Reacting to the Illegal US Abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: Black & Blanco LIVE from Washington Heights, Recorded on Jan 4, 2026

In this episode, Led and Octavio discuss the recent fall of Venezuelan leader Maduro and the implications of U.S. intervention in Latin America. They explore the historical context of U.S. influence, the human cost of political change, and the role of media in shaping public perception. 

The Uncertainty Ahead:

As the hosts reflect on the current situation, they emphasize that while Maduro's removal is a victory, it raises many questions. Octavio asks a critical question: What does this mean for Venezuelans living in the United States? Will Venezuelans living in the US consider returning to their homeland? 

The conversation shifts toward the implications of U.S. involvement and the legal and ethical questions surrounding the operation to remove Maduro. The potential for instability looms large. 

Analyzing the U.S. Involvement:

Octavio points out that the operation was executed flawlessly but questions the strategic wisdom behind it. He draws parallels to past U.S. interventions that resulted in chaos, such as the aftermath of the Iraq War, where a power vacuum led to further instability. Led echoes these sentiments, reminding listeners that this isn't the first time America has intervened in Latin America, hinting at historical patterns of occupation.

The Broader Impact

Led highlights the broader implications of this shift, suggesting that the current administration's actions may lead to a dangerous precedent. He expresses concern that this could result in further intervention in neighboring countries like Colombia and Cuba. The hosts acknowledge the potential for escalating conflicts that could spill over into the region, affecting not just Venezuela but surrounding nations as well. 

Ultimately, the incident highlights the importance of solidarity within the Latino community as we navigate these uncertain times.

The podcast includes a somber reflection on the current political landscape in Venezuela. While the removal of Maduro is a moment of hope for many, it is essential to recognize the uncertainty and potential for further conflict. The hosts urge listeners to remain vigilant and critical of U.S. foreign policy, emphasizing that the situation is far from resolved. As the dust settles, the future of Venezuela remains in flux, and the world watches closely.

The conversation also touches on local politics in New York City, community businesses, and the cultural significance of Chino Latino restaurants.

Takeaways

Maduro's fall raises questions about who will lead Venezuela next.

U.S. intervention often leads to unintended consequences.

Historical patterns show that U.S. actions in Latin America are rarely altruistic.

The human cost of regime change is often overlooked.

Media narratives shape public perception of foreign interventions.

The future of Venezuela remains uncertain amidst political turmoil.

Local leadership changes in New York City reflect broader political shifts.

Community businesses play a crucial role in cultural identity.

The loss of Chino Latino restaurants signifies a cultural shift.

Solidarity among Latino communities is essential for collective progress.

Chapters

00:00 The Fall of Maduro: A New Era for Venezuela?

02:45 Implications for Venezuelans in the U.S.

05:18 Historical Context: U.S. Interventions in Latin America

08:07 The Real Motivations Behind U.S. Actions

11:07 The Consequences of Military Actions

13:56 The Role of Oil in Geopolitical Strategies

16:30 The Broader Impact on Latin America and Global Politics

19:26 Reflections on Democracy and Political Leadership

22:34 Celebrating New Leadership in New York City

24:27 Tenant Protection and Local Governance

25:41 The Impact of Political Changes on Immigration

28:14 Understanding the Venezuelan Crisis

32:04 The Consequences of U.S. Intervention

34:56 The Role of Power and Privilege in Politics

41:06 The Uncertainty of Global Politics

44:24 Cuba's Struggles and the Impact of U.S. Policies

54:10 The Impact of the Cuban Embargo

57:27 Solidarity Among Latin American Nations

01:00:45 Erosion of Rule of Law in the Caribbean

01:03:06 The Consequences of Political Leadership

01:05:49 Reflections on History and Future

01:07:58 Community Announcements and Local Changes

Creators and Guests

Host

Led Black

Host

Octavio Blanco

What is Uptown Voices?

A podcast focused on the Uptown neighborhoods of Inwood, Washington Heights and Harlem. Our neighborhoods have a voice and we want to be heard and felt. We love Uptown.

Each episode will elevate the people here who are making a difference in the life of this community. We’re also committed to “real talk” that seeks solutions that improve the quality of life in our beautiful Uptown neighborhoods.

Led Black (00:00)
What up, what up, what up everyone. It's Lab Black and Octavio Blanco. Another Uptown Voices, Black and Blanco. After some amazing, we're live, all the way live from 212 Wash Heights. You know, and again, this is, you know, we had to go live today, right? We had some momentous news yesterday. And I think it's important that we talk about it. You know what mean? Before we, while we get people going on here,

Octavio Blanco (00:09)
Live.

That's right.

Crazy, crazy, crazy,

Led Black (00:26)
Make sure to subscribe to the podcast, show us that love. Shout out to my man, Adrian Miranda. Adrian, whatever, Adrian, who's on IG. Shout out to my brother, Adrian. ⁓ Yeah, man, this is an important thing to be discussing right now. So yesterday, we woke up to the news that Maduro is no longer. And I wanna say, first of all, there's no love lost for Maduro, right? I think Maduro had basically run the country into the ground.

Octavio Blanco (00:31)
That's right.

Yeah

Led Black (00:56)
⁓ It's funny because I talk a lot. I like to talk to people. And yesterday I went to, I was in the supermarket just conversing with my Dominican brothers and sisters. And some of them are forward, I understand. It's great for people to have the freedom that they never had. That's beautiful. And she goes, ⁓ un grupito was running the show, which is totally accurate.

Octavio Blanco (00:57)
Phleptocracy.

Yeah.

Led Black (01:22)
But my concern is that another groupito is gonna run the show and that groupito is gonna be worse. You know what mean? And I think that's part of the problem. And then another thing is, wow, that we really don't know what's happening right now. Right? So we know that Maduro is gone. We know that. Right? We saw him in custody. But yesterday during that press conference, yeah, he was wearing Nike Tech, which I thought was hilarious, which was really whatever. But...

Octavio Blanco (01:28)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes. He flashed the peace sign.

Hahaha

Led Black (01:50)
What I found interesting was that Trump on his press conference said, we are gonna run the country, right? Which that means it's an occupation, but then the government structure has just been decapitated, but it's still in existence. You know what I mean? So it's like, everyone's still in power there. So what is what? And then another thing that, you know, before we go there, I wanna say one

Octavio Blanco (01:58)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Well, I got ideas. I

got thoughts.

Led Black (02:16)
But one thing also I want to add before you give your thoughts is Machado. Like what happened to her? Like she's been completely sidelined now. Like she won the Nobel Peace Prize, which means the Nobel Peace Prize ain't shit. Like now I don't believe anything, right? Why did she get it now? Why did Obama get it? He just started his term. Like what was that about? But again, like there's so much questions. There's so much things that I just don't understand about this. Go ahead, Octavio. What are you going to say, brother?

Octavio Blanco (02:25)
Wow.

No, no, I mean look man, you've got you made all that stuff is correct for me one of the one of the big questions that I have is What does this all mean? Well, you know, let's I'll start with my big question What does this mean for Venezuelans who are living in the United States, right? Like Are they gonna be waiting and seeing and then maybe returning to Venezuela? I think that's what

this administration ultimately wants is for Latin American people who have immigrated to the United States to return to their countries. And so I think that's one of the big reasons for this. let's just do some sort of level setting here. So like you said, Maduro is gone.

I'm for that. I'm glad he's gone. Number two, the operation was flawless, right? That's interesting. So he must have had some sort of like help, some sort of help. However, like Tom Nichols, who's a writer for the Atlantic said, the strategic wisdom of doing this, deeply questionable.

Led Black (03:49)
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, yeah.

Octavio Blanco (04:01)
deeply questionable.

Led Black (04:01)
Super questionable.

Octavio Blanco (04:02)
The legal basis for doing this? None. Totally absurd. And then let's not forget the precedent that it's setting for this country and for any other country who wants to do something like that. So, you know, all these things are...

Led Black (04:13)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (04:23)
are really, really problematic. So, A, I'm glad that Maduro's out of there. But B, I don't like how it went down. I don't like how it went down. This president is, you know, what is it? The action, the ends justify the means. But not if you, yeah, might makes right. ⁓ It's just, it's wrong. I do think,

Led Black (04:40)
Mike makes right, yep.

Octavio Blanco (04:49)
In my thought when you were talking about how the people are still in power, the people that were behind Maduro are still in power. You know, we saw in Iraq a huge problem where the United States went in there and just like took out everybody that was aligned with Saddam Hussein, no matter what they said. And that created a huge problem. was called D-

Led Black (05:14)
Power vacuum,

Octavio Blanco (05:16)
De-bathification because like he was part of the his party was the bath part. Yeah So I'm not like So I'm like, ⁓ I'm okay with the fact that there were that they left people in power and my my like one day 24-hour 24-hour old view is that those are probably the people who

Led Black (05:18)
Mm-hmm the bath party. Yeah. Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (05:43)
helped the United States take him out, as long as they had a say in the future of their country. So, I don't know.

