Off Leash Intel · loading
5 direct mentions across 5 briefings, with 5 linked developments.
Latest linked intelligence
A U.S. airstrike in Bolívar state killed Héctor Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero, and that U.S. and Venezuelan officials characterized the action as coordinated or joint.
Unverified development · updated through
A U.S. airstrike in Bolívar state killed Héctor Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero, and that U.S. and Venezuelan officials characterized the action as coordinated or joint.
Open source reportGeography
Marker precision is disclosed on selection. Country and regional centroids show geographic scope, not an exact incident site.
Tren de Aragua dossier
4 mapped developments across 1 map positions. Centroid markers show geographic scope, not an exact incident site.
Venezuela and the United States
President Trump accused President Nicolás Maduro’s government of deliberately sending criminals; Tren de Aragua members to the United States.
Approximate map position: country centroid. The extracted place did not have provider-resolved coordinates.
Chronology
Off Leash update 15 June 2026 COMING UP THIS WEEK •France is hosting the first G7 summit since the Iran war began today through Wednesday. Pres. Trump is attending, as are the leaders of the other six G7 countries and guest nations like India, Ukraine, and the UAE. •DRC Mining Week takes place Wednesday through Friday in Lubumbashi. •The U.S. and China celebrate two very different holidays on Friday: the U.S. celebrates Juneteenth, while China celebrates the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Financial markets will be closed in both countries in observance. •Sunday is Father's Day in the U.S. and election day in Colombia, where Abelardo de la Espriella faces Iván Cepeda in a run-off for the presidency. De la Espriella - a right-wing businessman who styles himself after Pres. Trump - leads Cepeda - a left-leaning continuity candidate - in polls, but not by much. COMMODITY AND COIN MARKET PRICES •Aluminum: $3,535/ton •Antimony (global avg.): $34,935/ton •Bitcoin: $65,603 •Cobalt: $56,290/ton •Copper: $13,698/ton •Ethereum: $1,718 •Gold: $4,327/toz •Lead: $1,966/ton •Natural Gas (Nymex): $3.05/MMbtu •WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $80.39/barrel •Zinc: $3,584/ton IRAN •The U.S. and Iran agreed to a "framework" for a peace deal that would reportedly lift both of their blockades on the Strait of Hormuz and end their conflict without addressing Iran's nuclear ambitions. •The truce allows 60 days for further negotiations on the thornier issues they still dispute, like whether Iran will be allowed to keep parts of its nuclear program and whether the ceasefire extends to Lebanon. That's a short timeline: it took around 10 times as long to hammer out Iran's previous nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. •Pres. Trump told the NYT that if a new final deal can't be closed within the new framework's much shorter time horizon, "the U.S. will resume attacks on Iran and become the guardian of the Middle East, receiving 20% of the region’s profits." •Both sides seem happy to have reached an agreement, but they may be celebrating prematurely. The new deal isn't public yet and won't be signed until Friday, and American and Iranian officials are giving vastly different accounts of its terms, raising doubts as to whether they've actually agreed to anything consequential. •For example, Iranian officials claimed that the U.S. had already agreed to release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets, while Pres. Trump portrayed the release of frozen funds as a carrot that Iran would only earn if it behaved well. •Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif - who was involved in mediating the agreement - suggested the draft still has powerful critics who he accused of waging an "incessant misinformation campaign...to sabotage the peace deal." VENEZUELA •A U.S. airstrike in Venezuela's Bolívar state killed Héctor Guerrero Flores (aka Niño Guerrero), the head of the Tren de Aragua gang that the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. •Pres. Trump said the operation was "coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well." Venezuelan officials confirmed it had been a "joint operation." •It was certainly more effective than Venezuela's previous government's efforts against Guerrero. Under Nicolas Maduro's regime, corrupt prison guards took bribes to let Guerrero escape - twice - and turned a blind eye to plush improvements Guerrero made to Tocorón Prison to make his stay there more comfortable, including a zoo, nightclub, betting parlor, and swimming pool. PERU •Peru's presidential election is still too close to confidently call more than a week after polls closed. •Right-wing Keiko Fujimori has a razor-thin lead over left-wing Roberto Sanchez, who alleged there had been voting irregularities and asked for a recount. SWITZERLAND •Swiss voters rejected a proposed ballot measure to implement the world's first-ever population cap. •Unusually for an immigration-related question, pre-referendum polling estimated the actual result - 55% against vs. 45% in favor - almost perfectly. As anticipated, the measure enjoyed stronger support in rural areas than in cities and border areas. UK •The UK's Prime Minister Starmer said his government will join Australia and several other countries in introducing a social media ban for children under 16. •Starmer's office followed proper British procedure and conducted a lengthy consultation process before deciding to act. It found that 90% of the 116,000 parents who voluntarily responded to its survey supported a ban, and 85% felt social media brings more risks than benefits. •The ban is slated to start in early 2027.
