On Thursday, January 2, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro gave an interview and stated outright that he was willing to negotiate with the United States on the issue of drug trafficking. President Trump’s answer came back about 24 hours later: we have nothing to negotiate about.
Ever since the Trump administration began striking drug boats off the Venezuelan coast in early September and seizing several Venezuelan oil tankers in December, there was always a lingering question about what Trump’s ultimate aim was. After all, there was a time not so long ago when Trump dispatched one of his envoys, Richard Grenell, to Caracas to negotiate with Maduro over everything from American prisoner releases to possible energy deals.
Trump himself had a phone call with Maduro in November, where he reportedly requested the Venezuelan’s resignation. There was speculation, both inside Trump’s Maga base as well as by foreign policy analysts more broadly, about whether Trump’s saber-rattling was merely a tactic to get Maduro to concede or a prelude to a wide-ranging military campaign.
Whatever the case, the fundamental question—how far is Trump willing to go—has been solved. The U.S. airstrikes on multiple Venezuelan military facilities in the dead of night, as well as the successful capture of Maduro and his wife by U.S. special operations forces inside the country, is nothing short of an immense tactical achievement by the president. As far as we can tell, the U.S. operation went as smoothly as one could expect. At the time of writing, Maduro is now being flown out of the country. He will likely stand trial in a U.S. courtroom for a variety of narco-terrorism charges that U.S. prosecutors have levied against him. If Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was still alive today, he would be having flashbacks right now.
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