Led Black (05:52)
Yeah,

yeah, I agree, right? There's so much that just doesn't make sense. That it just does feel. And again, I want to take just a little bit what you said. Like, this is not new. This is just America returning to its old form. Right. So this is, yeah, this is is what's been happening to us. Right. Like, like if we go back, you know, to my country, Dominican Republic, right.

Octavio Blanco (06:09)
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Led Black (06:17)
We were invaded twice, had an occupation twice. In 1916, what came out of that occupation was Trujillo, and he ruled for 30 plus years, right? And then the second time we were invaded in 65, what came out of it was Balaguel. Balaguel was Trujillo's right-hand man, but he was installed in power. And Balaguel ruled to his death. motherfucker to his death bed was ruling, right? so this is not new. Every Guatemala, you know what mean?

Octavio Blanco (06:20)
Uh-huh.

Even Mexico

was invaded. Even Mexico was invaded.

Led Black (06:47)
Chile,

mean, just one after the other. the thing is that, listen, it's not about altruism, right? Like again, and it's not about Maduro, right? It's about international law and what one can get away with. And again, like I've said this before in the past that America was gonna go for Israel, right? And that's what it's doing, right? It's expansionist. It's completely disregarding any international law. It's just might makes right. And again,

It's the least competent people, right? It's Trump, it's Hegsef, right? It's all these really deplorable people that really don't even have the... Like one of the big things about this that makes it so bad is that these people are really bad at managing things, right? And so this is gonna end up really bad for everybody, even for us, right? Because at end of the day, right, you know, in theory everything could work out.

But that's not the real world. And we can actually lose a lot, right? Because of oil prices going skyrocket, right? This could become a protracted conflict that could spill over to the whole region, right? Columbia's right there. There's already Venezuelans around Latin America. Dominican Republic is full of Venezuelans. Shout out to the beautiful Venezuelan people. Mad love to them.

But what I'm saying, they've already left the country in massive amounts because of what was going on in Maduro. This could happen again, right? I do not think that the people that took charge ⁓ have the best interests of the people of Venezuela in mind. And again, I feel really bad, right? I really understand that feeling of like, hey, I'm finally free, right? That's not to be shit on. I really feel that pain. As a Dominican, we've never had to deal with that.

I mean, for the last 50, 60 years, right? But it must be a...

But I think it's, I just think it's important that, that, you know, that, that we, we, we take some time to like, this is not the right direction, right? And I don't know, you saw Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's, you know, ⁓ troll wife, she put a thing, like, she put a thing on social and it was a, it was a picture of Greenland with like the American flag on it, right? And again, she probably did that just to troll. But, but what I'm saying is this is, this is the worst, you know, this is, this is gonna lead to more.

Octavio Blanco (08:53)
you

Led Black (09:08)
Right, because it was in a sense, right, in a purely tactical, in a purely like military thing, this was impressive, right? And I'm not saying, I'm not pointing at like any kind of like good or bad on it. I'm saying for this to happen, the way it happened, it was a decapitation strike, it just very smooth in and out, right? They're gonna feel themselves more from this and they're gonna keep trying this. And that's what happened. Like if you look at World War II, right, like,

Hitler kept going, he was succeeding, right? Until he wasn't, right? You know what mean? Like I read about the Battle of Dunkirk, right? The Battle of Dunkirk, if the Nazis win that battle, it's over for everybody else, it's over for the allies. But Hitler, because he's a fucking megalomaniac, didn't want his air force to get the victory. But they could have won right there, the air force would have got rid of the rest of the stragglers.

Octavio Blanco (09:38)
yeah. yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (10:00)
That's an easy win for Nazi Germany from that point forward. But because he wanted the army that he had more control of, that he had more trust in, he wanted them to finish off the British. He allowed them to escape and fight another day and henceforth what happened. So what I'm saying is I think this kind of successful operation is going to lead to more hubris, you know, and I think it's going to lead us down a path like, okay, we took Venezuela, let's go for Colombia next. So let's go. Like I feel right now, like Cuba is in the crosshairs.

Octavio Blanco (10:28)
Well,

Led Black (10:29)
Right? Cuba's in the crosshairs, Nicaragua's in the

Octavio Blanco (10:29)
well, well, yeah, think, yeah, absolutely.

Led Black (10:32)
crosshairs. You know what mean? So this is super dangerous. And on one side note, they say this is about drugs, but I think personally that the Trump administration is gonna lose if the coke gets too expensive. What is Don Jr. gonna do? What is Marco Rubio gonna do? Like, did you see that press conference where Marco Rubio was, he was coked up. He was high as balls. Like he was just there fixing his nose. He was like, and then he's making jokes. You know what I'm saying?

Octavio Blanco (10:46)
No!

You

I mean,

he could have had a cold. He could have had a cold.

Led Black (11:00)
Yeah, he had a fucking cold. Yeah, he had a cold that he was killing

with coke. Like he was doing this shit. He looked like fucking Al Pacino, you know what mean? In Scarface. So I think for them, the coke prices might get too crazy. You know I'm saying? But no, but all seriousness, this is gonna lead to further, more disaster down the road. And I'm really, I'm kinda really saddened by it, man.

Octavio Blanco (11:08)
Hahaha

Well, you know, the whole argument that this was about drugs is completely wrong. I mean, it's just, it's just a smoke screen because first of all, fentanyl isn't created or distributed from Venezuela. According to even the CIA pre Trump, Maduro wasn't a major drug trafficker.

Most of the coke that Maduro did traffic or that Venezuela trafficked, whoever was in charge, was actually bound for Europe apparently and not the United States. Most of the fentanyl is made in Mexico and it's made from Chinese chemicals. So what this

could be a precursor for is the United States Army military going into places like Mexico and trying to take out like a cartel leader and destroy the cartel without having Mexico having a say in what's going on. And that would be also very dangerous because...

You know, these are sovereign nations. is Venezuela is not the 51st state. Venezuela is Venezuela. Canada, yeah, Canada is the 51st state. But in Venezuela, what's crazy is that what I think is obviously, think, he's already, it doesn't have anything to do with democracy. It doesn't have anything to do with drugs. It has everything to do with...

Led Black (12:42)
Canada, Canada is, Canada will be.

Octavio Blanco (13:01)
yeah.

Led Black (13:03)
Yeah, yeah.

Octavio Blanco (13:04)
has everything to do with oil. And the issue there is that China and Russia are very much aligned with Venezuela. And Venezuela's oil industry is in shambles. mean, Maduro has been a disaster. He's just a disaster as a leader. Not only is he a kleptocrat,

Led Black (13:07)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (13:32)
but and and a dictator and a despot, but he's also just a terrible manager and the state oil company hasn't been able to like produce enough oil because the infrastructure is is so terrible. It's been left to languish. So what's the big threat then? The big threat is that China or Russia come in and take over the industry and then

fix up the infrastructure, and then they control all that oil. Well, Trump doesn't want to let that happen. And so he goes in and he takes over and he gives somebody in Venezuela an offer that they can't refuse, right? Probably, you know, to control the oil. Now,

Led Black (14:14)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (14:19)
I don't know, like all of these things, all these scenarios are at the end of the day, you know, if the United States controls the oil, guess ultimately that would be good for our American interests. But just in the way that it's gone about doing it ⁓ is just absolutely, you know, horrible, just horrible.

Led Black (14:39)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

and also, you know, beyond that, right, I think one thing that no one talks about is also, you know, Venezuela was a font of, you know, they were very anti-Israel. And I think that bothered a lot of people, you know, in power, and they wanted to get rid of him for one of those other reasons. But, you know, it's funny, on the IG comments, you know, someone posted about, which is actually a true thing, right, I was reading how like,

the banks have been like short on cash and like the New York Federal Reserve has been putting billions into these banks like recently, like a lot of huge cash infusions. And I think things are worse than we know that they are. And I think these are moves to control. And I also think that like, I don't know, you saw the Trump speech yesterday. He was saying, he referred to the Monroe Doctrine and he says the Donro Doctrine, you know what mean? But again, I think that's a big deal, right? And I think this means

Octavio Blanco (15:29)
Yeah.

The darn road, yeah.

Led Black (15:37)
This is kind of a re-enslavement of Latin America. It's a course correction, right? Like we're going to reestablish our dominion over our Latin America inferiors, right? If you're on our side, you're okay. If not, we're going to do regime change. And I think that's super problematic for people of Latin America.

