In a decisive move this weekend the United States captured ousted Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and transported him to New York to face federal narco-terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. For hardworking Americans who have suffered from the drug epidemic and the violence it spawns, this is the kind of accountability our leaders should pursue without apology.
Federal prosecutors have unsealed a sweeping indictment that accuses Maduro of running a state-sponsored cocaine trafficking enterprise, alleging coordination with Mexico’s cartels, Colombia’s FARC, and violent Venezuelan gangs; the counts include narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses, each carrying decades to life if convicted. If the allegations withstand the courtroom test, this is not diplomacy — it is criminality that has bled into our communities and demanded a forceful response.
This was not a press conference arrest; it was a bold extraction by U.S. special operations that removed a narcotics kingpin from power and placed him where American justice can reach him. Conservatives who have long warned against soft-pedaling dictators who traffic in drugs and terror should be heartened that, finally, America acted with decisive force to protect its citizens.
Judge Andrew Napolitano was right to tell viewers that once Maduro is properly before a court the mechanics of justice will take over, and that challenges about the capture’s international politics are unlikely to gut the prosecution if the evidence is strong. Let the legal system do its work — and let no one on the left or in international salons pretend that procedural games should stand in the way of accountability for crimes that destroy American families.
Yes, there will be noise from the United Nations and anti-sovereignty pundits crying about international law, but President Trump’s team has correctly framed this as an American security issue: stop the flood of poison into our cities and dismantle the regimes that traffic in it, even if it means using hard power to do so. The American people deserve a foreign policy that defends our borders and punishes those who have enriched themselves at the expense of our children.
This moment should steel conservatives to keep fighting for law and order at home and abroad: let the courts take the evidence, let the jury decide, and if Maduro is convicted, let the punishment match the carnage his alleged enterprise has caused. Patriots know that liberty and security require conviction, courage, and the willingness to hold tyrants accountable — no exceptions.
