The stunning capture of Nicolás Maduro by elite U.S. forces is the kind of decisive action Americans have been waiting for while the world’s worst regimes were given a free pass for decades. Washington’s move ripped the mask off a narco-terrorist operation that bled our country dry and turned a once-prosperous nation into a criminal kleptocracy. The United Nations has called an emergency Security Council meeting, and critics will screech about sovereignty — but the reality on the ground demanded action.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz made the straightforward case on Sunday Morning Futures: this was self-defense under Article 51, not some imperial overreach, and it was necessary to disrupt a regime that has openly courted China, Russia, Iran and terrorist proxies like Hezbollah. Conservative patriots should applaud a diplomat who speaks plainly about the national-security threat posed when hostile powers embed themselves in our hemisphere. The days of wringing hands while adversaries move into our backyard are over if leaders stay resolute.
Beyond the arrest, the administration has signaled it will squeeze Maduro’s finances and maritime lifelines — enforcing sanctions, interdicting sanctioned tankers, and targeting the so-called Cartel de los Soles that funds narco-state operations. This is not grandstanding; it is practical chokehold strategy to ensure the dictator cannot rebuild his narco-terror enterprise. Americans who have lived through the drug-fueled devastation in our towns should be relieved to see policy finally match the threat.
Republican leaders in Congress are rightly blunt: Venezuela will no longer serve as a safe harbor for Hezbollah and other Iran-backed networks that plot against American interests. Sen. Marco Rubio and others have vowed to root out terror infrastructure in South America, and that kind of muscular bipartisan stance is exactly what’s required to protect our people and allies. Let the diplomats at the U.N. posture; the job of any nation is to defend its citizens first and negotiate from strength.
Predictably, Moscow, Beijing and the usual chorus at the U.N. are condemning U.S. measures and framing them as dangerous precedent. Spare us the lectures from countries that bankroll tyranny and censorship, then pretend moral outrage when their cronies get a taste of accountability. America should not apologize for reclaiming its neighborhood from criminal regimes and foreign proxies that threaten our security and our economy.
This moment calls for courage, not cowardice. Conservatives must back a sustained campaign to dismantle the narco-terror networks, secure our borders, and hold accountable any foreign power that thinks it can convert Latin America into a chessboard against the United States. History will remember whether we stood firm or surrendered our hemisphere to hostile actors; let us choose strength, clarity, and justice for hardworking Americans.
