The drug trafficking charges, the American bounty, Trump’s role and the escalation that led to the capture of the Venezuelan president and his wife. The media: “Possible exit negotiated with the USA”
On the night of January 3rd, Nicolás Maduro63, was brought outside Venezuela with a US-led operation that opposition sources in exile describe as thefinal act of a long surrender: “It was only a matter of time.” Not a capture in the strict sense, according to analysts, but a possible one “negotiated exit” agreed with Washington. The hypothesis has been circulating for hours and reshapes the political end of the man who has governed the country uninterruptedly since 2013, nicknamed by his loyalists “el gallo pinto”, that is, the fighting roosterand by detractors “the truck driver”referring to his past as a bus driver and trade unionist.
who is Nicolás Maduro
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For his supporters Maduro is the guardian of the Chavista legacy; in the narrative of Trump’s United States, one of the main drug traffickers in the world. In August Washington doubled from 25 to 50 million dollars the reward for information useful for his arrest and trial in the USA, where he is accused of “drug trafficking and corruption”. A dichotomy that has accompanied him for years and which sees him as a leader besieged by imperialism on the one hand, and an enemy of the USA on the other.
The Maduro system, sanctions and isolation
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In more than ten years in power, Nicolás Maduro has gone through a unprecedented economic crisis. GDP, which collapsed by 80% in ten years, has started to grow again only in 2024; to this we add the American sanctionsthe pandemic and one long sequence of scandals. He has been criticized by the international community and is currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Despite everything, he maintained strict control of the institutions andsupport of the military leaderswith which he divided the country’s economy piece by piece. His political project aimed at the conclusion of third termwhich would have made him the longest-serving head of state after the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez. But expectations were shattered on the night in Caracas and Maduro faces a prison cell in the United States or, at best, distant exile.
the rise of Nicolás Maduro
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Maduro’s decade is marked by moments of extreme violence and deep institutional tears. In 2014 he bloodily repressed student protests; in 2017 it has Parliament was effectively dissolved to replace it with a Constituent Assembly loyal to the regime. In 2018 he obtained a second mandate with a vote deemed illegitimate by much of the international community. Not even an attack with explosive drones during a military parade managed to undermine its power. The secret of his resilience lay in the pact of steel with the armed forces: the generals managed 12 of the 34 ministriesincluding the strategic sector of oil, the cornerstone of the Venezuelan economy.
the US escalation and the final blitz
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She was at Maduro’s side, captured together with him Cilia Florescriminal lawyer who prefers the title of “first fighter” to that of first lady. According to some observers, it is she, together with her son Nicolás “Nicolasito” Maduro Guerra, who has woven the most ruthless power network of the regime. The final escalation with Washington coincided with the return of Donald Trump to the White House, who defined Maduro as a “non-democratically elected ruler” and who classified the Tren de Aragua gang as transnational terrorist organization.
In March came the deportation of 238 Venezuelan migrants in the CECOT detention center in El Salvador, followed in July by a compound exchange of prisoners which also involved ten American citizens. In the same month, the US Treasury Department’s accusation: Maduro would be head of the “Cartel of the Suns”. In September, the deployment of naval and air forces in the Caribbean. Then the targeted raids, the first blitz conducted on Venezuelan soil and finally the operation on Caracas which led to the announcement of the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
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