Right, because we're not gonna have a say, but it's problematic for the rest of the world because China's like, you know what, I'm taking Taiwan, fuck it. Y'all do that, I'm do this. You know what mean? And I think it just becomes, you know, it becomes more of a dog eat dog world. We're heading back to that. And I think it's like, we should be under no illusions of that. Like, this is not altruistic. This is not for the Venezuelan people. This is about the corporations, the oil companies and Trump's.

insatiable need for power, right? Trump is a B-Pon. He's a bottomless pit of need. He always needs to be like, he always needs to be like, my God, like the Trump Kennedy Center. Like it's just so fucking ridiculous. You know, like he has to be the font of it all. And again, that's the problem with Maduro, right? Or any other, it's the dictatorship part of it, right? Where one person and his grupito runs everything.

But that's where we're headed now. We're all at the whim of Trump. Whatever the fuck he wants to do, everyone makes excuses for it like it's normal. Like I've seen it. And again, even the so-called liberal, like the New York Times. What happened to the fucking New York Times? Like they'll say, accuses the United States of invading. No, Venezuela got invaded. They didn't accuse, right? Like they'll say, Palestinians died. No, they didn't die, they were killed. Right? So what I'm saying is like the so-called liberal establishment, they're no good either.

Octavio Blanco (16:59)
Yeah.

Led Black (17:25)
And again, it's like they could talk shit from the side about do something like we're at a point right now where we're losing this whole democracy, this imperfect thing, right? That that's not perfect, but it's worth fighting for. We're losing it all so quickly. And it's just so weird to see like, you know, that the mainstream media is really not doing anything about it. They might harp a little bit, but they never take the right, you know, they don't really take the they know what the right answer is, but they don't go for it.

Right. And again, like I turn on my computer and I turn on my phone and I'm seeing truth that I don't see on my TV. You know what mean? And I think that's getting more pronounced. think AI, all these things are going to make it worse. You can't even believe, believe what you're seeing anymore. And I just think that we're in a real dangerous place. And I think America is falling further, further behind. I think we're going to see these these these things get worse. The price fluctuations, everything is going to just get more expensive.

for us here as well. Like we are being like nickel and dime to death. know, everything's more expensive. You can make whatever you make, but it doesn't matter. We all fit in the pinch, especially after the holidays, right? You know, shit was super expensive just buying like just the accoutrement of a holiday meal, right? The cocktail shrimp and the bread and the wine and the beer. That costs way more than it did last year. You know what I mean? So.

Octavio Blanco (18:28)
Yeah.

Led Black (18:48)
I think this is overall a bad thing and it's not about Maduro, right? Like I think I want everyone to live in peace and freedom and justice and equality, but that's not the world we live in. And I think we're headed, we're headed back. We're going backwards, fast.

Octavio Blanco (19:02)
I agree that I think what that Trump has is certainly seems to be like a big reset switch for the world. And I think that there's a lot of uncertainty of what comes next because, you know, I don't know if we can continue under, you know, a MAGA

sort of doctrine or a MAGA government beyond Trump, I think that would be a disaster. So we need to figure out what it is that as a, for us as a nation that we want. And you know, that starts with our Congress and our local elections. Like Trump didn't even go to Congress. Like he didn't even follow the rules of how these things are supposed to be because Congress is basically

Erased itself from from being relevant It seems yeah, but that's what I'm saying. That's why I'm saying Congress because He was able to do this and What's what is Congress doing about it? I guess we'll see if they're do anything

Led Black (19:59)
Both sides, both sides, both sides. Yeah, yeah, both sides.

Octavio, that's not

fair. That's not fair. Chuck Schumer is writing a very tough letter right now, okay? Him and Apex and Core are writing the tough, the realest shit they ever wrote right now. They just right here like, oh, this is gonna work. They're just writing that letter. So you saying they're not doing nothing is not fair to Chuck. Chuck Schumer is working hard. Like, yeah, you're right. Like this is such bullshit. Because again, you know it's so funny, right? I get on my DMs and IG, I get a lot of hate, right?

Octavio Blanco (20:24)
They're just writing it.

Led Black (20:38)
because I trigger a lot of these people because they love Trump and the right wing so much. They don't even understand themselves. They don't even know their place in history. And I understand that. But they think that I love Democrats. Like, no, fuck them too. Fuck them too. Like, again, I'm talking about the leadership. I think the Democratic base is one thing. But the leadership, the people that have gotten us, again, we shouldn't, if we're being honest, we should not be here right now. And the reason we're here right now is because of the Democratic party. Because fucking Biden.

El Muerto, right? He just let shit slide. He let Greg Abbott just send tons of migrants to the city without doing anything about it. And it really affected people because people saw with their own eyes, right? And he did nothing about it. The only thing he cared about was Israel, right? To the very end. And then he drops out 70 days before. So again, this is their fault. We should not be here right now. And here we are.

So what saying, like, they are not gonna get us out of this problem. The Democratic establishment is not gonna help. And another thing is funny, like, I would like to make a segue from Venezuela to New York City, right? Because in a way, I think the Venezuela thing disrupted the New York City victory, right? January 1, you know, it's funny, at midnight, at midnight, Zoran was sworn in, right? In a train station that wasn't used for...

decades. What's interesting about that, that, that he chose the, that was a period where New York city government became about the people. Right. That was when, when, when it was, forgot the name of it, but it was something about like showing beauty to the average New Yorker. Right. And that's what he, what he's trying to do. And again, that speech he gave, that whole ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Right. All the speakers, my, my Mark Levine, know, come troller gave a great speech. You know I'm saying? Like,

I love that Mark speaks Spanish like one of us instead of like, you know, like the Bloomberg, all Almejante, like, you know, I like that he speaks good English. Yeah, Blumbrito. But also Jomani, Jomani gave an amazing speech, you know, and then Zoran came and put everyone, and then so did Zoran. Zoran came in and I love his wife, by the way, Rama is just like this, she's an amazing first lady. I think the first lady of any first ladies in my opinion, you know what mean? And Zoran gave a speech.

Octavio Blanco (22:38)
Yeah.

⁓ El Blumbita.

Yeah, put everybody in tears.

Led Black (23:02)
for all of New York, he shouted out Sancocho. He was like, you know, it was a beautiful, beautiful day. And what's interesting about that to me, right, is who was there. It was Bernie, it was AOC, right? And it's the new guard. Schumer wasn't there. Schumer was dumb-ass, and he was writing a letter. He was writing his letter. I didn't see him on that stage. I didn't see him. Really? I did not see him. I did not see him in any pictures of it. I didn't see him or Hakeem. Hakeem from Brooklyn.

Octavio Blanco (23:19)
No, he was, he was.

Yeah, he was. He was in the back. Yeah, he was in the back. Schumer.

Led Black (23:31)
You know what mean? The Jeffries family is a real family. I didn't see, I didn't see Schumer either.

Octavio Blanco (23:32)
I didn't see how it came,

I'm pretty sure I thought I saw Schumer.

Led Black (23:39)
I don't think so.

But regardless, that old guard is fading, know? Hopefully we can get rid of them. But what I'm saying is like, that was a beautiful moment, you know, in New York City. And I think it points to a new thing going forward. And again, we have to keep pressing on. Like, I like the speech also in its clear intentions. Like, we're gonna run this city for the people. For the people of the city, not the rich. And I think that when government gets involved in that way,

we could see a lot of change. At the end of the day though, we're still kind of under this federal system, but I think we can provide an alternative. And I think that's super important. And I think it's super, it's the only way forward at this point. Like it's either this or fleeing to your homeland if you have one.

Octavio Blanco (24:28)
And that same day after he had a super long day because let's see, he was sworn in right at midnight and then he went to the block party and that same day he announced his new tenant protection ⁓ group. It's a new government entity or a revival of a

Led Black (24:37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (24:53)
pre-existing government entity for tenant protection. And he said that the city is going to get more fully involved in the lawsuit against Pinnacle, which is one of these massive real estate firms that is running just just horrible slumlords that are making people's lives really, really difficult. So.

Led Black (25:02)
Yup.

Octavio Blanco (25:17)
It's interesting. It's really great to see that I pray for him that he's gonna do what he's gonna do now Keeping in with the with this idea of what our New Yorkers gonna do One of the things that I What that I that I wonder is let's say that Trump doesn't do anything more

send troops to Venezuela. Let's say that because he people already in power there, maybe who are a little bit more caring about Venezuelans, let's say that the Venezuelan economy improves. You know, I do think that some Venezuelans who fled would go back.

I shudder to think about this because it makes me think of Bukele and El Salvador. He's a tyrant in El Salvador. He's been very cushy with the Trump administration. He's got that massive jail, Seacat in El Salvador.

