Avery Schmitz

Capturing a president: CNN analysis reveals extraordinary risks taken to seize Maduro | CNN The audacious US operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro came down to an intense final firefight in which US helicopters were exposed to an extraordinary level of risk as they descende...

New: We reconstructed how Maduro was captured used eyewitness videos & helicopter flight paths and found the operation came down to two critical minutes.

edition.cnn.com/2026/01/23/a...

@isaacyeephoto.bsky.social @averyschmitz.bsky.social @thomasbordeaux.bsky.social @allegragoodwin.bsky.social

Capturing a president: CNN analysis reveals extraordinary risks taken to seize Maduro | CNN The audacious US operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro came down to an intense final firefight in which US helicopters were exposed to an extraordinary level of risk as they descende...

NEW: We reconstructed the US operation to capture Venezuelan President Maduro

Visual evidence reveals 2 crucial minutes + an intense firefight when US forces faced extraordinary risk

w/ @isaacyeephoto.bsky.social @thomasbordeaux.bsky.social @katiepolglase.bsky.social @allegragoodwin.bsky.social

Great video by @averyschmitz.bsky.social (with some narration help by me 🤭) taking a look at what the US military has built up in the Caribbean.

Here’s what the US military has positioned in the Caribbean as Trump pressures Venezuela | CNN The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months, conducting training missions off the coast of Venezuela, reopening a...

And since mid-August, 3x P-8 Poseidon aircraft crossed the Atlantic into the Caribbean theater, suggesting that they may have been diverted from surveillance operations in Eastern Europe

Check out our story: www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/w...

Last week, the US flew B-52 bombers near Venezuela’s coast, reaching just 48 miles from Los Roques, a small Venezuelan island archipelago of a few thousand residents

@thomasbordeaux.bsky.social tracked them down in these Sentinel-2 shots bsky.app/profile/thom...

Here’s what the US military has positioned in the Caribbean as Trump pressures Venezuela | CNN The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months, conducting training missions off the coast of Venezuela, reopening a...

NEW: We tracked over 200 US military flights conducted in the Caribbean since mid-August by 83 separate aircraft, including intelligence-gathering planes and tankers used to refuel jets in midair

With @natashabertrand.bsky.social
www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/w...

Here’s what the US military has positioned in the Caribbean as Trump pressures Venezuela | CNN The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months, conducting training missions off the coast of Venezuela, reopening a...

The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months. Here’s what’s been positioned as Trump pressures Venezuela (and, increasingly, Colombia): www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/w...

Inside the cartel networks recruiting young Americans on social media | CNN A young mother tells CNN how she was lured into recruiting migrant smugglers in the US after seeing a promise of easy money in her feed.

NEW: We spent 6 months digging into the cartel networks recruiting Americans as smugglers

Uncovering hundreds of recruitment posts and speaking with cartel recruiters + law enforcement about their tactics

With Norma Galeana, David Culver, and Evelio Contreras:

Just Beyond the Texas Border, Chihuahua Is Launching a Burgeoning State Surveillance System The 20-story Torre Centinela looming over Juárez is part of a much larger AI-powered network that won’t stop at the U.S.-Mexico divide.

NEW: Chihuahua, Mexico's most sprawling state, is building a surveillance system.

Once complete, it'll have almost 10K cameras, including some w/ facial recognition capabilities.

Authorities offered to share access with US police—including Texas DPS. 🧵

www.texasobserver.org/texas-chihua...

NEW: what’s happening at one Iranian nuclear site following US airstrikes

YouTube video by CNN CNN analysis explores cause of deadly Dominican nightclub roof collapse

235 people were killed in April when the roof of the Jet Set nightclub came crashing down during a packed concert. We found that for years before the collapse, structural issues and warning signs went unaddressed. w/ @stepozzebon.bsky.social and @averyschmitz.bsky.social for CNN youtu.be/H5UpgvxSc1A

YouTube video by CNN CNN analysis explores cause of deadly Dominican nightclub roof collapse

NEW: How structural flaws reduced a Dominican nightclub to rubble

Watch our investigation of the Jet Set club collapse which killed over 230 people in April

From @stepozzebon.bsky.social, @thomasbordeaux.bsky.social, Anyi Lizardo, Maddie Araujo, and me:
youtu.be/H5UpgvxSc1A?...

Amid violence in northwest Syria, some appear to be seeking protection from Russian forces there

New satellite images from Maxar show throngs of people and cars crowding an entrance Khmeimim Air Base earlier today--less than 20km from central Latakia

📸: Maxar Technologies

Por qué la Armada Argentina se está desplegando para vigilar cientos de barcos pesqueros chinos frente a su costa | CNN El avión de hélice P-3 gira bruscamente, silueteado contra docenas de luces brillantes en el mar frente a un atardecer argentino. A medida que la cámara recorre la escena, queda claro: las luces deslu...