Open source reportOff Leash update 30 Dec VENEZUELA •Pres. Trump acknowledged that a CIA drone strike about a week ago destroyed a Venezuelan dock allegedly used by Tren de Aragua drug traffickers to export their wares, marking what seems to be the first known land strike on Venezuela. •Trump declined to share more details, and Nicolas Maduro's government has only referred to the incident obliquely - perhaps to downplay concerns about escalation and calls for retaliation. •Separately, another Operation Southern Spear boat strike in the eastern Pacific killed two yesterday. UKRAINE •Pres. Zelensky reported that Pres. Trump offered Ukraine 15 years of security guarantees during their meeting on Sunday. That's far short of the indefinite guarantees Zelensky had sought, but Zelensky seemed content to compromise in the interest of resolving the remaining bigger differences of position. •Rumors suggest Trump may next host a new round of negotiations next month with Zelensky as well as European leaders (some of whom joined by phone this time). ISRAEL •Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Pres. Trump at Mar-a-Lago yesterday for talks that were amiable but produced no big breakthroughs on Trump's Gaza peace plan. •Netanyahu secured one key win, though: he got Trump's assurance that the U.S. would back Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites if Iran continues to develop its weapons programs. IRAN •Protesters demonstrated in Tehran yesterday against rising inflation after preliminary December data showed an annualized inflation rate of 42.2%. •Pres. Pezeshkian has repeatedly conceded that he's out of ideas to fix Iran's ailing economy, and the resignation of his central bank chief yesterday certainly won't help. •An academic paraphrased in the NYT sees two ways Iran can escape the looming inflationary spiral: "It could change its relationship with the United States in exchange for relief on sanctions...or drastically cut government spending, but neither option appears likely." Instead, further inflation seems more probable. CHINA •China is seeking to supplant the U.S. as the lead peacemaker between Thailand and Cambodia. After Pres. Trump claimed a role in closing the initial 72-hour truce, China stepped in to host the next round of talks on a more permanent ceasefire yesterday and today. •Beijing's foreign ministry implicitly boasted that its mediation style was less pushy than the U.S. approach: "China’s efforts to promote peace and dialogue never impose on others or overstep its bounds."
