Kansas lawmakers in Congress are starting to make their thoughts known about the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on Friday night.
Senator Roger Marshall says: “President Trump made a promise to the American people that he would secure our borders from chaos and cut off threats to us and our families at the source. Venezuela ignored the call to stop trafficking lethal drugs into America. Our communities and children are safer at home because of bold leadership like this.”
The comments come as the US military captured Maduro and his wife as part of what President Donald Trump called a “large-scale strike.” With Maduro now indicted on charges ranging from narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons violations, Trump says the United States will “run the country” temporarily, including the prospect of troops on the ground, and the US will start selling Venezuela’s large oil reserves as part of a strategy focused on US dominance of the Western hemisphere, according to ABC News.
Several Republicans and many Democrats sharply criticized the move, in part because of the military action on its face and in part because of a change in focus from Maduro’s alleged drug trafficking contributions to the oil reserves.
8:30 am Saturday: United States captures Venezuelan president, first lady
President Donald Trump said the U.S. “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were “captured and flown out of the Country.”
The announcement on Trump’s social media platform came shortly before 4:30 a.m. Saturday a few hours after several explosions were heard in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas, witnesses said, and photos and videos showed plumes of smoke and a large fireball in the night sky.
ABC News reporter Selina Wang says President Trump had been warning about potential military strikes for much of last year.
ABC News analyst and retired Marine Corps colonel Steve Ganyard says there was a lot of diversionary activity as part of this maneuver.
ABC News says Trump had given the green light to capture Maduro several days ago and troops were ready to strike on Christmas Day, but were delayed due to military airstrikes in Nigeria against ISIS. Subsequent opportunities were postponed partly due to weather, a source said.
Senate and House Republicans praised Trump’s actions, with Sen. Rick Scott, of Florida saying “a new day is here for Venezuela and Latin America” in a post on X and Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas saying Maduro “wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation.”
The action was criticized by Democrats. Sen. Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, blasted Trump’s move, calling it the “second unjustified war in my life time” in a post on X. “This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”
The Venezuelan government issued a statement condemning what it called “the grave military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America” in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
The latest events come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela including a build-up of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean and the targeting of alleged drug-smuggling boats.