He's also gone a long way to make El Salvador safer against the gangs that had completely overrun that country. And a lot of Salvadorans, I think, are, you he's got a 90 % approval rating, apparently, in El Salvador. And a lot of Salvadorans are thinking about going back to El Salvador because they feel like it's safer.

Now I have, I did a survey of one. We had, it just turns out that we had a contractor in our apartment who happened to be from El Salvador. And we were talking ⁓ and a lot of El Salvadorans, as soon as you start talking to them, they'll come out and tell you where they stand on Bukele. And he was like, I love this guy. Bukele is my man.

and he's really made the world in El Salvador better. This guy is planning to go back to El Salvador. He already shipped all of his tools and he's like, I'm going back because the situation is better there. So I wonder if that's something that Venezuelans and others would be willing to do. Like this guy had spent

20 years in the United States. And now he's going back. ⁓

Led Black (27:47)
But you

know, and I think you're right about too, but I don't think for Venezuelans it's about wanting to go back. I'm sure some wanna go back and some will go back, but for the administration, it's about having a place to send them to, right? So if you're here from Venezuela and your papers ain't incorrect, it doesn't matter how good you've been in this country, you're going back. You're going back. This again.

Octavio Blanco (27:54)
Thank ⁓

Mm.

Led Black (28:15)
Remember, like, you have to always think about with this administration what they say and what they mean, right? So they're saying these nice, kind of nice things, but what they want is remigration. They've talked about it. They want us all to go back to our countries. They want as completely a white country as possible, which to me is the stupidest shit ever, right? Because who's gonna do the work, right? Who's gonna keep the shit running if it's not us and immigrants? But again, that's what they want.

So I don't, again, I do get, I understand Bukele, right? I understand when your country's been overrun by the gangs and there's no law and order and someone comes and gives you order, at that point you don't care about ideology. You just care about being safe. Hey, I can have a business now. I can not be extorted by the gangs. My daughters won't get hurt. My sons won't be incorporated into gangs. I understand that, like I really understand. You know what mean?

But again, it's not going to be a thing about choice. know, Venezuela, when it comes, if it comes online as an American colony, all those Venezuelans are leaving. They're going to be pushed out. Oh, yeah, I a country leave. Nice. And you can't stay here. You got to go. You know what mean? I think that's part of it. And again, if we're being honest, you know, it just does seem like one by one, these countries are all falling. Right. And they're going, they're getting governments that are pro-America. You know, Dominican Republic is that we don't even have to talk about the Dominican Republic.

been in the American camp since forever with a small little blip with Juan Bo in power. That's the thing I want to bring about too, right? Like, you know, when we got rid of our dictator, Trujillo, yes, America gave the green lights. Yes, America allowed it. Yes, America might have provided some intelligence and some weaponry, but it was the Dominicans themselves, right? They got rid of Trujillo.

We ended our nightmare. That to me is much more legitimate than what happened on Saturday, what happened yesterday, right? It was a decapitation. And again, like, this is the point we had to do this live because we don't know what's gonna be tomorrow or the next day because this shit is very fishy. It's very fishy. You know, I didn't like Machado at all. I didn't like Machado just because the way she looked like a demon when she talked and everything was like, we're gonna open this up to the multinationals.

I'm moving my embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Hey Israel, come and invade Venezuela. Hey, big money, come. I didn't like the way she talked. When she looked on TV, she's like she's dead inside. I didn't like her at all, but I find it weird that she's being sidelined. I find it weird that again, the whole Venezuelan government with just a few people is still completely intact. So this could turn out to be like where they stay in power, right?

or they stay managing the country for America and the multinational interests. So it's like, this is super important that we discuss this, because this is not, this is the beginning, right? If, know, Cuba should be very scared, right? I think there's nothing that Marco Rubio, narco Rubio would love more than be the person that gets rid of the regime in Cuba, right? Nicaragua needs to be fearful, Brazil, Colombia, right?

Again, the weird thing is that there's no way that we can manage this. Venezuela is bigger than Iraq, and we couldn't manage Iraq, right? like you said, when America took over in Iraq, they got rid of the entire Ba'ath Party. The Ba'ath Party, the whole government apparatus from one day to the next was gone, and they just became anti-government forces at that point. But again,

Octavio Blanco (31:46)
We can't manage our own country.

Led Black (32:04)
Millions of Iraqis died in the process, right? The region was completely changed overnight. More power went to Iran in a lot of ways. Iran basically almost created a puppet government out of the Iraq regime, right? So you never know the unintended consequences of this. This is a big power grab. And these power grabs, while they look pretty at the beginning, they end up being worse.

And again, like I really do feel for the Venezuelan people, right? Like I do feel like they've they've struggled so much, you know what mean? And they've lost so much. You know what mean? Like you see, like people in Venezuela, like what you see over these, they've lost so much weight because they're not they're not having a proper diet. You know, that groupito that ran it was living well, you know. And it's been again, the thing is that people don't understand is also this goes further than the rock goes further than Maduro, than Chavez. It goes back. You know what I mean? Like

At one point, know, Venezuela was the jewel of Latin America, but it was completely controlled by outside powers. No one gave a fuck about the poor Venezuelan. Right. It was just about the rich and then they had they had tons of oil and they still do. So I think they're like at the end of the day, I think the Venezuelan people are still going to get the short end of the stick. think they should like again, like someone is on our live, you know, that we exchanged, you know, DMS and, know, again, I don't know everything. This person is giving me information. You know what I mean? And I think they want the best for their country, too.

Right? But I think that no one knows where this is headed. And I don't think that the intentions are pure or proper. And I think this is going to lead us to further war. And it could really end the boomeranging on here. Where all our... Because again, everything's already more expensive than it's been in a long time. could get really bad. And we don't know. We don't know what's going on. And again, I'll just have to say that like...

America right now is on one. America is on one. They're going to continue to do whatever the fuck they want because this was a success in the eyes of the leadership in this country. And I think this is going to be very dangerous. And you know, it's funny going back to Zoran, right? What Zoran represented, right, is a new vision for this city, for this country, for people, right? What Trump represents is old, right? Trump is big because he's an old

fucking demented old man. Like he's a, he's a, he's a, know, just an old man in antiquated ways. What he's recreating is the world that he grew up in, right? Where it's, very stratified, white people at the top in this country, everyone else beneath them, lot less migration and where America runs the whole world as a see fit. But that's not the world we live in anymore. You know what mean? But again, you know, you have to say like it, it, was a power move. and we have yet, we will see where it heads.

or elites.

Octavio Blanco (34:58)
Yeah, I

mean, I think that's the that's the big thing is that it leaves us with a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen in the future. mean, even even the stated objective of controlling the oil in the Venezuela and re and giving it back after nationalization to the American companies.

That's still a really challenging move. Like, who knows? Like, first of all, the price of a barrel of oil is pretty low, relatively speaking, in terms of our history. So a lot of the oil companies aren't really that interested in investing the money into producing more oil because...

Led Black (35:30)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (35:52)
What's that going to do? It's going to bring the price of oil even lower. They don't want to do that. But wait, but wait, but wait, but wait. There's also the issue of like, who are they going to send there to do it? The actual Americans that are going to go there to rebuild, are they safe? Are companies really going to feel safe to send their staff and their people to rebuild this oil infrastructure if Venezuelans are going to be

Led Black (35:55)
But you know, I disagree in that. No, I disagree.

Octavio Blanco (36:20)
trying to pick him off, you know, I don't know.

Led Black (36:23)
Yeah, I mean, on that point,

I think you're right. I don't, Venezuela is a jewel, right? And they have the most oil reserves anywhere. So I do believe these multinationals are salivating to get in there. They are salivating to get in there. And again, because it's, and also it's not just oil, it's gold, earths. Venezuela has a lot of amazing, you know,

natural resources and who controls Venezuela controls a lot. So I do think that the multinationals have been dying again in here. I think it's funny. One of the people put on IG, you we don't know anything about Venezuela. I think I know somewhat about Venezuela. I a lot of reading, but that's that's fair, I guess. But I know a lot about America and I know about how America never does anything altruistically. My country's been invaded twice. You know what mean? So has almost every other country in Latin America has been invaded at least once.

And it has never been for the benefit of the people of that country. Right. And then another thing I want to say is that like, you know, what's wild is, you know, Trump was saying they have our oil. They took our oil and we want it back. And what he's referring to is when Travis nationalized the oil industry. Right. But that oil still belongs to Venezuela and its people. That's not your oil. So again, when he says it,

He says it was for oil. This is for oil. This is for oil. I don't get why people think it's for anything else. You know what mean? And I think that they're like, this is not gonna end well. And I wish it would. I wish that tomorrow becomes this thriving democracy where the people of Venezuela have a say in the government and the bounty of that country is used for the people of that country.

