The United States captured Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian president of Venezuela, in a Special Operations raid on January 3. His wife, Cilia Flores, was also captured. Maduro appeared in court in Manhattan three days later, where he pleaded not guilty to multiple drug and weapons charges. He has claimed that he was kidnapped and is still the president of his country.
President Trump declared that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela indefinitely, and has announced plans to essentially take control of its copious raw oil supply. This, he claims, will benefit both the U.S. and Venezuela. He has also suggested a mercantilist-style economic policy that would require Venezuela to purchase only American products with the money from the oil sales.
Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president and former vice president to Maduro, condemned US military action but opened the possibility of discussion with the Trump administration. Trump claims that his administration is getting along well with Rodríguez’s.
It is unclear why Trump did not install Edmundo González, whom the U.S. declared the winner of the 2024 election, which the Biden administration accused Maduro of stealing. González is backed by María Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition movement and recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Machado has stated that she believes the opposition would win by a large majority in a free and fair election; currently, the interim government is comprised entirely of Maduro loyalists. The Trump administration has not said when the country will hold an election.
The raid, which involved approximately 200 Special Operations forces, is dubiously legal. Many of the U.S.’s closest allies have condemned it, and Latin American countries declared it a violation of international law. The Trump administration justified it as a law enforcement operation rather than a military one, which would have required more Congressional approval.
The Senate is set to vote on a war powers resolution on January 9. If it passes, it would block the use of armed forces in Venezuela without explicit Congressional authorization.
In a similarly imperialist move, Trump has openly explored the idea of acquiring Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory. This idea is not new: former presidents have tried to purchase or land swap for Greenland several times, though Denmark has always refused. Today, however, the possibility of taking control of Greenland is widely unpopular: recent polls show that between 54% and 73% of Americans oppose annexation or purchase of the territory.
As for general foreign policy, only 26% of Americans support the idea that the “United States should have a policy of dominating affairs in the Western hemisphere,” according to a Reuters poll.
Along with Venezuela and Greenland, Trump has threatened a host of other Latin American countries, including Colombia, reflecting his desire to assume an expansionist policy that is unparalleled in the last few decades of U.S. history. He has coined his foreign policy the “Donroe Doctrine,” a reference to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which asserted U.S. dominance in the Western hemisphere and warned against European involvement.
In a stunning reflection of this policy, the U.S. Department of State posted on X: “This is OUR hemisphere.”
