By Alejandra Jaramillo, Lex Harvey, and Rocio Munoz, CNN

(CNN) — A Venezuelan opposition leader recently freed from prison reunited with his niece Tuesday during the State of the Union address, as President Donald Trump touted the US military operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro.

In his speech, Trump drew attention to Alejandra Gonzalez, who was in the audience, saying she shared a special bond with her uncle Enrique Márquez.

“Alejandra, I’m pleased to inform you that not only has your uncle been released, but he is here tonight,” Trump announced, before Enrique Márquez walked into the House chamber where he embraced her as lawmakers applauded.

The heartwarming and surprise reunion came against the backdrop of major political changes in Venezuela following Maduro’s ouster on January 3. Since then, the US has put pressure on acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, to release hundreds of political prisoners jailed during almost three decades of authoritarian rule.

Márquez, a 2024 presidential candidate for a centrist party, was among the first to walk free last month. He had been held in the notorious El Helicode prison since his arrest in January 2025. He was accused of being involved in an attempted coup after he questioned Maduro’s victory in the election.

“Alejandra feared she would never see her uncle again,” Trump said.

“Since the raid we have worked with the new leadership and they have ordered the closure of that vile prison and released hundreds of political prisoners already, with more to come.”

Trump, who largely focused on domestic issues during his speech, called Venezuela a “new friend,” and a “partner.”

Venezuela has released more than 400 political prisoners since the US dramatically removed Maduro, according to the country’s leading human rights organization Foro Penal.

Hundreds of political prisoners are still locked up, according to human rights groups, and many of those released so far have faced restrictions and conditions such as travel bans, periodic court appearances and gag orders.

Last week, Venezuelan lawmakers passed a new bill granting amnesty to people who were prosecuted or convicted for political reasons, paving the way for hundreds more releases.

After signing the law, Rodríguez described it as “an extraordinary door for Venezuela to reunite, for Venezuela to learn to coexist democratically and peacefully, for Venezuela to rid itself of hatred, of intolerance, let it open up to human rights.”

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said Venezuelan authorities had received more than 1,500 requests for amnesty by Saturday.

During his Washington address on Tuesday, Trump awarded US helicopter pilot Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover a Medal of Honor for his involvement in the operation to capture Maduro.

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Por Daniel Dale

El presidente Donald Trump realizó una serie de afirmaciones falsas en su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión durnate la noche de este martes.

Aquí hemos compilado una verificación de datos de algunas de las declaraciones que el presidente Trump realizó:

Trump repitió su habitual discurso con la afirmación falsa de que ha asegurado US$ 18 billones en inversiones en EE.UU. desde que regresó al cargo: “En 12 meses, aseguré compromisos por más de US$ 18 billones que llegan de todas partes del mundo.”

La cifra de US$ 18 billones es ficticia. Hasta la noche del discurso de Trump, el propio sitio web de la Casa Blanca decía que la cifra de “anuncios de inversiones importantes” durante este período de Trump era de “US$ 9.7 billones” y eso incluso es una gran exageración.

Una revisión detallada realizada por CNN en octubre encontró que la Casa Blanca estaba contando billones de dólares en promesas de inversión vagas, propuestas que trataban de “comercio bilateral” o “intercambio económico” más que de inversión en EE.UU., y declaraciones sin concretar que ni siquiera llegaban al nivel de compromiso.

Trump afirmó que los precios de la gasolina “ahora están por debajo de US$ 2,30 el galón en la mayoría de los estados, y en algunos lugares, US$ 1,99 el galón.” Pero ningún estado tenía el martes un precio promedio de gasolina por debajo de US$ 2,37 por galón, según la AAA.

Solo dos estados tenían un promedio por debajo de US$ 2,50 por galón.

Y aunque hay algunas estaciones de servicio individuales que venden gasolina por debajo de US$ 2 por galón, son escasas.

Patrick De Haan, director de análisis de petróleo de la firma GasBuddy, declaró durante el discurso que la firma encontró solo cuatro estaciones en todo el país con precios inferiores a US$ 2 (aparte de descuentos especiales) de unas 150.000 que la firma rastrea, es decir, aproximadamente el 0,00003 % del total.

Trump podría decir con justicia que los precios de la gasolina han caído durante esta presidencia. Han disminuido de un promedio nacional de US$ 3,12 por galón en su día de inauguración en enero de 2025, según la AAA, a un promedio nacional de US$ 2,95 por galón este martes.

Además, Trump afirmó: “Y cuando visité el gran estado de Iowa hace solo unas semanas, incluso vi gasolina a US$ 1,85 el galón.” No sabemos qué vio Trump, pero el precio promedio de un galón de gasolina regular en Iowa el día del discurso del 27 de enero era de US$ 2,57, según los datos publicados ese día por la AAA.