But I just think it's gonna be just switching groupitos. One groupito for the next. And even if, and this groupito might stay in power and just benefit. Like again, like when you look at the Maduro regime, there's no more idealism. There's no more like, this is for the people. This is for us and we're gonna run it as such. So there's no love laws for Maduro and his cronies. But I think the people of Venezuela are gonna lose a

Octavio Blanco (38:40)
and I think to that Instagram viewer, thank you for watching. And I think he does, I mean, it's true. I'm no expert in Venezuela itself. So I'm more concerned with what these actions have on the world stage and what these actions have in terms of setting precedent. There's also plenty of arguing about the... ⁓

You know, this president, you know, totally has no respect for the United Nations. We already know that. This president has no respect for Congress. We already know that. So this president is basically our own little dictator, and he's doing things on his own without going through the rules of law. And so what worries me is like somebody said that the

The difference between war and murder is the law. So if we don't have a rule of law, then we're just going to have murder, murder, murder going on, which is what we've seen. We've seen murders on the high seas against these supposed drug runners. Who knows what they're actually doing? They could, I don't know what they are. We've seen it. I mean, we've already seen that, you know,

Vladimir Putin is doing whatever he wants in Ukraine, but he's gonna be emboldened to do more and worse We've seen what China has been doing. What was it the night the day before? America's operation in Venezuela China had an elaborate war game simulating Simulating the invasion of Taiwan. So those are all up up for grabs if if

Led Black (40:12)
War game.

Octavio Blanco (40:22)
You know, we'll see what's going to happen. But what's scary is the uncertainty. And what's scary is that the laws that we had all sort of as a world agreed on, Trump is casting those aside. you know, Trump has never had, he doesn't feel that the rules apply to him.

because the rules have never applied to him. You know, he's always been rich. He's always been able to skirt the rules. He's always been given his wealth and he's been able to use it however he wants. So it's not a surprise that he's not gonna be, you know, abiding by the rule of law.

Led Black (41:00)
Yep.

Yeah, Trump is an avatar of white privilege, right? He's like, he is such a substandard dude, such a subpar, just such a bum, right? You know, there's lost more money than he's ever made, except for now. Now he's making tons of money. But again, it just shows you that when you're white and mediocre, know, sky's the limit for you. You know, if you're born into the right caste in America, like if you're white and mediocre and poor, you know, you're screwed. But if you're white, mediocre and in the right caste,

Octavio Blanco (41:10)
Yeah.

Led Black (41:35)
Sky's the limit, man. That's one thing is like, one thing that, Trump is president, that's fucking crazy that this, this, this vulgarian, this, this ignoramus, this dumb ass, right, could be president, says the power that whiteness still holds in the society, how it is still the most important thing you can be. Being a white man gets you into so many doors, you know,

Even on a personal level, I've always noticed that they're like, you know, that they just get certain privileges that the rest of us don't get. And I think Trump is the example par excellence of that. You know what I mean? And I think that instead of dealing with all these issues, instead of dealing with what we need to like make this for everybody, right? We're going backwards. But I got to shout out to people. I got to shout out to my brother, Mike Diaz, Juan Bagu, who's on with us. He's our pod father.

And shout out to Zaylin Perez, who's my home girl. She's amazing. She manages a lot of important artists. So got to give them a shout out. Shout out to them. And for the culture as well, shout out to them for getting on the live on RG. But yeah, man, I agree with you, Octavio. think this is such a dangerous president, and it's about my versus right. And I think this is going to lead to further incursions, further encroachment. And we're going to keep losing out. And again,

You know, it's it's like, I don't even know, to be honest, where we're at right now with this whole thing, where it's going. ⁓ I'm really, you know, I'm at a loss.

Octavio Blanco (43:04)
Yeah, it's, it's, it's,

it, we, we don't know where we're at. And, I, I wish and I hope for the Venezuelan people that this works out for them. You know, I hope so because it's a done deal. I mean, it's, it's happened. It's done. Like we're not going to do anything. We can't do anything about it. Really. I don't know what we can do about it. It's done. So I just hope that, that the Venezuelan people will.

Led Black (43:24)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (43:31)
follow through and hopefully be able to choose good leadership and hopefully not be, and hopefully, you know, having the United States being like a partner is not the destructive force that many people think it's going to be. I hope that we're a positive force. don't know if that's gonna be truly what happens, but.

I think this is a new phase. He wants to make it like the Don Roe Doctrine or whatever. I don't know what that means. I don't know if we're gonna have to send troops to Venezuela. I don't know what is gonna happen. I really don't know. So we're just gonna have to wait and see. I do, can I just, no, I just wanted to ask you about Cuba because like,

Led Black (44:15)
Yeah, this is, go ahead, I'm sorry. Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (44:26)
From what I can tell, and this is possibly just filtered information, I don't know, but Cuba's in pretty dire straits. Cuba, and it's gonna get worse because most of the oil, or a lot of the oil that Venezuela was basically fueling Cuba, literally, with its oil. Without Venezuelan oil, I don't know how Cuba is gonna sustain itself with energy.

But already Cuba was in a really, really dire strait. And I think that the Cuban people are pretty distraught about their own government. So how do we deal or how do people deal, how do governments deal? How do the people who are being governed by failed states and by failed governments deal with

their circumstances. Like, like, I don't I don't know what what what Cuba how Cubans are are able to survive on a daily basis. It's impressive.

Led Black (45:29)
But the thing is that you have to say this, right? And again, it goes back to the myths of America, right? That American democracy, it's the oldest democracy, it's always for the better, it's about the people, which is actually bullshit, right? And if we're being honest, like a lot of these regimes, they have to be repressive, right? If it's either you become part of the system,

or you get, you know, trance upon, right? Like again, so it's like, you have to look at the full picture, right? So yes, Cuba is in dire straits. It's worse than it's ever been. It's worse than the special period in the nineties, right? When the Soviet Union collapsed. It's worse than that, right? It's way worse than that. But it's also 70 years of an embargo, right? Like Cuba is the biggest island in the Caribbean. Cuba gave the world salsa, right? With song.

song music became salsa. Cuba is a font of culture, right? This huge island with these amazing people, right? But they've been under embargo for it since 50, 49, I think, you know I mean? Like 70 some years, you know what mean? So we can't take that out of it, right? Like that these regimes, if they don't do the bidding of America and just give America away, like if they don't just become managers.

you know, to, then there's a problem and then they have no choice, right? That's not defending those regimes, it's just being realistic, right? So it's either you sign up to be part of the team, right? Where you give everything away to the corporate powers that be in America, or you say, nah, this is about me. This is about me and my people, right? And then you have to create a repressive regime and that repressive regime takes on life of its own and then it becomes a little clique.

and that little click just runs it for them, right? All the idealism is gone, it's just now surviving for power, right? And everyone loses. But I just don't think there's any other dynamic for it, right? Because you can't go against America and come out winning. It doesn't work that way, not anymore. It's never been that way. And I want someone to say, this is not new, it's a remix, right? This is a remix of America. Like the term Banana Republic, right?

comes from those countries in Latin America, right? They were basically just arms of Dole, right? Of US fruit, right? And basically they put Octavio Blanco in power. Here you go, Octavio Blanco. And now you're the head of whatever country, but you're just a banana republic. We're just taking your resources and you're becoming rich, you personally are becoming rich, and your clique is becoming rich, right?

But we're going to take all the resources, right? And the thing is like America doesn't have a problem with dictatorships because look at Saudi Arabia, look at UAE, right? Like look at Orban, right? That's not, those are dictatorships, but they're dictatorships on the right side, right? They're on the America side. So that's what I'm saying is like, we also have to think about like this whole democracy thing is bullshit in a lot of ways. Like I believe in democracy. I believe that democracy is the way people can really have their interests guaranteed and protected.

But again, we don't really have a real democracy in this country, right? We don't, you know? And if we do, it just started in the 60s where black people getting the rights to vote, right? We don't go back to the founding fathers because they were slave owners and not everyone voted. So that was, it was only white men that voted with property. So that wasn't really a real democracy. It's a democracy in progress. So what I'm saying is that like, this whole notion of democracy and all that is also skewed because we never could be honest.

that sometimes these regimes and not making excuses for the regimes. But what I'm saying is that they have no choice to be repressive. Because if not, if you're not repressive, America's gonna flood your country and do an overthrow. Like for example, I'll give you an Mosaddegh in Iran in 53, right? He said, hold on. know, the British is taking all our money from our oil, hold on. So what did America do? And Britain, they fomented a coup.

against most of the day, And they install the Shah, right? So any country says, hey, you know, if we don't want that, we have no choice. But surveillance and you know, so it's almost a cash 22. So it's either you just give up everything to America and the multinationals or you fight and then you lose some of what made what was the fight about. You know what mean? I think that's something we have to be really honest about.

