Venezuela bombing, kidnapping was an act of war

Just three days into a new year, on January 3, 2026, Donald Trump launched Operation Absolute Resolve. He bombed Venezuela, captured its president, Nicolas Maduro, as well as his wife Cilia, from the compound where they lived in Caracas, and extradited them to New York City, where they would face drug trafficking charges.  

The CIA had been keeping tabs on the president and those close to him for months. Venezuela’s president had long been suspected of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism by the United States, which the US government used to defend the attack, labeling it an enforcement of United States law.

After kidnapping Maduro and Flores, the US government brought them to federal court in Manhattan, with charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, and possessing weapons and destructive devices.

I agree with the many legal experts who refer to what happened as a disturbing violation of international law and an illegal act of war. In my opinion, the actions that the US government took were unnecessary aggression towards Venezuela, even if related to drug trafficking.

Almost immediately after the action, the US moved to obtain Venezuelan resources, like oil. While there were initially claims from the US government about this invasion being solely to capture Maduro, President Trump publicly said that the United States would temporarily take over Venezuela. He made that announcement at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, noting that he was sending officials to explore reviving the decaying oil infrastructure in Venezuela to revive oil companies. 

Venezuela still operates under its own government, but is vulnerable due to being in a transitional state and a political crisis. There is a new interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, who took Maduro’s place as president. She initially seemed to defer to Trump, but then spoke publicly in opposition to his interests.

The UN’s charter states that taking control of another country’s resources would violate national law. The UN and some countries, like Brazil, China, and Russia, have explicitly said that the operation violates national sovereignty.

It is clear to me that the bombing of the country and abduction of Maduro are actions that the United States should not have done, as an undeclared invasion violates many general principles of how international law operates. As a nation, we should continue to keep close tabs on Trump’s relationship with Venezuela, Maduro, and Delcy Rodriguez.