En Español -- Por qué la Armada Argentina se está desplegando para vigilar cientos de barcos pesqueros chinos frente a su costa

On just one afternoon, >80% of fishing vessels in the fleet were sailing under the Chinese flag

A further 10% were Spanish and 5.5% were registered in either the UK or Malvinas/Falkland Islands

🗺️ by Renée Rigdon

Satellite imagery captured Feb. 28 shows Chinese fishing vessel Ning Tai 52 among the fleet

A former crewmember accused the ship’s parent company of employing forced labor practices in a 2021 @greenpeace.org report

🛰️ 📷 shared by @planetlabs.bsky.social

CNN video analysis finds hundreds of Chinese boats suspected of illegal fishing | CNN A fleet of more than 550 fishing trawlers could be seen from space in an area of international waters near Argentina that’s notorious for illegal fishing. A CNN video analysis found that more than 80%...

Foreign fleets harm Argentine fishermen, according to union leader Dario Socrate--he estimates that local fishermen could catch double what they do now without them

📽️ produced by @mackenziehappe.bsky.social

Why Argentina’s military is deploying to surveil hundreds of Chinese fishing boats off its coast | CNN The Argentine military is ramping up efforts to combat these fishing operations in a region experts warn is on the brink of environmental collapse.

NEW: Argentina’s military is deploying to surveil hundreds of Chinese fishing boats off its coast. Here’s why:

From me, @isaacyeephoto.bsky.social, @yong.bsky.social and Betiana Fernández Martino

We are proud to announce the launch of Evident — a nonprofit news organization producing documentary journalism for the public good — here on Bluesky.

Evident is building a new kind of newsroom powered by a team of journalists that is covering crucial stories for public good.

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show the aftermath of large-scale burning in Zamzam's central market

About half of the market was torched, according to @hrl-yalesph.bsky.social analysis

Read our full story here:
cnn.com/2025/02/14/a...

Paramilitary forces raid Sudan’s largest refugee camp | CNN Fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have torched parts of Sudan’s largest refugee camp, firing indiscriminately at people, including women and children, according to open-sou...

NEW: Paramilitary forces raid Sudan’s largest refugee camp

"Several stray bullets flew over our heads, and a victim fell right in front of me," an eyewitness told us.

From me, Aleena Fayaz, and Kaila Nichols:

US spy planes hunt for intel on Mexican drug cartels as surveillance flights surge near border | CNN Politics The US military has significantly increased its surveillance of Mexican drug cartels over the past two weeks, with sophisticated spy planes flying at least 18 missions over the southwestern US and in ...

The Defense Department has "historically flown only about one surveillance mission a month... typically, officials instead focus these planes on collecting intelligence on other priorities, such as Russian activity in Ukraine or hunting Russian or Chinese submarines."

These flights have spanned the U.S.-Mexico border with missions in California, Arizona, and Texas, open-source data shows

Map by Renée Rigdon

US spy planes hunt for intel on Mexican drug cartels as surveillance flights surge near border | CNN Politics The US military has significantly increased its surveillance of Mexican drug cartels over the past two weeks, with sophisticated spy planes flying at least 18 missions over the southwestern US and in ...

NEW: We identified 18 US military flights gathering intelligence on cartels in Mexico since Jan. 28

These missions show how the Trump admin is quickly shifting national security resources to the border

From Katie Bo Lillis, Priscilla Alvarez, @natashabertrand.bsky.social and me

US spy planes hunt for intel on Mexican drug cartels as surveillance flights surge near border | CNN Politics The US military has significantly increased its surveillance of Mexican drug cartels over the past two weeks, with sophisticated spy planes flying at least 18 missions over the southwestern US and in ...

The US military has significantly increased its surveillance of Mexican drug cartels over the past two weeks, with sophisticated spy planes flying at least 18 missions over the southwestern US and in international airspace around the Baja peninsula.
www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/p...

New DEA Chief’s Background Includes Surveillance Tech and Border Misinformation Derek Maltz formerly worked at PenLink, a Nebraska-based tech firm that has sold software that can track phone locations without a warrant to agencies like ICE and Texas DPS.

NEW: Derek Maltz, Trump's pick to lead the DEA, formerly worked at PenLink, a Nebraska-based tech firm that has sold software that can track phone locations without a warrant to agencies like ICE and Texas DPS.

www.texasobserver.org/dea-derek-ma...

Hey @lemonodor.bsky.social! Can you shoot me a DM?

Border Vigilantes Are Blurring the Lines of Law Enforcement Armed groups in Arizona and Texas are collaborating with and courting police and immigration agents—with alarming results.

“If the facts as you just stated are true, then apparently some people are above the law.”

From @francescadnunz.bsky.social and @averyschmitz.bsky.social in 2024: Citizen militias are illegal in both Arizona and Texas, but in some cases police appear to be tacitly approving border vigilantism.

Fighting Fires—and the Rumor Mill—as L.A. Burns ‘The worst I’ve ever seen.’ Skyrocketing misinformation is forcing public officials to adopt a new playbook when tragedies hit their communities

"LAFD Capt. Erik Scott has one of the most intense jobs in the nation right now: trying to distribute accurate public information during a historically destructive urban fire in America."

Misinformation is a growing problem for frontline workers... www.wsj.com/us-news/los-...

A visual timeline of the New Year’s attack that left at least 14 dead in New Orleans | CNN New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street devolved into a grisly crime scene just hours into the new year as a driver plowed a pickup truck through crowds of holiday revelers, killing at least 14 people and i...

NEW: Using visual evidence, we pieced together how the Bourbon Street attack unfolded on New Year’s Eve, killing at least 15 people

From Caroll Alvarado, Elizabeth Wolfe, and me