admin
The United States carried out a bold, no-nonsense operation on January 3, 2026 that resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s embattled leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and their transfer to American custody in New York. This was not a stunt or a sideshow — it was a decisive enforcement of U.S. law against a regime long accused of trafficking death into our neighborhoods.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York unsealed sweeping charges against Maduro and Flores, including narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracies, and illegal weapons possession, underscoring the scale of the criminal enterprise allegedly run from Caracas. Attorney General Pam Bondi made clear these defendants will face justice on American soil, a statement that should reassure every family harmed by cartel poison and cartel-fueled violence.
The military mission, reported as Operation Absolute Resolve, involved a major strike package and the use of the USS Iwo Jima to extract the couple before they were flown to New York, showing the clear integration of military precision and law enforcement purpose. Our armed forces executed what President Trump and his commanders described as a swift, surgical action to remove a direct threat to our homeland.
For years Democrats and global talkers lectured America about restraint while the Maduro regime funneled cocaine, corruption, and terror across our southern border. This operation recalls the precedent set decades ago with Noriega — when necessary, American power can be used to stop a dictator who hides behind a veneer of sovereignty while exporting crime.
Predictably, the usual chorus cried foul about international law and precedent, but those naysayers ignore the victims — the mothers, the addicts, the communities ravaged by cartel trade that Maduro allegedly fostered. Legal debates will rage in think tanks and foreign capitals, but Americans want safety and accountability, not moralizing excuses that let tyrants profit from human misery.
Now is the moment for the Justice Department to move with ironclad evidence, aggressive prosecutions, and the seizure of ill-gotten assets to starve the networks that funded this regime. At the same time, responsible leadership in Washington must help secure a peaceful transition in Venezuela so that ordinary Venezuelans — not the dictators or their cronies — can chart their own future without the boot of narco-tyrants on their necks.
This country should stand tall and patriotic as our military and law enforcement brought a dangerous trafficker to answer for his crimes. Congress must back the president’s courage with oversight and support, and the American people should be proud that, when push came to shove, our nation chose justice over cowardice.
