David Harvey: The Maduro Indictment

Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela who was captured in a military raid on Caracas, faces charges in the Southern District of New York, where prosecutors have targeted him for years.

The original indictment was obtained in 2020 when he was first charged with narco-terrorism and other crimes. The indictment recently unsealed and which can be seen in full here says he worked with traffickers to send cocaine from Venezuela to the United States.

Roger Partridge: The Venezuela Precedent

There is something deeply satisfying about watching Nicolás Maduro being hauled from his palace and deposited in a Brooklyn jail cell.

The man was a monster. Under his rule, Venezuela’s economy contracted by roughly three-quarters – the largest peacetime economic collapse in the Western Hemisphere’s modern history. Nearly eight million Venezuelans fled, more than a quarter of the population he inherited. The country that once boasted Latin America’s highest living standards became a humanitarian catastrophe. In 2024, election observers believe he lost his bid for a third term by more than 30 points. He declared victory anyway.

Simon O'Connor: Venezuela and moral equivalence

Do we really believe in the justness of our democratic values or are they only as morally equivalent as any other? The answer will ultimately decide your view of what happened in Venezuela.

The capture by American forces of now former Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, raises a host of complicated issues. Right from the outset, we wrestle with simply finding the correct description concerning his removal from the country. Was it capture or was it kidnapping? Was it an arrest or an illegal act? A military invasion or a targeted extraction?

Tim Donner: Maduro - How His Daring Capture Will Change the World

This could stand as the most significant geopolitical event since 9/11

They got him. The nightmare of Nicolas Maduro’s illegitimate, murderous regime in Venezuela and the untold hundreds of thousands who have died at the hands of the lethal drugs pouring in from the South American narco-terrorist state has mercifully come to an end. After the daring capture of Maduro and his wife in the dark of night, the question quickly turns to what will happen next in once-prosperous Venezuela and, most importantly, how the success of this breathtaking military and law enforcement operation will change the geopolitics of not just the western hemisphere, but the entire world.

Ani O'Brien: What (the f***) just happened in Venezuela?

Love him or hate him, Trump is changing the world

What happened in Venezuela overnight is still unfolding, and while I have some baseline knowledge of the country’s long socialist collapse, its role in global narcotics trafficking, and the fact that it is sitting on a shit tonne of oil, I found myself feeling very disoriented about what the hell was happening. As it is an unfolding event, it is precisely the sort of moment where half-baked hot takes, tribal loyalty, and reflexive moralising are not at all helpful.

So I am going to try to avoid all of that and focus on trying to work through the legal and political consequences as well as lay out some possible motivations in a way that hopefully helps us figure out what’s going on. I will acknowledge any of my own opinions along the way.

David Farrar: What to make of Venezuela

When news first broke of the US attack on Venezuela, I was perplexed as just bombing Venezuela was unlikely to overthrow Maduro, and a full invasion could be costly. I did wonder if it was part of a plan to capture Maduro, and so it was. In just 150 minutes Maduro was a prisoner of the United States, and not a single US solider was killed. From a military point of view it was an incredible operation, and one that could cause other country leaders to have a nervous night’s sleep – be it Cuba or Denmark.

Brendan O'Neill: Trump’s gunboat diplomacy is a betrayal of populism

His regime-change crusade against Nicolas Maduro is dangerous for Venezuela and for America itself.

So regime change is back? Having for years mocked the wasteful, lethal Clinton-Bush-Obama crusades against states they hated, now President Trump has carried out a regime decapitation of his own. Having installed as his director of national intelligence one of the most stinging critics of regime-change wars – Tulsi Gabbard – now Trump launches not quite a regime-change war but certainly a regime-change strike. Having said MAGA would end these ruinous excursions and prioritise the needs of the American working class, now Trump goes south and does what so many administrations before his did: topples a Latin American dictator.

DTNZ: Maduro captured – Trump

The Venezuelan president and his wife have been flown out of the country, the US president has said.

US forces have captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife during Washington’s strikes on the nation’s capital, US President Donald Trump has announced, adding that the two have been flown out of the South American country. Venezuelan authorities have long accused the US of attempting to topple the government in Caracas.

Dave Patterson: What to Do About Venezuela?

The war on drugs wasn’t a real war until President Trump made it one.

President Trump has made Venezuela a special project, presenting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the face of the evil visited on America by drug and human traffickers. Maduro does not personally run the cartel’s transnational criminal operations, of course, but he facilitates. In some cases, he may actively support and protect them. Trump has taken a multi-pronged approach to stopping this.

Trump’s Venezuela Strategy Is Three-fold

DTNZ: Trump warns Venezuelan jets could be shot down amid rising tensions

US President Donald Trump has warned that Venezuelan jets flying over American naval vessels could be shot down, following two reported incidents of Venezuelan aircraft approaching US ships near South America.

The warning comes days after a US strike on a Venezuelan boat alleged to be carrying drugs killed 11 people, an operation Venezuela denies.