At least four Americans have been freed from Venezuelan custody in the wake of the dramatic capture of Nicolás Maduro, a welcome and overdue victory for families who watched helplessly as loved ones were used as pawns by a brutal regime. This is the sort of concrete result patriots demand: Americans back on American soil, not political bargaining chips in a corrupt foreign dictatorship.
Izabela Patriota, who appeared on Fox & Friends First, spoke movingly about her friend Maria Oropeza and the conditions that led to her detention, underlining the human cost of Maduro’s lawlessness and the relief that comes with even a single release. People who have been politically persecuted under socialism deserve our sympathy and our action, and these reunifications prove that decisive pressure can work.
This turnaround follows the U.S. operation that captured Maduro in early January, an operation that finally held a narco-authoritarian leader to account and sent a clear message that the lives of Americans matter. It was bold, controversial, and effective — and it forced Caracas to start loosening the shackles on political prisoners that the regime used to terrorize its own people.
In the days after Maduro’s removal, Caracas announced the release of a number of political prisoners, and U.S. officials signaled that pressure — not endless hand-wringing — won tangible results for detainees. The administration’s willingness to act where weak-kneed diplomacy failed should be celebrated by every American who believes our government’s first job is protecting citizens abroad.
Of course the global left and international bureaucrats immediately condemned the operation, mouthing platitudes about sovereignty while ignoring the suffering Maduro inflicted on his own people for years. Their outrage rings hollow to hardworking Americans who watched families ripped apart and watched our citizens languish under foreign tyranny; moral clarity sometimes requires firmness, not apologies.
Let this be a lesson: when our government prioritizes American lives and acts with resolve, results follow. Congress and voters should reward leadership that secures our citizens and holds foreign criminals to account, rather than the weak, status-quo approaches that led to hostage-taking and lawlessness in the first place.
The freed Americans are a reminder of what true patriotism looks like — demanding our government do what it must to bring people home and to stand up to dictators who traffic in misery. Keep up the pressure, hold the line for liberty, and never accept a world where American lives are negotiable.
