The decision by the United States to bring Nicolás Maduro to face criminal charges was neither impulsive nor ideological; it was based on strong evidence, failed diplomacy, and escalating threats to national security. This action was a definitive response rooted in an “America First” strategy after years of ineffective diplomacy, empty international condemnations, and growing evidence that Maduro’s regime has become a direct threat to U.S. national security and hemispheric stability.
Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the United States rejected the dangerous illusion that Venezuela was merely a democracy in crisis. For over a decade, Maduro oversaw the dismantling of democratic institutions, the collapse of the economy, and the consolidation of power through repression and criminal activity. More alarmingly, his regime became intertwined with transnational criminal networks, facilitating drug trafficking and organized violence that extended well beyond Venezuelan borders.
By then, the issue facing the United States was no longer governance failure but security. Continuing to tolerate Maduro’s government meant accepting increasing risks to the lives of Americans. President Trump recognized this reality and acted accordingly.
The U.S. Constitution grants the president the responsibility to defend the nation against foreign threats. This authority exists precisely for the executive to act when diplomacy has failed and danger persists. President Trump took this responsibility seriously. His administration understood that diplomacy is a tool, not a substitute for leadership.
In Venezuela, sanctions, negotiations, and multilateral pressure had all failed. Maduro ignored them while criminal networks thrived under his protection. Drug trafficking routes linked to Venezuela expanded across the hemisphere, fueling the fentanyl crisis that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. When a foreign regime is credibly accused of enabling the infrastructure that poisons American communities, moderation is no longer wisdom; it is negligence.
President Trump rejected the failed consensus that the United States should endlessly manage threats instead of confront them.
Since the Monroe Doctrine, U.S. policy has recognized that instability in the Western Hemisphere inevitably reaches American shores. The collapse of Venezuela demonstrated this principle yet again. The economic implosion and political repression forced millions to flee, destabilizing neighboring countries and pushing migration northward. The consequences were felt at the southern border of the United States, where no control strategy can succeed if entire states are allowed to descend into criminal regimes.
President Trump understood that border security does not start at the Rio Grande. It begins by addressing regimes that create chaos, export instability, and exploit human suffering to maintain power.
One of the most dangerous outcomes of Maduro’s government was the expansion of organized crime networks, which thrived amid corruption and state collapse. These groups exploited migration routes and weak law enforcement to extend their cross-border influence, even reaching the United States. Simultaneously, the fentanyl epidemic devastated American families, especially the youth. These drugs don’t arrive by coincidence; they travel through transnational supply chains protected by corrupt governments and criminal allies.
President Trump recognized what many policymakers refused to acknowledge: when a government becomes a partner in that ecosystem, it loses the protections normally granted to sovereign states.
The measures taken against Maduro focused not on occupation, nation-building, or imposing the American government. They centered on accountability. Sovereignty does not protect leaders who export drugs, violence, and criminal networks beyond their borders. By overthrowing Maduro, the Trump administration removed the principal obstacle to stability and reform in Venezuela and delivered a clear message to criminal regimes worldwide: the United States will defend its citizens and interests.
What comes next must be led by the Venezuelans themselves, but that future can only begin once the criminal elite is removed.
History will judge this decision based on the clarity of leadership it demonstrated. Faced with a regime that had sunk into criminality and posed persistent risks beyond its borders, the Trump administration chose determination over paralysis. In doing so, it restored a dangerously eroded principle: that American strength, exercised with decisiveness and legality, deters chaos and saves lives.
President Trump did not manage decline; he confronted it. He did not delegate leadership to international forums; he imposed it. This was decisive and responsible leadership in service of national security, border integrity, and hemispheric stability, and it deserves unequivocal recognition for restoring American strength when it mattered most.
Carolina Amésty @electcarolina / First Venezuelan-American elected to the Florida Legislature – 2022-2024