Octavio Blanco (49:54)
Yeah, I mean, I don't know like I I feel like at a certain point, you know a country like Cuba and God, you know Cuba is such a complicated also an issue because you're right with an embargo on it Where it can't it can't trade with the United States It suffers it suffers, you know, and then on top of that now you've got

It doesn't have any energy, so it suffers even more. So there is a lot to be said about that the misery in Cuba is, you know, due to the United States and the way that it's basically shut that nation out. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what happens there. There's a lot of uncertainty in our hemisphere now.

Marco Rubio is the architect of all of this. I know that we are putting it at Donald Trump's feet, but it's an interesting situation for Donald Trump because if it works out, then Donald Trump is a genius. If it all blows up and goes to hell, well, he's gonna just blame Marco Rubio as the architect behind it. So we'll see what happens in the future.

Led Black (50:41)
Yeah, for sure.

Octavio Blanco (51:08)
for Latin America. It's a really, really, we just have so much uncertainty. I think that one of the areas that we wanna sort of also be looking at is El Salvador and what's going on there with Bukele and whether and how that pans out because, know, supposedly El Salvador is still a democracy, right? With Bukele, he's...

He's been elected by an overwhelming margin. And that's a democracy, even though it's a disgusting democracy, especially with that CICOT prison. ⁓

Led Black (51:44)
It's a it's a

it's a deca democracy like the maker say deca is a deca democracy deca.

Octavio Blanco (51:47)
a dike, dike,

it's a dike democracy. So anyway, but, and this is the, this is what is so alluring by, about dictatorships is that when dictatorships, you know, work, well, that brings more power to that dictator because everything is sort of given to him as his flowers because he made it happen as a dictator. And I say he, because I don't know if there's ever been.

Female dictator I think there might have been one Dictators But yeah, I don't know. This is this is this is an ongoing conversation I do I have seen so many happy Venezuelans, know in the United States and in in in Doral Miami, which is like one of the biggest Venezuelan populations in the country

where a lot of rich Venezuelans fled to when things started to really deteriorate in their country.

Led Black (52:44)
Yeah, and I mean, you know, for Dominicans, you know, Venezuelans and Dominicans have become very tight. You know, we have a lot of Venezuelans as part of Dominican community now, right? In DR, there's tons of Venezuelans. So a lot of people are really overjoyed, and I don't ever want to shit on that, right? Like, I really have to respect that, right? Like, they had to flee their country that they love so much, go somewhere else, and the trials and tribulations that went with that, like, I do not want to shit on that at all. And I don't want to shit on their joy. Like, I get, like, you know, like,

Because again, to me, it's not about Maduro. I didn't have any special liking for Maduro. But I just feel like the ultimate thing won't work out for these people ultimately or for anyone. You know what mean? And that's my issue with the whole thing. like, I think that this joy will be temporary. And I think you deserve to have joy more than temporary. I feel that like it would be better off for the people on this planet to have more joy and to have lives that have meaning and dignity.

and not just, you know, poverty, but I don't see that coming from this, you know what mean? And that's where I really feel bad for everybody, right? Like I think overall, this is not gonna be this beautiful thing that just works out for everybody. I just don't see that. I've never seen an American invasion of another country work out well for the people of that country, right? And that's another thing like, you going back to Cuba briefly,

You know, Cuba with the embargo has produced a lot, right? They are very educated population. They produce, you know, vaccines, know, biomedical products. And again, it's like, I feel that if you don't acknowledge the embargo of 70 plus years and you're not really trying to be look at the the at the situation for what it is. Right. I think that both sides have have have reason to talk, but you have to look at you have to look at the situation in its totality.

to really give a reference point, you know what mean? And I think this is bad for Latin America in general. I don't think it's gonna work out well. I think it's gonna put tremendous pressure on all those islands, on all those countries. And I think those countries themselves are become more repressive, right? Because they know that there's elements within their country that are trying to sabotage, right? Like that's the thing that we can't talk about repression without talking about the sabotage and the undermining that the West does, right? Like.

The West never forgives, right? Like, so for example, Haiti had the first revolution, became the first black Republic. Haiti hasn't had peace since, right? Haiti has been exploited ever since. And then that's another thing that I wanna caution people, right? Like, I get a lot of hate sometimes from Latinos or from people because they don't read, right? They don't have a sense of history and they don't understand, not all of course, I'm saying the people that hate on me, right?

They don't understand that these things could change and circumstances could change, right? So right now, the American public is at like this tier where it's gonna, I think by 2030, it's not gonna be a developing country anymore, it's gonna be an emerging country. It's gonna change the status, right? Because it's one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the world. We're getting 11 million plus visitors a year bringing much needed revenue into the country. But you know, there was a time,

during French rule in Haiti, where Haiti was the crown jewel of France, right? Where you had these beautiful colonial buildings and for France, Haiti was more important than Canada, than all of North, than the North American holdings, right? And D.R. was this little backwater, right? Cuba at one time was the jewel of the Spanish empire, right? Or one of the jewels. And Cuba was this beautiful thing. And look at Cuba now. What I'm trying to say is they're like,

History has a funny way of changing circumstances. So we need to keep that in mind. We need solidarity for everyone. Right. So it's about the people in these countries. Like, I think that if we start looking at ourselves more as, you know, again, I'm always going to be Dominican. I'm always going to rep the art. But if we look at ourselves also as as Latin Americans with solidarity for another with kindness and like, you know, like we don't have to always agree. Right. But understand that, like that my disagreement is about ideas, not against people.

Right? That we should really show love to each other because we need each other. And we're here in America now. you know, it's here that we're Latinos, right? In our countries, we're Dominicans, Venezuelans, Mexicans, we're whatever. But here we're Latinos. Here we have some power. And the disunity is hurting us. Right? And again, I do feel that we need to... The Democratic Party needs to change or die. But the Republican Party is just MAGA. And MAGA is just a dead end for us.

And again, you're supporting this. Like there's war being waged against here, there's war being waged abroad, and the only way forward is solidarity. And I think that's underscored even more now.

Octavio Blanco (57:40)
I agree with you. Unfortunately, I do think that most people will always go for their own self interests and, you know, Cuba, Cubans and Venezuelans, think seem to, you know, they, Venezuelans got what they wanted America, I Venezuelans in the United States, it seems they got what they, what they wanted, which was

for Maduro to be taken out. I just want to say another thing, it doesn't have to do with, I mean, it's got to do with Venezuela, but it's got to do with sort of like the bigger picture of things. Like to me, it really underscores the sort of the value or this value of life. In the Caribbean, the United States has been,

murdering these these people on boats right accusing them of being drug dealers and Killing them without any evidence that they are or at least without providing any evidence that they are You know drug dealers and even if they were drug dealers, you know, just killing somebody because they're a drug dealer It's not quite is not right. I that's still

It's a murder. But they could have just murdered Maduro too, right? They could have just gone in there and just like put a bullet in his head and then left. That would have been easier. But they're giving him a trial. They're bringing him to the United States to face a jury. So it just shows to me how, you know, the people...

always gonna get the the blunt end they're always gonna get the shaft and the leaders obviously get a little bit more at least they get their life you know they get to escape with their life I mean what the United States has been doing in the the in the Caribbean Ocean killing these people is just in my opinion murder

It's not anything more than that. It's just asserting our might and murdering people. don't think it's doing any good. think that the amount of drugs, if they were even carrying drugs, that they're keeping from making it to the shores is negligible. They're just out there murdering people and kidnapping people in the United States.

Again, no rule of law, no due process. People are just getting picked up on the street and getting put onto airplanes and being sent back. So we're experiencing an erosion in our hemisphere for the rule of law and for what laws represent and for the protection that we have under the law.

Led Black (1:00:39)
Thanks.

Facts.

Octavio Blanco (1:00:46)
So if we don't have protection under the

law as Americans or as Venezuelans or as anybody, then we're really in uncharted, dangerous waters because we're not protected. And even you and I doing this show, if there's no rule of law, right, and we're not protected, then that's a scary situation to be in because...

because we don't know what is coming down the pike. so that's why I really do, I'm so grateful to be living in New York City, which is like, I feel like a protected area. It's a beacon. I hope that the rest of the country will follow in our footsteps. I hope that the rest of the country really comes around to understanding that.

Led Black (1:01:16)
Yeah.

Beacon.