Open source reportOff Leash update. 3 Sept VENEZUELA •The U.S. carried out what the Pentagon called a "precision strike against a drug vessel operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization," killing 11 aboard and marking the first kinetic action of Pres. Trump's recently-amplified campaign against cartels. •Trump later said those aboard the targeted vessel - 11 of whom were reportedly killed in the strike - had been "positively identified" as members of the Tren de Aragua drug cartel, and repeated his claim that Venezuela's Pres. Maduro is the cartel's leader. •While some analysts reject the notion that Maduro directly controls Tren de Aragua, many read Trump's latest statement as the strongest suggestion yet that his anti-cartel campaign could - as Maduro fears - be used to target the Venezuelan regime. GAZA •The NYT reported on an emerging rift between Prime Minister Netanyahu and several of his top military and security officials over Netanyahu's stubborn opposition to a Gaza ceasefire deal. •Netanyahu's military chief of staff, national security adviser, foreign minister, and Mossad chief are reportedly among those advocating for a negotiated, phased peace deal. •While none of the officials opposing Netanyahu's stance have broken from protocol to publicly dissent, the fact that officials are anonymously speaking to the press about it reveals a real rift within Netanyahu's administration. •Meanwhile, the military is pressing forward with the other path: an offensive on Gaza City. •However, commanders are reportedly struggling to recruit the additional 60,000 reservists they'll need for the new offensive. •Many veterans and reservists have joined growing calls to end the war, and those who favor Netanyahu's tougher approach are already on active duty carrying it out. •New recruits are hard to find among the war-weary public - up to 80% of whom want Netanyahu to strike a deal to end the war and bring the hostages home, per recent polls. It's shocking that PM Netanyahu cannot get his own sons to serve their country in wartime. PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD •Belgium said it would join Australia, Canada, France, and the UK in recognizing Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly this month. •Like the UK, Belgium has attached conditions to its recognition: Hamas must first release all hostages and relinquish "any role in managing Palestine." CHINA •Judging by the reporting from China's gathering of world leaders for this week's military celebrations, the event has been a marvelous success. •State media captured Pres. Xi having a jolly good time with his Russian, Indian, and North Korean counterparts - Pres. Putin, Prime Minister Modi, and dictator Kim Jong Un - and all seem in great spirits today for the best part: Xi's mighty military parade. NORTH KOREA •It's Take Your Daughter to Work Day for Kim Jong Un's only child, "Dear Daughter" Kim Ju-ae, who joined her father on his slow-moving bulletproof train to Beijing and is attending this week's festivities by his side. •Ju-ae - who is thought to be about 12 years old - has been accompanying her father to important parades. UKRAINE •Speaking in China, Russia's Pres. Putin told Slovak Prime Minister Fico that he'd reached a "mutual understanding" on Ukraine with Pres. Trump when the two met in Alaska last month. •He then seemed to squash hopes for a near-term peace deal by reiterating his tired refrain that the "root causes of the crisis" - i.e., Ukraine's independence and westward tilt - "must be eliminated" first. TECHNOLOGY •U.S. Federal Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered Google to share some of its search result data with rival companies to remedy Google's monopoly on search. Notably, the decision does not require Google to sell its browser, Chrome. •This was the first U.S. antitrust lawsuit against a modern tech major, and it sets a somewhat lenient precedent for how U.S. courts will regulate potential abuses of power by tech companies.
Open source reportOff Leash update 25 March 2025 VENEZUELA •Pres. Trump accused Pres. Maduro's government of "purposefully and deceitfully" sending criminals and murderers - i.e. the Tren de Aragua gang - to the U.S., and announced plans to impose a punitive 25% tariff on all imports from countries that buy oil from Venezuela - even indirectly. •The largest buyers of Venezuelan oil are China, the U.S. (via Chevron's production, which Trump has ordered to wind down), Spain, and India. Rystad Energy thinks the threat of new tariffs will lead those buyers to seek other sources of oil, which should be fairly easy for all four countries: Venezuelan oil is not a major share of total oil imports for any of them. •Separately, the U.S. resumed deportation flights to Venezuela via Honduras after striking a deal with both Venezuela and Honduras over the weekend. TURKEY •Pres. Erdogan isn't backing down from his standoff with Istanbul mayor - and potential rival for the presidency - Ekrem Imamoglu. •Erdogan had Imamoglu fired from his mayoral post and re-arrested on Sunday - just hours before Imamoglu's party planned to name him as its candidate for the next presidential election. •Erdogan accuses Imamoglu of corruption and supporting terrorism; Imamoglu says the charges against him are bogus and politically motivated. •Tens of thousands of Turks seem to side with Imamoglu: the mayor's arrest sparked the biggest protests Turkey has seen in over 10 years, and Erdogan's authoritarian response - to arrest over 1,000 demonstrators, including journalists - risks feeding protesters additional grievances against Erdogan to rally behind. GAZA •Egypt proposed a new, limited ceasefire proposal for Gaza and said Hamas responded positively to the terms, which would see Hamas release five hostages in return for Israel lifting restrictions on aid flows. •Israel said it hadn't seen the proposal yet. AFGHANISTAN •The U.S. lifted bounties on three senior Taliban officials: Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Azizi Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. •The reprieve was apparently part of a deal that U.S. envoy Adam Boehler struck when he visited Kabul last week. In return, the Taliban released a U.S. citizen who had been detained in Afghanistan for over two years. SOUTH SUDAN •South Sudan continues to edge closer to another civil war. Forces loyal to Pres. Kiir carried out airstrikes on a military base aligned with First Vice President Riek Machar near Juba on Sunday, and then arrested several of Machar's senior allies yesterday. •Kiir's side accused Machar's opposition of "scaling up their movements" and said Machar's forces had deployed a patrol "in military formation" to observe army positions. Both sides seem to be preparing to fight.
