Trump says he will take control of Venezuela after capturing Maduro

WashingtonThe headline is long and imposing: The United States has launched a "large-scale" attack against Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, will try them in New York, and, meanwhile, Washington says it will take control of the Latin American country until it achieves "a safe transition." Hours after "surgically" bombing several locations in Venezuela and capturing Maduro in the early hours of the morning, Donald Trump appeared this Saturday from his Mar-a-Lago mansion to explain the details of an operation which is particularly reminiscent of the invasion of Panama or, later, that of Iraq. "We will govern the country until the time is right to carry out a safe, proper, and prudent transition," the US president stated, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

This morning's attack, dubbed "Operation Absolute Determination," with bombings of Caracas and other areas in the south and east of the country, plunges the Central American nation into a power vacuum that only foreshadows more chaos. Trump himself posted several images of the operation on Truth Social, one of which stood out: Maduro, dressed in a gray tracksuit with his eyes and ears covered, being held inside a warship. It was the first image of the Venezuelan leader after being capturedAnd also after Caracas demanded proof of life for the Chavista leader. Earlier, in fact, the Venezuelan government had issued a statement on state television calling on the population to "armed struggle" in the face of what it labeled "imperialist aggression." This call was echoed by several foreign ministries in the region, especially those of Colombia and Cuba.

"We cannot afford the risk of someone taking control of Venezuela without regard for the good of the Venezuelan people. We've had decades of that. We're not going to allow it to happen again," the US president argued. Trump has already warned the ousted regime that, in his case, they are "prepared to carry out a second wave" of bombings on Venezuela. International dismay at Washington's aggression – insistently announced in recent weeks – was palpable everywhere this Saturday.

It remains to be seen how the US administration plans to take control of the Central American country, especially given the potential cost of deploying US troops on the ground. Shortly before, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado had issued a statement announcing her intention to assume power. It seems the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will have to wait. Washington's initial reaction to the statement was already a lukewarm one, assuring that it was considering its support for Machado. Trump effectively dashed the opposition leader's hopes when he asserted that she is not qualified to lead the country. "She doesn't have enough support within the country, she doesn't have the respect within the country," he stated.

Instead, the Republican leader explained that his administration has spoken with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. "It seems she will do what is necessary to make Venezuela great again," he commented. Some interpret this as a sign that Rodríguez, a close confidante of Maduro, could be his successor. In a statement from Caracas following Trump's appearance, Rodríguez made it clear that Venezuela "will not be a US colony" and stood up to Washington: "There is only one president in that country, named Nicolás Maduro." The vice president also warned that the government is "ready to defend Venezuela" and its natural resources, but anticipated that it is also willing to "maintain respectful relations [with the US] within the framework of international law and the laws of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela." Trump's maneuver to reach out to Rodríguez is difficult to understand and echoes one of Maduro's demands during his call with the US president in late November. He offered the Venezuelan a negotiated exit.According to the Miami Herald, the Chavista leader set a series of conditions for agreeing to relinquish power. Among them was that Rodríguez would assume control of the country once he was gone. In theory, the negotiations regarding safe passage failed.

Control of Venezuelan oil

Trump has abandoned the doves of peace and quickly moved to what many consider the heart of the so-called war on drugs: Venezuelan oil. "We will have our great U.S. oil companies—the largest in the world—come in, invest billions of dollars, fix badly deteriorated infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," the president announced. When asked if he planned to send U.S. troops to defend oil interests, the Republican replied, "No, we will not have a military presence in Venezuela regarding oil, because we will send our experts."

In recent weeks, Washington had already seized several Venezuelan oil tankers. The appropriation of Venezuelan crude has been framed within the so-called war on drugs that the United States has been waging for months with extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific. Since the Pentagon destroyed the first alleged drug-trafficking blanket in early September, more than 100 people have been killed by the U.S. military based solely on accusations that have not been proven in court. Prior to the start of the bombing campaign, a U.S. naval fleet was deployed to the edge of Venezuelan waters in August. This pressure escalated with the deployment of an aircraft carrier. Gerald FordThe most powerful in the world. The large US military deployment around Venezuela foreshadowed a large-scale operation like the one that ultimately took place this Saturday.

Trump has placed the Maduro regime at the center of his war on drugs in Latin America—which he later dubbed Operation Southern Spear—accusing the Venezuelan leader of heading the Cartel of the Suns. Last fall, the U.S. State Department designated the group a terrorist organization and identified the Venezuelan president as its leader. Maduro has repeatedly denied the accusations. Even so, the Justice Department has already announced that both he and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted on charges of narcoterrorism.

The Backyard Return

The Republican returned to the White House promising to withdraw the country from foreign conflicts, and now he is fully immersed in the endeavor to overthrow the Maduro regime. Despite the contradiction, Trump has justified foreign intervention as part of the America First agenda. "We want to be surrounded by good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. [...]. We need it for ourselves," argued the president, who cited the Monroe Doctrine as the cornerstone of his foreign policy, in case it hadn't been made clear by his aspirations to annex Greenland, the side of Panama.

"It was very important [the Monroe Doctrine], but we had forgotten it. We will no longer forget it under our new national security strategy: American dominance and the Western Hemisphere will never be challenged. It will not happen," Trump announced. The translation of this supposed "new national security strategy" is nothing more than a rehash of the old backyard policy regarding Latin America. This reality has not gone unnoticed by the region's leaders, who have already spoken out against a new military intervention reminiscent of Kissinger's playbook.

The first to react was Colombian President Gustavo Petro—also in Trump's crosshairs—who denounced the "bombings" and demanded an emergency UN meeting. "Right now they are bombing Caracas. Alert the whole world: they have attacked Venezuela. They are bombing with missiles," Petro wrote in a post on X. Also speaking out early this morning was Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who denounced a "criminal attack" by the US against Venezuela. Other countries historically at odds with the US, such as Iran and Russia, have also condemned the attack. Europe has condemned it very timidly, with the exception of Pedro Sánchez, the European leader who has taken a more forceful stance against the White House's actions. In contrast, from Argentina, Javier Milei celebrated the operation: "Freedom advances," he wrote on X, adding his slogan:Long live freedom, damn it!"