Trojans like Trump’s Venezuela strike

President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented series of military strikes on Venezuela on Jan. 3, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

“I just want to say that to represent all Venezuelans, we’re glad that [Maduro is] out, and we’re glad that it’s done,” said Venezuelan student Lucia Alfonzo.

According to Trump, the motivation for the intervention termed Operation Absolute Resolve was mainly to bring to justice Maduro and Flores. The first Trump administration indicted them among many other officials in 2020 by unsealing United States v. Nicolás Maduro Moros et al, a criminal case initially filed in 2011 against Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, a senior intelligence official under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez.

​​”He personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de los Soles…which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans,” said Trump during a press conference held the same day.

Maduro and Flores are currently awaiting trial in Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, having made their first court appearance on Jan 5. Their next court date will take place March 17.

Regardless of how much the Trump administration celebrates, the attacks still remain the subject of legal debate. In an emergency Security Council meeting, UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed grave concern that “rules of international law have not been respected with regard to the 3 January military action.”

However, a newly released memo from the Department of Justice written on Dec. 23, 2025 states that the entirety of the mission, from the strikes to the seizure, would be constitutionally legal without the need to notify Congress.

“I feel relieved that they are prosecuting Maduro because he was a terrible president who rigged his own elections…He’s a criminal,” said Venezuelan student Mario Campa.

Despite his support for Maduro’s trial, Campa still has doubts. “I don’t agree with taking over Venezuela for a period of time…I don’t agree with anything other than the capture of Maduro.”

For the time being, Delcy Rodriguez will serve as the interim president of Venezuela and according to Trump has been “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” 

Rodriguez was Maduro’s vice president from 2018 to 2026, running the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), which has been accused of numerous human rights violations and being a secret police force accessory to the Maduro and Chavez regimes.

“Since this, the regime has been going on for 27 years, I didn’t expect it to just from night and day become a democracy again. But you know, baby steps?” said Alfonzo on the topic. “I think that just having Maduro out for now is a great step and we’ll just see how it goes from then…You know, we’re just waiting to see what happens next.”