US President Donald Trump.Pereira had finished his shift on guard duty at Fort Tiuna, where Maduro was sheltered that night. Nonetheless, he would not survive the assault.Natividad Martinez, his mother, visited on Sunday the cemetery where her son’s remains are buried, recalling the night it happened, and still in shock.The last time she spoke to Saul was at 2:00 am. He repeated that he loved her, and told her to take care of his two brothers, aged two and nine.Trump has repeatedly touted the success of the stunning operation to seize Maduro, boasting that there were no casualties.In truth, at least 83 people were killed in the operation, including 47 Venezuelan soldiers and 32 Cuban security personnel, according to the defense ministry in Caracas.”You can’t come to my country and kill people like that,” said Martinez.”Because (they say) ‘it was a clean operation.’ It wasn’t clean. Do you know how many people died?” – ‘A brave man’ -As the attack began, 38-year-old Martinez heard explosions and began to scream, worried for the safety of her son, her husband said.After she got off the phone with him, she fell to the ground screaming his name, he said.”I told her to stay calm, we don’t know what’s going on,” said Saul’s stepfather, who asked not to be identified because he works as a police officer and government security official. He believes that Saul was killed because his unit was spending the night within the security perimeter around Maduro, which made them a target for US forces.On Sunday, Saul’s parents were joined by his girlfriend and friends at the cemetery in southern Caracas.Saul had just completed his initial training with the Honor Guard in December and was studying at the military academy. They brought flowers, and, to the rhythm of old salsa music, the family cried, recalled anecdotes, and toasted in honor of the young soldier whom they remember as “a brave man.” Saul entered the military following in the footsteps of a childhood friend, who was at La Carlota air base during the US attack and was wounded in the leg. His mother had applauded the decision, having earlier worried about the trajectory her son’s life was on. Saul, says Natividad, went from “partying, going here and there, doing nothing at home” to studying, cleaning the house during his visits, and acquiring discipline. – ‘All human beings’ -Despite the massive US military deployment in the Caribbean, Trump’s bellicose threats against Maduro and strikes on what Washington called drug-smuggling boats off the Venezuelan coast, Martinez’s family did not expect things to get this bad.”The president didn’t always stay in the same place,” his stepfather explained, and the government maneuvered to mislead even the state security forces about Maduro’s whereabouts. US forces found Maduro because of inside informers, the stepfather said.”(The death of) my son was a collateral effect of that infiltration,” he said. Hours after the attack, Natividad brought food for Saul to Fort Tiuna, as per their weekly schedule.She found only silence. Hours later, when the names of the fallen began to circulate, she went to the battalion and stood there, demanding answers. “And they had to tell me,” she said, staring at the cement tomb where mourners had spelled out Saul’s name in yellow, blue, and white flower petals. Her son, like other soldiers, was honored by the government, which promoted him posthumously. Natividad said that some seemed not to mourn these deaths because of the political polarization that has divided the nation under Maduro’s rule, and that of Hugo Chavez before him.”Those who died are also human beings. They are all Venezuelans. On one side or the other, they are all human beings, they all have people who mourn them,” she said. Shaken but still stoic, Natividad said she felt proud of her son.”He died for his country,” she said. “Regardless of what they say, to me, my son was a patriot, and that’s what matters to me.”