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The Trump administration’s “capture” and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States has sent shockwaves across the region. And now, his administration plans to “run” Venezuela until a “safe” transition is completed.

Legal and political questions raised by the case matter deeply for small countries like the Bahamas.

The issue is not only about Venezuela, but it is also about sovereignty, power, and whether international rules apply to smaller countries when global powers act one-sidedly or only in their best interest.

President Donald Trump even boldly suggested that Cuba and Colombia could be next. Some say his actions are designed to show the US as muscular to strike fear in the region and a reminder that the US is in charge of the Caribbean and Latin America.

“This is clearly a blatant, illegal, and criminal act,” said Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame Law School professor and former assistant U.S. attorney.

For countries like the Bahamas, sovereignty is one of the strongest legal shields on the international stage. It should protect nations from foreign interference and ensure that no outside power can lawfully enter, arrest leaders, or conduct operations without consent.

Legal experts warn that if powerful nations normalize the arrest of sitting leaders without United Nations approval or host-state consent, small states could be left vulnerable.

The concern is that international norms no longer seem strong. Once those norms erode, smaller countries appear to lack the ability to push back.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, “The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” he wrote in Portuguese. “These acts represent a grave affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”

There is no indication that the Bahamas faces any similar scenario to Venezuela. The Bahamas has a stable democracy with strong diplomatic ties with the United States.

However, experts say the larger concern is the precedent the US has set, asking whether international law continues to apply equally to all nations or whether one country’s power increasingly supersedes the law.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took to social media, saying the country will not recognize a U.S. intervention “that violates international law.”

“Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime. But neither will it recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence.”

The Bahamas also faces a delicate balancing act:

• Maintaining close relations with the United States
• Upholding international law principles
• Standing with regional partners who call for no intervention

Historically, CARICOM nations have advocated for peaceful dialogue and respect for sovereignty, even in times of crisis. How the region responds or chooses silence could shape expectations.

A moment for regional reflection

The Nicholas Maduro case has forced governments across the Caribbean to examine:

• how safe are international protections
• whether power dynamics are shifting
• and how small island states should position themselves in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Donald Trump’s election victory was history-making in several respects, even as his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris prevented other firsts. She would have been the nation’s first Black and South Asian woman to be president.

He’s the oldest to be elected

At 78, Trump is the oldest person elected to the U.S. presidency. When sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, he will be a few months older than Joe Biden was at his inauguration in 2020. Trump’s running mate, 40-year-old JD Vance, will be the third-youngest vice president.

It’s only the second time someone has won two non-consecutive terms

Several U.S. presidents have served more than one term, and Trump joins the group. He was the 45th president and now will be the 47th. But only one other president did it the way Trump will — with a gap between terms. That was Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd president after the 1884 election, and as the 24th president after the campaign of 1892.

He’s been convicted of felony crimes

Trump is in line to become the first U.S. president with a felony conviction. In May, New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

He’s been impeached (twice)

Trump already is the only president in U.S. history to face impeachment proceedings twice while in office. In each case, he was acquitted by the Senate on all counts.

The Associated Press

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s return to the White House means he’ll want to stand up an entirely new administration from the one that served under President Joe Biden. His team is also pledging that the second won’t look much like the first one Trump established after his 2016 victory.

The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to build out his team before Inauguration Day arrives on Jan. 20. One top item on the to-do list: filling around 4,000 government positions with political appointees, people who are specifically tapped for their jobs by Trump’s team.

That includes everyone from the secretary of state and other heads of Cabinet departments to those selected to serve part time on boards and commissions. Around 1,200 of those presidential appointments require Senate confirmation, which should be easier with the Senate now shifting to Republican control.

Here’s what to expect:

 What will the transition look like?

Though the turnover in the new administration will be total, Trump will be familiar with what he needs to accomplish. He built an entirely new administration for his first term and has definite ideas on what to do differently this time.

He’s already floated some names.

Trump said at his victory party early Wednesday that former presidential hopeful and anti-vaccination activist Robert Kennedy Jr. will be tapped to “help make America healthy again,” adding that “we’re going to let him go to it.” Ahead of the election, Trump didn’t reject Kennedy’s calls to end fluoridated water. Trump has also pledged to make South African-born Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of the Trump campaign, a secretary of federal “cost-cutting,” and the Tesla CEO has suggested he can find trillions of dollars in government spending to wipe out.

