On January 3, US forces captured Nicolás Maduro, the de facto ruler of Venezuela, not recognized as president by the US or the EU, in an astonishing overnight operation that offered the Venezuelan people a genuine chance at freedom after nearly 27 years of authoritarian rule.
Sitting atop the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Venezuela was once among the wealthiest countries in South America until Hugo Chávez seized power in 1999. Today, it is among the poorest. Roughly 40% of the population faces moderate to severe food insecurity, and nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2018.
President Trump’s decision to remove a sitting dictator and oversee the conditions for a democratic transition will trigger uneasy echoes of past US interventions. But those comparisons fail to account for what makes Venezuela different.
Venezuela has become a center for drugs, organized crime, Hezbollah, and foreign influence. It is closely aligned with today’s axis of evil, led by China, Russia, and Iran. Together, these dynamics have turned the country into a hub of malign operations that threaten regional stability and US security interests.
But Venezuela is not Afghanistan or Iraq. It has a long democratic tradition that eroded under Chávez. As recently as the 2024 elections, the domestic opposition estimated it won roughly 70% of the vote, a result that was blatantly falsified by the Maduro regime to cling to power.
Venezuela remains an energy powerhouse, crippled not by capacity but by corruption, mismanagement, and political decay.
A democratic transition could weaken America’s adversaries and create a valuable ally. Countries emerging from socialist rule are often more inclined to align with democratic systems and the West. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado has openly praised Trump’s strategy on Venezuela, both before and after Maduro’s capture, underscoring the alignment between domestic democratic forces and US objectives.
A pro-Western Venezuela could also emerge as a stabilizing force in South America, reinforcing shifts in Argentina, Chile, and El Salvador, which have shifted towards economic liberalization and the democratic West.
Capture of Maduro fits Trump's approach to foreign policy
The capture of Maduro fits a broader pattern in Trump’s approach to foreign policy: explicit warnings, preserving strategic ambiguity, and acting when it matters. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at the press conference, when President Trump “tells you he’s going to do something and address a problem, he means it.”
That logic was evident in his ultimatum to Iran to reach a peaceful nuclear deal, followed by Israeli preemptive strikes the day after the deadline passed. It appeared again the day before Maduro’s removal, when Trump warned Iran that if it killed peaceful protesters, the United States “will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
For regimes that thrive on testing limits and act with impunity, credibility and the demonstrated willingness to use power are the currencies that matter most. A United States that clearly defines what is acceptable and what is not, and acts accordingly, is far more dangerous to authoritarian adversaries. In this sense, Venezuela is not an isolated episode, but a warning with implications far beyond Caracas.
This operation also puts to rest the notion that Trump’s “America First” doctrine ever meant “America Only,” showing selective, strategic use of force. In his first term, this translated into the elimination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the destruction of the ISIS caliphate. More recently, Trump authorized strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities after Israel established air dominance and cleared the path for US action. The strikes bolstered regional stability and likely contributed to emerging Arab support for a new peace framework in Gaza.
In a military operation lasting only a few hours, the United States created the opportunity to transform Venezuela from one of its most entrenched adversaries in the Western Hemisphere into a stable and pro-Western partner.
A peaceful transition in Venezuela will not be easy, and success is not guaranteed. But the alternative is surrender to a world where tyranny is permanent and repression carries no consequences. By acting decisively, the United States has shown that the axis of evil is not inevitable and that freedom is still worth defending.
The writer is the former director of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps of the World Jewish Congress, a global network of 400 Jewish leaders across 60 countries engaged in diplomacy, advocacy, and international policy.