Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, was taken by United States commandos to stand trial for drug trafficking and gun charges. Maduro was initially charged with similar crimes in 2020, but the most recent lawsuit was expanded to include his wife, Cilia Flores. The operation, carried out in the early hours of January 2nd, has been highly criticized by members of the international community, including by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez, who said he is “deeply concerned” that international law was broken.
Maduro had been the president of Venezuela since 2013, although the election results have been disputed. Over 50 nations, including the United States, did not view him as the legitimate leader. Exit polls indicate that opposition leader Edmundo Gonzales Urrutia won last year’s presidential election. Maduro was known as a brutal dictator whose economic policies led to the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, and fueling a mass migration of Venezuelans to the United States. After he was captured, his vice-president, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as the interim president. However, US president Donald Trump has appeared to posit himself as the leader of Venezuela, posting an image to Truth Social of a fake Wikipedia page that lists him as the acting president of Venezuela.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyndnqqey5o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdred61epg4o
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/01/1166698
https://abcnews.go.com/International/nicolas-maduro-ousted-venezuelan-president/story?id=128913024
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/05/g-s1-104501/rise-and-fall-nicolas-maduro
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/12/trump-acting-president-venezuela-elections
