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Bill Barr, who levied the initial American indictment against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, laid out the United States’ case against the deposed leader: that Maduro engaged in direct drug trafficking into the US and conspired with five terrorist organizations to harm Americans.
On Fox News, Barr explained the latest indictment and why, although this US case is even stronger than the charges against former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, the court process will likely take months or years to resolve.
As these proceedings continue, “Maduro will have ample time to reflect on how much better his life would have been had he taken Washington’s warnings seriously and slipped into a luxurious exile,” writes Walter Russell Mead.
In The Wall Street Journal, he identifies what else will take place in the aftermath of Operation Absolute Resolve: China, Russia, and Cuba will seek to leverage events in Venezuela to weaken President Donald Trump domestically and test American commitments around the globe.
China has already sought to weaken the White House by decrying US actions against Caracas as a violation of international laws and norms, an argument echoed by many American allies and adversaries alike. But John Lee argues the adversaries that Trump allegedly risks emboldening already leverage or violate international law whenever it suits them.
“The degree to which one is comfortable with the US pushing and crossing the boundaries of international laws and conventions for geopolitical gain depends on how seriously we take the threat of the revisionist authoritarian powers,” Lee concludes.
Rebeccah Heinrichs identifies three reasons to celebrate the US removal of Maduro:
- Maduro’s rule enabled America’s strongest enemies to get near US shores.
- The operation reinforces perceptions of the US military’s world-leading capabilities.
- Removing Maduro frees the Venezuelan people from his oppressive rule.
Now, America needs to ensure Venezuela’s new government and the country’s immense natural resources remain sovereign to the Venezuelan people, she writes.
Last March, Daniel Batlle hosted María Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition, for a discussion on what Maduro’s dictatorship meant for the US and why his removal would improve both Venezuelan and American security and prosperity.
Watch the event, listen to the podcast, or read the transcript here.
Before you go . . .
In Tablet, Michael Doran breaks down the struggle for the future of Trump’s large-tent coalition and explains why maintaining its cohesion is vital to the president’s aim of countering China. “The United States will not lose the twenty-first century to Beijing on some distant battlefield. It will lose it here at home—in X posts and podcast studios—while the grand American majority assembled to prevent that outcome tears itself apart debating whether the Jews orchestrated 9/11,” he warns.