The transition is not just about filling jobs. Most presidents-elect also receive daily or near-daily intelligence briefings during the transition.

Who is helping Trump through the process?

Trump’s transition is being led primarily by friends and family, including Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, as well as the president-elect’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and his running mate, JD Vance. Transition co-chairs are Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.

Lutnick said this year’s operation is “about as different as possible” from the 2016 effort, which was first led by Chris Christie. After he won eight years ago, Trump fired Christie, tossed out plans the former New Jersey governor had made and gave the job of running the transition to then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Unlike the campaign of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s team didn’t sign any pre-Election Day transition agreements with the General Services Administration, which essentially acts as the federal government’s landlord. He has therefore already missed deadlines to agree with GSA on logistical matters like office space and tech support and with the White House on access to agencies, including documents, employees and facilities.

New transition rules

In 2020, Trump argued that widespread voter fraud — which hadn’t actually occurred — cost him the election, delaying the start of the transition from his outgoing administration to Biden’s incoming one for weeks.

Four years ago, the Trump-appointed head of the GSA, Emily Murphy, determined that she had no legal standing to determine a winner in the presidential race because Trump was still challenging the results in court. That held up funding and cooperation for the transition.

It wasn’t until Trump’s efforts to subvert election results had collapsed across key states that Murphy agreed to formally “ascertain a president-elect ” and begin the transition process. Trump eventually posted on social media that his administration would cooperate.

To prevent that kind of holdup in future transitions, the Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 mandates that the transition process begin five days after the election — even if the winner is still in dispute. That is designed to avoid long delays and means that “an ‘affirmative ascertainment’ by the GSA is no longer a prerequisite for gaining transition support services,” according to agency guidelines on the new rules.

Associated Press 

Protesters supporting Donald Trump swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, putting it on lockdown, as Vice President Mike Pence rebuffed the president’s demand to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and the Senate’s Republican leader denounced a bid in Congress to undo the election outcome.

Trump supporters overturned barricades and clashed with police on the U.S. Capitol grounds and streamed inside the building. The demonstrations flared as lawmakers met inside to formally certify Biden’s victory over Trump in the Nov. 3 election. Law enforcement authorities struggled to maintain order.

The Senate and the House of Representatives, which were weighing objections to Biden’s victory brought by a band of pro-Trump Republican lawmakers, abruptly and unexpectedly recessed.

Source: Reuters

Featured Image: Business Insider

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and Opposition Leader Philip Davis quickly extended congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after news media announced Biden as President-elect after he passed the 270-mark required to win the election. But is it premature?

The big picture

It is not clear who is the winner of the US presidential election as counting continues, recounting is required due to close margins and allegations of fraud and election irregularities and tabulation will be presented to the Supreme Court to decide.

What has Hubert Minnis said?

In a press statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, Hubert Minnis sends a letter to Biden saying, “The Bahamas and the United States have enjoyed long-standing, warm, friendly and historic relations.”

He continues, “I extend my best wishes to you for a successful administration and I am very confident that the warm and friendly relations existing between our two governments and peoples will not only continue but will be further strengthened.”

What has Philip Davis said?

PLP Leader was the first to congratulate Joe Biden publicly saying, “In voting in such record numbers, we applaud the American people for reaffirming the democratic ideals of Thomas Jefferson and recognize that the will of the people has been freely and fully expressed.”

Davis continues, “The PLP looks forward to working with the new administration on a number of national and regional issues of mutual concern and interest.”

What has GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said?

The Republican Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said not yet. She said the media does not decide the winner of the election, adding that voters are the deciders of the outcome of the election. McDaniels argued, “In multiple states, the margins are razor-thin with counting ongoing, several of which are headed for recounts.”

The Associated Press and CNN have announced Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States as he surpassed the 270 electoral votes, the number required to win.

Why it matters

The 78-year-old will be the oldest president of the United States, but President Donald Trump says the election is far from over as he challenges the election in court amid allegations of election fraud.

