On January 3rd, 2026 the United States Army Force successfully seized the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. You may be wondering why this happened or what the next actions are, but first we must discuss the geopolitical climate leading up to these events. 

Since very early on the US and Venezuela have been associated due to the need for oil. They worked together, both contributing to the other country in the ways they could. Later on opinions changed and it was decided that Venezuela should control what they do with their oil instead of letting the US run it for them. In simple terms the President at the time Hugo Chávas wasn’t a fan of how the US was operating so he decided to cut ties, which eventually led to disagreements. Since the passing of Chávas in 2013 Nicolás Maduro has been the new president and their economy has failed to be the same since. This resulted in the US not respecting Venezuela either. 

Since the beginning of Maduro’s Presidency the US has voiced concerns of character in him. There have been worries of human rights abuse, corruption, subtly breaking down the qualities of democracy, and much more. But for now we’re just going over the events of the day. 

Now let’s learn about what actually happened on January 3rd in Venezuela. That night the United States sent the military in an operation called Absolute Resolve to take Maduro and his wife into custody. They first took action on military bases and put a force around them to prevent retaliation. They then took both of them in the middle of the night, put them in handcuffs, and flew them to New York City. They are now facing criminal charges and were forced to appear in court later on. Immediately the Venezuela citizens took action, some protesting and others even celebrating the removal. President Donald Trump then held a conference stating that the US will now help run Venezuela. 

You may be wondering how this is legal without a congress write off, so lets break it down, in most cases Congress has to sign off on things that may cause acts of war, spending of money, frameworks, peace treaties, etc. But in this case he can confirm that it is a narrow mission and state that he’s protecting the people therefore able to take action without approval. The reasoning for the “kidnapping” is also pretty simple as well, as long as an individual is on US soil they are able to be prosecuted. So in order to legally prosecute Maduro and his wife they had to somehow get them into the United States.