In the pre-dawn hours Saturday, the United States did more than just send a message. We finished the job.
With the confirmed capture of Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, the era of the criminal "super-state" in the Caribbean is over.
For over a decade, the Maduro regime was not a government; it was a transnational cartel with a seat at the United Nations. It flooded our streets with narcotics, weaponized mass migration to fracture our borders, and opened the gates of the Americas to our worst enemies.
President Donald Trump's decision to strike the regime's infrastructure and extract its leader is not an act of war; it is an act of liberation. And it is the ultimate proof that the era of American paralysis has ended.
The Rot is Removed
To understand why this operation was necessary, you have to look at the wreckage Maduro left in his wake.
He was the chief sponsor of the radical left across South America, exporting chaos to our allies. Nowhere was this more evident than in Colombia, where his support emboldened anti-American factions and undermined a democracy we spent decades and billions of dollars trying to build.
He turned migration into a weapon of hybrid warfare. By destroying his own economy, he forced millions of desperate Venezuelans to flee north, creating a humanitarian crisis designed to overwhelm the U.S. southern border.
And perhaps most dangerously, he turned Venezuela into a forward operating base for the Russia-Iran-Cuba axis.
We know that Hezbollah operatives established safe havens on Margarita Island. We know Cuban intelligence ran the regime's security services. We know Vladimir Putin used Venezuelan airfields to park nuclear-capable bombers in our backyard.
Maduro believed he was untouchable. He thought he could export drugs to poison our children and host terrorists to threaten our cities, all while hiding behind the shield of "sovereignty."
This morning, he is finding out that American justice has a long reach.
The Lesson of Haiphong Harbor
My grandfather, President Richard Nixon, faced a similar moment of truth in May 1972. The Vietnam War was dragging on, fueled by Soviet supplies pouring into the port of Haiphong. The "experts" warned him that if he took decisive military action, he would trigger World War III and ruin his upcoming summit with Moscow.
Nixon ignored them. He mined and bombed Haiphong Harbor. He physically cut off the enemy's supply line.
The result? The Soviets did not start a war. They respected the strength. They welcomed him to Moscow weeks later, and the war in Vietnam eventually ended on terms that allowed the U.S. to leave with honor.
Trump applied that exact "Nixonian" logic this morning.
Critics screamed that a direct operation against Maduro would set the region on fire. Instead, it has extinguished the arsonist.
By capturing Maduro, Trump has sent a thunderous message to the Ayatollahs in Tehran and the strategists in Moscow: Your free ride in the Americas is cancelled. You cannot maintain a beachhead in our hemisphere when your puppet is sitting in a U.S. holding cell.
A Future of Prosperity
Finally, we must remember the ultimate beneficiaries of this operation are the Venezuelan people.
Before the socialists took power, Venezuela was the wealthiest, most prosperous nation in Latin America. It was the envy of the region — a country with vast oil reserves, a thriving middle class, and a deep friendship with the United States.
The tragedy of Maduro is that he turned a paradise into a pauper. But that damage is not irreversible.
With the dictator removed, the path is finally clear. Venezuela can rise again. With American investment and the restoration of the rule of law, it can reclaim its position as the economic engine of South America. It can be a partner, not a pariah.
This morning's operation was historic. The head of the snake is gone.
The "Safe Harbor" for our enemies is closed. And for the first time in twenty years, the people of Venezuela — and the people of the Americas — can look toward a future that is free.
Christopher Nixon Cox is a member of the board of directors of the Richard Nixon Foundation and a trustee of The American University of Afghanistan.
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