{"id":67461,"date":"2026-01-07T11:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energi.media\/?p=67461"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:12:43","slug":"maduros-capture-trump-has-taken-an-unprecedented-and-very-risky-gamble-historian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energi.media\/opinion\/maduros-capture-trump-has-taken-an-unprecedented-and-very-risky-gamble-historian\/","title":{"rendered":"Maduro\u2019s capture: \u2018Trump has taken an unprecedented and very risky gamble’: Historian"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Conversation<\/a> on Jan. 7, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

With Jacob Blanc<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The United States military\u00a0recently carried out a covert operation to capture and then remove Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>\u00a0and his wife, transporting them from Caracas to New York. The pair is accused of narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking and money laundering.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will temporarily \u201crun\u201d Venezuela until a\u00a0\u201csafe, proper and judicious transition\u201d<\/a>\u00a0can be ensured. Trump also announced Venezeula\u00a0was handing over up to 50 million barrels of oil<\/a>\u00a0to the U.S. to be sold at \u201cmarket price.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read more:\u00a0A predawn op in Latin America? The US has been here before, but the seizure of Venezuela’s Maduro is still unprecedented<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s nothing new about the American desire to put an end to the Maduro regime. In March 2020, during Trump\u2019s first term, Maduro was indicted by the U.S. on narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking charges. A reward of US$15 million was offered for his arrest. But\u00a0the U.S. had been increasing pressure on Venezuela for months<\/a>\u00a0through both military and diplomatic tactics.<\/p>\n

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\n
\"a
In this sketch taken in the courtroom on Jan. 5 in New York, Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores appear before the federal court in Manhattan.\u00a0(Elizabeth Williams via AP)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nor is it the first time that the U.S. has intervened militarily in Latin America. It happened\u00a0in Grenada<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Panama<\/a>\u00a0in 1983 and\u00a0in Honduras<\/a>\u00a0in 1988.<\/p>\n

But an intervention of this magnitude in a large South American country is unprecedented. Jacob Blanc, a Latin American specialist and professor in the history department at McGill University, explains.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
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The Conversation Canada:\u00a0Were you surprised by the American intervention in Caracas?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacob Blanc:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, I was, especially because of how audacious it was. There is a long history of American interventions in Latin America, but in the larger countries these have generally been carried out in a more subtle way. The United States has supported regime changes when they are perceived as pro-Communist or anti-American. But this case \u2014 a military intervention in the middle of the night at the presidential palace and the abduction of the leader of a modern country \u2014 is unusual. What\u2019s more, Trump is not touching the political system. He is leaving the regime in place, with Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez\u00a0as interim president<\/a>. This is unprecedented.<\/p>\n

TCC:\u00a0What kind of relationship did the United States have with Venezuela?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

J.B.:<\/strong>\u00a0Venezuela is particularly important to Americans because it was the country where one of the first independence movements against the Spanish took place. This was where the colonial wars took root, and where [military and political leader] Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar proposed unifying the South American hemisphere in a confederation. Bolivar\u2019s plan did not succeed, but Venezuela was at the forefront of this movement. Then, in the 20th century, oil was discovered in several countries in northern South America, including Venezuela \u2014 which has the largest reserves in the world \u2014 and Colombia. The economy benefited, but this also created regional problems.<\/p>\n

The region became more important to the Americans in the 1990s with the instability in the Middle East. With the rise to power of\u00a0Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, [president from 1999 until his death], and his left-wing ideas, relations cooled. Ch\u00e1vez became the b\u00eate noire of the Americans, who accused him of corruption, among other things.<\/p>\n

An oil embargo was imposed in 2019<\/a>, which considerably weakened the oil sector. Under Hugo Chavez, the oil sector was already slowing down, mainly due to corruption. It will take years and a lot of money for the Americans to get it back on track, but the Americans themselves created part of the problem with the embargo.<\/p>\n

TCC:\u00a0How do other South American countries view this intervention?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

J.B.:<\/strong>\u00a0It depends on their ideology. Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, which are more left-wing, have denounced the intervention, but Argentina and Chile have supported it. In my opinion, this will accentuate the divide between the two ideologies present in South America, but this situation is not really new. For Cuba, the threat is real. But an American intervention on the island would be purely ideological, as the country has almost nothing to offer. It would be a trophy for Trump to show off.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"protesters
Protesters demonstrate against the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro by US forces in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Jan. 5, 2026.\u00a0(AP Photo\/Bruna Prado)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TCC:\u00a0Trump\u2019s bellicose rhetoric against Colombia is surprising, given that the country is a democracy. How should we interpret this?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

J.B.:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, it surprises me a little. But at the same time, it makes sense: the official justification for the intervention against Venezuela is the illegal entry of drugs into the United States. But Venezuela is a small player. Colombia, on the other hand, is a very large exporter. So if the justification is true, that makes it all the easier to do the same thing in Colombia.<\/p>\n

TCC:\u00a0What message is Trump sending to the rest of the world?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

J.B.:<\/strong>\u00a0Trump\u2019s actions are reminiscent of what Putin is doing in Ukraine, and what Xi Jinping could do in Taiwan or other neighbouring countries. This jeopardizes the international rules that nations established after the Second World War, when they set up a system \u2014 which might be weak, but it\u2019s still a system \u2014 to prevent wars.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more:\u00a0Venezuela attack, Greenland threats and Gaza assault mark the collapse of international legal order<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n
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\n
\"people
Venezuelans celebrate the fall of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Santiago, Chile, on Jan. 3, 2026.\u00a0(AP Photo\/Esteban Felix)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TCC:\u00a0What does the future hold for Venezuela?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

J.B.:<\/strong>\u00a0It will all depend on the type of administration Trump supports. For now, he is not changing the regime or the system and says he wants to manage it from a distance, through various incentives. I believe the Trump administration is crossing its fingers and hoping that the new presidency will not implode due to internal factions. We can expect infighting within the current government, as well as with the military.<\/p>\n

Many want power. Donald Trump wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to make the operation look like a victory without any risks or costs; without sending soldiers who could lose their lives. But nothing is less certain. And if chaos spreads in the region, particularly in Colombia, it will be Trump\u2019s fault. He has taken a very, very risky gamble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Conversation on Jan. 7, 2026. With Jacob Blanc The United States military\u00a0recently carried out a covert operation to capture and then remove Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0and his wife, transporting [Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":67462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14,2954,2667,584,890,437,3031],"class_list":{"0":"post-67461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinion","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-geopolitics","10":"tag-south-america","11":"tag-trump","12":"tag-usa","13":"tag-venezuela","14":"tag-western-hemisphere"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaduro - Thoughtful Journalism About Energy's Future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United States military\u00a0recently carried out a covert operation to capture and then remove Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0and his wife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/energi.media\/opinion\/maduros-capture-trump-has-taken-an-unprecedented-and-very-risky-gamble-historian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maduro - 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