Octavio Blanco (1:01:43)
Removing the rule of law is a danger. It's a danger to us. Even if it's an undocumented person, if that person doesn't get due process, which they have the right to in this country, because they are in this country, everybody in this country has the right to due process, then if we are okay with an undocumented person not getting due process, what you're saying is you're okay with you.

not getting due process. And when that happens, then that is where the real danger for our society becomes so, so entrenched. Because once that happened, getting it back is not easy, not easy. So Congress, Congress needs to step up. They need to do something to implement the rule of law.

Led Black (1:02:12)
Yep.

I agree.

I agree. I agree 100%.

Octavio Blanco (1:02:37)
I'm just glad that some people on the right are starting to wake up that this administration is just a pile of lies and that they've been bamboozled. But like, I think this is what you've said. think it, you think it's too late. I don't know if it's too late. I just think that we need to stand up and our people, our representatives and our politicians need to stand up for us. And that starts with saying, you know, protect the, protect people's rights with due process.

Led Black (1:03:07)
Yeah, I mean, listen, I do think it's too late. I think that doesn't mean you give up, right? Doesn't mean you stop fighting. I think I'm gonna work every day like I've been doing for last 15 years, right? Standing up for my community and for my city, right? I'm gonna keep doing those things and fighting for what's right. But you can't escape the compound effect of Trump's moves.

Right? So it's like, yes, I want to build this, this like workers help to build a workers paradise in New York city. And that's beautiful. And I think it's great that we provide ⁓ a beacon for the rest of the country and the rest of the world. Right? Like I think it's beautiful that, that Zoran's leading a city that's, it's a, it's a, it's a city of immigrants. And I love to see that those immigrants that don't get the shine, the East Indian cabbies, you know, all those people.

being happy to be part of something, right? And I'm totally down with that 100%. I'm gonna do everything in my power for that dream, right? But again, we cannot, every day Trump is getting up, you know, well, whatever, every day he's there making things worse and there's compounded effects of that, right? And America, Trump is leading, helping to usher in the Chinese century.

Right? He's helping to do that. And I think that there's no escaping that. You know, I made the analogy before about Kobe, how, you know, Kobe will wake up, you know, at four o'clock in the morning and shoot and play basketball to seven, right? Let's say that he will have breakfast and go play some more basketball and train and train and train and train. So when he got to that game, he was already so far ahead of you. You know what mean? And every day he got further ahead of you because he never stopped practicing.

You couldn't, you could, but for us it's the opposite. Every day, Trump's digs this country and this world into a bigger hole. Every single day. Every day. And now we started the second year of a second term, right, with this shit, right? And again, there's no escaping the broader implication of this. I would love for America to become this beacon.

on a global level and that everyone comes together for the necessities of the people, but there's too much rich people in power, they're not gonna allow that to happen. So I do think that the fight is right, we continue to fight, but in the long term, it may be what this world deserves, right? you know, as a person, you know, that has indigenous blood, African blood, right? Like my ancestors were enslaved.

Octavio Blanco (1:05:39)
Thank

Led Black (1:05:49)
You know, dehumanize, you know, there were, we already had a, like our own, like, you know, apocalypse, right? So maybe this is what this deserves is an apocalypse itself. And I think Trump is the agent of that apocalypse and he's undoing everything. And I think we lose a lot, but I think it's also our own fault that we don't realize what we're losing and we're falling for the Okie doke. And instead of looking out for people, we're looking out.

for the people that have the money and the power and the profits. So I don't think there's any escaping that. I wanna be a realist, right? Because of my study of history says this has been like such a, it's been such a marauding kind of like civilization. just everywhere it went, it just destroyed and destroyed and took and extracted. I don't see how, you know, that aggregate

evil could could lead to something good. I hope it does. I'm just I think I'm a realist and I don't don't think that that eventually. I think eventually is a good thing. Right. Eventually this thing falls apart and the world could recover. But while this thing is in power, it's going to destroy itself and we're living through it. And to be honest, I tell my kids all the time and in a way I feel fortunate. Right. I feel fortunate to be alive, to watch the beast fall. I feel fortunate to say like

Yeah, you did that to my ancestors, but I'm watching you fall now. And again, that sounds nihilistic. I get it. You know what saying? But I'm an intellectual, you know what mean? And for me, these are kind of exciting times, you know what I mean? Because I get to see the beast fall. And you know, that's how I feel about it sometimes.

Octavio Blanco (1:07:31)
Yeah, I mean.

Led Black (1:07:31)
But on another note, shout out to,

I gotta say one thing real quick because I don't wanna forget that ⁓ Noma has extended the call for artists for the 17th annual Women in the Heights. The deadline was January 5th, but now it's January 12th. It's curated by the one and only Andrea Arroyo, who we have to have on the show. And it's gonna be, think in late March, and it's gonna run for a year.

Octavio Blanco (1:07:52)
Yep.

Led Black (1:07:58)
So actually the opening is February 17th. So it's next month. you gotta, so any all women, self-identified women artists from El Barrio and Watch Hike to Harlem, go to nomanyc.org and submit. Like I said, this is the 17th annual. The theme is shade, whatever shade means to you, right? And again, it's art, photography, like, and again, Andrea Royal, you know, she's like this.

Octavio Blanco (1:08:02)
Yeah, next month.

you

Led Black (1:08:26)
just a uptown art superstar, right? She's always involved with so many things. She's so prolific. She's so woke, you know what mean? And she's a fighter for people and she's a solidarity, artist solidarity is a thing. So I encourage, if you're an artist, if you're a woman, female artist, submit. I think it's an important thing. And again, what's amazing about Noma is not just for...

established artists like Andrea Arroyo or Rose Delaire or Frank, right? Or Tom Sanford, right? It's for those other people that are kind of emerging, you know what I mean? That are trying to do their thing. And again, it puts them in the rooms with established artists and that interchange is super important. So nomanyc.org. You got to the 12th to submit, make sure you do that. And then I also want to say I'm rocking my Bachar back pages and my Tom Sanford, the Brunisher.

You know, I know we lost two games, but that's just, you know, us figuring things out. Well, yeah, we lost, we lost three, you know what mean? but, but that's just figuring, we're figuring things out. You know, we had a good streak and sometimes the losses is a long season. My concern though, to be honest with the Knicks is like, I feel that we, we let ourselves get down too early. Like every, every game we're playing catch up and then we do these amazing comebacks and win, but that's not a strategy. I think it's good because it does build character that they can perform while under the pressure.

Octavio Blanco (1:09:25)
Three.

It's a long season.

Led Black (1:09:51)
But I think going, letting these teams take a lead and then having to fight back is not a winning strategy. But I trust the team and I trust the coach, you know, to deliver. So this is our year and I'm sticking by that.

Octavio Blanco (1:10:04)
I have a couple, two little community announcements that I think are interesting. Number one, and it deals with Kugens. The Kugens location has been ⁓ empty ever since Kugens left about five years ago, over five years ago now. But there's a new tenant that's going in there. They're called Boogie Lab. It's a artisan.

Led Black (1:10:15)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (1:10:30)
Bakery and they're gonna be serving breakfast lunch and dinner So basically I think it's from like 7 a.m. Until midnight It's gonna be a new tenant in the Kugen space They presented them their their business to the community board a couple weeks ago and I'm not exactly sure when the They're gonna actually be ready to go in there

But they're coming. So that's an exciting addition to the neighborhood. Boogie Lab Artisanal Bakery.

Led Black (1:11:04)
Yeah.

And I want to say one thing about that. Like, you're right. I'm glad that there's going to be something there. You know, it's going to it's like you got Kugens left and it's been how many years since that thing has been empty. I think it's important to bring something there. My only concern in the sense is like is Delmonico's that's behind it. Right. They're opening Boogie Labs. And I'm not against people coming uptown. That's beautiful. Come uptown.

But sometimes it feels like this is the beginning of these big brands from other places that might come and displace. So that's one of my concerns. But again, I'm glad something's going there. I will check it out. I hope they bring something to the community. I know they're gonna employ people, so I'm never against that. But again, if anything, I hope that maybe some of the local people will see how things are done maybe and they do some things differently, then they continue to.

to grow and innovate, right? Because at the end of the day, that's what's gonna keep people inside your establishments. So I'm not against it. I'm just saying it's one of those things that makes me kind of a little bit worried that just becomes like other people come uptown and they take over on what we build, right? So that's my only concern, but I agree with you. I'm happy that that space is gonna be, it's gonna be inhabited. I just feel like it's hard to forget Coogan's.

Octavio Blanco (1:12:09)
Right.

Led Black (1:12:22)
and they're gonna have big shoes to fill. So, you know, I'm hopeful that it works and I'm hopeful that they care about the community.

Octavio Blanco (1:12:31)
Well, that's yet to be seen. The owners are all saying the right things. At the board meeting, they said they were going to be hiring locally, so local workers, just like Cougans did. Cougans was exclusively hiring locally. They're going to maintain a community room, just like Cougans had, where people can have gatherings, people can have meetings.

