WASHINGTON (AP) — The US capture of Venezuela’s president and its claims that it will “run” the country are raising stark new questions about the legality of the actions and about future operations by US President Donald Trump’s administration in the South American nation.

The middle-of-the-night seizure of Nicolás Maduro, who was transported with his wife on a US warship to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges in New York, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and elsewhere, legal experts said. It came after a surprise US incursion that rocked the Venezuelan capital with overnight explosions.

“This is clearly a blatant, illegal and criminal act,” said Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame Law School professor and former assistant US attorney.

Experts in international law said the Trump administration had muddled the legal issues by claiming the operation was both a targeted law enforcement mission and the potential prelude to long-term control of Venezuela by the US.

“You cannot say this was a law enforcement operation and then turn around and say now we need to run the country,” said Jeremy Paul, a professor at Northeastern University specializing in constitutional law. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

The stunning development caps months of aggressive US military action in the region, including the bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs and seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration has conducted 35 known boat strikes against vessels, killing more than 115 people since September, and positioned an armada of warships in nearby waters.

The bigger debate than the one over legality is yet to come, said John Yoo, an early architect of US policy in Iraq under the administration of former US president George W. Bush, and now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s easier to remove a dictator,” he said, based on his experience in the Iraq War. But ensuring the transition to a stable democratic government is “the harder part.”

Maduro’s arrest came 36 years to the day after the surrender of Panama’s strongman Manuel........

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