The Biden years of weakness are finally meeting consequences as the United States has ramped up pressure on Nicolás Maduro with targeted sanctions and aggressive moves to choke off the oil revenues that bankroll his narco-regime. Treasury and OFAC this month moved to re-designate Maduro cronies and several tankers, signaling a clear shift toward maximum economic pressure to deprive the Cartel of the Suns of financial lifelines.
Americans should remember this is not new lawlessness; the Justice Department and DEA long ago laid out Maduro’s role in narcotrafficking and the Cartel of the Suns, and Washington has steadily increased the legal and financial tools to hold him accountable. The U.S. also doubled its reward for information on Maduro after years of evidence tying his regime to drug networks that poison our streets.
What we’re watching now is the kind of decisive pressure the left refused to deliver for years: dramatic interdictions at sea, tanker seizures, and—according to multiple U.S. reports—a recent strike that American officials say captured Maduro and removed him from power. If those claims are accurate, it represents the kind of tough, necessary action to disrupt narco-trafficking that so many on the left once mocked.
Of course, Caracas screams “imperialism” and foreign governments will posture, but that’s predictable when the House of Cards supporting a narco-regime is threatened. Venezuela’s regime has denounced U.S. moves and called for mobilization, while international reactions are mixed—proof that tyrants and their allies always play the victim when their corruption is exposed.
Conservatives should cheer a U.S. policy that finally treats drug-trafficking as the national-security emergency it is and uses every lawful tool to cut off the cash flow to thugs who flood America with fentanyl-laced cocaine. Sanctions, asset seizures, and targeted interdictions are not adventurism when they protect American lives; they are the hard-edge of patriotism that keeps our communities safe and holds foreign criminals to account.
Now is the time for Congress and the American people to stand united behind law-and-order measures that finish the job: continue cracking down on illicit Venezuelan oil, accelerate prosecutions, and ensure seized assets are used to compensate victims and strengthen border and interdiction efforts. No more appeasement, no more diplomatic soft-soaping of dictators who traffic in misery—this is a fight for the safety of everyday Americans, and we should back it with every ounce of resolve.