Patrick De Haan, director de análisis de petróleo de GasBuddy, manifestó a CNN en ese momento que GasBuddy encontró solo cuatro estaciones en el estado vendiendo a US$ 1,97 el galón (aparte de descuentos especiales) de un total de 2.036 que la firma rastrea, es decir, el 0,19 % del total.

Trump fue corregido sobre este tema por un asistente al discurso en Iowa al que se refería. Cuando habló de la gasolina en Iowa a US$ 1,95 o US$ 1,85 por galón, alguien en la multitud gritó: “No, US$ 2,63”, según el reportero de CNN Steve Contorno, que estaba en el lugar.

Contorno vio que la estación de servicio justo fuera del lugar donde habló Trump vendía a US$ 2,69 por galón.

Trump afirmó falsamente que cuando dio su discurso anterior al Congreso a principios del año pasado, él

By Brad Lendon, Simone McCarthy, CNN

(CNN) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has taken his purge of the country’s military to the very top, targeting his highest-ranked general in a stunning move last month. But Xi’s shake-up cuts across a much wider swath of his armed forces –– with more than 100 officers potentially ousted since 2022.

A new report from a prominent Washington-based think tank reveals just how deeply the anti-corruption drive has reached into the ranks –– and why operationally, that could result in serious unintended consequences for Xi.

Thirty-six generals and lieutenant generals have been officially purged since 2022, while another 65 officers are listed as missing or potentially purged, the report published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found.

The sweeping clear out is part of Xi’s longstanding drive to clean up China’s military as he continues to tighten his grip on power and drives forward a major military modernization.

But the scope of this “unprecedented purge of China’s military,” raises questions about its readiness to carry out complex operations, the report’s authors say.

When accounting for positions that have been purged more than once, 52% of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 176 top leadership positions have been affected, said the report.

“This figure is striking and extraordinary, demonstrating the depth of Xi’s campaign and the unprecedented churn in the PLA leadership,” wrote M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the report’s nine authors.

Not just top brass

Cleaning up rampant graft in China’s military has been a cornerstone of Xi’s rule since he took power more than a decade ago. But a new wave of this purge in recent years has seen those close to, or appointed by, the leader himself taken down.

Official notices typically accuse these officers of corruption or violations of “discipline and law,” but discerning the forces behind these moves is challenging within the notoriously opaque PLA.

While the targeting of top leaders –– like top-ranking general Zhang Youxia and joint operations chief Liu Zhenli, who were placed under investigation in January –– has drawn headlines, the report says the extension of the purge to lower-level officers means Xi would have to turn to officers with much less command experience, and zero experience in actual combat, to lead military operations.

That could limit the scope of military campaigns the PLA could take on, the report says.

The gaps left in PLA top ranks can be seen in the pool of officers in line to take over one of the military’s five theater commands. With the purge of 56 deputy theater commanders, the pool of those who can take over one of those five commands has been culled by more than 33%, the report said.

Bonny Lin, another of the report’s authors, says the purges might have already been reflected in PLA readiness.

She notes that PLA exercises around Taiwan in response to “problematic” behavior by the self-governing island took substantially longer to implement in 2025 – 19 and 12 days – compared with just four days in 2024.

The Taiwan question

The loss of top leadership brings into question whether the PLA leadership could conduct an “incredibly complicated and risky” invasion of Taiwan in the next few years, especially noting moves by t

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, Jennifer Agiesta, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address drew largely positive marks from a heavily Republican audience, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

But it didn’t fully convince significant shares of even that friendly audience that he’s focusing on the nation’s most important problems or that he’ll lower the cost of living.

Nearly two-thirds of speech-watchers said they had at least a somewhat positive reaction to Trump’s speech, with a smaller 38% offering a very positive response. That’s a few points cooler than the reception to his address to Congress last year and falls below the ratings for his first-term speeches in CNN polling. It’s similar to the ratings that former President Joe Biden saw during his last year in office.

Good marks from speech-watchers are typical for presidential addresses to Congress, which tend to attract generally friendly audiences that disproportionately align with presidents’ own parties. In CNN’s speech reaction polls, which have been conducted most years dating back to the Clinton era, audience reactions have always been positive.

The pool of people who watched Trump speak on Tuesday was about 13 percentage points more Republican than the general public.

Trump’s speech seemed to rally some who watched it. In a survey conducted prior to the speech, 54% said they believed his policies would move the country in the right direction; afterward, 64% of the same people said his policies would take the country down the right path. The share who believed Trump has had the right priorities stood at 44% prior to the speech and 54% immediately following its conclusion.

