Was Trump right to capture Maduro without Congress? Tell us. | Opinion
Was Trump right to bypass Congress and extract Maduro on his own accord? Are you worried about U.S. 'boots on the ground' being involved in Venezuela for months, maybe years, to come? Tell us below.
Janessa HilliardOn Jan. 3, and after months of escalating tensions, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, after a two-hour operation and months of planning. Maduro and Flores were arraigned Jan. 5 in New York City on a four-count indictment linking them to a 25-year-old narco-conspiracy. They pleaded not guilty on all charges.
The attack early Saturday – which killed at least 40 Venezuelans – and the extraction of a dictator was dramatic enough. (And we want to hear your reactions to it. Scroll down to tell us.) But it's what came next – and what could come next – that has captured our continued attention.
In a subsequent news conference about the Venezuela raid, President Donald Trump told Americans, "We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."
The following day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to suggest a less hands-on approach, saying the United States would continue to enforce its oil quarantine on Venezuela, and stating that the Trump administration would not recognize Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as the country's legitimate new leader – a seeming 180-degree flip from a day prior.
Trump has also dismissed the notion of working with Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, who thanked Trump for her prize in 2025.
What do you think of Trump's decision to bomb Venezuela and capture Nicolás Maduro?
For those of us old enough to remember – or who have endured – previous U.S. "forever wars," this imperialistic quagmire feels familiar. What does "running the country" look like, and will it really cost us nothing as Trump claimed from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after his announcement?
Few will miss Maduro, who was nothing short of a disaster for the oil- and gold-rich country, plunging it into economic disarray and fueling a mass exodus of nearly 8 million Venezuelans since 2014. But parachuting in to remove a threat – with seemingly no exit strategy in sight – is troubling, to say the least.
What do you think? Was Trump right to bypass Congress and extract Maduro on his own accord? Are you worried about U.S. "boots on the ground" being involved in Venezuela for months, maybe years, to come? Who do you think should run the country? Do you have an opinion on U.S. companies regaining access to oil reserves? Do you think Trump will invade other countries?
Use the form below to share your opinion, or email us at [email protected] using the subject line "Forum Venezuela." We'll select a collection of the best responses to publish in a future column.
