After months of escalating military action, the United States struck inside Venezuela to capture incumbent President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, violating international norms—and potentially violating national and international law.
The US launched a “large-scale strike” across Venezuela before dawn on Saturday, seizing the unpopular Mr Maduro and expelling him from the country to face drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy charges laid out in 2020 indictment And superseding indictment Printed today. President Donald Trump said during a Saturday morning news conference that the United States will now “run the country,” including its vast oil reserves, “until we can make a safe, proper and smart transition.”
“This mission was carefully planned,” an interagency effort that began months ago, Air Force Gen. Dan Cain, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference. What appeared to be a photograph of Mr Maduro, blindfolded and wearing a gray tracksuit, aboard the USS Iwo Jima was posted by Mr Trump on social media.
Why did we write this
The US overthrow of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela brings down an unpopular world leader. It also raises important legal and geopolitical questions for the Western Hemisphere.
For more than a decade, Maduro has presided over Venezuela's deteriorating economy while increasingly cracking down on political opposition and human rights. More than 8 million Venezuelans, almost a third of the population, have fled the country's economic, humanitarian and political crisis since 2016. Trump discussed the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela during his first term, but in 2024 he also campaigned for an end to US involvement in so-called forever wars.
While many agree that Mr Maduro was a repressive leader and increased suffering at home, the reasons for the US intervention are more controversial and raise questions about its legality and geopolitical consequences.
The US has accused Maduro of playing a central role in regional destabilization, from increasing drug trafficking and the flow of migrants into the US to using Venezuela's oil reserves to support other US political opponents. such as Cuba.
Last year, the United States increased the reward for Maduro to $50 million and called Venezuelan gangs terrorist organizations (and Maduro the head of a narco-terrorist state). military strikes on suspected drug ships in the Caribbean and Pacific, and last month seized at least two oil tankers while establishing a large U.S. military presence off the coast of Venezuela.
“This extremely successful operation should serve as a warning to anyone who would jeopardize American sovereignty or put American lives at risk,” Mr. Trump said.
“Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never again be questioned,” the president said, emphasizing 19th-century revival of the Monroe Doctrine in Latin America. The US will be present in Venezuela “as far as oil is concerned”, Mr Trump said, using the “enormous amount of wealth” underfoot in Venezuela – home to the world's largest proven oil reserves – to compensate the US for damages caused by Venezuela.
The White House did not seek congressional approval ahead of Saturday's strike and takeover, sparking anger among Democratic lawmakers. Some analysts say the U.S. may have violated international law under the U.N. Charter and that the actions could create a roadmap that could be emulated by other countries facing persistent political adversaries.
“If the United States claims the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal behavior, what stops China from claiming the same power over Taiwan's leadership? What stops [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin will not put forward a similar justification for the kidnapping of the President of Ukraine?” asked Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, after Saturday's operation. “Once that line is crossed, the rules that contain global chaos will begin to crumble, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to take advantage.”
The Trump administration says it has the legal basis to take action. Over the past year, it laid the legal groundwork by declaring an “invasion” by Venezuelan gangs and striking what it deemed terrorist groups. This could strengthen claims that the US attacked Venezuela in self-defense. The administration describes Maduros' capture as a law enforcement action against accused criminals.
“President Trump today changed the course of Latin America for a generation,” said Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio. “Acting in self-defense and America's own interests… he removed a clear, present and present danger to our country.”
The Venezuelan diaspora has been vocal in its views. support for the overthrow of Mr Maduroas revelers waved Venezuelan and American flags in support of Mr Trump outside the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday. But in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, “people are scared,” says Carlos Romero, a former political science professor at the Central University of Venezuela.
“People are staying inside, there are no demonstrations. This is a moment of great uncertainty,” he says. According to Dr. Romero, the Venezuelan regime's message was clear: “The Venezuelan military has not disintegrated and continues to support Mr. Maduro and his political project.”
According to the Venezuelan Constitution, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will take office until new elections are held. But even this is in question.
“The US has decapitated Venezuela and I expect to see a power struggle,” says Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow on Latin America at Chatham House, a London think tank.
“This is not a democratic transition. It's not even regime change – yet,” he says.
Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a former US Navy combat pilot, compared the Venezuela strikes and Mr Maduro's arrest to the events that led to the US war in Iraq.
“I want the people of Venezuela to be free to choose their future, but if we have learned anything from the Iraq war, it is that dropping bombs or toppling a leader does not guarantee democracy, stability or make Americans safer,” he said in a statement. “I don’t believe this administration has a plan, a timetable or a price tag for what comes next” in Venezuela.
Trump did not rule out a second, larger attack in Venezuela.
Global reaction was mixed, but even among those who did not support Mr Maduro there were protests over Saturday's operation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrault wrote on social media that Mr Maduro had “seriously violated the rights” of Venezuelans, but “no lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside.” Spain offered to mediate in resolving the military escalation.
Russia and China, which have invested financially and militarily in Venezuela, condemned the US attack, while neighboring Brazil called it a dangerous international precedent.
Neighboring Colombia has begun preparing for an influx of Venezuelan refugees.
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said the “hour of freedom” for Venezuelans has come and that Edmundo González Urrutia, who the opposition says won the July 2024 presidential election, “must immediately accept his constitutional mandate” as president.
Staff writer Anna Mulrine Grobe contributed to this article.
