Let Freedom Ring in the Caribbean in 2026

From Venezuela to Cuba to Nicaragua, new opportunities

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Venezuelans living in Colombia gather for a march in support of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado in Bogota, Colombia, December 6, 2025.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

The new year presents the greatest opportunity for the expansion of freedom, and the demise of repressive and anti-American regimes, in the Caribbean that we have seen in decades.

First, Venezuela. Last year the democratic forces there won a landslide victory in the presidential election — despite the fact that the regime tried desperately to fix the outcome. Edmundo González, the opposition candidate and a virtual unknown prior to his candidacy, won 70-30 and would have won by a greater margin had the election been fair. Had María Corina Machado, whom the opposition had chosen as its candidate, been permitted to run, the margin would, again, have been greater. The desire of the Venezuelan people to get rid of the corrupt and brutal Maduro regime is clear.

Elliott Abrams

About the Author

Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and served in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations.

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