Southwest
Former Miss Venezuela blames ‘socialism and open borders’ for her country’s devastating collapse
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Americans unfamiliar with Venezuela may not know that in the not-so-distant past the nation was rich with oil and opportunity.
Congressional candidate Carmen Maria Montiel remembers a Venezuela that brimmed with optimism — before decades of political and economic turmoil turned it into one of the hemisphere’s poorest nations.
“Socialism and open borders,” Montiel told Fox News Digital in an interview, are what sent her country into decline.
The Houston-area Republican won the Miss Venezuela title at age 19 in 1984 and later finished as a runner-up for Miss Universe. But long before her pageant fame, she says, Venezuela’s political foundations were already beginning to crack.
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Venezuela-born Carmen Maria Montiel is running for Congress as a Republican in Texas. (Fox News digital)
While the nation remained a democracy for decades, two socialist parties dominated power.
“We got the influx of illegal immigrants, crime went up, drugs started to be a problem,” she said. “The first thing they destroyed was the healthcare system. Venezuela used to have one of the most wonderful healthcare systems — it was paid for, it was our social security. Because the country was so rich, it provided so many services to the Venezuelan people. And of course, no country has the infrastructure for a vertical growth of the population.”
Montiel came to the U.S. for college in 1988, hoping the unrest at home would ease. Instead, she watched from abroad as Hugo Chávez led two coup attempts in 1992, and the country erupted in riots and looting.
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Carmen Maria Montiel won the Miss Venezuela pageant in 1984. (Carmen Montiel )
“I decided I’m gonna stay a little longer, see if things get better,” she said. “But they never did.”
From Chávez’s failed coup to Nicolás Maduro’s current hold on power, Montiel sees a straight line — one she says runs through corruption, cartel influence and foreign alliances with Russia and Iran.
“Communism always runs out of money,” Montiel said. “Even in a rich country like Venezuela, oil production collapsed, and what was left for them was crime. That’s why they joined the cartels — it’s a criminal communist regime.”
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“Socialism and open borders,” Montiel says, are what sent her country into decline. (Carmen Montiel )
U.S. officials have long accused members of Maduro’s inner circle of involvement in narcotics trafficking, particularly through the Cartel de los Soles — a network of Venezuelan military officers implicated in smuggling cocaine to North America and Europe. Washington has also sanctioned dozens of Venezuelan officials for corruption and ties to terrorist groups, though Caracas denies the charges.
Montiel supports the recent U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking networks off Venezuela’s coast and believes they are justified given the threat she says the regime poses to the United States.
“Venezuela presents a very high risk to the United States,” she said. “It’s the drug trafficking, the Tren de Aragua trafficking … the problems that many Venezuelan people escaped, now we’re facing in the United States.”
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores parade in a military vehicle during celebrations for the Independence Day, in Caracas on July 5, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
The Department of War has conducted 14 lethal strikes on vessels allegedly smuggling narcotics toward U.S. shores over the past two months.
In Montiel’s view, dismantling cartel networks and exposing the Venezuelan military’s complicity are essential steps toward toppling the regime. “This is a criminal communist regime and we should never remove the word ‘communist,’” she said.
At the same time, the U.S. has intensified pressure on Maduro, whom it does not recognize as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. The Justice Department is offering a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.
Analysts have questioned whether the widening military campaign may have a deeper objective: pushing Venezuela’s socialist leader from power.
The U.S. has conducted 14 strikes on drug vessels since September. (X.com/SecWar)
A U.S. intervention aimed at removing Maduro would likely divide Americans still wary of foreign entanglements. But Montiel insists Venezuelans themselves would welcome it.
“The people that are still in Venezuela are supporters of President Donald Trump because they’re screaming for freedom,” she said. “They’re screaming to get out of the situation.”
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Still, she acknowledges that removing the regime alone won’t rebuild the country.
“The country is pretty much destroyed,” she said. “It’s worse than any third world country. It’s going to take probably 30 years to get Venezuela back to what it used to be.”
Montiel is running in the Nov. 4, 2025, special election for Texas’ 18th Congressional district, a heavily Democratic Houston seat left vacant after the death of Sylvester Turner.
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Loved ones are devastated after a woman and a man were found shot to death at a Pomona apartment complex and the woman’s boyfriend was arrested after leading officers on a dangerous pursuit.
On Friday, friends and family gathered outside the Pomona apartment complex where Veronica Lopez, 24, and Richard Brady, 48, were found fatally shot.
On June 18, Pomona police were called to the Monterey Station Apartments at 180 E. Monterey Ave. just before 3:30 p.m. on reports of a shooting.
Officers made their way up to a fourth-floor apartment hallway where they found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
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Veronica Lopez, 24, is seen in a family photo. -
Richard Brady, 48, is seen in a family photo. -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection with a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KTLA) -
A man wanted out of Pomona believed to be armed and dangerous was taken into custody after a lengthy chase through Southern California on June 18, 2026. (KTLA) -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection to a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KNN News) -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection to a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KNN News) -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection to a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KNN News) -
Loved ones gathered at a growing memorial outside the Pomona apartment complex where the victims and the suspect all lived on June 19, 2026. (KTLA) -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection to a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KNN News) -
Veronica Lopez, 24, is seen in a family photo. -
Veronica Lopez, 24, is seen in a family photo. -
A 48-year-old man was arrested in connection to a double homicide in Pomona after a lengthy and dangerous high-speed chase on June 18, 2026. (KNN News)
Despite life-saving measures, both were pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect and Veronica’s boyfriend, Robert Galtman, 48, had fled the scene in a Kia sedan.
