US military captures Venezuelan President Maduro in ‘major’ operation
The United States has detained Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a nighttime military operation.
After all, the “America First” slogan didn’t mean President Donald Trump would stop America’s involvement in the world.
The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3 and his pending arraignment in New York on drug-terrorism charges is further evidence of the commander-in-chief’s willingness to use not only forceful rhetoric but force itself to assert America’s economic, energy, and security interests around the world.
“This was a very important symbol,” President Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “It was written that we were not going to be at the mercy of these countries.” With an elite military team and state-of-the-art equipment, he boasted, “no one can stop us.”
A new Trump doctrine has emerged since he took office a year ago.
On his watch, the United States has cited a variety of reasons for bombing six countries, including a Christmas Day airstrike on Nigeria in response to what he called attacks on Christians.
He attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities with bunker-busting bombs, a step that successive presidents have refused to do despite Israel’s pleas. The day before the Venezuela operation that captured President Maduro, President Trump warned Iran that if peaceful protesters were killed in the streets, the United States would be “locked and loaded and ready to go” to rescue them.
That threat is “everything we voted against in 2024,” said Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former MAGA supporter and current critic of President Trump.
She was referring to “America First,” a slogan Trump has used in all three presidential campaigns. Greene and other core supporters interpreted this as a pledge to avoid foreign entanglements, especially those that could risk “endless wars” like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead, as president, he had promised to focus on issues within the United States’ borders.
Form new governments from Gaza to Caracas
But Trump’s approach to the world during his second term was in stark contrast. He is willing to commit the United States not only to deploying military forces overseas but also to forming subsequent foreign regimes.
After pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, he appointed himself chairman of a peace committee tasked with establishing security and promoting economic development in Gaza.
He said the United States would not leave Venezuela until a new friendly government was established.
“We’re going to run the country until we can have a safe, proper and sensible transition,” he said, without elaborating on what that meant. He warned aspiring Venezuelan leaders who might rebel against the United States that “what happened to Mr. Maduro could happen to them.”
“Where do we go next?” protested Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. “Will the president send troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce a fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To fight terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal?”
However, the Trump Doctrine also has its limits.
First, he has generally avoided sending ground troops, a mission that is usually more dangerous than bombing by planes or drones.
“We’re not afraid to put boots on the ground if we have to put boots on,” he said during an hour-long news conference at his Mar-a-Lago retreat. But he later demurred, predicting that U.S. troops in Venezuela would only protect the oil fields.
For another, he cites sound calculations that concern national interests, particularly financial interests, especially energy, rather than frivolous pursuits of democracy and human rights, as motivating his actions.
He dismissed criticism that the administration did not notify Congress before launching the Operation Absolute Resolve raid in Venezuela.
He said on Fox that Democrats were “weak and stupid people.” “They should say, ‘Great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, that might not be constitutional.'”
Repercussions of Noriega’s arrest – and President Monroe’s doctrine
Much of what President Trump did in the White House was unprecedented.
Not this time.
In December 1989, President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama and the arrest of Panamanian President Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and extortion. (Coincidentally, Noriega was detained on January 3, 1990, exactly 36 years before Maduro.) Noriega was tried in Miami, convicted, and will serve 17 years in a U.S. prison.
In a speech to the nation at the time, President Bush said the invasion was justified because Panama had declared war on the United States and because it was necessary to protect Americans living in Panama and protect democracy and human rights.
He also did not seek parliamentary approval. The operation also sparked international outrage.
President Trump’s claims about US domination of the Western Hemisphere have a much longer history. The Monroe Doctrine, articulated by President James Monroe in 1823, established that interference in the Americas by foreign powers was considered a hostile act. Since then, it has been frequently cited as justifying US intervention in Latin America.
President Trump also mentioned it while taking a victory lap at a press conference.
He said an “outlaw dictator” had been brought to justice in a “spectacular assault”. When a reporter asked him how running the South American country was “America first,” he calmly replied that the United States needed “good neighbors,” regional stability, and access to oil.
President Trump weighed in on the topic, saying that under Maduro, Venezuela had violated “core principles of American foreign policy that go back more than two centuries and go back to the Monroe Doctrine.” “The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve largely, significantly replaced it. They now call it the ‘Don Roe’ doctrine.”
He flatly rejected the reality that U.S. intervention in Latin America had clearly had mixed results. “Not like me,” he said. “We have a perfect winning record.”
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