So they're trying to, I think, keep some of the Coogan's sort of ethos. There's going to be a bar, so you know, there'll be a gathering space there. So, you know, yet to be seen how they live up to ⁓ the legacy of Coogan's. But I do wish them well and...

Led Black (1:13:13)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:20)
I will be checking it out myself. I hear that the bread that they're gonna make is actually very, very good. So, you know, that'll be a good addition. know, ⁓ hopefully, hopefully, I'm gonna say hopefully it is.

Led Black (1:13:30)
Yeah. Yeah, hopefully. then while you,

on that topic, make sure you go back and see our episode with Dave Hunt. had a really good conversation. One of the former owners of Coogan. thought it was a special, you know, conversation that among many that we have, you know, I also started to shout out to Dave because he's a fan of the podcast, right? He always tells us how much he likes it. So shout out to him. And again, I think, you know, Coogan's was so important.

And you know, the good thing about Cougins is like, think in certain ways they were ready to leave. You know what mean? Like they had made peace with it in a sense, right? So again, it wasn't completely a loss and those people are so special. Rest in peace, Peter Walsh. But the team behind that was super important. And even though Cougins might be gone, they will never ever really be forgotten. You know what mean? Cougins, like I said before,

Octavio Blanco (1:14:06)
Yeah, yeah.

Led Black (1:14:22)
during the pandemic when Kugens closes, when I realized the pandemic was really, really real, right? That this is not gonna be like an overnight thing, you know, cause Kugens, as far as I can remember, was part of the community. And for them to close was like, was a shock. And it was a shock that took a long time for me personally to recover from. And when it happened, I like, I ain't gonna lie, I cried like a little baby. I was like, damn, like this is real. Like, you know, I saw them at hand times, had like a sp-

Octavio Blanco (1:14:28)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:14:49)
a spread about closing and the pictures, it hit me hard. I realized, you don't realize what's important until you lose it. RIP Cougars forever. And those people that did that created something special in our community. And Boogie Labs is going to have to put in that work because they're going into sacred ground over there, for real.

Octavio Blanco (1:15:11)
That's right. And I do have one, I guess, final update, which is also fairly sad. And this has to do with the Hudson River Sailing at Dyckman Marina. For the last few years, or for maybe even a decade or so, there's been a sailing school that operates out at the Dyckman Marina.

Work with a lot of youth they offer a they offered a summer camp for teenagers and younger my son participated in that summer camp sailing and apparently ⁓ they are being I think according to the the owners it sounds like the Parks Department is kicking them out of the marina They are so

the sailing school is going away. The sailing school does offer classes in some of the local schools here in upper Manhattan and I think those classes are gonna continue. So if your child is taking classes from the sailing school in their own schools, those are not threatened. But for people interested in learning how to sail and going out on one of the sailboats,

things that you could do at the sailing school, that's no longer gonna be available. They are still fighting to try and stay on site. They've had to present different proposals on how they're gonna use the location. I think one of the issues is that there's gonna be a new pier built in the marina that's gonna be incorporated.

I think that they might be tearing down the pier that's at the end of Dyken Street. Don't quote me on that yet. because they're doing that, they're going to build a new pier within the footprint of the marina. And I think that because of that, there's ⁓ issues. And that's why the sailing school is being, I guess, asked to leave. I'd like to have the

I'd like to have the Salem School and Parks on the show to talk about this a little bit. think it's sad thing. It's something that was so like special about our neighborhood uptown that we had this, even though a lot of people maybe may not have known that it was available. It was really cool. And I'm sad to see things like that be taken away from our, from our community because we deserve to have special, special things, special

programs and it really saddens me to hear that.

Led Black (1:17:45)
Yeah, you know, it's funny, not funny, but on that note, on December 18th, we had another More Soñando, was an amazing success at United Palace. But on my way there, I noticed the Floor de Mayo on 176 and Broadway is closed down. And that to me hit me hard, you know what mean? I'm a big FDM fan. Floor de Mayo is like, you know, I grew up in this neighborhood when I was a kid, you you either ate at home,

And when the few times we went out, went to Chino Latino restaurants. So Chino Latino is part of the experience of being a Latino in New York City. Before I had ever tasted Chinese, regular Chinese food, I had Chino Latino food. And it was food that the Chinese people from Latin America made. it's near and to my heart that that food is bringing back so many memories.

And so just to say the two other floor, their modules on 84th and a hundred and a hundred and first, whatever, they're still around. They're still in existence, but the one on one in 76 and Broadway is no longer there. And to me, it's such a loss. Like I love that place. That place is really good. I posted about it on IG and I had, know, while some people complained a lot about some of the things there. And I think what happened originally is that they didn't have their liquor license.

for a long time. So, you know, when you go in there for your food, you also want the Nutcrackers. They're the original Nutcracker makers, right? And you couldn't get that. And, you know, I think that hurt them a lot. And I think it hurt them, people coming in. But I'm going to miss them. know, it sucks that I got to go to 100th Street now, you know, to get my FDM fix on, you know what I mean? Because I think Florida Mario was just a special place. And it reminds me of my childhood of the food that I grew up eating, right? And again, it's a loss for the community, I think.

Octavio Blanco (1:19:15)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:19:38)
And I think sometimes, you we don't realize how we got to support our stuff, right? Like we, you know, it's not perfect sometimes. I was upset too that I couldn't get a nutcracker with my meal, right? But you know what I mean? You you persevere and you enjoy and you support. And again, I know the first few weeks of something, it's not going to be the same as, you know, it takes a while to get that groove. And I think they started to get into the groove.

but I think it took too long for the liquor license. once they got the liquor license, then you start from there and you start making a little bit of money. I'm glad that they're still open other places, it's sad that they longer uptown. They belong uptown. And I think we need a new Chino Latino spot, a real Chino Latino spot uptown, because also the one, Dinastia on 171st and Broadway is no longer around either. And they were another excellent choice for Chino Latino food. They're gone, gone. I haven't seen them in months.

Octavio Blanco (1:20:18)
Yeah.

Are they gone gone?

Led Black (1:20:34)
You know what mean? And so they're gone, gone. And I like that place too. know, get chicken with broccoli, fried rice and tostones. You know what I mean? Like, I think the idea of Chinese tostones, I love it, right? That, you know, that they could take something from another culture, but that's also their culture. And it's beautiful. You know what I mean? And I love that energy of kind of hybridization, right? Take it from here and doing this and there's so much culture and food.

And I think it's a loss when we lose these Latino places. Again, that's part of my childhood. You know, that's the place my mom felt comfortable going in because she could speak Spanish and they will understand her. And then they will make Chinese food, also with Latin flavors and and Latin dishes. And I think there's not that many places left. There's still Sabra Suda in the Bronx. They had three locations. I only have two. So you go there, but there's not that many. And I think that's part of like

You know, old NYC culture is super important. It's sad that we lost two outposts of that uptown.

Octavio Blanco (1:21:33)
Yeah, I'm sorry to see, I'm sorry to hear that they're gone. And I'm also sorry that they, I don't know how to say it, but like, you gotta, when you start a business, there's so much uncertainty that you gotta make sure that all your I's and all your T's are dotted and crossed. And for a restaurant, if you don't have a liquor license, that's a real struggle. Margins on restaurants are really, really tight. And so the liquor license is usually,

make or break and so if you don't have it when you go live you're you're going to be in trouble so just make sure entrepreneurs out there you know make sure that you're that you're crossing your eyes and doubting your teeth and to that to that to that point our next our next our next guest is going to be the head of the washington heights

Led Black (1:22:06)
Yeah, for sure.

Octavio Blanco (1:22:24)
Chamber of Commerce so you know make sure that you if you're an entrepreneur that you tune in She's gonna be we're gonna be interviewing her next week, and so that will be the week later that she's gonna be on on you know published for for you to to to watch That's it for me, it's a tough it was a tough show today. It's tough to talk about

Led Black (1:22:42)
Yes, sir.

Octavio Blanco (1:22:49)
all these about what's going on in Venezuela. Like beyond everything, I hope that the message came through though, that we really do wish that for the Venezuelan people that this brings freedom and prosperity, even though history has shown us that when the United States intervenes in regime change, especially in Latin America.

freedom and prosperity for the people is usually hard to get.

Led Black (1:23:23)
Facts. Yeah, everyone, don't forget to subscribe. You know what mean? This is your uptown voices. We really try to really be true to that moniker, right? So this is where you get your information. Subscribe, tune in on a weekly basis. And we're gonna keep giving our truth, you know, to the people, right? Spread love is the uptown way. See y'all in the next episode. Thank you.