What Joe Biden says

• Biden in a press statement on Saturday stated, “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.”
• He has campaigned as a unifier as the USA appears divided over race and the handling of the coronavirus. He said, “The voters made it clear, they want the country to come together and not pull apart.”

What Donald Trump says

• Trump indicated that he will not concede as he issued a statement saying, “The simple fact is this election is far from over.”

Key Points

• Kamala Harris as vice president is expected to be the first black woman in that role.
• Donald Trump was at a golf club when the news broke that Biden was the projected winner.
• Biden is expected to give a victory speech tonight at 8 pm, as president-elect.
• Biden is coming in as president during COVID-19 and economic challenges.
• Election results are recorded as close as Trump challenges votes in Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
• Trump is arguing discrepancies in vote counts, access to votes and fraud.

Featured image: thenation.com

Dr. Stella Immanuel shot to fame as President Donald Trump’s favourite doctor after defending use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, to treat the coronavirus.

Dr. Immanuel has become a favourite of Trump after promoting the controversial drug, announcing in a video that she treated nearly 350 infected people with the drug and has seen them totally cured of the virus.

Her position has caught the attention of many Bahamians, after local health officials opposed use of the drug after the death of 14 people as result of the virus. And, as the COVID-19 cases continue to rise daily in the country, focus has returned to use of the drug to assist those affected with the virus.

Standing with other doctors, appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress at a press conference run by right winged Tea Party Patriots, she along with a group of doctors contested the scientific findings of the controversial pill.

Dr. Immanuel condemned “fake doctors,” stating, “I want to know who’s conducted that study and who’s behind it. Because there is no way I have treat 350 patients and counting and nobody is dead.”

She emphasized that there is no need for masks if doctors treat patients with hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and the antibiotic zithromax.

Trump, a promoter and user of the drug retweeted the video, but it has since been removed by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for “containing false and dangerous information,” since doctors say it is lethal and is ineffective at saving lives.

Donald Trump Jr, also impressed by Immanuela’s speech, touted the video on Twitter, as ‘a must-watch’.

Dr. Immanuel, though criticized for her stance, remains resolute. In a tweet, she lambaste White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci. “Fauci you are lying. Americans are dying and you are playing Russian roulette with their lives.”

The deliverance preacher is the pastor of Fire Power Ministries in Houston Texas, which is next door to her clinic.  She was born in Cameroon and is reported to have trained in Nigeria between 1984 and 1990, according to a Nigerian daily, PM News.

Photo credit: Godofredo  Vásquez, Houston Chronicle

The 55-year-old mother of three daughters is said to have trained in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1998 as a pediatrician. And she works  as a physician at the Rehoboth Medical Center in Katy, just west of Houston, Texas, since October 2019.

She received a medical license in Texas eight months ago, in November, according to state records.

On her church’s Facebook page, Dr. Immanuel describes her church as ‘a deliverance, prayer and spiritual warfare ministry’ and describes herself on Twitter as ‘physician, author, speaker, entrepreneur, deliverance minister, God’s battle axe and weapon of war.’

In a video posted in July, Dr. Immanuel preaches about breaking covenant, curses and soul ties. She encourages her congregation to pray covenant breaking prayers, “Whom ever you sleep with, you form covenant with,” she said.

In a video posted in 2013,  she speaks about deliverance from ‘spirit husbands and spirit wives,’ in which she claims mardi gras, sexy clothing, rings, congregants sitting under homosexual pastors, and women wearing pants and praying without head coverings, give access for  evil spirits to enter a person.

In response to the controversial video about ‘spirit husbands and spirit wives,’ in which she has been highly criticized, Dr. Immanuel says in a tweet, “Yes America! Some need deliverance from demon sperm.”

She told the Daily Beast, “If you need deliverance from these spirits, contact us.”

Despite the criticisms levied against her, Dr. Immanuel has not backed down. Instead, she thanked mainstream media for promoting her ministry which she says are “free commercials.”

“Woah CNN, MSNBC etc are doing free commercials on our deliverance ministry. Fire Power is main stream. Thank you CNN and let me know me know when y’all need some of them demons cast out of you. I will gladly oblige. You will feel a lot better. Keep up the good work,” she tweeted.

Dr. Immanuel appears on a local television broadcast, Beyond the Headlines, on Tuesday at 8pm.