On January 3, 2026, a United States force of military personnel, assisting United States law enforcement, captured and took into custody Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro. Maduro had taken control of the government of Venezuela and illegitimately refused to transfer power after losing the last election. An indictment against Maduro had been issued by a New York grand jury in 2020, accusing the Maduros of conspiracy to transport and sell illegal drugs into the United States.

Because the United States does not recognize the Maduro regime as the legitimate government of Venezuela and because of the indictment against Maduro, his wife, and others, this was considered to be a United States law enforcement action where the assistance of the United States military and intelligence agencies was required. It is a tribute to the Trump Administration that the security of the operation was well executed. The American media did not receive leaks of the operation. Congress was not made aware of the operation until it was well underway. Secretary of State Rubio made it clear that such communication could not be done due to the nature of the operation and mission. President Trump made clear that no American lives were lost during the mission.

Because the Maduros and others were indicted of conspiracy to import tons of illegal drugs into the United States (over more than 25 years!) United States law allows the conspirators to be charged with illegal possession of machine guns and destructive devices.  From the Maduro Indictment:

Count Two of this Superseding Indictment, knowingly used and carried firearms, and, in furtherance of such crimes, knowingly possessed firearms, and aided and abetted the use, carrying, and possession of firearms, to wit, machineguns that were capable of automatically shooting more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger, as well as destructive devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(c)(l)(A) and 924(c)(l)(B)(ii).

(Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(0) and 3238.)

In paragraph 37 of the indictment, the United States declares the defendants “shall forfeit to the United States” all firearms and ammunition used in the commission of the offenses. It may seem odd that actors who never entered United States territory and whose actions occurred outside United States territory can be found guilty of United States crimes. Such law has precedent from piracy and smuggling laws, where organizations involved in such actions stayed outside of the United States.

The action to bring the Maduros into custody, to stand trial in the United States, has precedent from the arrest of Manuel Noriega, dictator in Panama, on January 3, 1990, 36 years ago. This correspondent spent five years in Panama under the Noriega regime. The situation was similar to Venezuela today. The people of Panama did not consider Manuel Noriega and his confederates to be a legitimate government. The invasion of Panama was executed rapidly with overwhelming force. The loss of life was much greater than appears to be the case in Venezuela, but it was small in military terms. Manuel Noriega found Jesus in prison in the USA. He was extradited back to Panama custody in December of 2011, where he had been convicted of murder. He died in prison in 2017. The fate of the Maduros is yet to be written.

The ability of the United States military, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies to execute such a strike with overwhelming force, speed, and precision stands in stark contrast with the bungle of a similar effort by Russia, almost four years ago. In a decapitation strike against the Ukrainian government of President Volodymyr Zelenski, Russian special forces failed to take control of the government. The Russian special forces, which survived the decapitation effort, were killed or captured. Russia and Ukraine remain in a bloody, stalemated war.

In Venezuela, it seems unlikely there will be much opposition to a US-supervised transition to a legitimate government. Maduro is widely unpopular. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported that much of the security apparatus in Venezuela had been taken over by Cubans. He stated a challenge of transition to a legitimate government will be the removal of Cubans from Venezuelan government and security forces. From the press conference, by Rubio:

 One of the biggest problems Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba.

President Trump stated that U.S. oil companies will rebuild the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. The oil revenue from Venezuela will be used to rebuild Venezuela, to make those harmed by the Venezuelan regime whole, and to benefit the people of Venezuela.

It is hoped that the right of Venezuelan citizens to possess firearms will be restored in a future government. It seems likely that a new Constitution will be written and voted on in Venezuela in the future. The Chavez regime changed the previous Constitution considerably.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.