Trump seizes Maduro but now what?

The US capture of Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, was brilliantly executed by special forces but also raised serious questions about the legality of such a dramatic intervention. After the huge build-up of US naval power in the region over the last five months, there had been widespread speculation that President Donald Trump's main objective was regime-change in Caracas. Ever since coming to power in 2015, following the death of Hugo Chavez, Maduro has systematically destroyed the Venezuelan economy, despite the existence of huge oil reserves which should have made the country rich and prosperous. But it was the cultivation of drugs, much of it smuggled into the US and Europe, and the use of Venezuela as a major transport route for cocaine from Colombia and Peru which was finally to seal Maduro's fate. Maduro himself was indicted by the US as a drug trafficker in October, 2020, accused of "narco-terrorism" and conspiracy to import cocaine to the US. There was a price on his head of $50 million. Now, after his and his wife's capture, both have been further indicted and will be put through the US courts. His whereabouts was not given after his capture, but it's most likely he and his wife were taken to one of the many US warships currently off Venezuela. When Osama bin Laden, founder of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, was shot dead by US Navy Seals in Pakistan in 2011, his body was flown to the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, and then buried at sea in a Muslim ceremony. So there is a precedent for using a warship as a holding point. The repercussions for the US seizure of Maduro will be felt for months. But, again, there are precedents. President George HW Bush authorised a similar operation when thousands of troops were sent to Panama in December 1989 to find and capture General Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian dictator, who, like Maduro, had been indicted as a drugs baron. Noriega surrended to US forces in January 1990 and was flown out to stand trial in the US. The US goal on that occasion was not just to arrest Noriega but also to restore democracy to Panama. Is that what Trump wants for Venezuela? Maduro has never been accepted by Washington as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, accusing the Caracas regime of falsifying elections to ensure he remained in power. The enforced end of Maduro's brutal and corrupt leadership of Venezuela may have caused shockwaves across South America. But if the result is a more stable, genuinely democratic country in which the people of Venezuela can prosper and feel safe, then the violence of Maduro's capture may well be seen as justified, despite accusations of unlawful intervention by the US military.