Two days ago, I woke up and texted our boss, Rebecca Lavoie, asking if she wouldn't mind if I swapped out our originally planned episode for something else.

She said yes, so I wrote this.

Civics 101 was not designed to be a news responsive show, and it will continue to be the place you can turn to

for the basics of American democracy, laws, and systems, whether they are in the headlines or not.

But we also believe it is our responsibility to help people understand what is happening right now.

So, hi, Nick.

Hello, Hannah. Heads down, thumbs up. I am Hannah McCarthy. I'm Nick Cappadice.

And this is Civics 101. And this is your guide to what is going on vis-a-vis America slash

Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, and President Donald Trump's plan, or at least what we know of it.

We are going very 101 with this, because that is why we exist. So first, Nick, what just

happened in Venezuela? Well, on January 3rd, the United States military conducted a quote-unquote large-scale

strike, as they're calling it, in Caracas, the capital Venezuela. As of this point, Venezuela is saying

that 40 people were killed, including military and civilians, and the U.S. military captured

Venezuelan president, Nicholas Maduro, and his wife, Celia Flores.

They put them on a plane. They brought them to New York.

And I know that there are federal charges against them.

Yeah. So, anyone wondering what's going on here?

Yeah, Hannah. I am. Me.

I'm going to do my best. Stay tuned. Okay, before we can talk about what just happened in Venezuela and what is supposedly going on,

and what else looks like it's going on, I think we need to establish something very basic.

Venezuela, what do you know about it, Nick?

All right, so it is at the very northern tip of South America, I know that much, next to Columbia.

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