Throughout President Donald Trump’s second term, he has become increasingly strict on Venezuela and their cartel activity harming the United States. Former Venezuelan President and “president” Nicolas Maduro has a part of leading cartels within Venezuela. The reason Maduro is called the “president,” is since he was sworn in to his third term as president in January 2025 after “winning” a sham election. There is evidence to show that the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez won the election of Venezuela, not Nicolas Maduro. He has used military power to stay ruling Venezuela. Trump gave Maduro many warnings before striking on January 3rd but I will get into that part shortly. The final warning came just before the New Year with a massive blockade of the Venezuelan coast. This comes after the United States has attacked 26 suspected cartel boats in the Caribbean sea, Pacific Ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico/America; many of those boats did have massive amounts of drugs like cocaine that were being smuggled either into the U.S. or into other western countries. These attacks were not just targeted at Venezuela but a target of cartel narco-terrorism as a whole in South America.

In the early morning hours of January 3rd Caracas, Venezuela—the capital of Venezuela—had military sites bombed. At the time it was unknown who the perpetrator was but it became abundantly clear that the U.S. was the bomber as slightly later in the morning U.S. law enforcement went into Nicolas Maduro’s residence and arrested him. Maduro was flown via military jet to a detention center in Brooklyn, New York (a borough of New York City). The charges against Maduro were for Narco-Terrorism which stems from his leadership of Venezuelan cartels. The other reason is that Donald Trump was a big fan of having more control or even full control of the Venezuelan oil reservations. 

There are also many other reasons why Maduro is a terrible person and president besides the narco-terrorism. After it was brought to the Venezuelans’ attention that Nicolas Maduro stole the 2024 election that led to his 3rd term he jailed the protesters. Thousands of people trying to speak freely were jailed by Nicolas Maduro. In his time as president. 2,400 people have been arrested for trying to speak freely; another 12 dead from violent suppression of public protesting. He has also left his country in a terrible economic state. Venezuela was once a moderately rich country. Now it is a wild statistic that 82% of Venezuelans live below the poverty line. More than half of Venezuelans (53%) live in extreme poverty. That is an insane metric that shows how terrible of a leader Nicolas Maduro was for the people of Venezuela. 

There are also many mixed feelings regarding this foreign policy initiative from the United States. Maduro himself today pleaded not guilty in court. He told the court he is a good man and that he was also kidnapped. The Venezuelan people have taken to the streets in celebration. Venezuelans abroad who fled Maduro’s government have also taken to the streets and celebrated in their new homes. Venezuelans also are hopeful that Donald Trump will invest into the economy of Venezuela and assist in the struggle the country has experienced economically. A fear Venezuelans and Americans both share is that Donald Trump is just using the capturing of Maduro as a way to just control the Venezuelan oil reserves—which are the largest known in the world. The fear of other Americans is that the United States should have not intervened in Venezuela and done yet another regime change initiative as they typically always wind up harming the citizens more than they help. One example is in Cuba, the U.S. the United States supported other coups in Cuba that led to new governments coming to power, the United States in the ‘30s supported Batista’s coup that overthrew the Cuban government. Batista was then overthrown by Fidel Castro becoming the first Communist leader of Cuba. The United States planned the Bay of Pigs invasion as a way to overthrow Castro and instill a Cuban government favorable to the United States. This plan failed but shows the U.S.’s interests being the driving force behind the United States and their regime change initiatives. Cuba has suffered in poverty and their citizens have suffered oppression throughout the communist regime leading the island. 

Cuba is an interesting example today as well. Cuba is still communist and their citizens have faced rampant state sponsored oppression. The citizens also live in poverty due to the failed communism. The Cubans are facing very similar conditions to the citizens in Venezuela which is why many believe Donald Trump will follow through with his proposals to overthrow the Cuban government as well. The only reason I could believe this is not a possibility is that there is not as much state-sponsored cartel activity domestically as in a country like Venezuela. Despite this, there are many allegations that suggest there is high level involvement of the Cuban government in Venezuelan cartel activity like the Cartel of the Sun. If these allegations are proven true then there is a good chance that the United States captures Miguel Díaz-Canel, the leader of Cuba.