President Trump announced on Truth Social early Saturday morning:
The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with US Law Enforcement.
Later that morning, the president held a news conference from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence, in which he stated that the US is “going to run” Venezuela until a “proper transition can take place.” He added that the US will rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure, “which will cost billions of dollars.”
Maduro and his wife arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Saturday. They are expected to appear in federal court at noon today.
How did we get here?
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America comprising an area of 353,841 square miles (about twice the size of California) and a population of twenty-nine million. Its capital and largest city is Caracas.
In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus landed near the eastern shore of modern-day Venezuela and commended the region to Spain’s leaders. Spanish colonization started in 1522; the country gained its full independence in 1823 under leader Simón Bolivar. The world’s largest known oil reserves were discovered there during World War I, prompting an economic boom that lasted into the 1980s.
Economic crises then led to a political crisis, the elevation of Hugh Chávez, and the adoption of a new constitution in 1999 that created a socialist government. Chávez appointed Nicolás Maduro as vice president in 2013; Maduro won the presidential election after Chávez’s death that year. In the years since, the country has been wracked with economic crises; in 2017, Maduro barred opposition parties, essentially ruling as a dictator. He claimed reelection in 2024, but the US and many other countries consider his claim to be illegitimate.
In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and other crimes. The US State Department has identified him as the leader of the Cartel of the Suns, a drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. He has allegedly negotiated multi-ton shipments of cocaine and facilitated large-scale drug trafficking. According to the US Justice Department, his regime has caused “tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities.”
How has the US responded?
In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order paving the way for criminal organizations and drug cartels to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” They included Tren de Araqua (“Train from Aragua”), a Venezuelan street gang.
On August 19, the US military deployed naval forces to the waters off Venezuela; on September 2, the US carried out its first strike against what the president said was a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua. The US military carried out numerous strikes against drug boats in the weeks following and seized oil tankers involved in what Attorney General Pam Bondi called “an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
President Trump stated Saturday that he had given Maduro several chances to step down in recent weeks, but that Maduro had refused. As a result, on January 3, the US conducted a “large-scale strike” across Caracas to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and fly them out of the country.
Was this legal?
Critics immediately decried these actions as illegal, since the president did not secure congressional approval beforehand. However, Yale constitutional law professor Jed Rubenfeld wrote that what Mr. Trump did in Venezuela “is almost certainly legal; in fact, the US did the very same thing in Panama four decades ago, and the courts upheld it after years of litigation and careful consideration.”
He notes that, like some fifty other countries, the US does not recognize the Maduro regime as Venezuela’s legitimate government. This matters because foreign heads of state are immune from prosecution in the US. Prof. Rubenfeld adds that there has been an outstanding arrest warrant for Maduro since 2020, based on his indictment that year. This warrant, together with the indictment, “satisfies the Constitution’s requirements for an arrest.”
However, he also writes that “Trump’s plan to ‘run’ Venezuela for the foreseeable future . . . is much murkier,” noting that “it is almost universally accepted that the president has no power to make war without Congress’s consent.” While a targeted mission to seize a fugitive is not war, and presidents across several administrations have conducted limited military missions, “a protracted boots-on-the-ground invasion and takeover of another country probably is the making of war, as a constitutional matter” (his emphasis).
As a result, he believes the War Powers Act will apply and the administration will have to obtain congressional approval if our military presence in Venezuela lasts longer than sixty days.
What comes next?
President Trump surprised many when he announced Saturday that the US would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” He stated, “We want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela,” adding, “We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over that doesn’t have the good of the people of Venezuela in mind.” Mr. Trump explained that US oil companies will rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure, which will generate wealth for the nation and reimburse the US for its work on Venezuela’s behalf.
The country’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was named interim president by Venezuela’s Supreme Court. She later appeared on state television to demand Maduro’s release, calling him the “only president.” However, she has reportedly impressed the Trump administration with her management of Venezuela’s crucial oil industry, and officials are optimistic that they can work with her going forward. By contrast, opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado called for Edmundo González Urrutia, whom her party claims won the 2024 election, to assume power.
The role of the military going forward is a vital component as well. Senior and retired officers control food distribution, raw materials, and the state oil company, as well as dozens of private firms. Many profit from illicit trade, as do widespread pro-government militias.
China, Russia, and Iran have supplied Venezuela with financial, economic, and military aid in recent years. All were quick to condemn the US action, but it remains to be seen how they will otherwise respond.
As the Guardian reports, reaction in the US “has been starkly polarized along political lines,” with Republicans celebrating the enforcement of the indictment against Maduro and Democrats “decrying what they see as a violation of Venezuela’s right to self-determination.”
How should Christians respond?
Tomorrow I plan to offer several biblical responses. For today, let’s close with this reflection.
Of all the comments I have heard and read since the news broke early Saturday, one statement has especially resonated with me: a geopolitical analyst interviewed on television noted that any likely scenario would be better for the Venezuelan people than what they were experiencing under Maduro.
His observation points to this fact: while we understandably focus on geopolitics and implications for America, Jesus loves every Venezuelan as much as he loves every American. He died for them just as he died for us. He is praying for them right now just as he is praying for us (Romans 8:34). He grieves for the turmoil and suffering they have experienced in recent decades.
The closer we draw to our Savior, the more we will love them as he does.
Julian of Norwich (c. 1343-after 1416) wrote:
God is the ground and the substance, the very essence of nature;
God is the true father and mother of natures.
We are all bound to God by nature,
and we are all bound to God by grace.
And this grace is for all the world.
Do you agree?
Quote for the day:
“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love.” —Mother Teresa
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