It was an operation that even the Trump administration acknowledges, could have ended in disaster. The late night/early morning raid in Caracas, Venezuela was daring and could have resulted in more assets being needed to deploy to help with an unforeseen problem.

Instead, the highly complex operation to arrest dictator Nicolas Maduro at his compound was extremely successful. Keep in mind, Maduro had months of warnings that something like this would happen. It’s part of the reason why he would hold public events surrounded by loyalists, who conveniently acted as human shields if the United States wanted to do something during the day.

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All of the propaganda videos showing the “might” of the Venezuelan military amounted to nothing since, according to President Donald Trump, the U.S. was able to “turn off” the country’s defensive infrastructure when the raid started. U.S. forces were quick and lethal. Maduro’s Cuban bodyguards were quickly eliminated. No U.S. service member was killed and no vehicles were lost. This was certainly not a repeat of Operation Gothic Serpent’s “Black Hawk Down” episode.

And, for good measure, the U.S. military blasted at the mausoleum hosting Hugo Chavez’s body. Why? Because we don’t like communists, that’s why.

As you can imagine, the success of the raid has shaken the leftist governments of Latin America. Next door, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has spent the last two days denouncing the U.S., while also stating he is not worried about anything happening to him.

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“The USA is the first country in the world to bomb a South American capital in all of human history. Neither Netanyahu did it, nor Hitler nor Franco nor Salazar. What a terrible medal that is because for generations South Americans will not forget,” Petro said on X. “But the first South American capital bombed, like the Hitlerian bombing of Guernica, cannot be forgotten. Friends do not bomb.”

Trump has hinted at targeting Colombia since Petro’s government has not done enough to stop production of cocaine.

At Mar-a-Lago, Trump told me he stands by his initial statement on Petro needing to “watch his ass” because of the illegal drugs flowing from the country.

As usual, you can’t talk about the drug war without talking about Mexico. On the morning of the raid, President Claudia Sheinbaum said she did not approve and called for the United Nations to get involved to prevent further conflict.

“The Government of Mexico strongly condemns and rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally in recent hours by armed forces of the United States of America…Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace, built on the basis of mutual respect, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the prohibition of the use and threat of force, so any military action seriously jeopardizes regional stability,” Sheinbaum’s government stated.

Trump has clearly gotten fed up with cartels in Mexico still exerting power in large swaths of the country. While he still thinks Sheinbaum is a “good” leader, he always makes it known it is the cartels who are in control. The corruption that goes alongside the cartel problem, he says, makes it difficult to work with the Mexican government.

It goes without saying that Trump allies in countries like Argentina are happy with the outcome of the operation. The rightward shift in Latin America will make it easier to ensure meaningful cooperation produces results.

With the U.S. now running Venezuela, it is more important than ever to not repeat the mistakes of the past. That is something I believe the Trump administration is clear-eyed about. The security and stability of the Western Hemisphere is paramount to the U.S.