The responses to the capture of disgraced Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from political leaders has ranged from support to criticism.
Maduro was seized on Saturday morning and flown out of his home country to New York. President Donald Trump said the United States carried out “a large-scale strike” against Venezuela during an overnight military operation.
Maduro has been in power since assuming office in 2013 and has been under indictment in the U.S. for narcoterrorism since 2020.
In a press conference on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. would run Venezuela until a safe transition of power occurs.
U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, Woodville’s own congressman representing Texas’s 36th congressional district, said he is in support of the raid on Venezuela and Maduro’s arrest.
“I’m 100% in support of President Trump’s Venezuelan strike and capture of dictator/drug lord Nicolas Maduro,” Babin said.
“The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine is now in force. Hundreds of thousands of dead Americans every year, our enemies - Chinese, Russians, Cubans, Iranians encircling us in our own hemisphere. No more, thanks to President Trump and his strong leadership and our excellent American military.”
The action undertaken by our military came, according to reports, after weeks of attacks on boats that were suspected to be operated by drug traffickers attempting to bring narcotics into the U.S.
Maduro, 63, pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges in a New York federal court. He was charged on the narcoterrorism charge, as well as cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
Maduro said, via an interpreter that he is innocent and still president of Venezuela. His wife, Cilia Flores, who was also captured in the raid, pleaded not guilty as well, and a follow-up court date was set for March 17.
An estimated 122,000 Venezuelans live in Texans, according to census data from 2022, with a large concentration of them in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This demographic makes Texas only second to Florida in terms of the largest Venezuelan population in the U.S.
The response to the action taken by the military under the Trump administration’s guidance met with split opinions on both sides of the political aisle.
Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both Republicans, applauded the strike, as did Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Maduro was not only an illegitimate President of Venezuela, he was the head of the Cartel de los Soles, a major drug trafficking network involving high-ranking Venezuelan military officers and government officials,” Cornyn wrote on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Abbott made a statement that Texas was better off after the strike, while some of the state’s top Democratic lawmakers expressed concern over the legality of the strike.
Austin area Rep. James Talarico, a state legislator who is running in the Democratic primary for a seat in the Senate, against Jasmine Crockett, claimed that Trump’s actions were corrupt.
Talarico, in a statement said, “Last year, Trump promised American oil executives 'a great deal' if they donated $1 billion to his campaign. Today, he gave them Venezuela — home to the largest oil reserves in the world. The president is putting American troops in harm's way for a deeply corrupt deal.”
San Antonio’s Rep. Joaquin Castro wrote on social media that Trump “escalated an unconstitutional war. Without the approval of, consultation with or even notice to Congress.”
According to reports after the strike, energy industry stocks and oil prices are on the rise. Shares of Chevron, which is the sole U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, rose from $8.51 to $164.49 per share, on Monday’s trading reports.
The stocks of Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips also gained. In his comments on Saturday, Trump said that U.S. oil companies would help rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure.
