Editorial: World on edge for what Donald Trump does next after capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro

Regime change in Latin America in not unheard of from US presidents. In fact, there is a long history of intervention in central and South America, normally done through proxies with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency. What is unusual in the case of Donald Trump’s capture and arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is that he has not sugar coated his actions in any way. His fingerprints are all over it. In true trump fashion, he is proud. He immediately called a press conference and boasted about the success of the military operation, including the speed of the US troops in capturing the dictator and the “dark and deadly” nature of the attack. He called it Operation Absolute Resolve and said it was done “at my direction”. He posted an image of a captured Maduro to Truth Social, before The White House uploaded a photo of the US president with the caption FAFO — meaning “f... around and find out.” To say President Trump was upfront about his motive would be an understatement. He has openly laid bare the intention of the military operation — to stop the flow of drugs and resume the flow of oil that was “stolen”. “We built that whole industry there. And they just took it over like we were nothing,” President Trump said. Oil. Money. But it’s also about power. Maduro’s key allies were China, Russia and Iran. Crude oil was the currency he used to pay off massive loans from Beijing. “We’re gonna sell (oil) to them. We’re not gonna say we’re not gonna give it to them,” President Trump said. This was a power move by Trump that no-one saw coming, even after he started blowing up alleged drug boats. But filling the power vacuum is harder than seizing it. That’s why the response of so many world leaders has been cautious. This is extreme action. And nobody quite knows what comes next — or what it means for Russia, China and their neighbourhood disputes. But Maduro is a bad man — nobody will be complaining that he has been overthrown. The world did not owe any respect to the sovereignty of a dictator who ignored the will of his own people. The Venezuelan population lived a life of poverty under him. As inflation soared sky-high, diplomacy failed, as million fled. Protests were quelled, opponents jailed. By 2020, it’s estimated one in three — equalling more than nine million people — were food insecure. Around 82 per cent lived in poverty. As his people starved, Maduro was indicted by a US federal court in 2020 accused of narco-terrorism. Five years later he thumbed his nose at the official results of another presidential election that showed he lost popular support. Australia joined the cries of global concern. The nation that once boasted the highest living standards in Latin America became a political and economic quagmire, ranked third-worst on the globe for corruption. The world knew Maduro’s misrule of Venezuela was disastrous and he damaged the lives of so, so many. But what the world will be less certain of is — what comes next? Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore