In custody: Nicolás Maduro posing with DEA Agents following his capture by the United States.
The capture and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, a sitting President of a sovereign state of Venezuela by the United States (US) special forces is not just regrettable but a serious break of international law and norms.
President Donald Trump and his administration have long been setting the stage for this capture. The US actions towards regime change or invasions of other countries follow the same pattern of lies and deceit.
Ever since he was elected again as the 48th President of the most powerful country on the face of the earth, Trump began to deliberately use inflammatory rhetoric about Venezuela and its President to lay the groundwork for either an invasion of that country or what was to be – a kidnapping of a constitutionally elected president.
The allegations of Maduro as a leader of a narcotic drug cartel was a pretext for the US to go into Venezuela against dictates of international law; without congressional approval.
This is not far from the lies of weapons of mass destruction possessed by Saddam Hussen of Iraq, as we were told by the George Bush administration.
For all practical purposes, one thing is clearer now than ever before: the United States playbook for advancing its hegemony has not changed. Therefore, no amount of explanation or narrative can convince people that Maduro is not the leader of the so-called “Cartel of the Suns” or that Venezuela is a threat to America because it has been sending drugs to the United States.
Truth be told, the named drug cartel which America claims is affiliated with Maduro is questionable, as many experts have said this cartel is non-existent.
This explains why the charges against Maduro, as he appeared in the Southern District of New York, are totally different from what was sold to the public. No mention of this cartel was brought up in the courts.
Thus, the main reason for Trump’s actions in this ordeal has everything to do with containing China and its undeniable influence in the western hemisphere and the world at large.
However, since Trump cannot say this outrightly, he has resorted to falsehoods about Maduro and the cartel, so that there is justification on the part of the US to arrest him or get him eliminated.
The hypocrisy of the Trump administration is so shocking with regards to this issue, because not so long ago – the same US president personally pardoned and freed from the US prison the former dictator of Honduras, a right-wing convict of drug trafficking named Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The double standards and contradictions in Trump’s actions are unbelievable.
Nonetheless, the US president has unashamedly admitted that this operation in Venezuela is all about oil. In fact, on several occasions he has mentioned that the oil in Venezuela belongs to the United States, so Uncle Sam will take it back.
On 10 December 2025, after several weeks of blowing up boats on the high seas – the US seized 1.9 million barrels of oil belonging to China.
This is a development that was heavily condemned by Beijing without hesitation. This was an act of daylight robbery and nothing can excuse such behaviour.
Elated: Venezuelans in Santiago, Chile, celebrating Maduro’s arrest
Photo: Igallards7
Two speakers stood out for calling attention to the crises occurring in their countries.
Shireen Al-Adeimi is from Yemen. She spoke eloquently about the relentless bombing campaign being carried out by Saudi Arabia with the support of the United States against her country. Hospitals, schools, even weddings and funerals have been targeted. There is a blockade against her country which prevents food and medicine from being provided to the people who need it the most. Starvation and disease are rampant. It’s being called the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. You can listen to some of her speeches on Facebook Live.
Rania Salem is a Palestinian activist. She spoke about how Gaza has been turned into a huge open air prison and how Palestinians are being shot down by Israeli snipers by the wall separating Gaza from Israel while peacefully protesting for their Right of Return to their ancestral lands. Photo
Charles Edward Miller
It is not a coincidence that America’s Delta Force landed in Caracas, just hours after a high-level Chinese delegation arrived in Venezuela and held a meeting with Maduro. Evidently, the US intelligence community was aware of this meeting beforehand.
The fact that Trump sent a team of special forces to carry out such an operation while the Chinese delegation was still in Venezuela tells us another story.
Just after he was confirmed as the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio took his first trip abroad to Latin America. And on that trip, he threatened Panama and basically told them to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This is something that Trump might begin to force other countries in the region to do as well.
As a reminder, we know that Venezuela is one of the few countries in the world which has been hit terribly by US economic sanctions. This has led to essentially the collapse of their economy, causing many people to leave the country in search of survival and better opportunities.
It is estimated that almost eight million people have left Venezuela because of the poverty caused by sanctions and the US economic blockade. In the midst of all this, China, Iran and Russia have kept the economic lifeline for Venezuela, as they continue to purchase oil and trade with this Latin American country which has the largest oil reserves in the world.
Moreover, China alone purchases roughly about 80% of Venezuela’s oil, with the Maduro government challenging the petro dollar system, selling the oil in Chinese Yuan R&B, not just in the US currency. Essentially, China, through these transactions, sustained the economy of Venezuela for the last 30 years.
Hence, this attack on Venezuela and the removal of its president by the US is simply a message to Beijing.
That message is clear – America is here to assert its influence in the western hemisphere and will not allow non-hemispheric competitors to control any of the strategic natural resources in Latin America.
This is according to the US National Security Strategy published in November 2025. The goal is to turn the entire western hemisphere into an imperial sphere of influence for the United States, cutting off China by establishing a new supply chain for critical minerals and rare earth minerals which are found in places like Venezuela, Greenland, Argentina etc.
The current supply chain of these minerals in Latin America is dominated by China.
Besides all the evidence pointing to the fact that the target on Venezuela by the US is to limit China’s ambitions in the western hemisphere, there are other factors that made Trump take such actions against Maduro.
The current domestic politics also forced the US president to act in such a manner because he is desperate to distract people – especially his own Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, which has been divided over the Epstein files. As Maduro goes to court, his appearance will be televised, make newspaper headlines and circulate on social media – making it nothing but a show trial. And sooner, rather than later, no one will be talking about Trump and his connections to Jeffery Epstein.
Since 2026 is an election year, for mid-term elections; Trump knew that he needed to give his base something to run with come November. The approval ratings for the POTUS have fallen sharply even among his own right-wing supporters and conservatives.
Another motivation for this shameless act of kidnapping Maduro is the Zionist appetite for waging war against Iran, with the thought that if Venezuela is destabilised and weakened and the US installs a puppet regime in Caracas, then that regime will be ordered to stop doing business or supplying oil to Iran.
Therefore, no cheap oil for Tehran coming out of Venezuela – this could potentially cripple the number one enemy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This then lays the foundation for Israel striking Iran again, as we saw last year during the 12-days war between the two nations. As long as the United States runs Venezuela, either directly or indirectly, they will make sure to cut off Iran and isolate it further in the region. Even if Iran decided to close off the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to any western aggression, such actions would be of no consequence.
In the final analysis, if this kidnapping of Maduro operation does not backfire, then Trump is likely to use it as a campaign message, so that his Republican party candidates can win and maintain the majority control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Because failure to do so, the President will face impeachment proceedings.
This would be the end for Trump.
Aaron Ng’ambi is a geopolitical analyst, newspaper columnist and leadership consultant