Samantha Schmidt

Washington, D.C.

Bogota Bureau Chief at The Washington Post

Bogotá bureau chief for @washingtonpost, covering South America. Costa Rican, Minnesotan, she/her/ella. [email protected]

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Articles

Rubio and Grenell, Trump’s dueling diplomats, clash over Venezuela

1 week ago | unionleader.com | Karen DeYoung |Samantha Schmidt

Three House Republicans from southern Florida nearly derailed passage of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending package this week in protest of an apparent presidential reversal of sanctions on Venezuela. The three Cuban American lawmakers finally agreed late Wednesday to go along with the package after Trump agreed not to extend a Treasury Department license allowing energy giant Chevron to continue to produce and export Venezuelan oil.
As a boy in El Salvador, Abrego García feared gangs, avoided recruitment

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Samantha Schmidt

As a boy in El Salvador, Abrego García feared gangs, avoided recruitment (washingtonpost.com) As a boy in El Salvador, Abrego García feared gangs, avoided recruitment By Samantha Schmidt 2025052410002500 SAN SALVADOR — The gang name was scrawled onto classroom desks and written on bathroom walls. At the school where Kilmar Abrego García spent most of his adolescence, the students all knew who was in charge of the neighborhood: MS-13.
Rubio and Grenell, Trump’s dueling diplomats, clash over Venezuela

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Karen DeYoung |Samantha Schmidt |Marianna Sotomayor

Rubio and Grenell, Trump’s dueling diplomats, clash over Venezuela (washingtonpost.com) Rubio and Grenell, Trump’s dueling diplomats, clash over Venezuela By Karen DeYoung; Samantha Schmidt; Marianna Sotomayor 2025052404321100 Three House Republicans from southern Florida nearly derailed passage of President Donald Trump's massive tax and spending package this week in protest of an apparent presidential reversal of sanctions on Venezuela.
Rubio and Grenell, Trump’s dueling diplomats, clash over Venezuela

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Karen DeYoung |Samantha Schmidt |Marianna Sotomayor

NowMexican singer Julion Alvarez postpones Texas show after US visa allegedly revokedCNN — A popular Mexican singer, Julión Álvarez, says he and his band have had to cancel a show in Texas on Saturday night after the singer’s visa to enter the United States had been allegedly revoked.
Venezuela’s Maduro releases U.S. Air Force veteran from detention

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Samantha Schmidt

Venezuela’s Maduro releases U.S. Air Force veteran from detention (washingtonpost.com) Venezuela’s Maduro releases U.S. Air Force veteran from detention By Samantha Schmidt 2025052021544800 Venezuela's autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, released a U.S. Air Force veteran who had been imprisoned in Venezuela for about six months, his family confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
Crackdown by President Bukele forces top journalists to flee El Salvador

2 weeks ago | detroitnews.com | Samantha Schmidt

San Salvador — Their news site had just exposed details of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s alleged deals with the country’s gangs. Now the three journalists were faced with a choice they had long dreaded. El Faro, Spanish for lighthouse, is the premier independent investigative news outlet in El Salvador. The staff had received word that Bukele’s increasingly authoritarian government might be preparing warrants to arrest seven of its journalists. Four of the seven had already left El Salvador.
Bukele’s crackdown pushes top Salvadoran journalists to flee

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Samantha Schmidt

Bukele’s crackdown pushes top Salvadoran journalists to flee (washingtonpost.com) Bukele’s crackdown pushes top Salvadoran journalists to flee By Samantha Schmidt 2025051809000400 SAN SALVADOR — Their news site had just exposed details of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's alleged deals with the country's gangs. Now the three journalists were faced with a choice they had long dreaded.
A new pope confronts his church’s abuse scandal amid praise and scrutiny

3 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Karin Brulliard |Samantha Schmidt |Jonathan Edwards |Jonathan O'Connell

A new pope confronts his church’s abuse scandal amid praise and scrutiny (washingtonpost.com) A new pope confronts his church’s abuse scandal amid praise and scrutiny By Karin Brulliard; Samantha Schmidt; Jonathan Edwards; Jonathan O'Connell 2025051510000000 Even as Pope Leo XIV's profile as a humble champion of the disenfranchised takes shape, a looming question is how he will approach the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis while leading a global institution that has maintained secrecy...
Venezuelan opposition team flees to U.S. after ‘precise operation,’ Rubio says

1 month ago | spokesman.com | Samantha Schmidt |Maria Paul |María Luisa Paúl

A group of Venezuelan opposition members who had sought refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas have arrived in the United States after a “precise operation,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday night. The five opposition members, a team of aides close to opposition leader María Corina Machado, had been living inside the embassy for more than a year, evading arrest warrants against them by the autocratic government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuelan opposition team flees to U.S. after ‘precise operation,’ Rubio says

1 month ago | stripes.com | Samantha Schmidt |Maria Paul |María Luisa Paúl

The five opposition members, a team of aides close to opposition leader María Corina Machado, had been living inside the embassy for more than a year, evading arrest warrants against them by the autocratic government of President Nicolás Maduro.