On January 3rd President Trump announced that US forces captured the Venezuelan Dictator “Nicolás Maduro” in a very tactical and covert operation. The operation was titled “Operation Absolute Resolve” which only lasted two and a half hours and was carried out by the US Army’s Delta Force special forces. There were no US casualties reported although there are reports of some soldiers being injured with the total hostile casualties were approximately 100. 23 of those were Venezuelan security officers and 32 of those being Cuban military members that were sent to support the Venezuelans. In this operation it was quite the show of modern US military power, but what was the reason for this display?
A brief statement from the Ministry of Justice mentioned that Maduro was arrested for multiple charges consisting of corruption, abuse of power, and obstruction of democratic institutions. The Ministry of Justice claims that the case against him is based off financial records, statements from former associates of Maduro, and internal government papers that were gathered over a period of several months. Due to the down sway of US public opinion surrounding this event and the legal proceedings, the authorities refused to disclose any more information.
The arrest has rocked the Venezuelan political scene where Maduro acted as President for the past 10 years. Shortly after Maduro’s arrest, supporters of Maduro’s regime gathered outside of the party headquarters. Stating that the arrest was politically motivated while opposition leaders saw it as a necessary step towards accountability for his actions. The regional governance watchdogs released cautious statements, “Words can barely capture the bravery and the power and the precision of this historic operation, a massive joint military and law enforcement raid flawlessly executed by the greatest Americans our country has to offer,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who was also in attendance at Mar-a-Lago, told the media. .urging the government to be transparent about the event and to uphold the rule of law.
