President Donald Trump took decisive and justified action this morning, launching precision military strikes in Venezuela that enabled special forces to seize and detain dictator Nicolas Maduro. Maduro was an illegitimate leader, despised by his own people, who, like Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega nearly 40 years ago, was running a vast drug-trafficking operation that was doing immediate and direct harm to the United States. Like Noriega, Maduro will now be tried in a court of law for his crimes, and the entire Western Hemisphere is now safer with him in custody.

Maduro first came to power in 2013 after Hugo Chavez named him as successor on his deathbed and then narrowly won a special election compromised by widespread irregularities and refusal to allow an independent recount. Maduro then set about dismantling any remnants of democracy in Venezuela, stripping the National Assembly of all power in 2015, and packing over governmental bodies with his supporters.

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