There is no more doubt: Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro needs to be worried. He may soon end his days like Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in January 2020 in a targeted surprise attack during President Trump’s first term. There was no invasion or extraction operation, but a targeted attack against an international terrorist.
Maduro is running short of options and running out of time. Trump said it loud and clear at the United Nations: “To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned — we will blow you out of existence.”
Maduro is not considered a simple drug trafficker. He is also an international terrorist. In July, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control determined that the Cartel of the Suns was an international terrorist organization and that its leader, Maduro, offered support and collaboration to two other criminal groups: Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico.
The cartel operating in Venezuela is a matter of national security. According to the Treasury Department, Tren de Aragua is a designated foreign terrorist organization that originated in Venezuela and is involved in the illicit drug trade, human smuggling and trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation of women and children, and money laundering, among other criminal activities.
The designation of Maduro as a narco-terrorist is damning. It closes the door to traditional positions of dialogue and negotiation and portrays him as what he truly is: a threat to national security.
The U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists. For years, Venezuelan Chavismo used oil, diplomacy, and even migration as weapons of blackmail. The strategy was nefarious but effective. But those days are over.
Maduro’s last letter to Trump, requesting dialogue, was treated in Washington like a joke in bad taste. “We have seen this letter,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Frankly, I think there were a lot of lies that were repeated by Maduro. The administration’s position on Venezuela has not changed.”
The destruction of three drug vessels, killing 17 people, is the clearest sign that there is new sheriff in town. The conventional investigations, arrests, and interdictions no longer apply against the Venezuelan cartel. The new strategy is unwavering annihilation.
An unconventional war is taking place. Expensive and prolonged military campaigns are a thing of the past. Predator and Reaper drones have changed everything. On the other hand, Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran demonstrated that new attacks are precise, powerful, and unpredictable, without requiring boots on the ground.
The Trump administration does not want a long and costly war of the sort that the MAGA Republican base particularly dislikes. That is why, in the case of Venezuela, a short and forceful operation is expected.
A show of force is also part of the new war game. Large armed deployments, like military parades, are an undeniable display of force and ferocity, sending a message to friends and foes alike. The U.S. wants to make it clear that the Western Hemisphere is a priority and its main area of commercial and military influence. This sends a powerful warning to extracontinental superpowers like Russia and China.
U.S. military muscle has achieved the unthinkable: sowing chaos and confusion in the ranks of Venezuela’s Chavista leadership. A nation held hostage now for 26 years by a group of criminals is getting closer to its liberation day. The is U.S. is recovering its leadership role in the Americas once again.
Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course.