Around 5 p.m., California Highway Patrol officers spotted his vehicle on the freeway and he led them on a high-speed, hour-long chase before officers successfully performed a PIT maneuver that disabled his vehicle. He surrendered and was taken into custody.
Friends and family members are devastated over the victims’ deaths and have so many unanswered questions.
“I don’t understand,” said Sheila Lopez, Veronica’s mother. “She didn’t deserve this.”
Sheila had spoken to her daughter just hours before the deadly shooting. She told her daughter she would call her later after work, but when she did, her daughter never answered the phone.
Her family later learned that Veronica had been shot and killed and that her boyfriend of several years, Galtman, was under arrest.
Lopez’s family said that Veronica was in an abusive relationship and they believe she was trying to leave her boyfriend when she was killed. They had also previously urged her to leave.
“I believe she was walking away,” Sheila told KTLA’s Lindsey Pena. “I think she should’ve just walked away. This is why this all happened.”
They also believe the other victim, Brady, was likely just trying to help her. Brady’s close friend and the mother of his child, Heather Cantu, agreed, saying helping others in a situation like that is something he would’ve done.
“I just think that if she was in an abusive relationship, that’s what he was doing,” Cantu said.
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Richard Brady, 48, is seen in a family photo. -
Richard Brady, 48, is seen in a family photo.
His brother told The Daily Bulletin that he was aware of Veronica’s abusive relationship.
“My brother helped her out of that situation,” he told the outlet. “They became friends. My brother stuck up for those who couldn’t stick up for themselves. Unfortunately, he walked into a situation out of his control.”
Cantu described him as a loving father to two children and a kind man and who will be greatly missed.
“We’ll all remember how happy he made everybody,” Cantu said. “He was a jokester. He was always happy and he always tried to make everybody else feel good.”
On Friday night, loved ones gathered at a growing memorial outside the Pomona apartment complex where the victims and the suspect all lived.
Sheila said Veronica was the youngest of her five daughters, who always lit up a room and brought joy to those around her.
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Loved ones gathered at a growing memorial outside the Pomona apartment complex where the victims and the suspect all lived on June 19, 2026. (KTLA) -
Loved ones gathered at a growing memorial outside the Pomona apartment complex where the victims and the suspect all lived on June 19, 2026. (KTLA) -
Loved ones gathered at a growing memorial outside the Pomona apartment complex where the victims and the suspect all lived on June 19, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sheila Lopez, (on right) Veronica Lopez’s mother, speaks to KTLA in Pomona on June 19, 2026. (KTLA)
“She’s definitely someone to miss,” Sheila said. “She’s a great skateboarder. She loves to go to games and she loves her family.”
In a GoFundMe page, loved ones said Veronica “had a way of making everyone around her feel loved and valued. The pain of losing her is unimaginable, and our hearts are broken.”
Galtman remains in custody on $3.1 million bail.
A GoFundMe page to help Veronica’s family with funeral expenses can be found here.
A GoFundMe page to help Brady’s family with funeral expenses can be found here.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Pomona Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 909-620-2085.
Los Angeles, Ca
Victims sought after man allegedly points gun at passing cars in Santa Clarita Valley
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help finding witnesses after a man allegedly pointed a handgun at numerous passing cars in Castaic on June 18.
The man was allegedly seen pointing the gun at cars near Lake Hughes Road and Ridge Route Road between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The suspect was described as wearing a red shirt and black shorts.
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Did you see this man pointing a handgun at numerous passing cars in the Santa Clarita Valley. (LASD)
Authorities provided a photo of the man seen running in the street while holding something in his left hand.
Anyone who may have witnessed the alleged assaults, is a victim of the incident or has information about the case is asked to call Detective Marinelli at (661) 260-4000 ext. 5618.
Southern California is enjoying a comfortable stretch of below-average temperatures that should continue through Father’s Day, but a strong heat wave is looming.
A significant warming trend will begin early next week before peaking Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Another one of those ridges of high pressure is expected to build in, with temperatures really heating up,” KTLA’s Kirk Hawkins said. “We’re looking at temperatures reaching triple digits in parts of the High Desert and Inland Empire as well.”
An extreme heat watch has been issued for parts of Los Angeles County, including Woodland Hills, Pomona, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and other areas, from Tuesday morning through Thursday evening.
Temperatures in those areas could range from the upper 80s to 100 degrees.
The Weather Service suggested the following actions:
- Continue to monitor the latest forecasts, as the amount of heating is still uncertain
- Adjust plans now to stay cool next week
- Check in with elderly neighbors and family members to ensure they are aware of the hot forecast
The high-pressure system is expected to weaken on Thursday, bringing cooler temperatures as we head into next weekend.
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