Maduro’s Last Exit to Brooklyn

Y esterday’s Operation Absolute Resolve, the joint military-and-law-enforcement arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on “narco-terrorism conspiracy” charges, is a major step in keeping President Trump’s pledge to shore up U.S. power and influence in the Western Hemisphere. As of this writing, Maduro and Flores are headed to their new home at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Maduro had it coming. As Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both stated in yesterday’s press conference, he rejected deals to step down from power. Now, he faces DOJ charges since 2020 on conspiring to export cocaine into the U.S. In recent weeks, he’s appeared more nervous, reportedly changing his residences often, according to the New York Times.

According to the White House, Operation Absolute Resolve was planned for months and led by Delta Force operatives. The Pentagon reports that 150 aircraft took part in the operation to protect helicopters from the raid on Maduro’s compound in Caracas. Some took fire from Venezuelan forces; one helicopter was hit but continued its mission. No U.S. casualties were reported.

During his press conference, Trump stated there was some heavy resistance — the U.S. forces experienced “multiple self-defense engagements,” and that special forces nabbed Maduro before he could slip into his safe room. Trump stated they had planned on a second wave of attacks, but it was unnecessary. According to CNN, on Saturday, Caracas was calm in the aftermath, with little regime activity reported.

What is most surprising about the secret operation is how easily Maduro was captured. Clearly, U.S. operation planners knew exactly how to find Maduro, suggesting that the regime is penetrated by traitors. The Venezuelan generals did little to defend Maduro, their main benefactor for corruption and drug-trafficking. The success of the operation suggests that the Caracas regime has long lost its legitimacy, even among its most ardent followers.

This was a necessary operation, performed flawlessly. As demonstrated by 2024’s massive electoral fraud, Venezuela was never going to transition to democracy while Maduro, Flores, and other key cronies remained in power. Moreover, the U.S. acted based on just war principles; it acted only in the last resort, had a reasonable chance for success, and it used the appropriate amount of force to accomplish its precise mission.

Academics and liberal journalists may abhor them, but for Washington, regime change policies have never been off the table. The Obama administration took regime change action against Libya and Syria. The Biden administration openly hoped its pressure policies on Russia would lead to Putin falling from power. Just because these attempts were ineffective does not mean the administration dismissed regime change as a policy instrument.

The operation should have a positive deterrence effect on America’s authoritarian adversaries. Tom Nichols argues in The Atlantic that we just gave Russia and China a roadmap to conduct similar operations, but it is doubtful they need encouragement. Those authoritarian powers are already trying to overthrow democratically elected governments — and quite unsuccessfully. We, in contrast, are trying to restore one. In fact, the outcome of Absolute Resolve is a major blow to Beijing and Moscow, as it underscores the emptiness of their support pledges to Caracas.

This is especially true for Russia, who has been flooding Venezuela with armaments, including advanced anti-aircraft systems. Despite this, we conducted our air operations with near impunity, just as we had over Russian-armed Iran in last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer.

But the country that stands to lose the most now is Cuba. What happened to his vaunted Cuban bodyguards and intelligence agents, which Maduro reportedly expanded before the raid? Secretary of State/National Security Adviser Rubio only exaggerates slightly in stating that Venezuela was largely taken over by Cuban state security. Despite its takeover of Venezuela’s domestic security, it failed to detect a CIA team inserted into Venezuela last summer.

Indeed, Cuba might be the next authoritarian domino to fall. Cuba “is an interesting case,” Trump said cryptically. Rubio added that if he were the president of Cuba, he’d be concerned “a little bit.” The regime in Caracas was its last major lifeline. Rubio has made it clear that he regards Cuba and Venezuela as connected issues.

But now that Venezuela is under new management, what comes next? According to Trump, “We are going to run the country” until it is ready for “a safe and judicious transition.” When asked who would be in charge at his press conference, Trump motioned to the men behind him, Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

But the Trump administration probably has learned something from other regime change operations. The approach seems pragmatic: There were no pledges that the Venezuelans would greet us with “sweets and flowers” or that a transition would occur in a matter of weeks. The goal may be to make Venezuela “rich, independent, and safe,” but Trump offered no timeline. It appears we are working with recently sworn-in President Delcy Rodríguez and other unnamed regime elements. Trump also added that he did not regard the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado as someone appropriate to run the country.

The administration apparently sees 1989’s Operation Just Cause that deposed dictator Manuel Noriega in Panama as a guide. The comparison is apt. Before his fall, Noriega had nullified election results and refused to negotiate with the opposition or the U.S., just as Maduro had done in 2024 and 2025.

Panama’s transition to democracy was far from seamless, and the democratic opposition could not achieve it by itself. We turned over operational control to the Panamanians of the Panama Canal after the democratic transition was well established. Likewise, the Trump administration aims to get the Venezuelan oil industry back on its feet to put Venezuela’s democracy on a firm economic foundation. In the end, the U.S. intervention has delivered 35 years of uninterrupted democracy in Panama — and given Venezuela’s history of past democratic institutions and norms, a similar positive outcome is possible.

Operation Absolute Resolve struck an important blow for freedom in the Americas. But the next phases will not be nearly as smooth. After the dust settles in Venezuela, regime hard-liners like Diosdado Cabello and Vladimir Padrino López will obstruct any transition. But they and other Maduro cronies have also been indicted on federal drug-trafficking charges. Perhaps this gives Washington some leverage for cutting a deal with those who do not want a free trip to Brooklyn.