In a combined military and law enforcement operation, United States agencies conducted a lightning raid on Caracas, and kidnapped (to use Donald Trump’s word for it) President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The pair were brought to the United States, where Maduro was charged with various drug-related offences, among others. A total of 57 people have been confirmed as killed during the raid, including members of the Venezuelan and Cuban militaries, and two Venezuelan civilians. All this with the Trump administration’s now normalised flouting of both American and international law, and a near complete lack of planning for what will happen next, despite Trump stating the US would now run Venezuela.
In the wake of the raid, the Trump administration has found it difficult to tell a consistent story about the rationale for it. It was claimed that the raid was about fentanyl, which is not produced in Venezuela. Trump announced that he had spoken to oil company executives about taking over the oil fields of Venezuela, only for the executives to state that no such discussions had occurred and that they were not interested in investing in Venezuala. The clown car rolls on.
