The New Year entered with a blaze. In the early morning of January 3, American forces penetrated a Venezuelan security compound and whisked away President Nicolas Maduro and his wife to face drug trafficking charges in America. What opposition forces have tried to accomplish for years, U.S. special forces achieved in less than three hours.
Suddenly, Venezuela was free of a Marxist dictator who continued the work of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Venezuelans inside and outside the country celebrated.
Cause for Rejoicing
The first consideration about the raid is that this act is objectively a cause for rejoicing. This was not just the removal of a corrupt politician. It put an end to the career of someone who had caused enormous damage and loss of life to what was once Latin America’s most prosperous nation.
His actions have negatively impacted millions of Venezuelans. Nicolas Maduro helped transform the nation into a hellhole where the most basic services and infrastructure are in shambles. Eight million have left the country, leaving 28 million behind. The country’s massive oil industry has disintegrated under this corrupt regime.
The populace lives in fear as communist Cuban troops control the military and guarantee that Venezuela continues on its leftist path to oblivion.
A Scandal and a Shame
The fact that such a situation was allowed to continue for decades is a scandal and shame for all nations. A similar scandal exists in relation to the communist dictatorships in Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and China. They have all oppressed their populations with an anti-natural ideology with a long history of cruel tyranny.
This shame and scandal extend to leftists in the West who, despite the overwhelming evidence of widespread misery, continue to support communist nations and ignore the pleas of their populations that flee their homeland to survive.
These socialist activists further promote this nefarious system inside their countries, which will extend the same misery to their fellow citizens.
The Principle of Solidarity
Everyone has the obligation to oppose these regimes by denying them the means of support. All free nations must likewise join this opposition in accordance with the Catholic principle of solidarity.
This principle holds that the common condition of being human unites all people in seeking the common good of society and moral goals. This also gives rise to a family of nations bound together by ties of solidarity to seek justice, peace, security and the general welfare of all nations.
This true solidarity, uniting humanity, invites nations to intervene individually or collectively in times of need. This action might involve material, diplomatic or military aid.
The occasions for intervention include natural disasters, piracy, slavery, genocide, religious persecution or ideological oppression. Wherever the basic tenet of natural law, “do good and avoid evil,” is shockingly violated, nations must speak out and, if possible, take action.
Silent too Long
For too long, the West has stood silent as the Venezuelan people have suffered under Marxist tyranny. Yet longer, the Cuban people have likewise suffered intolerable abuse. The situation has reached the point where well over two million have left the island prison since 2020. The most basic services are no longer guaranteed, while Western leftists shamelessly still praise the regime.
The New Year incident was a welcome exception to the rule of cynical complicity that has marked the postwar era. The relative ease with which Delta Force commandos penetrated the defenses only indicates how weak these communist regimes actually are.
Narco-Socialism: The Real Cause
The second consideration involves the reason for the action in Venezuela. It was carried out under the pretext of narco-trafficking. Thus, the Maduro couple’s indictment under American law justified the action.
The nature of the Marxist government lends itself well to this traffic since leftists do not hold themselves accountable to a higher moral law. Any action that advances the “dictatorship of the proletariat” is considered moral and just. Indeed, the Marxist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia have long been heavily involved in the drug trade as a means to finance their operations and destroy bourgeois society.
Thus, Venezuela’s Marxist regime easily assumes a role in trafficking narcotics into America as a means of destroying its moral fiber.
What needs to be said and emphasized is that narco-socialism should be the real target of American kinetic action, not just criminal drug-dealing gangs.
The main reason for the raid should be to liberate the long-suffering Venezuelan people from the cruel Marxist yoke. Anything else is secondary.
A Socialist Infrastructure to be Removed
The final consideration involves the post-Maduro future. Removing Maduro alone will not resolve the primary issue. He left behind a gang of thugs and cronies that made the corrupt narco-socialist regime possible.
These criminal figures are guilty of innumerable crimes against humanity. They are supported by a network of Cuban agents inside the security forces that keep Venezuela in the Marxist orbit.
Any real change must eliminate this corrupt infrastructure. Making a deal with the current narco-socialist administration perpetuates the enslavement of the Venezuelan people. It amounts to rewarding the jailers for imprisoning the people.
No truly anti-Marxist figures will feel free to act politically as long as these people hold important offices and security functions. For the Marxists, an agreement is a scrap of paper that is valid only so long as it advances the Revolution.
Thus, the surprise raid on January 3 is a source of rejoicing and concern. Finally, the Marxist tyrant of Maduro is gone, never to return. However, all must be concerned about the terrible figures still in power. Any real solution must complete the job and restore to Venezuela the freedom to decide its own destiny.
Photo: January 3, 2026, @realDonaldTrump/Handout via TFP.org