Perspectives on the USA invasion of Venezuela, abduction of President Maduro, by Ayuba Ahmad
On the night of 3rd January, 2026, the world was jolted by the news reports of a bizarre military operation by the Armed Forces of the USA in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas. The less than one-hour assault was carried out through a hailstorm of missiles fired from American warships, a staccato of bombs dropped by fighter jets, drones and helicopters, as well as ground attacks by swarms of infantry fighters.
The ferocious military action left in its wake, the death of scores of people, largely consisting of Venezuelan and Cuban service personnel in the presidential guard.
President Nicholas Maduro, his wife, Cilia Flores and his son, Nicholas Ernesto Maduro were abducted and taken away to the USA.
It was the climax of years of US aggression, which included unilateral trade sanctions which had profound, devastating repercussions on the economy and infrastructure of Venezuela. Especially on the eve of the invasion, Venezuela was under a punishing US Naval blockade that crippled the country’s oil trade and general shipping in the guise of targeting the export of narcotics to the USA.
Thumping his chest while confirming the brazen invasion, President Donald Trump gleefully and haughtily boasted about the extraordinary might of the American military, claiming that no other country on earth could have performed the feat as manifested in its most recent action in Venezuela.
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At subsequent press briefings, President Trump, in his characteristic crass and bullish manner, unabashedly spelt out the motivation behind the brigandage:
“We are going to run the country, until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.
“We are going to have our very large
US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, are going to spend billions to fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money.
“We are going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the earth.”
From his remarks made days afterwards, Trump is not leaving anyone in doubt that the invasion of Venezuela was primarily, singularly aimed at the country’s vast oil resource. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves with its proven 300 billion barrels. Thus the reason for the imperialistic designs and actions of successive American administrations towards the country.
The USA’s subversive actions towards Venezuela began with the country’s nationalisation of its oil industry in 1976 under President Carlos Andrés Pérez. The lingering aggression from Washington over the years, became especially heightened during the first and second terms of Donald Trump’s presidency.
During his first tenure, Trump in 2017 imposed economic sanctions that drastically crippled the Venezuelan petroleum industry. In his second coming, he imposed a vicious Naval blockade that effectively prevented the export of oil from Venezuela. The ferocious military action on the 3rd of January, 2026 was simply the icing on the cake of a sustained Trump’s bellicosity and belligerency.
Expectedly, the American military aggression against Venezuela was resoundingly condemned by several eminent voices and institutions within the USA as well as those in the global community.
In separate statements, three Democratic Party leaders, Senator Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi all condemned Trump’s invasion of Venezuela as self-seeking, a contravention of the USA constitution and international laws governing relationships between nations.
Iran, Russia, China, South Africa, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Turkey and even traditional allies of the USA such as France, Britain and Italy are among the nations that have vehemently condemned the US assault on the Venezuelan sovereignty, the abduction and repatriation of President Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores for what is a shambolic trial in the US city of New York.
Addressing the Security Council meeting on the crisis, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guteress, condemned the US invasion and expressed his fears on the “possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region and the precedent it may set for relations between and among nations.”
To us in Nigeria, we must properly appraise the invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of President Maduro and his wife as a succinct manifestation of the abrasive ultranationalist and imperialistic tidal wave, gradually but fearfully gathering momentum under the leadership of President Donald Trump. It is an ill wind that, if not nibbed at its embryonic stage, has all the potential of burgeoning into a global cataclysm.
The world has been a witness to the role being played by the USA under Donald Trump as an ally of Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The world stood aloof as Donald Trump ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear energy facilities. He has hinted that he may soon again swoop on Iran by hiding behind the cloak of defending the “human rights” of the so-called protesters now ravaging the country.
The war-mongering President of the USA has also warned Colombia “to watch it,” just as it has tacitly cautioned South Africa over its vociferous and progressive positions against the genocidal war of Zionist Israel in the Middle East, and, on the recent US aggression against Venezuela.
The recent bombardments of parts of Nigeria must not be misconstrued as altruistic acts of Donald Trump in “defence of Nigerian Christians against genocide,” being carried out by Islamic terrorists. Like it was in Iraq, Libya and now, Venezuela, the real focus and designs of the USA in Nigeria are simply and squarely strategies for taking control of the country’s mineral resources.
As correctly noted by Antonio Guteress, the USA incursion into Venezuela has the dangerous potential of unleashing an internal crisis in the country with ripple destabilising effects in the region. Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan are examples of states that have remained in turmoil years after the USA military interventions carried out in the guise of safeguarding democracy and human rights.
We are in absolute agreement with the UN Secretary General that the brusque US invasion of Venezuela has the dangerous potential of setting a precedent for the relationships between and among nations.
If America gets away with Trump’s rascality in Venezuela, what will be the response of the rest of the world if, tomorrow, China decides to invade Taiwan? With Trump’s military adventure in Venezuela, is Vladimir Putin not being encouraged to escalate his war on Ukraine? Is Trump’s invasion and takeover of Venezuela not tantamount to nudging Zionist Israel to go on with its genocide in Gaza and its campaign of annexing the West Bank?
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One of the factors that triggered the Second World War was the adoption of the policy of appeasement by the rest of the European leaders towards Adolf Hitler. By the time they realised that Hitler was an insatiable monster, Europe and later, the whole of the world had been plunged deep into the inferno of a devastating war.
In a world of nuclear armaments, it is dangerous to have a rabid, fascistic, nationalist in the cast of a Donald Trump at the helm of a powerful country such as the USA. In other words, the world must wake up to the challenge posed by Trump to avoid the potential for what could be an Armageddon.
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