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America’s Removal of Maduro Will Have Global Reverberations
Operation Absolute Resolve was an important reminder of America’s world-class military capabilities, helping to reestablish the United States as the preeminent strategic actor in the Western Hemisphere.
This complex military operation led to the capture of the Socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. The couple will face a Manhattan federal court on charges of narco-terrorism. Their arrest and extradition followed an extended US pressure campaign that included military strikes on more than 30 alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and culminated in a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports.
Maduro, who lost Venezuela’s July 2024 presidential election and continued to rule illegitimately until his removal, was a strong ally of the China-led axis that includes Russia, Iran, and other authoritarian powers. His regime helped these adversaries expand their economic and military influence near US shores through infrastructure investments, military exercises, and clandestine operations to arm nonstate proxies. For the White House, removing Maduro was an important step toward the goal, laid out in the 2025 National Security Strategy, of “rolling back outside influence in the Western Hemisphere.”
Yet much like Operation Midnight Hammer (the US-Israeli operation to incapacitate Iran’s illicit nuclear facilities), Operation Absolute Resolve has global implications as well. Demonstrating such superior military-technical prowess and operational competency, especially in defiance of adversaries’ warnings, boosts American credibility and strengthens deterrence.
Still, Venezuela’s future remains uncertain, and the nation’s security is fragile. The United States needs to navigate challenges carefully to ensure Venezuela ceases to operate as a narco-state that serves the China-led axis. But if Washington takes the correct course of action, Caracas could become a strong US economic and security partner—a pivot that would mutually benefit the American and Venezuelan people and serve as a warning to America’s adversaries.
“It’s hard to think of any other military in the world that could do what we, and our intelligence community, did. That sends a powerful deterrent message to all kinds of bad actors in the world, in the region, in the Western Hemisphere, but also in places like Iran. . . . There are risks ahead, major risks, for the course that the administration is pursuing. I don’t think they are the same risks as 2003 and Iraq for a variety of reasons. . . . My assessment sitting here on Monday, granted this could be different on Tuesday, is that there has not been regime change. We have taken the top guy out, but, sort of extraordinarily, in a very bold and unusual kind of gambit, the Trump administration seems to be planning to ‘run’ Venezuela through the proxies of the existing Chavista socialist regime. Risks aplenty, but not Iraq 2003.”
— Aaron MacLean
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
“The Venezuelans had Russian radar and sensors that did not stop the United States from going in and arresting Maduro. . . . And then, of course, there was Russian equipment in Iran when the United States conducted Operation Midnight Hammer. . . . Russia is really on its back foot. The United States has an opportunity now to go forward and really squeeze the Russians when it comes to trying to get a good deal for the Ukrainians and end that conflict. But, as the president said, to have a country like Venezuela out of the grips of the narco-terrorists led by Maduro would be a boon for industry [and] good for the Venezuelan people.”
— Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Director, Keystone Defense Initiative
Hudson Highlights
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs | World
“Maduro’s rule enabled America’s strongest enemies to get near to US shores, and removing him portends the possibility of boxing out their influence in our neighborhood. China, Russia, and Iran supported Maduro. The Chinese Communist Party was the biggest buyer of Maduro’s oil, provided diplomatic support to the fellow Communist dictator, and denounced the US actions to coerce Maduro to exit the country. Russia was also a backer of Maduro, recently pledged more support to Maduro, and was a regular supplier of weapons to the corrupt and brutal regime. Iran too enabled Maduro to evade global sanctions and keep the regime afloat. Ensuring Venezuela is not an enabler of the China-led axis of aggressors strengthens American security globally.”
Miles Yu | Washington Times
“The downfall of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro serves as another powerful reminder to the world: China’s campaign for global dominance is not confined to the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea or Indo-Pacific trade routes. . . . China’s Latin America strategy is therefore not an exotic subplot. It is a frontline component of the CCP’s global contest: to bind economies to Beijing, to undermine US influence, and to use rogue regimes, especially Cuba and Venezuela, as platforms for intelligence, military cooperation, propaganda and crisis manipulation.”
