The Chinese Communist Party has escalated its persecution of Christians by arresting more prominent church leaders and putting them in detention centers, The Daily Wire has learned.

At least seven Christians affiliated with the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China, were arrested on Tuesday, according to the church. The arrests began in the early morning and continued until evening.

Early Rain Covenant Church is a prominent evangelical Presbyterian church that has earned the ire of the Communist Party for being part of China’s underground church movement. The arrests of the Early Rain members come just a few months after the Chinese government rounded up prominent leaders at Zion Church, another well-known underground church.

Those arrested included Li Yingqiang, an elder at the church whose home in Deyang was searched, and preacher Dai Zhichao. Dai was arrested at the church office after being told by authorities he was not allowed to leave his home, according to the church.

“At around 11:00 a.m. on January 6, he was taken under control at the church office, then brought to his home where it was searched, after which he went out of contact. It has now been confirmed that he is at the Jinniu District Case-Handling Center,” a message from Early Rain said.

Others who were taken by authorities included elder Yan Hong, preacher Wu Wuqing, the family of Ye Fenghua, and deacon Zeng Qingtao.

A woman named Shu Qiong was also taken by police and charged with “suspected provocation and police disturbance,” according to a source familiar with the arrests. A photo obtained by The Daily Wire shows the police showing up at her home.

One of those arrested was able to return home on Tuesday, according to the church. The church is currently locating lawyers for those arrested.

At the same time, police targeted the Early Rain Academy, a school operated by the church.

“The academy immediately organized teachers and students to evacuate and leave the site. Subsequently, the owner of the teaching site was summoned to the police station and pressured, and was informed that all items must be removed from the site by Friday,” the church said in a release.

The CCP’s targeting of Early Rain stretches back to 2018 when it began arresting prominent leaders, including Pastor Wang Yi. Wang was convicted in 2019 of subverting the government and sentenced to nine years in prison. While still imprisoned, he was just awarded a Democracy Service Medal by the National Endowment for Democracy.

Corey Jackson, who heads up the advocacy organization Luke Alliance, said the arrests were part of a broader pattern of targeting of unregistered churches. He said in recent months that more pastors were being brought into local police offices for “tea times” and told that they must register with the state or face harsh treatment.

“One person reported that they had been told by the domestic security police that churches, ‘house churches,’ are going to face complete prohibition. Participants will face imprisonment, and there’s going to be less pattern of warning, fines, and leeway,” Jackson told The Daily Wire.

Jackson said that the government really wants to exert more control over the churches, and make them register any online services they have before meeting. He also said the government doesn’t want parents educating kids in their faith if they are below the age of 18.

Jackson added that he would like to see the Trump administration put some pressure on China over their repression of Christianity.

“We need to apply pressure on China with human rights,” he said. “We must continue not to just be transactional in our approach with China, but to also recognize that China is the one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world.”

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Venezuela’s interim authorities will transfer between 30 and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States.

The move comes just days after Trump said the U.S. would take control of Venezuela and its oil following the capture of former dictator Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.

Trump described the oil as “high quality” and said it would be delivered immediately to U.S. ports on storage ships.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump posted. “I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately.”

The Venezuelan shipment is enough to supply the United States for roughly one and a half to two and a half days, based on America’s daily consumption of about 20 million barrels.

Venezuela currently produces only 900,000 to 1.1 million barrels per day, according to Venezuelan media, marking a sharp drop from the roughly 3 million barrels a day it produced before socialist Hugo Chávez took power in the late 1990s.

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn in on Monday, initially took a harsh approach to Trump capturing her predecessor, but has since become more conciliatory.

On Sunday, Rodriguez called for “moving towards balanced and respectful international relations between the United States and Venezuela.”

“We invite the U.S. government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” she added. “President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war.”

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a press conference in Caracas on September 8, 2025. (Photo by FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Rodríguez, 56, has been such a loyal and unflinching defender of Maduro’s socialist government that the former dictator once called her a “tiger.”

She is the daughter of left‑wing guerrilla leader Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, who helped found the Liga Socialista party in the 1970s. An attorney by training, Rodríguez has held several of the most powerful posts in Venezuela’s government, including Minister of Petroleum, President of the Constituent Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information, in addition to serving as vice president.

In 2018, she was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the European Union for her role in Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle and for undermining democracy. She responded by blasting the measures as the product of “racist” and “warmongering” policies of the “old imperial world,” the Associated Press reported at the time.

Rodriguez was named vice president in 2018 by Maduro, who described her as “a young woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr, revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles.”

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machado, told Fox News that Rodríguez is as dangerous as Maduro.

“Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco trafficking,” Machado said. “She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors. And she’s really rejected, repudiated by the Venezuelan people.”

Despite the gesture from leaders, plain-clothes gunmen tied to the pro-Maduro “Colectivos” paramilitary group were deployed to Venezuela’s streets on Tuesday where they stopped vehicles to search phones and belongings looking for supporters of the United States capturing Maduro.

Police were also reportedly instructed to “search and capture of everyone involved in the promotion or support for the armed attack by the United States.”