The United States carried out a bold operation in the predawn hours of January 3, 2026, that ended with the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and their transfer to U.S. custody to face longstanding narco-terrorism charges. The move sent shockwaves through a world that has grown complacent watching socialist regimes traffic drugs and harvest chaos for profit.
Maduro and Flores appeared in a Manhattan federal courtroom on January 5 and entered not guilty pleas, with Maduro declaring himself a “prisoner of war” and insisting he remains Venezuela’s rightful president. The arraignment made clear that justice will be fought in U.S. courts, not leftist television studios, even as the regime screams about kidnapping and sovereignty.
Retired Gen. Jack Keane warned on Fox News that even with Maduro in custody, “the goons and thugs are still in charge” on the ground in Venezuela, and he’s exactly right: decapitating a criminal regime’s leadership doesn’t instantly remake institutions or eject hostile forces. The real work—stabilization, de-Bolivarianizing security forces, and cutting off criminal networks—will be dangerous and require American resolve, not handwringing.
Critics have predictably cried foul, calling the operation a breach of international law and an act of imperial overreach, but those talking points ignore decades of Venezuelan complicity in drug trafficking and terror. Legal scholars will argue the nuances, but the American people care about results: stopping cartel-backed kleptocrats who fund chaos and flood our streets with poison.
President Trump and senior officials framed the action as both law enforcement and a national security necessity, making the hard choice many in Washington have avoided for years. If our leaders are finally willing to bring indicted narco-terrorists to justice rather than issuing press releases and sanctions that never bite, conservatives should applaud decisive action that protects American families.
Make no mistake: there will be blowback. Reports from the operation indicate significant violence and the death of regime-aligned fighters, including foreign security personnel, underscoring the entrenched Cuban and Russian influence that has propped up Maduro’s reign. The coming months will test American strategy—success demands a muscular political and humanitarian plan, not virtue-signaling committees and second-guessing.
Conservatives must insist on clarity of purpose: prosecute the criminals, cut off the cartels, and prevent Venezuela from becoming a failed leftist sanctuary for transnational crime. Soft policies and moral equivalence have failed for decades; what remains is the hard but necessary work of restoring order and protecting the homeland, and our leaders should be judged by results, not by the outrage of the usual suspects.