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs | National Review
“This should be the year the United States turns the screws on the Russian economy and embraces a plan to bolster Ukraine’s military strength and operational latitude to maximize its military effectiveness against Russia and to adapt the NATO alliance to restore strategic stability with Russia. . . . Unlike the Cold War, the United States must deter not just one imperialist nuclear peer, but two: China and Russia, in addition to the other countries in the axis of aggressors (North Korea, Iran, and their useful cartel regimes in Latin America). . . . Successfully capturing one of Russia’s avowed allies could be a turning point, and gaining confidence in America’s own military might and competency may just give Trump the confidence to stand up to Putin and to turn the tide to a more effective and honorable posture towards Russia.”
Key Insights
Ryan Berg, Henrietta Levin, Vali Nasr, Maria Snegovaya, and Will Todman | Center for Strategic and International Studies
“The biggest impact for Iran is the symbolism of the United States trying to break a regime that it doesn’t like. First, under the pressure of sanctions, then through a surgical decapitation, and then the way the US is trying to handle the remaining Chavista state in Venezuela. . . . Iran immediately felt an increase of pressure on itself in terms of being viewed as now being in the crosshairs of the United States. And, also, it had a big psychological impact on its population as well that regime change in Iran was also imminent. So, the collapse of that symbolism reverberated in Iran quite significantly.”
Mike Waltz | United States Mission to the United Nations
“Maduro and his cronies have partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world for decades, facilitating the flood of illegal drugs coming into the United States, estimated to be several hundred tons annually. He has become rich, incredibly wealthy, off the misery of untold numbers of Americans, Venezuelans, and others, aiding and abetting international terrorist organizations like Hizballah, coordinating with corrupt Iranian officials, and other malign actors to influence not only the region but to malignly influence the United States. In fact, in its own 2025 World Drug Report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identified Venezuela as a key trafficking route in the Western Hemisphere.”
Morgan Phillips | Fox News
“[US] intelligence allowed planners to identify a precise window when Maduro was most vulnerable. Airspace suppression, rapid insertion and coordinated ground movement unfolded in minutes, denying Venezuelan and allied forces time to respond effectively. . . . Former FBI counterintelligence operative Eric O’Neill said those details are likely to matter more to Beijing and Moscow than legal debates at the United Nations. . . . ‘That sends a strong signal that the United States can find its adversaries anywhere in the world,’ he said, arguing rivals already inclined to violate international norms are unlikely to be emboldened by an action they lack the capability to replicate.”
Top Reads
With Venezuela Raid, US Tells China to Keep Away from the Americas
Michael Martina, Trevor Hunnicutt, and David Brunnstrom | Reuters
China’s Much-Hyped Radars Appear to Have Been of Little Help When the US Launched Its Massive Air Assault against Venezuela
Chris Panella | Business Insider
Rubio: This Is Our Hemisphere—and President Trump Will Not Allow Our Security to Be Threatened
The White House
US Should Move Beyond Maduro Regime If It Plans to Fix Venezuela
Daniel Batlle | New York Post
Venezuelans Believe Donald Trump Has Offered Them a Better Future
The Economist
The Venezuelan Oil Narrative Is Pure Theatre
Tracy Shuchart | Renegade Resources (Substack)
With Close Allies Iran and Venezuela in Crisis, China Is Scrambling to Save Energy—and Face
Steven W. Mosher | New York Post
Power Without Illusion: Global Signals from the US Operation in Venezuela
Ron MacCammon | Small Wars Journal
The Long Legal Precedent for Trump’s Venezuela Operation
John Yoo | American Enterprise Institute
The Venezuela-Iran Connection and What Maduro’s Capture Means for Tehran, Explained
Joze Pelayo, Kirsten Fontenrose, and Ellie Sennett | Atlantic Council
