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By Feroze Mithiborwala
The illegal capture of President Nicolás Maduro by the United States—ordered by Donald Trump—tore away the last pretense of a “rules-based international order” and exposed the convergence of U.S. imperial power and Zionist geopolitical interests in their most evil, duplicitous and naked form.
It was precisely six years ago on 3 January 2020, that the Trump regime assassinated Gen. Qassem Soleimani and sent a message to Iran. Now once again Trump chose that very day to kidnap President Maduro.
President Maduro is the democratically elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He is the leader of the Bolivarian People’s Socialist Revolution, and a sitting head of state seized for defending political, economic and social sovereignty and for consistently standing with the Palestinian people against Israeli apartheid and genocide.¹
Empires do not deliberate when dominance is challenged. They react, and they continue towards their inevitable collapse.
The Illegal Capture of a Head of State
Trump’s operation constituted an unprecedented escalation: the abduction of a sovereign president and his transfer to the United States to face charges under U.S. law. This was not law enforcement. It was imperial capture—the assertion that U.S. jurisdiction overrides international law, national sovereignty, and the UN Charter.
Maduro’s alleged crimes are beside the point, actually laughable. The real offense was political: refusing to surrender Venezuela’s natural wealth, resisting regime change, and maintaining an anti-imperialist foreign policy that included outspoken support for Palestine and condemnation of Israeli crimes in Gaza.
Netanyahu, Zionist Alignment, and Strategic Timing
The timing was not incidental. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just concluded his fifth visit to Florida, meeting Trump amid growing global outrage over Israel’s war on Gaza. Within days, Venezuela was attacked. Netanyahu publicly praised Trump’s “historic leadership,” signalling approval and strategic alignment.²
In fact caretaker President Delcy Rodriguez herself has categorically stated that there is a strong Zionist angle to the attack and abduction of President Maduro.
Venezuela has long been among the strongest state supporters of Palestinian liberation in Latin America. That stance placed Caracas squarely in the crosshairs of a U.S.–Israel axis increasingly intolerant of dissent. Regime change in Venezuela serves not only Washington’s economic interests but Tel Aviv’s geopolitical agenda.
The Venezuelan Right and the Jerusalem Embassy Pledge
Washington’s preferred alternative is no secret. María Corina Machado and the Venezuelan right wing are openly pro-Israel and have pledged to move Venezuela’s embassy to Jerusalem, aligning the country with U.S. and Israeli priorities.³ This is not a marginal detail. Regime change here is ideological realignment—replacing sovereignty and anti-colonial solidarity with neoliberal obedience and Zionist loyalty.
Diversion, Desperation, and the Epstein Shadow
Trump’s seeming recklessness and desperation is also personal. As pressure mounts around the still-unresolved Epstein files and elite accountability, foreign aggression functions as diversionary spectacle. History shows that embattled leaders externalize crisis to consolidate domestic support.⁴ Venezuela became the stage.
This logic was articulated with striking bluntness by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whose outspoken critique circulating widely captured how imperial violence, elite impunity, and resource plunder converge:
“A clan of paedophiles wants to destroy our democracy. To keep the (Epstein) list from coming out, they send warships to kill fishermen and threaten our neighbour with invasion for their oil.”
Regime Change Is the System
This assault fits a well-documented pattern. Political scientist Lindsey A. O’Rourke documents 64 U.S. regime-change operations between 1945 and 1989, most covert and overwhelmingly targeting nationalist or left-leaning governments.⁵ Latin America has been empire’s principal laboratory—Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba. Thus Venezuela is not an exception, it’s a continuation of Imperial wars for domination.
Why Venezuela Matters: Oil and Strategic Wealth
Venezuela possesses 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves—the largest in the world, roughly 17 percent of global reserves.⁶ At a conservative price of around $50–$60 per barrel, that oil represents $14–17 trillion in potential value.⁷ Beyond oil, Venezuela holds significant deposits of gold, lithium, and rare earth minerals, critical to modern industry and energy transitions.
