Venezuela: a Case Study of Modern Interventionism
Aggressive tariffs, intervention in the Middle East, ambitions of territorial expansion; ever since the Trump administration regained power a year ago, it has kept making bolder and more aggressive moves on the global checkerboard.
Nowhere has this new era of American interventionism been more evident than in the theatrical regime change that occurred in Venezuela during the night of January 3rd, where the country’s head of state, President Nicolàs Maduro, was abducted by U.S. forces from his home. The Venezuelan leader is now awaiting trial in New York, where he was charged for drug trafficking and narcoterrorism.
Maduro’s abduction was part of “Operation Absolute Resolve”, a secret U.S. military operation that had the President’s arrest as a main objective. The plan was thoroughly prepared and rehearsed months in advance by top military agents.
On January 3rd at midnight, after Donald Trump gave the green light, aircrafts started flying above Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. Helicopters and airplanes flew unusually close to the ground, which was possible due to American agents in Caracas disabling the city’s air defense systems, while also plunging most of the capital in the dark. Soon after, chaos ensued–shots were fired and explosions started resounding in the streets of the agitated city. This distraction allowed for operatives to land near Maduro’s compound and for the President’s and his wife’s successful capture.
After being transported to an aircraft carrier, (due to a recent blockade enacted on Venezuela by the United States) Maduro and his wife were transferred to a prison in New York, where they are both facing drug trafficking charges. The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Maduro of purposefully trafficking drugs into America in order to destabilise the country.
The operation that led to Maduro’s capture was done with such surgical speed and precision that the international community was only able to react after the President was already in U.S. custody.
Venezuela’s government, now led by Vice President Dolcy Rodriguez, is demanding Maduro’s immediate release. It has put out a statement claiming that the American operation was a clear violation of international law.
Many countries, especially those in South America, Africa and Asia, have strongly condemned the American intervention, also by referring to international law violations of the Charter of the United Nations, while countries in North America and Europe, like Canada, have shown support for the regime change, pointing to the fact that Nicolàs Maduro was a dictator and played an active role in falsifying the 2018 presidential election in his favour (Julio).
The future seems unclear now. Will Maduro and his wife be successfully found guilty on U.S. soil and charged under American law? Will the Venezuelan people finally be able to democratically elect a new leader? What does this operation mean for the future of American and global foreign policies? I truly wish I could provide some answers to these questions, but only time will tell.
Work Cited
Blanca, Julio. “How the US Attack on Venezuela, Abduction of Maduro Unfolded.” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 4 Jan. 2026, www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/4/how-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-abduction-of-maduro-unfolded.
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