Open source reportOff Leash update 17 March COMING UP THIS WEEK •Today is St. Patrick's Day, commemorating the patron saint of Ireland, the arrival of Christianity to Ireland, and – in the U.S. - beer ☘️ •March Madness starts this week and culminates in NCAA title games April 6 (women) and 7 (men). Last year was the first year the women's final drew more viewers than the men's game. •Both DRC and the M23 confirmed that their delegates are in Luanda for Angola-mediated peace talks due to start tomorrow...maybe (more on that below). •Thursday is the vernal equinox, which marks the start of spring in the northern hemisphere - and Nowruz, or new year, in Iran. COMMODITY PRICES •Aluminum: $2,682/ton •Antimony (ingot min. 99.65% fob China): $25,450/ton •Cobalt: $36,170/ton •Copper: $9,781/ton •Gold: $2,997/toz [Gold prices surpassed $3,000/toz for the first time last week on higher demand due to expected rate cuts and concerns that tariffs will slow global growth] •Lead: $2,069/ton •Natural Gas (Nymex): $4.07/MMbtu •WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $67.51/barrel •Zinc: $2,973/ton DRC •Angola's Pres. Lourenço is mediating peace talks between DRC and the M23 due to start tomorrow. •Lourenço called on both sides to observe a ceasefire starting at midnight this morning, but they both ignored the idea. The M23 even accused DRC of escalating its airstrikes on Rwandan and M23 positions today. •Optimism for tomorrow's summit is low. •Separately, Rwanda and Belgium mutually severed diplomatic ties over Rwanda's role in the ongoing conflict (which Rwanda implausibly denies). UKRAINE •Presidents Trump and Putin plan to talk by phone tomorrow to discuss Trump's ceasefire proposal, which Putin is considering unenthusiastically. Putin wants "ironclad" guarantees that Ukraine won't be allowed to join NATO. GAZA •Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing criticism for abruptly firing Shin Bet director Rohen Bar, who is reportedly investigating some of Netanyahu's aides for wrongdoing. Netanyahu's critics say he's seeking to expand his control within the government. YEMEN •Two weeks after re-designating Yemen's Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the U.S. carried out airstrikes on Houthi arsenals and air defenses. •Iran - which backs the Houthis - vowed to "respond decisively and destructively," but the Houthis' counterstrikes on U.S. ships in the region were easily intercepted. SERBIA •Over 100,000 Serbians - and perhaps far more - protested against Pres. Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday in what some described as the largest demonstrations in Serbia's history (Vucic described it as a "large protest with enormous negative energy toward the authorities.") •Demonstrators are frustrated with the lack of government accountability over a train station collapse last November. Vucic said his government "understood the message and we will have to change ourselves," but he hasn't proposed any meaningful changes since the protests began. •Media reports accused Belgrade police of using a banned "sonic weapon" to disperse protesters, but Vucic denied the allegations as "a vile lie," saying he'd heard the weapon's sound "abroad" and "that sound was not heard on the streets of Belgrade on Saturday night." VENEZUELA •Pres. Trump invoked part of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts to deport 261 alleged gang members - including 238 from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 from the multinational MS-13 gang - to El Salvador. A U.S. court order blocked some of the deportations, but only after they'd already taken place: El Salvador's Pres. Bukele tweeted, "Oopsie... Too late." EPIC!
Open source report