In a dramatic operation that caught the world off guard, US forces arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas and flew them to New York to face criminal charges. The move has triggered a political firestorm and raised urgent questions about sovereignty, international law, and the future of Venezuela.
Shortly after news of the arrests broke, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington would assume temporary control of Venezuela, describing the move as necessary to ensure stability during a transition period.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Washington Claims Interim Control
Trump said the US would oversee Venezuela’s administration with the help of senior officials, pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine as key figures involved in the effort. However, he offered few concrete details on how the interim governance would function or how long it would last.
At one point, Trump claimed that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had already been sworn in as Maduro’s successor and was prepared to cooperate with Washington. Venezuelan authorities, however, have made no such announcement, adding to the confusion surrounding the situation.
Trump framed the operation as part of a broader strategy, signaling a willingness to deepen US involvement if necessary. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said, adding that major US oil companies would be invited to invest billions of dollars to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and revive its economy. He also warned that the US was prepared to launch “a second and much larger attack” if circumstances demanded it.
Legal Justification and Congressional Backlash
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the operation as a law enforcement action rather than a military invasion, arguing that congressional approval was not required. Rubio pointed to a 2020 US indictment against Maduro, saying he was not the legitimate president of Venezuela but a fugitive from American justice with a $50 million reward on his head.
Trump suggested Congress was not informed in advance because of concerns that details of the operation could leak.
The response on Capitol Hill was sharply divided. Democratic Senator Mark Warner warned that the move set a dangerous precedent. “If the United States claims the right to use military force to capture foreign leaders it accuses of crimes, what stops other powers from doing the same?” he said, citing potential implications for Taiwan and Ukraine.
Warner also accused the administration of hypocrisy, contrasting the action against Maduro with Trump’s past pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted in the US on drug trafficking charges.
Support, Risks, and an Uncertain Future
Republicans largely rallied behind the president. Senator Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the operation as the result of months of effort to dismantle what he described as narco-terrorist networks linked to Maduro’s government.
“This arrest was a major step toward accountability,” Wicker said, urging Venezuelans to seize the moment to rebuild their country.
Analysts, however, warned that the consequences could be severe and unpredictable. Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank, said the operation could lead to internal military splits, the expansion of criminal groups, or even civil war.
“Whether this produces positive change or deepens instability remains to be seen,” he said, adding that the emergence of an even more authoritarian leader was also a possibility.
The Trump administration’s justification for targeting Maduro has shifted over time, ranging from combating drug trafficking and reclaiming oil assets to restoring democracy. Critics argue that Venezuela, while deeply troubled, is more a collapsed state than a genuine security threat to the United States.
As the dust settles, the arrest of Maduro and the announcement of US control over Venezuela mark one of the most extraordinary episodes of American intervention in the Western Hemisphere in modern history, with global repercussions still unfolding.
