Why Trump's Arrest of Maduro is NOT Regime Change

President Trump framed the removal of Maduro as a victory for American economic hegemony, pointing to Venezuela’s estimated 300 billion barrels of oil reserves—the largest in the world.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 3, President Donald Trump ordered a military operation into the nation of Venezuela. With impressive precision, U.S. forces were able to bomb important military targets and catch dictator Nicolas Maduro sleeping – quite literally – and remove him from power. Maduro was taken into custody and flown to New York City to be processed on various criminal charges.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on CBS Evening News that the strikes were narrowly tailored and executed with support from the Department of Justice, describing the mission as “a law-enforcement exercise” backed by military force rather than a regime-change war similar to the failures of the George W. Bush era. Hegseth emphasized that the operation avoided the large-scale troop deployments that defined the neoconservative nation-building wars of the 2000s while efficiently securing U.S. interests.

“This is the opposite of Iraq,” Hegseth said. “We spent decades and purchased in blood and got nothing economically in return. President Trump flips the script—strategic action that secures resources, ends criminal activity, and doesn’t cost American lives.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio played a central role in shaping and executing the operation. Rubio has made the Western Hemisphere the core focus of the Trump administration’s newly unveiled National Security Strategy, explicitly prioritizing the Americas over post-Cold War Atlantic frameworks. During a press conference Saturday, Rubio described Maduro as a fugitive who “wanted to play big boy” and is now facing the consequences. He warned other authoritarian regimes in the region, particularly Cuba, that they should “be concerned” following the resounding success of the mission in Venezuela.

President Trump framed the removal of Maduro as a victory for American economic hegemony, pointing to Venezuela’s estimated 300 billion barrels of oil reserves—the largest in the world. Trump said U.S. energy companies would assist in restoring production and infrastructure, generating revenue for Venezuela while stabilizing world energy markets. Removing Maduro, a puppet of Beijing, from office will also make it more difficult for China to harvest the country’s natural resources for global dominance.

Another crucial aspect of Maduro’s arrest will be the effect on narcotrafficking. Maduro is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in Latin America who operated a network through nations like Honduras and Guatemala to funnel drugs up to the U.S. southern border. A bogus narrative being circulated by the fake news media, echoed shamefully by anti-Trump Rep. Thomas Massie in the halls of Congress, is that President Donald Trump is some kind of hypocrite because he removed Maduro as Venezuelan dictator while subsequently pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

President Trump addressed the concern during a press conference over the weekend, noting that Hernandez “was persecuted very unfairly by Biden” and “was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump.” President Trump also noted that Honduras elected their next President – Tito Asfura – from Hernandez’s National Party following his pardon announcement, indicating that the Honduran people supported the decision. Hernandez was prosecuted based on the unproven claims of drug criminals who Hernandez was responsible for locking up. This was done because of collusion between the Biden/Harris regime and the now-outgoing Xiomara Castro regime of Honduras. Thus, the pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez was completely congruent and consistent with the removal of Maduro from power.

President Trump acknowledged that U.S. forces had operated inside Venezuela during the mission and did not rule out a limited on-ground presence tied to energy and security objectives. He stated: “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground—but we’re going to make sure that country is run properly.” The balancing act between having enough military personnel in Venezuela to manage the aftermath of Maduro’s ouster and making sure that it does not become an Afghanistan or Iraq-style quagmire – no small feat — must be navigated by the Trump Administration in the months to come. This could be helped through DOJ cooperation with Hugo Carvajal, the former Venezuelan intelligence official who defected and knows better than anyone where all of Maduro’s bodies are buried.

Although the situation is far from settled, the immediate triumph of the Venezuelan operation should restore faith in President Trump’s rebuilding of the Armed Services. Just four years ago, the military was running out of Afghanistan with their tails between their legs, surrendering the country to the Taliban and decisively losing a 20-year war with Afghanistan. At the same time, transgenders were being let into the military, recruits were being taught critical race theory heresies to hate the nation they were supposed to be defending, and diversity quotas took precedence over having an elite fighting force.

Now, it is clear that those days are in the rearview mirror – an afterthought in President Trump’s America. Even those who are critics of the Venezuelan intervention, such as libertarian commentator Dave Smith, have had to admit the impressive, precision nature of the effort to remove Maduro. This sends a message to America’s enemies that Commander-in-Chief Trump is leading a different kind of military, and they better come to the negotiating table because the other option will be inexplicably dire. These are the only conditions under which “peace through strength” can thrive.

The ouster of Maduro will make a more stable political sphere in Latin America and further signals the zeitgeist shift within Latin America politics. As Stone Cold Truth has noted, recent elections in places like Honduras, Chile, Ecuador and Argentina have resulted in colossal victories for conservative candidates and parties fighting against socialism and corruption. The momentum is firmly on the side of making the Americas great again through the embrace of capitalism, free markets and the rule of law. President Trump’s operation against Maduro has poured gas on this righteous fire engulfing our southern neighbors, and we should all be as jubilant about these developments as the Latinos who hit the streets over the weekend to celebrate.