Trump dispensed with euphemisms, declaring that Venezuelan oil should be “managed” by the United States. The objective is extraction. Venezuela’s sovereign decision to nationalize its resources—recognized under international law—was punished. Now comes attempted plunder.
Sanctions as Economic Siege
Long before January 2026, Venezuela was under siege. U.S. sanctions—initiated under Obama, expanded under Trump, and maintained under Biden—systematically strangled the economy. Oil exports were blocked, assets frozen, banking access severed.⁸
Research from Global South institutions estimates that sanctions imposed since 2017 cost Venezuela approximately $226 billion in lost revenue between 2017 and 2024—equivalent to more than 200 percent of GDP over that period, or roughly $77 million per day.⁹ Sanctions are not humanitarian tools. They are weapons of mass deprivation, enforced through the dominance of the U.S. dollar and the global financial system.¹⁰
Chávez, Maduro, and a Break from Colonial Rule
Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro represented something historically intolerable: a sustained break from white European elite rule in Venezuela. Rooted in Indigenous, Afro-Venezuelan, and working-class power, the Bolivarian Revolution redirected oil wealth toward social development.
Through the Bolivarian Missions, the state expanded literacy, healthcare, food access, and education. At their peak, these programs reached over 20 million Venezuelans—around 60 percent of the population.¹¹ The Great Mission Housing Venezuela delivered more than 4.6 million homes by 2023, transforming urban and rural life for working-class families.¹² Millions more benefited from expanded university access, rural development, and subsidized food programs.¹³
Despite sanctions, sabotage, and relentless propaganda, Venezuelans continued to vote for this project.¹⁴ That democratic persistence—more than any allegation of authoritarianism—sealed Washington’s hostility.
Absent sanctions, Venezuela could have sold its oil openly and funded these programs sustainably. That possibility had to be destroyed.
Global Backlash and the Multipolar Turn
The backlash is already visible. Pro-Maduro protests have erupted across Venezuela. Anti-war demonstrations have spread in the United States and abroad. Governments and movements increasingly recognize the U.S. and Israel as rogue states, operating above international law.
This outrage feeds a broader historical shift: the strengthening of a multipolar world order resisting U.S.–European domination. The so-called “rules-based order” has revealed itself as a no-rules-based disorder, enforced by sanctions, blockades, and kidnappings.¹⁵
Demands
This moment demands clarity and action:
● Free President Nicolás Maduro from U.S. captivity.
● End all U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and other targeted nations.
● Hold Donald Trump accountable at the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza and illegal aggression against Venezuela.
● Organize protests and boycotts until U.S. imperial power abides by international law.
January 2026 will not be remembered as an aberration. It will be remembered as the moment empire stopped pretending—and in doing so, accelerated its own crisis of legitimacy, whilst plunging the entire world into a deeper crisis.
Footnotes
Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), Presidential Election Results, 2013, 2018, 2024.
Associated Press, “Netanyahu Praises Trump’s ‘Historic Leadership’ Following Venezuela Operation,” January 2026.
María Corina Machado, public statements and interviews, 2024–2025.
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007).
Lindsey A. O’Rourke, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018).
U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics: Venezuela.
Calculation: 303 billion barrels × ~$50–$60/barrel ≈ $14–17 trillion.
U.S. Treasury Department, OFAC, Venezuela Sanctions Program, 2015–2025.
Tricontinental Institute / Global South research estimates on sanctions losses, 2017–2024.
Michael Hudson, Super Imperialism (London: Pluto Press, 2003).
Venezuelan government and UN-referenced reports on Bolivarian Missions coverage.
Great Mission Housing Venezuela, official program data through 2023.
Steve Ellner, Rethinking Venezuelan Politics (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2008).
Carter Center, Election Observation Reports: Venezuela.
Samir Amin, The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013).
Source: Counter Currents .org