The United States just did what too many administrations talked about and never had the guts to do: it removed Nicolás Maduro from power in a daring operation that seized him and his wife and brought them to face justice. This was not a reckless gambit but a long-overdue strike against a narco-authoritarian regime that has bled its people and funneled misery into our neighborhoods. A grateful nation — and especially the Venezuelan exiles who have suffered under Maduro’s cruelty — should see this as a decisive blow against evil, not an occasion for hand-wringing.
Maduro arrived in a U.S. courtroom and pleaded not guilty to indictments that allege his regime ran narcotics networks and trafficked in weapons and terror, charges the American people should take seriously. For years his government operated as a criminal enterprise, exporting fentanyl and cocaine and turning Venezuela into a safe harbor for cartels and proxies that threaten our streets. Bringing him to account in New York signals that Washington will stop indulging dictators who poison our country and our hemisphere.
In the immediate scramble for constitutional continuity, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was installed by Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice as the acting president and was backed by the military. That move should be viewed with wary pragmatism — yes, stability matters, but stability at the price of business-as-usual with the same corrupt networks is not acceptable. The new American approach must combine pressure with clear terms and unblinking standards for anyone who wants to deal with Washington.
Security hawks also rightly flagged the long-standing Iranian and Hezbollah footprints across Latin America, with Venezuela repeatedly cited as a conduit for illicit finance, flights, and criminal cooperation that enrich terrorists and cartels alike. This isn’t speculation; intelligence and investigative reporting have traced Hezbollah-linked networks through the Tri-Border Area and into Venezuelan ports and islands where they launder money and traffic drugs. If we are serious about national security, uprooting those assets and lines of communication must be part of any stabilization plan.
Predictably, the usual chorus from international leftists and some global elites has condemned U.S. action while ignoring Maduro’s decades of tyranny and narcotrafficking. Hypocrisy doesn’t make for wise policy; it makes for weakness. The Trump administration’s willingness to act — to arrest and prosecute a narco-dictator — is the kind of clarity the region needs, not endless lecturing about “sovereignty” from leaders who once coddled dictators.
But let’s be brutally honest about Delcy Rodríguez: she is no fresh face of reform. She served at the heart of the Maduro apparatus, overseeing ministries and institutions that sustained the regime and its patronage systems. Washington must not be naive; any cooperation should be conditional, transparent, and tied to verifiable actions to dismantle trafficking networks and to sever ties with Iran and Hezbollah operatives entrenched in the country.
Now is the moment for Congress and the administration to act like American patriots, not appeasers. Fund intelligence and interdiction efforts, tighten sanctions on corrupt networks, secure our borders against the surge of drugs and terror money, and use Venezuela’s oil revenues and assets as leverage to rebuild the country under legitimate authority. Our goal should be a free, prosperous Venezuela that rejects tyranny and global jihadist influence — and we must refuse to hand the hemisphere back to the leftist cabal that trafficked in misery for decades.
