National security experts Cameron Hamilton and Alex Gray discuss the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the future of Greenland and growing unrest in Iran.

Earlier this week, Nicolás Maduro’s vice president was sworn in as Venezuela’s president in a ceremony attended by the same officials who have led the regime for years. The country’s senior military commanders were present, along with the interior minister who oversees much of the state’s repressive security apparatus. Also on hand to congratulate her were the most powerful ambassadors in Caracas, from Russia to China to Iran.

Despite the successful operation by our military and intelligence community that took Nicolás Maduro into federal custody, control of the Venezuelan state has not meaningfully shifted. The same individuals continue to command the institutions that matter.

That continuity has consequences. The networks tied to drug trafficking and official corruption remain entrenched in the government, as do the conditions that have driven more than seven million people to flee the country, many of them to the United States or to neighboring countries like Colombia and Peru. The American adversaries most invested in preserving this system remain actively engaged.

AFTER MADURO, VENEZUELA POWER VACUUM EXPOSES BRUTAL INSIDERS AND ENFORCERS

Changing that reality is far more complex than the removal of a single leader. It would mean reforming Venezuela’s security forces, dismantling criminal enterprises embedded in the state, stabilizing a collapsed economy and supporting a credible........

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