In the pre-speech survey, a majority of viewers said they most wanted to hear Trump talk about the economy and the cost of living. But nearly half of the audience, 45%, said that, based on Trump’s speech – which set a record for the longest State of the Union address – he was focusing too little on the issue, with 53% saying he’d given the issue the right amount of focus.

Speech-watchers were about evenly split on whether Trump’s handling of tariffs was an appropriate use of power, or whether it represented an overstep on his part. And just 31% expressed a lot of confidence in the president to make the cost of living more affordable, with 29% saying they had some confidence in him to do so and 40% that they had none at all.

Following the address, 62% of speech-watchers said both that Trump’s economic policies and his immigration policies would move the country in the right direction.

While the economic numbers are identical to his ratings after last year’s speech, Trump’s numbers on immigration represent an erosion to first-term levels, when the issue stood as one of his most significant political liabilities. The minority of speech-watchers who were dissatisfied with his level of focus on immigration were more likely to say he’d paid the issue too much attention (38%), not too little (6%).

Forty-five percent of speech-watchers said they had a lot of confidence in Trump to provide real leadership for the country, and 43% expressed a lot of confidence in him to use US military power responsibly, with 38% saying they were highly confident in him to make the right decisions about Iran.

While State of the Union addresses have long been seen as a chance for the president to shift public perception of his efforts, history suggests that the speech is unlikely to have much

Por Casey Tolan y Isabelle Chapman, CNN

Decenas de entrevistas a testigos del FBI en la investigación de Jeffrey Epstein parecen faltar en el enorme conjunto de archivos publicados por el Departamento de Justicia el mes pasado, incluidas tres declaraciones relacionadas con una mujer que acusó al presidente Donald Trump de agredirla sexualmente hace décadas, según una revisión de CNN.

Un registro de evidencia proporcionado a los abogados de Ghislaine Maxwell, socia de Epstein, incluye números de serie de alrededor de 325 documentos de entrevistas de testigos del FBI, pero más de 90 de esos materiales, alrededor de una cuarta parte de la lista, no parecen estar presentes en el sitio web del Departamento de Justicia, arrojó la revisión de CNN.

Entre esos registros faltantes hay tres entrevistas relacionadas con una mujer que denunció a los agentes que Epstein había abusado de ella repetidamente desde que tenía aproximadamente 13 años, y también acusó a Trump de agredirla sexualmente.

Un legislador demócrata señaló el martes los documentos aparentemente faltantes para cuestionar el alcance de la divulgación del Departamento de Justicia y si la administración Trump cumplió con la ley que obliga a la agencia a publicar sus archivos relacionados con Epstein, el rico financiero que murió en una cárcel federal en 2019 mientras enfrentaba cargos de tráfico sexual.

“Tenemos a una sobreviviente que hizo graves acusaciones contra el presidente”, declaró a CNN el representante Robert García, el demócrata de mayor rango en la Comisión de Supervisión de la Cámara de Representantes. “Pero hay una serie de documentos, y al parecer posibles entrevistas, que el FBI realizó con la sobreviviente y que están realmente desaparecidos, a los que no tenemos acceso”.

Trump ha negado sistemáticamente haber actuado mal en relación con Epstein.

En un comunicado, la Casa Blanca calificó las acusaciones contra Trump de “falsas y sensacionalistas” y señaló una declaración previa del Departamento de Justicia que afirmaba que “algunos documentos contienen afirmaciones falsas y sensacionalistas contra el presidente Trump”.

Los detalles sobre los documentos faltantes relacionados con la acusadora de Trump fueron informados previamente por NPR y el periodista independiente Roger Sollenberger.

Un portavoz del Departamento de Justicia negó que se hubieran eliminado registros de Epstein y enfatizó que el departamento estaba cumpliendo con la ley.

“No hemos eliminado nada y, como siempre hemos dicho, se presentaron todos los documentos pertinentes”, declaró el portavoz. Los documentos no incluidos en el comunicado eran “duplicados, confidenciales o parte de una investigación federal en curso”, añadió.

El Departamento no respondió a preguntas adicionales sobre archivos específicos.

Es posible que algunos de los documentos a los que se hace referencia en los registros de evidencia de Maxwell puedan estar presentes en otras partes de los archivos sin los números de serie, o con esos números de serie redactados.

Muchos documentos también han sido eliminados y reincorporados al sitio web de los archivos de Epstein del Departamento de Justicia durante las semanas transcurridas desde su publicación inicial.

La semana pasada, el análisis de CNN reveló que faltaban alrededor de una docena de informes de entrevistas adicionales, pero estos estaban disponibles en línea hasta el martes por la tarde.

Uno de los dos registros de pruebas también estuvo fuera del alcance la semana pasada, pero ahor