U.S. Capture Of Maduro: Monroe Doctrine Revived And Latin America On Edge |
The capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife by U.S. forces is the kind of event that reframes the very assumptions of power in the Americas. Washington calls it a “large-scale” strike, aimed at what it describes as a criminal state apparatus responsible for narcotics trafficking, migration pressures, and strategic alignments with Russia, China, and Iran. But the rapid transfer of Maduro to New York to face federal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, suggests that this was never simply a law-enforcement operation. It is a political signal, a strategic assertion, a statement that the Monroe Doctrine, long assumed dormant, may no longer be just rhetorical.
At the centre of this crisis are two men whose identities are forged in opposition, each defining himself through the other’s existence. Donald Trump frames Venezuela as the embodiment of every threat to American order—socialism run rampant, unchecked migration, drug networks spilling across borders, and the erosion of influence in a hemisphere long considered Washington’s own backyard.
Maduro, for his part, has long cast the United States as the indispensable villain, blaming sanctions, economic collapse, and repeated attempts at regime change for the country’s turmoil. That dynamic has now hardened into reality. Trump has declared that the United States will “run Venezuela” until it can oversee what he calls a........